I'm done waffling over buying a house I can't afford. I have a better plan instead — and it starts with renting for life.

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• I had been saving to buy a house, but prices in Southern California have made that unlikely.
• I decided to stop focusing on trying to buy a house, which means I can put more toward retirement.
• I'm okay knowing I might be renting for life, as it means I can streamline my finances.

I waffled over buying a house for a long time. I live in Southern California, and purchasing my first home as a single person without any family assistance would be a monumental endeavor. I've gone through the preapproval process as a freelancer, talked to a few realtors, and casually visited a few open houses in Los Angeles.

But with the median price of a home in Los Angeles at $750,000 and current mortgage interest rates being as high as they are, I've put a big "pause" on buying a house. This has allowed me to take another look at my retirement goals.

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I'm focusing on my emergency fund and retirement accounts

When debating whether homeownership was the right move for me, I would sock away a portion of the money I earned into a savings account for a house. Now that I've decided that getting an abode of my own in Los Angeles is off the table, I can focus solely on my emergency fund and retirement accounts.

I have a Roth IRA and solo 401(k) to tuck funds aside for retirement. Instead of using my HSA contributions toward health-related expenses, I'm investing my HSA funds. I don't plan on touching that money in the investment brokerage account until retirement.

This year, the maximum contribution for IRAs is $6,500 (and $7,500 if you're 50 and up). With a solo 401(k), a type of retirement account designed for self-employed folks with no employees other than themselves, I can contribute both as an employer and as my own employee. On the employee side, I can stash away up to $22,500 in 2023. It's 25% of my net self-employment income on the employer side.

I set up auto contributions to my HSA and IRA so that I can hit the maximum limits by the end of the year. As for my solo 401(k), it's not a perfect science, but I try to contribute funds as much as I can. I might squirrel away some money one month and nothing the next.

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I'm planning a retirement where I'll be renting for life

There's always a chance that I might uproot and move, either because I want to go to a more affordable part of the US or because of climate change. In the meantime, I can more tangibly think about how much I would need in my retirement if I rented for life.

While it would be nice to own a home outright by the time I hit retirement age, currently, it's not feasible for me to own a single-family residence in my area. So I'm folding in housing expenses as part of my retirement expenses.

Before, I felt like I was trying to straddle two paths. It made me feel scattered. Now that I've nulled out savings to buy a home, my financial goals feel more streamlined. That means I can focus on hitting my savings and long-term milestones.