34-year-old is saving for early retirement: ‘I value my freedom’
in 2020 Anita KinoshitaThe then-28-year-old began researching buying a home.
Kinoshita lived in California and earned about $70,000 a year as a software engineer for the Department of Defense.
A first-generation American from a farming family in Mexico, Kinoshita believed that owning property was the best way to finally achieve the American dream his parents had set for him.
“I got my first big-girl job and thought the next responsible thing to do would be to buy a house,” Kinoshita told CNBC Make It. “I wasn’t necessarily looking to buy a house. I was actually trying to figure out how to tactfully make the purchase.”
Initially, Kinoshita was looking for a property with the intention of renting out some bedrooms and reducing his share of the expenses. He had about $20,000 saved for a down payment.
“My vision for the future was to have a family and be able to spend as much time as possible with them and not necessarily have to work an office job. [But] “I still continued to pursue this path of the American Dream with what was meaningful,” he says.
“I was 28 at the time, so I still cared about what my community defined as successful, and homeownership was part of that. I thought it was a responsible thing to do at the time.”
Kinoshita always believed that achieving the American Dream meant owning property.
Anita Kinoshita
Kinoshita wanted to learn as much as possible about her home buying journey. He enrolled in a nine-week course that taught people how to manage their money. Financial Peace University.
During the online course’s retirement module, Kinoshita used a retirement calculator that helped her realize that if she started contributing a little more to her 401(k), she could retire around age 55 and buy a home at the same time.
“Suddenly, my vision for the future and the freedom and lifestyle I wanted became possible in my mind for the first time,” he says.
Kinoshita looked at at least a dozen locations over two years and made a total of four offers. It was accepted for one, but then the sellers backed out. He was also approved for a single-family home, but there was a mismatch in the appraisal, so he backed out of the deal.
“I eventually backed out because the only way to be competitive at the time was to invest less and save more for a down payment, and I wasn’t willing to do that,” he says.
“Ultimately, I felt like it wasn’t the right time for me right now, and I wasn’t willing to invest less. I wasn’t happy with my career and felt like I was living my father’s dream, which wasn’t actually my dream.”
Kinoshita reviewed a dozen properties and submitted a total of four offers.
Anita Kinoshita
Redefining success
Kinoshita changed his focus. Instead of saving for a down payment, he aimed to put $500,000 into retirement accounts. As of April 2022, he invested $200,000 and reached COAST FIRE. — a strategy in which you save and invest enough to eventually stop contributing to your retirement accounts and allow compound growth to continue increasing, allowing you to move toward traditional retirement. He decided to quit his job.
Kinoshita isn’t the only one who chose to wait to buy a house. According to one study, the average age of first-time homebuyers has increased in recent years; It went from 35 in 2023 to 38 in 2024 only. Report from the National Association of Realtors.
After quitting her full-time job, Kinoshita started working part-time; developed curriculum for California State University, Monterey Bay and online financial literacy content. Both of these positions made him more money than when he worked as a software engineer.
Kinoshita, now 34, will wait until he reaches the BEACH FIRE early. This allows you to stop contributing until the age you decide when you have enough invested, compared to the traditional retirement age of 67.
Kinoshita quit his job and now creates financial literacy content online.
Anita Kinoshita
His estimated retirement age is now 45, and he expects to invest $1.5 million by then.
“I value my time and freedom a little more than owning a house. Looking back, I think if I had bought the house, I would have felt trapped in my career,” he says.
Kinoshita and her husband recently moved to the California neighborhood and would like to own a home there one day. They pay $4,000 a month in rent and live in a single-family home in a gated community, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.
The couple estimates they’ll have saved about $300,000 to put toward the home when they’re ready to buy. But they still don’t know when to start getting serious about buying.
“I’m in no rush. I don’t want to use it as a financial tool in any way. These days I look at it less as an asset and more as a luxury,” he says. “I would rather have my money working for me in the stock market than in real estate.”
Kinoshita and her husband are now renting the neighborhood, which they hope to buy one day.
Anita Kinoshita
Kinoshita says his definition of his dream home has also changed.
“I don’t want too many bedrooms. I think what I care about most these days is stunning architecture. I don’t want it to be overwhelming in terms of square footage. I want it to be really nice, in a neighborhood where I feel safe. I want to look outside and see nature,” he says.
“I don’t see any reason to settle for anything else, so for us, this is it, however long it takes.”
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