I’ve been saving heavily for retirement for about 7 years after reading the personalfinance flowchart and advice in this sub, and wanted to check in.
I’m 31M, TC is ~160k a year, and account values are as follows:
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401k: $355k
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Roth: $53k
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HSA: $8k
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Brokerage: $22k
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Emergency Fund: $18.5k
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Joint Accounts with my wife (wedding, honeymoon, house savings): $60k
My company has an excellent match - 100% on up to $15k in 401k contributions every year, so I always hit that, and usually contribute up until I hit the full federal maximum for 401k. My wife and I file jointly, but we contribute pre-tax to our 401k to reduce our MAGI so that we can be eligible for the full Roth amount; next, I prioritize that, and lastly, I always max out my HSA. Maxing all of these accounts means my current taxable brokerage contributions are at $100/week.
My question is - I met with a Fidelity advisor while my company was offering appointments, and let him know early retirement is a goal of mine. He recommended building up a larger taxable brokerage to have accessible cash in my 50s - for healthcare, living expenses, etc. He said that having enough cash to cover expenses and avoiding any penalties incurred by withdrawing from retirement accounts before 59.5 is a good strategy. However, this contradicts advice I usually see on Reddit, which is that tax-advantaged accounts should always be prioritized first.
Should I shift focus to my brokerage? Thinking if I adjust 401k contributions to just hit the $15k match, and not the full federal $23.5k max, I’d have more room to contribute. However, since we’re on the edge of the income cutoff for Roth IRAs, this may have the additional drawback of reducing the max we can contribute there.
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