Wow, thank you everyone for your response!
I just want to say that for “getting started” you have done AWESOME! It’s great that you see places to optimize, and I know you’ll find lots of help here doing so, but you should also feel very good about how you’ve saved to this point. Well done!
And thank you for the encouragement! Luckily my parents instilled some saving sense into me so we are off to a great start. I just feel 5 years behind on a 10 year journey and looking for any workarounds to shorten the length. No better time than now!
I would answer yes to all three questions.
Ok, so continue to max the 401Ks and Roth and find an amount for home savings that let's me contribute an adequate amount to the index "retirement" fund. Also reallocate 100% 401K to S&P Index fund ASAP?
38k/yr * 25 = 950k invested by the 4% rule.
Thanks for reminding me of the 4% rule. I had just read $7k/yr for every $100k invested in the getting started blog and got ahead of myself. I'm now looking at 30k a year * 25 = $750k invested.
I'll echo the others in saying that it sounds like you are doing pretty great managing your "big picture" financial decisions. Welcome and congratulations on all you've done thus far! Like YttriumNitrate, I also say yes to your three questions.
I'm curious, however, about the "creeping lifestyle" you mention. Without seeing a breakdown of your budget it's hard to give specific advice on areas where you could cut back to free up extra savings, but the mere fact you are aware of needing to cut back is a good sign. If you want help in this area from the forum, consider posting a case study (https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/case-studies/) or providing extra details here.
And back to the big picture finance stuff, however, where is your Roth held? Vanguard? If not, consider transferring your funds to Vanguard for the lower fees. This may be a good time to check what exactly you are paying for.
Thanks you for the in depth response and advice. First I'll answer that we have the Roths with Fidelity (I don't recall why I went with them). I really didn't do much research and went with advice from an investor friend. We contribute the max each year and haven't educated myself on fees and such. It would be interesting to know.
And the "creeping lifestyle" I referred to is my ever increasing big ticket purchases:
- Guitars, bicycles, club memberships
- Concerts, movies and outrageous dinners (once in a blue moon is good, but not every month)
- Buying lunch at work and eating out constantly
- Overpriced vacations
- New electronics
- Video game systems, games and online subscriptions
- Clothes and shoes I don't need
- Amazon shopping sprees
- Alcohol consumption (I was able to quit July of this year = Big Savings!)
I was chasing happiness with money and thanks to MMM's philosophy I realized it is not fulfilling and uncontrolled spending is prolonging my unhappiness. Quitting some social media has helped a lot.
I feel we have a better outlook now and control on monthly expenses. I just need to look at a few more things like cutting car insurance/driving costs and finding term life insurance now that we had our first baby this year.
Yikes, this is scary, but I'm willing to change for a better future.