Hi, just found this site in the last two weeks and have been lurking, figured I'd add a login I'm 39, married (46), and have two kiddos (9, 6). Just starting to think more seriously and learn about this early-retirement concept. Wife and I fortunate to have sizable mid-100k salaries each and have been maxing 401ks for a bit now - about 625k combined now in Fidelity with a fairly aggressive allocation, just opened our first 10k with Vanguard for taxable investing in VTSAX, and have been doing 529's for the kiddos. After learning about various fund fees, I was pleased to see the Fidelity auto-tune-by-age has me in mostly low-cost Vanguard funds. Also just realized the investing benefits of our HSAs, have us both dialed up to max for next year, and sent my first 1k into a lowish cost Schwab S&P 500 index fund. Its exciting starting to put our money to work for us, instead of wasting it at Target...
Speaking of which, we're fighting the inflationary lifestyle monster. Though we have bounced credit card & auto loan debt free and are ostensibly committing to stay that way, I'm realizing that my spouse isn't on the same page (chapter?) yet... but looks like she'll play ball. We do have 480k left in our recent "dream house" purchase on a 3.75 30-year, but have learned how paying down that mortgage is one of our lower pri's. We're starting to see the light and ratchet down expenses to enable saving more, but it'll be a journey. Recently funded a switch over to LEDs for all of our frequently used lights in the house and am seeing real elect bill drops!
Really inspired by the stories and advice I'm seeing here and at similar sites - please keep it up! For as many great successes there are here, there's likely 100s or 1000s more out there not aware & tuned in to the importance of saving. Thanks!
PS - I read the rules of engagement for the "Hi, I am..." threads after posting; apologies for the non-descriptive subject line!
Speaking of which, we're fighting the inflationary lifestyle monster. Though we have bounced credit card & auto loan debt free and are ostensibly committing to stay that way, I'm realizing that my spouse isn't on the same page (chapter?) yet... but looks like she'll play ball. We do have 480k left in our recent "dream house" purchase on a 3.75 30-year, but have learned how paying down that mortgage is one of our lower pri's. We're starting to see the light and ratchet down expenses to enable saving more, but it'll be a journey. Recently funded a switch over to LEDs for all of our frequently used lights in the house and am seeing real elect bill drops!
Really inspired by the stories and advice I'm seeing here and at similar sites - please keep it up! For as many great successes there are here, there's likely 100s or 1000s more out there not aware & tuned in to the importance of saving. Thanks!
PS - I read the rules of engagement for the "Hi, I am..." threads after posting; apologies for the non-descriptive subject line!
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