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Instead of buying a house, I did this (and it made me rich)
Three Decisions That Led to Early Retirement
Ark
June 06, 2025
In 2020, at 28 years old, I had a stable career as a software engineer for the US Department of Defense, earning around $70,000 annually, with excellent credit and $20,000 saved for a home down payment. Like many, I thought buying a home was the next logical step in the “American Dream.” However, after two years of failed home-buying attempts, I made three pivotal decisions that shifted my financial trajectory, putting me on track to retire in my 40s without ever earning a six-figure salary or receiving an inheritance. Here’s the first decision I made and how it reshaped my future.
Decision 1: Investing 50% of My Income
Initially, I was focused on saving for a home, setting aside $1,700 monthly for a down payment while investing only 13% of my income in retirement accounts—mostly through my 401(k) and $150 a month into a Roth IRA. It felt like enough, but I lacked a clear purpose for it. Then, during a personal finance course, I stumbled upon a retirement calculator in the course’s retirement module. For the first time, I realized I could control when I retire. By investing more of my income in the stock market, I could retire decades earlier than the traditional age of 65.
This was a revelation. Growing up with a single father who immigrated to the US at 16 and worked multiple jobs without a formal education, I was raised with a strong work ethic and loyalty to employment. Retirement wasn’t a topic we discussed. My father’s life revolved around work—restaurants, janitorial jobs, and extra hours with no sick days. I mirrored that mindset, never taking sick days myself. But the retirement calculator opened my eyes to a life where work wasn’t the center. I envisioned a future with passive income, time for family, and the ability to contribute to philanthropic projects—a vision far more inspiring than a lifelong office job.
This shift in perspective led me to prioritize investing over homeownership. Instead of funneling most of my income into a down payment, I began investing 50% of my income into the stock market. In 2021, I invested $50,000, including $15,000 from my down payment savings, with $6,000 going to my Roth IRA, $20,000 to my 401(k), and $24,000 to a brokerage account. This was a significant jump from the $12,000 I invested in 2020, when I was still focused on saving for a home. By 2022, I had invested $60,000, largely because I abandoned the home-buying process altogether.
The Home-Buying Struggle
To understand why I made this shift, let me walk you through my home-buying attempts in 2020. The process was a rollercoaster, despite my stable job and solid financial standing. On February 17, 2020, I got pre-approved for a $395,000 three-bedroom condo with a 5% down payment and a 3.75% interest rate. I planned to rent out two bedrooms, but another buyer beat me to it, and I was relegated to backup status. Ultimately, they followed through, and I was relieved in hindsight—it was more house than I needed, in a less desirable neighborhood with coastal erosion risks.
Later that month, on February 25, I was pre-approved for a $340,000 one-bedroom apartment with a 6% down payment. My offer was rejected outright, though the seller later asked if I was still interested after their buyer backed out. I declined, as my father advised against one-bedroom properties. On February 28, I got pre-approved for a condo in a different town and submitted a personalized letter to the seller, envisioning memories like Christmas mornings by the living room window. By March 3, my offer was accepted, and I moved forward with a pest inspection, appraisal, and a $12,000 earnest deposit.
But then, the world changed. On March 15, 2020, as the pandemic shut everything down, my appraisal came back at $375,000—$30,000 less than my $405,000 offer. Since my lender would use the appraisal value, I needed to cover the gap. I could manage $5,000 but not $15,000. After submitting addendums for $380,000 and $390,000, the sellers rejected my offers and pulled the condo off the market, only to relist it at $390,000—the price I couldn’t afford. Looking back, I’m grateful it didn’t work out. A $300,000 mortgage would have tied me to a job I might not have loved, limiting my ability to invest aggressively.
A New Path Forward
By the end of 2021, I was still receiving listings from my real estate agent and occasionally viewing homes, but my focus had shifted. I put in one more offer on a $535,000 condo, pre-approved for $615,000, and went in at $555,000 with a 5% down payment. I waived inspections and accounted for a $5,000 appraisal gap, but the seller countered with $565,000, and another buyer with more cash won. After four rejections and low inventory, I was frustrated. Rewind 20 years, and my father, working for a garbage disposal company, could buy a duplex—yet I, a college-educated software engineer, couldn’t compete despite a higher inflation-adjusted income.
In January 2022, after seeing over half a dozen homes, I decided to stop chasing homeownership. Instead, I invested $15,000 of my down payment savings, contributing to the $60,000 I invested that year. This decision, along with two others I’ll share in part two, set me on a path to financial independence.
Living My Own Dream
This journey made me realize I was following someone else’s template—my father’s dream of homeownership as the pinnacle of success. But what I truly wanted was a life where work didn’t dominate, where I could prioritize family and meaningful projects. I’m curious: whose dream are you living? Are you following a default path, or are you designing your own?
I’m Anita, and I’m on a mission to guide 1 million women toward their financial independence milestones. If you’re curious about financial independence or want to follow my journey to $500,000 invested by the end of this year, check out my free financial independence calculator and other resources linked below. Stay tuned for part two, where I’ll share the second decision that transformed my financial future.
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