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Longjumping-Nature70 t1_jegtk91 wrote

You are doing well. You have way more of a handle than I did at your age. I just threw darts while trying to figure it out. Of course, the internet was just beginning

Do not worry about the layoffs. Layoffs go in a streak. In one or two years(tops), there will be no layoffs for another decade and it will only be hiring. 2009 to 2021, companies hired like mad, now it is time to pay the piper. By the start of 2024, I am willing to wager hiring begins again.

IMHO, when young you need to worry about surviving first.

Contributing anything to retirement is better than nothing. But contributing the max to retirement could mean living hand to mouth. I realize you are not contributing the max, but it is a good chunk. None of us know then the time clock ends. Life is meant to be lived.

I say cutback on the ROTH 401k contributions, maybe to 8%. If you like the 12%, then go for it.

For me, my goal was to always lessen my debt. Not sure what your rate is on student loans, but since I have seen some with 11.25%, ouch. As I recall, my student loans were at 8%. We paid our student loans in full. My loans were not in the 5 integers though.

I always figured if I lowered my debt, I could allocate the money to build wealth. I own mutual funds, dividend reinvestment plans, stocks, and iBONDS. Do not buy iBONDS.

Buy a ROTH IRA and put it into a mutual fund.

The RSUs are nice, but my advice is to keep 50% of them if you believe in the company and sell 50%. I speak from experience on losing out on a bundle of cash because my spouse told me I could no longer sell stuff because of the tax consequences. I was using the money for home improvements.

Fine. I sold none of it after that and watched it crash to -95% from the high when I cashed out. I lost $400,000 or so. After that I told my spouse I no longer accept advice from them.

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paltum t1_jegtk31 wrote

Your life expectancy is not a precise number. You need to plan to be pretty old when you are waving your last dollar. You don’t want to save enough to get to 80 just to find you are good until 95.

The other factor to consider is the potential that the last few years of life can be insanely expensive. If you need help, it can easily cost $100k/yr today. There is no way to know if you need this care or for how long. Long term care insurance might offset this risk.

You also might not collect as much social security as you expect today. It is getting pretty likely that retirement age will be kicked further out. And Medicare may be a lot more expensive, as well. Both of these benefits are going to go under increased financial pressure.

My personal approach is to some day pay off my mortgage and use my home as a store of value to handle a major life change like assisted living.

In other words, you probably want to save enough to cover your expenses in retirement, maybe add a bit to give you flexibility for things like vacations, and have an extra pile to handle massive end of life expenses.

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