I've re-formatted your breakdown to make sense to me
Gross Salary/Wages:
144,000 annually- $12,000/month
Taxes/FICA - $2,800/month
Pre-tax deductions:
Traditional 401k - $700
Roth 401k - $700
Health insurance - $100
Net Income: $7,700
Current expenses:
- $2,000 Mortgage, P&I =$1,400, T&I = $600
- $1,300 Shopping
- $1,000 groceries, eating out
- $850 vacation savings
- $800 other (cell phones, utilities, gas, insurance)
Total: $5950
Net: $1750, put into Emergency savings (until it reaches $25,000 aka 6 months expenses)
Assets:
- $20,000 emergency fund
- $13,000 regular checking
- Retirement $77,000, of this, $12,000 is Roth contributions.
Before answering your questions, there are two Questions that need to be answered by you:
1) Why don't checking funds don't count towards your emergency fund--it looks like you already have $33,000 in cash on hand?
2) Which of Roth v. traditional 401k is best for you. I'll bet immattdamon is right that traditional is best, especially since you're both eligible for a Roth IRA on top of 401k.
If your house is your forever house, then equity and value don't really matter, although principal paydown can be included in your savings rate if you want to feel better about your amount saved.
Car equity doesn't mean anything to me unless you're going to cash out the equity and go carless.
Specific Question(s):1. Does this seem like a reasonable plan for a married couple in their 30’s with no kids?
-You're saving 34% of your post tax income between retirement and emergency funds. That would put you on pace for retiring in less than 25 years with no changes, if you start investing in interest bearing accounts. (see:
https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-simple-math-behind-early-retirement/)
2. Are there better places to stash my emergency fund?
-Yes, here are some options:
https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/04/22/springy-debt-instead-of-a-cash-cushion/, but you have to have the fortitude to be able to draw money out if you need to. For some people the mental health of having it sitting there is worth forsaking the investment growth.
3. Once I’ve reached 6 months expenses saved in my emergency fund, what should I do with the $1750/month?
-I think you're past the emergency fund threshold (i don't really care about the excessive amount you've picked, I care about the go forward plan) so max your 401ks. You are currently putting in $1400 between the two of you. Max per month is for two people is $3083 a month. So, $1400 + $1750 = $3,150, or 60+ bucks in excess, and that doesn't account for the pre-tax discount on the traditional 401k contribution. It will likely be closer to $200 in excess. Put that $200 towards a ROTH IRA, and work towards maxing those out every year in the next step.
4. If we did plan to have kids, are there any tax-advantaged vehicles to save for that?
--An HSA I believe will allow for a portion of it to be used for childcare so if your employer has one start on it. This can leapfrog 401ks depending on the plan.
5. Any other words of wisdom?
My personal anecdote to this is that the quicker I could max my retirement savings, the quicker I could start seeing my pay increases. Once you're maxed, every dollar goes to present you instead of future you. Setting artificial income barriers kept me from having cash in hand burning a hole in my pocket. Plus, married savers can put away over $48,000 a year between 401k and Roth IRAs! The fact that you can max 401ks and partial Roth IRA right now, have $33,000 in emergency funds, and $77,000 in retirements is all great news. I would stop the emergency fund, max the 401k, determine the remainder and set up an autodeduct for a ROTH, and work on earning more/cutting costs to max those as well.
Aside from that, sure, you spend a bit for 2 people, but Hawai'i is notoriously expenses on food and travel (can't really road trip it can ya?) so don't lose the forest for the trees. You're doing very well, could easily start doing much better by diverting emergency funds, and can do great by maxing your Roth with some nominal spending cuts. Just these steps will have you retired in your 40s.
Good job and keep it up, you're doing a great job.