DH and I are working towards maxing out our retirement accounts in 2019. We aren't quite able to do both yet, so I wanted to ask the forum which one we should focus on maxing out first?
My employer has a government retirement account that you are never able to change once you determine the amount you contribute. I have 6% with my employer matching 6%. They offer a 457 account through John Hancock as an additional avenue due to not being able to alter the 403B 401A. I currently have 8% going towards it. I have 80% in 500 Index Fund JFIVX with an expense ratio of .64 and 20% in Vanguard short-term federal fund VSGDX with an expense ratio of .70 (these were the lowest I could find since the growth multi-manager JILGX charges 1.08%)
My husband's retirement account is through Vanguard and he uses the 2050 Target Date fund. He currently has 6% contributed, with a 6% employer match.
Some notes to consider:
1. I am on the public loan forgiveness track (expected to be done 12/2019). The more money that goes into my retirement, the less taxable income I have which equals lower payments. This may not be a huge factor since I'm already nearly done.
2. My husband gets a bonus each year and he always puts the max, 80%, of it into his retirement account to avoid excessive taxes. He gets the bonus around April and will obviously count towards the max he's able to contribute per year.
I've read that JH has high management fees and not sure if this is worth the ability to withdraw money before retirement.