About Us

Michael Crofut, a 45-year-old retired software developer, and Emiluz Lopez, a 48-year-old retired accessibility specialist, decided to join the FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) movement after crunching spreadsheet after spreadsheet. Taking the retirement plunge can be scary at any age, and we made another life-altering decision alongside it.

 

We began our retirement by selling or giving away nearly all our possessions, including our lovely downtown Portland, Oregon condo, and became full-time RVers. Check the RV Life section for all the adventures from that chapter of our lives. The RV lifestyle served as a temporary transition towards our final destination of Braga, Portugal.

 

Now, we have happily lived in Braga, Portugal, for a few years. While we miss our friends and family, adjusting to the culture and language has also been hard. Despite these challenges, life here is quite wonderful. Browse the European Life section to read about these experiences.

 

We are building this website to document our adventures and inspire anyone considering similar lifestyle changes.

 

Feel free to comment, provide feedback, or contact us.

 

If you want to learn how we retired at such an early age, we can’t give financial advice, but we’re more than happy to share some strategies that have worked for us.