My Retirement Goals for 2022

Besides mentioning that my fiancé and I are aiming for FIRE, I haven’t talked much about our retirement plans. Most people working toward financial independence focus on investing as much of their income as possible. But we’re only investing around 20% of my fiance’s salary in a 401k and depositing funds into our brokerage account sporadically.

So where are the rest of our savings going, and how are we planning to achieve financial independence? To answer those questions, I’m diving into our retirement goals for 2022 below.

Goal 1: Pay Off Our Home Aggressively

In the last few blog posts, I’ve talked a lot about how I’m trying to pay down my home early. Because my fiancé’s job covers our bills, I’m able to save my entire income as a freelance writer. Over the past ten months, I’ve knocked $16,000 off our mortgage balance while building up our emergency and sinking funds.

In 2022, I want to pay down my home even more aggressively. I’d like to have my home paid off in four years, which means I’ll need to set aside $3,000 per month for additional principal payments. But since my income can vary, I may not be able to hit that goal every month. So I’ve set a baseline target of at least $2,000 per month.

The rest of my income mainly goes toward sinking funds for large expenses that are coming up in the next few years, such as buying solar panels and an electric truck. These purchases will reduce our expenses and enable us to invest more of our income, so I’m making it a priority to save up for them.

If I have money left over after I hit these monthly savings goals, I’m going to invest it in our brokerage account.

Why Aren’t We Saving More For Retirement?

The big question you’re probably asking is, why aren’t my fiancé and I saving more for retirement, especially since we want to FIRE? Right now, we’re funneling most of our disposable income toward paying off our home and buying a solar array for our house to reduce our expenses. That way we’ll be able to live very frugally and spend a little over $1,000 per month after the house is paid off.

Once we’re mortgage-free, we’re going to increase our 401k contributions. We’re also planning to buy rental properties and pay them off quickly like we’re doing with our first home.

At our current rate of 401k contributions, we’ll be able to cover our projected retirement expenses starting at age 65. But we’re hoping to retire earlier than that in our 40s or 50s depending on how things go. Until we can start drawing down money from our retirement account at 65, we’re planning to live mainly on the money we earn from rental properties.

Why Paying Off Our Home Is Important to Us

Another thing you’re probably wondering is, why aren’t we investing more of our disposable income instead of making extra mortgage principal payments?

It’s true that stock market returns are usually higher than interest rates on mortgages. But we’re willing to lose out on investment gains to have financial peace of mind. Both of us hate debt and feel the weight of carrying a mortgage every day.

My fiancé grew up with a single mom who struggled financially at times. My parents also hit a rough patch after the 2008 recession and almost lost their home like many Americans.

These experiences have informed our financial decisions. We’d rather have the security of knowing we’ll always have a roof over our heads than extra investment gains. Plus, we’ll be able to contribute a bigger percentage of our income toward investments once the house is paid off.

With that being said, one of my retirement goals for 2022 is to increase our retirement contributions to put us further along the FIRE path.

Goal 2: Increase Our Retirement Contributions

My second and final retirement goal for 2022 is to increase our retirement contributions. My fiancé’s company gives out yearly raises, so that extra money will go straight towards our 401k.

Any bonuses my fiancé earns will get invested in our brokerage account so compound interest can go to work for us. Hopefully some nice bonuses will roll in during the summer busy season so we can grow our brokerage account this year.

Wrapping Up

Our FIRE plan is unconventional, but it works for us. We’ve always been most excited about the financial independence side of FIRE, and we think paying off our home will provide that for us.

What do you think of our retirement goals for 2022? How do they compare to yours? Let me know in the comments section below!

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Vicky Monroe

Vicky Monroe is a freelance personal finance and lifestyle writer. When she’s not busy writing about her favorite money saving hacks or tinkering with her budget spreadsheets, she likes to travel, garden, and cook healthy vegetarian meals.