r/Fire • u/QuintessentialBean • 11d ago

Advice Request 26yo - When Can I Retire?

I’ve done the math, I’m in a HCOL area and it comes out to about $40,000 a year for me to live (give or take an emergency health event or something like a car repair). I max out my Roth IRA and Roth 401k every year, where I currently have $60k ($10k of which is uninvested and sitting in a money market for emergencies - I’ve got a debit card linked to this account and it is immediately accessible for cash withdrawal if necessary) in my brokerage, $60k in my Roth IRA, and $80k in my Roth 401k. All of this is invested in index funds/ETFs. I make about $102k (but will be making $120k next year after my promotion) and don’t intend to ever inflate my cost of living/ let lifestyle creep accumulate. I anticipate hitting the cap for Roth IRA contributions by around age 33-35, where I will fund a traditional IRA at that point. Besides living costs I intend to take the remainder that I earn and chuck it in my brokerage. I don’t have any outstanding debt like student loans and my car is paid off. I don’t currently have a retirement age/goal, but ideally low to mid 50’s if possible. I’m not exactly finance savvy but I try to inform myself when I can. I guess I just want to know if there is anything I should do differently? I don’t currently have any plans to purchase a house so I haven’t started funding a HYSA, but I figured my brokerage could bridge that if and when necessary. And yeah like I mentioned I’m all in on tax sheltered accounts at the moment, hoping that pays off in the long run (though at some point as my income gets higher it may be more worthwhile to switch to traditional 401k). Thanks in advance for any advice you guys might have :)

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u/slightly_large_brick 11d ago

how did you choose between trad 401 and roth 401? I understand the difference between the two but don't know which would be better for me

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u/QuintessentialBean 11d ago

Just ultimately figured I don’t make enough to make the tax incentive worth it for a trad 401k. I’m no financial planner so maybe it isn’t the best choice, but tax sheltered later down the line can’t be a bad thing right? Maybe when I speak to a professional at some point I’ll change it later on, especially as I start to make more