CNBC's Herb Greenberg says goodbye ... for now

In case you missed it: Today is my last day as a full-timer at CNBC. Tomorrow my status shifts to CNBC contributor.

It also marks the return to my online roots at TheStreet, where I'll launch a newsletter focused on risk and restart a daily blog.

The decision to leave CNBC was a tough one—as emotionally difficult as when I decided to leave my 10-year gig as a daily business columnist at The San Francisco Chronicle for TheStreet in 1998, where I remained for six years. During that time I was a frequent CNBC guest and contributor before joining full-time a little more than three years ago.

Why leave and why now? No surprise to those who know me—it's about Southern California. Many people thought my wife and I were crazy (no -- nuts!) to leave San Diego, where we lived for 10 years, for the East Coast. Turns out they were right. This, our third time doing the East Coast stint, was strike three.

Truth be told—taxes, earthquakes and fires notwithstanding— we simply missed San Diego. It had become home, and with my contract about to expire (and CNBC steadfastly refusing to move its HQ there to accommodate me) we decided to go back.

Staying at CNBC full-time meant staying at HQ in New Jersey. My seat is in the middle of the newsroom and the in-house, in-studio interaction is an intangible that doesn't work the same remotely, let alone from 3,000 miles away.

The compromise: I'll revert to contributor and I'll return to the studio for a week a month. I've got a few other tricks up my sleeve, as well.

Bottom line: Life is too short.

—By CNBC's Herb Greenberg. Follow him on Twitter:@herbgreenberg and Google

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