Hello Mustachians! While I am past the point of being an 'early' retiree, I found this website as I searched for ways to do better. I was already more careful with money than most, but I have done quite a bit of fine tuning -- and continue to do so -- and have seen explosive benefits. As I now have excess funds every month to invest, given my age and current balances, I'm not sure whether I should be putting it into my 401k or my brokerage account (in index funds, of course), relevant to my age. I'm expecting I should be maxing out my 401k as I am unlikely to retire before 60, when I can cash in on it anyway, but thought I would check. I made many mistakes in the past, have cleaned them all up, and in the high cost of living area where I am located where people regularly work until 70 or until they drop, retiring at 60 given the HUGE mistakes I made when much younger, will be an accomplishment I will be proud of. Meanwhile, I have reaped the benefits of a simpler life for quite a few years, and those benefits have increased even more since finding this blog.
Age: 50
Own my own home @ approximately 500k, and no debt or mortgage
401k : 160k, all index funds
ROTH IRA: 40k, all index funds
Brokerage account: 40k, all index funds
My income is increasing and my expenses lowering. They are not now where they will be one, two or six months from now.
My retirement goal is to live on 35k a year (I am in an uber high expense area), and I am currently saving 25k a year and expect that to be up to 37k a year six months from now. By saving, I mean money I am depositing into funds and am not including dividends or capital gains.
Throw monthly excess into brokerage or 401k???