My husband and I have been having discussions regarding what our split should be between tax deferred and taxable. Here's our situation and approximate current breakdown - what are your opinions? We are thinking about dropping my 401k contribution from the max because I don't net much after nanny expenses and max 401k. I'm kind of undecided how we should proceed...but feel like a slacker for not maxing. Not really interested in dropping expenses which are currently about $80k per year, of which close to $30k is childcare. We live in Denver Metro so this is pretty reasonable for our income level. We may have to sell off some of our highly appreciated holdings to continue maxing my 401k but would like your opinions. Once our twins go to school at 6 years old (so three more years) we will get rid of the majority of the childcare expense which will be a huge expense cut.
wife 34, husband 36
wife $76k per year on 75% work schedule
husband $106k per year incl. ESPP discount (can sell immediately - he does maximum purchase amount per year)
3 year old twin boys (we have a nanny that watches boys while I work semi part-time)
husband maxes 401k
husband maxes family HSA
husband maxes dependent care FSA
wife maxes 401k
health insurance through husband - too expensive through employer
Assets:
House FMV $400k
Cars $50k
Retirement Assets $610k (mostly tax deferred, small amount Roth)
Money Market & Other Cash $23k
HSA $10k
Index funds - $80k (highly appreciated - held for years)
Indiv Stocks - $27k (highly appreciated - held for years)
529 plans that grandparents hold for kids - 80k (I include here as this is something everyone asks about)
TOTAL ASSETS $1,280,000
Liabilities
Mortgage - $130k @ 4%
Car Loan - $16k @ 1.59% (only financed because I could get such a low rate!)- 1.5 years remaining on loan
TOTAL LIABILITIES $146,000
NET WORTH AS OF 12.31.17 $1,134,000
I would love to continue maxing but we're running out of cash! We've had to pull funds out of money market several times this year to fund our expenses.