Update Since Sept 2015

[dsp0725]

Howdy!

31 years old, late to the ball game of investing and saving. Here's what we're working with.

~47k in cash
~17k in 401K (individual setup, no employee match)
~5300 in Roth IRA

Income is roughly 185k a year.

Debt is ~308k house, ~8k IRS (0% interest), $11k student loans.

I'll be getting married Fall 2016, she makes about 30k a year and has zero debt, roughly 20k saved up. I'm trying to get her to fund a Roth IRA ASAP, she's 27!

So my question is, what would you guys do if you were me? I am thinking about paying off the IRS debt and Student Loan debt any day now.

But as far as investing and creating more cash, what would you guys do?

Thanks for the advice and looking forward to hearing from everyone on this forum!

UPDATE:

I'll be 32 in July, getting married in August. Fiance just quit her job, wasn't worth it for low pay.

- My income is $183k
- $0 debt (paid off IRS & Student loan) Fiance has $0 debt
- $303k remaining on our house @ 4.625%
- $84,993 among my solo401k & Roth IRA

This year I need to open a Roth IRA for my future wife. As well as HSA's for us too.

I just wanted to share this update with everyone. Hopefully we're well on our way to retirement one fine day! Let me know if anyone has advice or comments.

 

[CabinLifeAt50]

Congrats on paying off the irs and student loan! Feels great doesn't it? Looks like good progress on the 401k as well. Keep heading that direction, have a plan with goals in mind and you'll get where you want.

 

[targatom2019]

All I can tell you is my saving took off after I paid of the house. With no mortgage I was able to save very fast and took on more investment risks and the feeling of not having a mortgage is great.

 

[big-papa]

Congrats! I found that I have had several "inflection points" along the way.
1. The first one was turning 25 and seeing my car insurance drop by half!
2. Paying off my first car loan (and vowing never to have another car loan)
3. Paying off student loans
4. Getting married (yay almost 2x incoming salaries) and 100% banking one while living off of the other.
5. Maxing 401K's
6. DW quitting work (sanity wise, a plus, but financially slowed the savings rate down)
7. Having a kid (see #6)
8. Nice raises along the way, some well timed bonuses that almost 100% go to savings.
9. Losing a job at a megacorp that I worked for over 20 years but getting an extremely nice package - again straight to savings.
10. Getting another job quickly, but losing it 6 months later.
11. Pretending to be FIREd for 10 months - understanding (and adjusting) what we spent, getting an ACA, having a much needed sabbatical and de-stressing!
12. Back to work!
13. Coming up I see college for the kid in 3 years. Have plenty saved for that, but just to be sure the plan is to see what 1 semester's expenses look like and if favorable, then FIRE.
14. Sell house/downsize/pay cash for next place

In other words, Life.