Hello Mustachians! I'm relatively new to this blog and forum, and am having trouble wrapping my head around a few things.
Here's my basics:
I'm 24 years old, with no debt.
I'm currently devoting 15% of my pre-tax paycheck to my traditional 401k, with an employer match of .50 cents on the dollar for the first 3%.
I'm saving about 10% of my take-home pay (post-tax, post-401k) into a savings account.
I have about $12k sitting in a savings account earning hardly any interest. I have about $10k in my 401k.
I've been looking through the blog and forums posts, and get a little confused by some of the stuff that's thrown around. A lot of suggestions on the site and in the forums are helping people to deal with debt first, but since I don't have any I'm having a hard time figuring out where to put my money.
Questions that bounce around in my head as I look around:
-Should I max out my 401k, or just max out for employer contributions and then put money into a Roth 401k/IRA?
-If I put money in a Roth is the Roth 401k a good choice, or should I set up a Roth IRA on my own?
-What should I do with my 12k in savings? I am on contract work, so having a bit of money in case of unemployment is a good idea. Should I move this into a retirement or investment account, or simply get a CD with a higher APY?
-When people talk about investing, such as in VBINX, are they doing this in a retirement fund, or in a separate investment fund?
-Should I even be saving the 10% a month post-tax? Or should I devote the entirety of my savings into a retirement account?
-What should I do with extra money that I save? If, for instance, I get an extra $1000 for some reason one month, should I put that in my savings account, or into my 401k, or somewhere else?
Sorry for throwing so many questions out at once, I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed with information. Any help is appreciated!