Thank you for taking the time to read this. Stumbling across this forum has been great and really started churning up new possibilities for my family in the future. The different way of thinking has been refreshing. We are at a place in life now that allows us to start thinking about the future and finding this resource at this junction really is changing things.
My wife and I have been educators for the past 12 years. We are 35 years old. While I have always been frugal she has been the opposite. When we had our first child she started to work part time and actually becoming frugal was a necessity for our family. We are on the same page now! With the economic downturn came budget cuts in education and our jobs were always on the line (pink slipped 6X). We used our savings to pay down the principal on the house so we could get a fixed lower rate and reduced monthly payment. We are finally secure in our positions at work and can now start coming up with a plan for the future. The anxiety over the job insecurity has created a very risk adverse attitude in both of us but we are aware of it and ready to overcome it.
We are looking for advice on what to do in the future with our savings. What would you suggest we do with the current 60K in cash right now (currently as emergency fund)? What would you do with the 10K in savings each year. In three years she will go back to work full time as the kids go to school. This will increase our income and we can count on saving about 50K of that, bringing our yearly savings up to 60K.
More specific details:
monthly budget is 5300 (Roths $900, Childcare $600, Mortgage $2100, living exp. $1700)
Home: Owe 320K worth 615K (3.5% 28yrs left) (payment @ $2100/mo. w tax/ins/hoa)
Cash in savings acct. 60K (emergency fund)
One Roth Ira @ 36K (one of the retirement target date funds @ TRowe)
Opened this weekend a Vanguard Roth target date fund for wife (maxed out 2014 and will contribute full amount for 2015 )
Able to save 10K a year ($1000/month x 10 working months)
Both of us have CALSTRS pensions and no access to 401k etc, nor can we pay into or collect SS with this pension (403b is option not explored yet?)
No other debt, college, car, or credit...
We don't want to move. We bought this home with the idea that it was where we will raise our family and be close to family. We do not want to decrease our spending as it is as far as we have been able to go. We have not discussed a retirement date as we love what we do for work and to be honest this whole idea of FIRE is new to us.
Ideally, I would love to get different ideas of what a possible roadmap could be for us. I think these ideas would help us develop a near and far reaching plan/ goal. The people on this forum are way more educated/experienced in this area. . . which is why we are seeking your advice. The plan is to take the advice and start learning specifics.
Again, THANK YOU!