When I set out to plan for my and Brook’s retirement this year I did it whole heartedly. I researched all the different types of traditional retirement accounts, savings plans and goals, as well as spoke to a few different professionals and got their opinions on the options we had at our disposal.
Before I launch into what route we decided upon, I’d like to preface by saying that retirement planning is biblical. There are many references in Proverbs and James reminding us to be diligent and work hard to prepare for ourselves the things we will need. Almost frustratingly, there are also many reminders not too be too aggressive in saving because we do not know what our future holds, so we should always be generous and living fully the days we wake to.
With this juxtaposed frame of mind, alongside our own preferences for non-traditional living, Brook and I began a plan for our retirement.
This is the first chapter of our retirement plan:
We bought and paid in full for our first home in three years. At the time we purchased it, and for years leading up to it, I was still working. We banked almost my entire salary those years in order to pay off the property aggressively. We also took all the extra cash we made and poured it into the house renovations which were extensive.
We refinished and replaced flooring, completely changed bathrooms and created a separate dining space. We gave the kitchen a complete makeover and did a lot of painting, light fixture switches, and upgraded hardware. It’s a beautiful place that we love and cherish, but as our family grew and grew and grew, we knew we couldn’t fit in our little house any longer.
It didn’t make sense to builders to add on to our home, so after the tireless transformations, we converted our farm and farmhouse into a revenue stream. We farm our acreage each year for tax exemption and a small check from the farmer that leases the land.
We rent our farmhouse monthly, and have committed to saving 75% of the rental income we get. This is our first year of renting the property, so we agreed to save the rental income in 2019 for emergencies, but in 2020, that 75% is being saved in order to be invested into a more traditional retirement account.
Its seems silly to write a post about this process, but it was a serious part of planning for our future in the P29 challenge, and one that I am so grateful to have been on.
At 30 and 31, we feel healthy and hopeful that we have many more years ahead of us to work and save for our old age, but the future is not guaranteed for any of us, and so, as we are beginning to wrap up the P29 experience, it has been a huge boost to our confidence to know we have at least begun the process of saving for retirement as we pray God allows us long lives and good health.