gamer-stu, I think that in your situation, with lower expenses and an early retirement, I'd take as much advantage of tax savings now and later. Instead of investing after tax, invest as much as possible tax deferred and then do Roth rollovers in retirement. I'd focus on setting up a Roth conversion ladder as soon as you quit working, the concept can be found here: https://www.madfientist.com/how-to-access-retirement-funds-early/
It is especially valuable if you are a high income earner that does not have high expenses, save large tax $ while working and paying very little in tax $ in retirement.
Thank you NgineER, I had never considered a Roth roll-over as way to access the funds early. In my mind I had considered my Roth the last thing I would touch. Granted, I haven't been able to contribute to it the past two years due to my income exceeding the cutoff.
Since I have resolved to keep plugging away for a few more years, I will continue maxing out 401k and saving after tax as much as I can. If I target 49.5, that gives me 5 years to keep saving. My goal is to have enough after-tax to bridge the 10 year gap between 49.5 and 59.5 (I would eat the principal and earnings -- sort of a self funded annuity, while also contributing the max to Roth during this period, as income would be less). That would give the pre-tax items more years to grow, and I won't have to 72T or do anything else to access those funds.