On Front Loading my 401k in 2022 And the Dark Place

 Much of December has been spent intermittently reflecting on monetary and life goals. Before quitting time today, a thought flashed through my mind of frontloading my 401k in Jan and Feb 2022 of next year.

I've basically living off no paycheck for Dec and because of that I made sure that Jan 2022 bills are covered by what's left in my bank accounts. It's tight, but I'm surviving. InShallah. I'm not Muslim but I love that phrase.

Anyway, I have enough in my Churning Pot to cover Feb 2022 expenses even though they are increasing when student loan repayment comes back.

So I could try to contribute 100% of my paycheck in those months. I've seen a couple bloggers do it, so I know it's a thing that can happen. 

When I did the math in my mind, I would magically reach my $500k goal, but when I did the actual math,  I will come up short if the market does nothing from now until the end of February. 

Reaching my FIRE number in March 2022 was a silent reach goal if the market added some wind to my sails just doing what I'm doing right now. 

But any swan dives not withstanding, I am strongly considering maxing out my 401k in the first 2 months of 2022. 

It's a combination of a lot of things. Control over some other things I couldn't control (e.g. Finding a Partner); the splash of it all. For a moment, I get to be a Baddie. #sheready. The sheer joy of reaching a goal or just progress. It feels like the last quarter has been kind of slowly ticking along financially. I'm grateful for all of it, of course, but it would be nice to start the year off with something cool. And there's a tiny fear of a Return of the Dark Place when work or life (aka Feelings) goes back into overdrive. 

I just want a little financial motivation to get me through whatever the next hump is. Work has become a bit of an unknown so I tend to double down in times of uncertainty on things I can make known - like savings goals.  

Luckily, my company will still match after tax contributions which was built into my Proposed Budget.

The actual default amount of money I hope to save next year isn't changing, but instead of taking 12 months to do 1 part of it, I want to do it in 2 months. 

On the one hand, it might not make a difference, so why disrupt everything. On the other hand, if it won't make a difference, just go for it for the thrill. 

I think I just wanted to finish strong. I'm about done with the FIRE thing, and I'm ready to move on to other goals.

So there's some symbolism there too. Now that COVID is a familiar companion, I'm ready to just resume life as normal as possible. So this is a kickoff to that, but also a celebration party of the aggressive saving that COVID allowed me to do.

If this were a relay race, it's the 4th leg where you have your fastest runner bring it home. 

I don't know what happens after March because I've made way too many plans that change by my mood, so I just want to get there and finally have a look around.