Hard to believe I was referred to the MMM blog barely a week ago...I've been devouring it ever since. I am really excited to find a group of like-minded individuals, and am ready to grow my own fantastic mustache. I still don't feel fully confident that I will make the best choices, so I would love all the advice I can get.
A little about my situation...29, unmarried, no kids. Not really on the Mustache Track with the goal of early retirement, because I currently want to keep working until I die (just a touch of sarcasm, but I do love working). However, I suppose preparing for it in case I change my mind later wouldn’t be a bad idea.
I started my first “career” job about a year and a half ago, which explains why my total retirement contributions are fairly low.
My finances:Income: -->Base salary $60,587. Annual raise of about 1%, although I do expect a few promotions over the next 30 years or so.
-->Will add $20,000 to $30,000 this year in overtime
Retirement: -->$13, 613 combined in all work retirement funds
-->$1,822 of that is in the TSP (Government’s Thrift Savings Plan). I had been contributing 5% to the L2050 Traditional Lifecycle fund (
https://www.tsp.gov/investmentfunds/lfundsheet/fundPerformance_L2050.shtml), however I just upped it to 50% since my current living expenses are $300-400/month. I plan to reduce contributions to about 29% in January as my expenses will return to more human levels. This should meet the yearly max contribution of $17,500.
-->Still considering a Roth, but everything I’ve read makes me think the traditional is a better option for me.
Investing: -->30,000 in Vanguard VFINX
Checking and Savings: -->$33,000
Debt: -->None. I use a credit card I pay off every month for the airline miles.
Expenses-->Currently abnormally low as I mentioned, but will around $1500/month beginning in January. I was not planning to provide an expense breakdown because my focus here is more on what to do with my current earnings than where to cut spending.
Advice Please!Obviously I need to do something with my savings account. I would like some of it in more stable bonds to balance out the VFINX. I am not interested in real estate at the moment, primarily because of my job.
Just looking for general advice. If that advice is “find a financial advisor”, that’s great too! Seems like most financial advisors have a $50,000 minimum. While I meet the minimum, I also don’t want to be paying fees if this is something I can handle myself, at least for a time.
Thanks in advance for advice or guidance!