I'm 35 and only just made it my goal to focus on saving for the future. So I'm a bit of a late bloomer relative to some on here, but, as the saying goes, better late than never. After paying for mortgage, bills, and general cost of living expenses (food, gas), I have about $2,300 per month of discretionary income that I'd like to allocate for saving. Based on the details below (and I can supply more if needed), I'd like to hear some of your ideas on the best way to allocate that money. I'll lay out what my current plan is, but I really don't know if I'm doing the right thing.
Cost to Live (Mortgage, Bills, Living): $3.5K/month (I live in Southern California where house prices are very high, thus the high cost of living for me).
401K contribution: I'm currently funding to the match
Retirement: In total, I have about $125K in retirement accounts (401K/Roth). One thing to note, is that I exceed the maximum income for Roth IRA contribution so I do not fund a traditional IRA -- this allows me to backdoor in to my Roth.
Car Payment: None. I have a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee that is paid off
CC Debt: None. I pay off my balances each month.
Emergency Fund: $9K
General Liquid Savings: $0
Right now, it scares me that I have a limited emergency fund first (only about 3 months) and no other liquid savings (I used to have a savings, I put that all in to my house when I bought it 3 years ago for down payment so that's why I'm starting over). So here is how I am currently prioritizing the $2,300 of leftover income I have each month.
Current Savings Plan
Emergency Fund: $1,600 (~70%)
Roth IRA: $450 (~20%)
General Savings (for home repairs, other unexpected costs): $250 (~10%)
My plan is to get to a 6-month emergency fund first which is in my Ally Bank high yield savings account. At current rate, I'll have my 6 month emergency fund by the end of the year. Once I get there, I'll probably bump up my general savings but then I'm not sure what to do with the rest. So I guess my questions are, am I doing the right thing by aggressively saving for my 6-month emergency fund or should I be allocating differently and then separately, once I have funded my emergency fund, then what would be the best thing to do?