On Track to FI Number? Advice and Recommendations
Hey everyone,
My name is Jenna. I'm relatively new to the BP forums but have been an avid listener of the BP Money Podcast for quite some time.
I'm a 28 yo married female. I've always been pretty financially conscious but didn't really learn about FI until maybe 2 years ago nor did I have a direction/plan before then. I just sort of always did the things I was "supposed to do" like save, invest, etc but didn't really have anything I was working towards.
My wife, on the other hand, didn't grow up with the same financial background. She has some student loans and wasn't very financially-inclined before we started dating. However, we started talking about money very early on in our relationship and although she didn't know much at the time, she was at least open to discussing it and unafraid, which I am grateful for! Not every money conversation has been easy, but the more we talk about it, the more comfortable we both get and finance has now become an integral part of our relationship, so much so that we talk about FI, our net worth, finances, budgeting, etc on a weekly basis.
I feel as though we laid a good foundation, but I'm now at the point of trying to figure out if we are on track to FI and also ways to improve our position even further.
I've started using Monarch Money (thanks for the 50% off one year code from the BP Money Podcast!) so we can track our dual net worth and cash flow in one place. Before this, we each had individual spread sheets and conscious spending plans but nowhere for us to see our combined profile.
My financial outlook -- Across my various accounts, I have about $238K, about 55% of which is savings (actively trying to save for a house and/or other investment) and the remainder in various retirement and/or brokerage accounts (Roth IRA, HSA, 401-Ks, individual stocks, brokerage account, etc). I have no debt.
My wife's financial outlook -- My wife has a little under $24k in assets, 54% in savings and the remainder in various retirement accounts. She also has about $43k in student loans that we've been paying towards every month, but the interest on that varies from 3.4 - 5.3% so it's not too bad, comparatively.
In total our combined net worth is about $212,500. I'm 28 and she's 34. Our combined savings rate is about 40%, although it's a little skewed since I received some inheritance this year. On a normal month, my savings rate ranges from 20-30%. My wife's is lower because she puts a good chunk towards student loans which we don't count as savings.
Based on the 4% rule, I figure we need about $1.5 million to reach our FI number, but I like to be conservative and overestimate so I'm aiming for $2 - 2.5 million.
I feel like we do all of the right things and try to be as frugal as we can be in a high cost of living area (South Florida), but would love some advice on ways to improve our position.
I was toying with the idea of contributing more to my 401-k. Fortunately/Unfortunately I work for a small company that doesn't provide a match yet. However, I still contribute 5% to my 401-k. I consistently have money left over at the end of the month even after accounting for saving, investment in IRA and HSA, so I'm wondering if it makes more sense to allocated those trailing funds to my 401-k rather than putting the extra in savings.
Would absolutely love and appreciate any and all advice, recommendations, and/or reassurance. Thank you all!