I am 33 and my husband is 45. We have two small kids and both work part time in healthcare. Our time is our currency, and work 3-4 shifts per week between the two of us, last year grossing about $80,000. We have no debt and own our modest home and two cars.
Our biggest bill is our health insurance premiums, costing me almost $1,000 per month through my company. We are both saving 10% into 401k plans through work. $900 per month goes to a Roth ($450 each). we are putting $3,000 per kid per year into a 529 college savings plan. We have about $100,000 in retirement accounts, including 401k, Roth IRAs, pension plans.
When we dramatically reduced the amount we were working due to having kids and wanting to spend time as a family, we discussed many scenarios with our financial planner, including very minimal work while kids were young. He recommending allowing savings to accumulate to allow for a dramatic decrease in work at any given point. We have reduced hours and continue to grow our savings account, since we've become extremely frugal. Our bank account now has about $175,0000. Much of it is in a money market, earning 1.25% interest. We are making a career shift soon, where I will be home with kids and my husband will work. We will likely decrease our income to about $60,000 and decrease healthcare costs by utilizing the ACA. Even if we spend down some of our savings to allow for monthly contributions to Roth IRA's, I don't see our financial picture changing dramatically this year. I feel like we should be using the money in the bank to gain interest and use it as income now or for early retirement. What kinds of options do we have??
Thanks so much for any input!