I'm trying to figure out the best savings strategy for my situation. I'm mostly thinking about the mix of retirement savings in retirement-specific accounts, and general savings in taxable investment accounts.
Basics
- 26 years old
- Freelance contractor
- Making 50-70k a year
- Saving 30-50% of income
- Current assets of ~35k in retirement accounts, 15k in taxable brokerage, 10k emergency fund, 10k budgeted cash/business checking/business savings
- No debt
Up until this point, I've just been maxing out a Roth IRA every year, and that's been the extent of my retirement savings. I wasn't making much money until 2017 or so.
Now, I'm making significantly more money, and starting to think more about aggressively saving for retirement and my future. I'll be opening up a Solo 401k this year which will give me more tax-advantaged space than I'm able to fill.
Now, here's the problem ("problem", I suppose): I'm not really sure what I want to do with my life! I know that I want to be financially independent, but I'm not sure that I want to fully retire very early. I also have aspirations of running some sort of bigger business, which I might need capital for.
I'm hesitant to throw all my savings in retirement accounts because
- A) I'm pretty happy with my work/life balance and I'm not desperate to retire
- B) I'm likely to need capital at some point for a business venture
- C) I may want to buy a house at some point, and/or a rental property
- D) I have no idea where I'll be living in the future - not even sure I'll stay in the US.
- E) I'm going through major life transitions right now, becoming nomadic and traveling full-time while working on the road. It's an experiment at this point, but could become a long-term lifestyle for me.
So basically, I have no idea what my future holds for me. It's an exciting/scary feeling, and I certainly feel blessed to be in this situation - but I'm not sure the best plan moving forward, in terms of savings.
At this point I expect to be able to save $1,500-$2,500 per month. It varies a lot as both my income and expenses vary wildly depending on where I am in the world and how much time I end up working.
I'm thinking maybe throw 75% of savings in retirement accounts, and 25% in a taxable brokerage?
Any thoughts/advice for my situation?
