Seeking advice from Early-retire Educators and Others

[retire202052]

Just retired from TRS at age 52, in December. Can't really help you on your situation (too much reading for me now )

But you are smart to start planning now and zero in on your goal. It goes by fast. Good luck!

[Stillwater007]

Thank you for the advice!

As far as ROTH IRAs and 403b's, when is the deadline for each?

If I start contributing now, I BELIEVE I have BEFORE April Tax Day to contribute to 2020 ROTH IRA, then after the Tax Day contribute to 2021.

As far as the 403b, the Deadline is Dec 31, so I can only start contributing to 2021.

Is this correct?

Finally, with extra savings after maxing a 403b and a Roth IRA, is it wise to open up a regular brokerage account to put in extra savings? Or put it somewhere else?

Thank you.

[RobLJ]

I was in Texas Higher Ed and in the ORP (optional retirement 403b), not the pension annuity.
However, I used the Fidelity (Vanguard was also available), with a brokerage account subaccount which gave me access to more investments, including funds outside of Fidelity.

Vanguard and Fidelity are both relatively cheap 403b options; many of the others are comparatively expensive. For 10 years, I also made additional contributions beyond the standard 8% contribution, including during the '08 crash; those contributions paid off, although it took a few years to do so.