This really is a two-headed question.

First, since I assume people aren't stuffing cash in a mattress (well, maybe Belly35), what sorts of accounts do you use to save and invest for retirement?

Second, what sorts of things do you do in your routine and budget to save on unnecessary costs around the house?

I've always thought my wife and I were pretty frugal, but I'm curious what others are doing as well.

Jesus Saves!

Satan invests

In all seriousness Inwas fortunate enough to work for a company that matched up to 10 percent on 401k 

other  than that, my wife and I always go on va action and spend at least 1500. I had deducted 100 from my check every 2 weeks and didn’t touch it. Some years  i didn’t  need to raid the account  for the vacation. In the same account, whenever we didn’t have a car payment we would put th the same amount in that account. 20 years later that account has 26k in it (most is in cds)

Retirement account, first.  If you do well in your career/investing, then down the road you do need to start thinking about your current vs. retirement tax brackets.  But in that situation, there are a variety of options.  Generally, any time I can delay or avoid the govt taking a chunk of my money, I do as much as I can!

Then an after-tax brokerage account.  I tend to keep funneling money into my brokerage for investing, leaving about a month of expenses in a savings/checking which provides some cushion for the unexpected.  It also forces dollar-cost-averaging investing, which is the way to do it for most people.

The unfortunate thing is the lousy returns on cash and CD's.  I've been 100% in equities (strictly low-cost ETF's) for a while, but after the next rate hike or two I'm going to begin gradually increasing my allocations to fixed income mutual funds....before the next recession I'd like to be about 60% fixed income, 40% equity.

If you have kids, 529's seem attractive (though I'm no expert).  I have not seriously considered a rental property, mainly because it seems like to much work for a little extra return vs. the equity/debt markets....but real estate is nice diversification and inflation hedge.  Except, for many people, it's the opposite with your house representing the vast majority of your savings/investment.

We've got 401k's, IRAs, a brokerage account, and cash savings. My wife works in public ed and I know is forced to put 10% (and gets a match) into retirement, and she's not paying in to SS. I put in 6% (company match is max of 3%) for a total of 9%.

We're also aggressively paying down loans, namely my student loans and our mortgage. We've got a plan to basically have zero debt in about 5-6 years.

We started using YNAB (You Need A Budget) recently for our budgeting app and it's helped us immensely. It's not free, but it's better than any other software we've used and it works really well for our needs.

Pretty much the same as gut, but two others: t-bills and HSA. 

HSA accounts are the greatest thing since sliced bread. It’s eserntially an IRA but can dip in for medical expenses. Grows tax deferred, invested in the market, pre-tax contributions, and passes to a bene at death. 

T-bills I utilize when I have extra cash and won’t need it for a few months and don’t want to add to my brokerage account. 

401k - max (6% company match)

IRA - max (1 each for me and the wife)

HSA - max ($1500 company match)

529 - we've been putting a fair amount per year in for 5 years now, i feel like we are getting close to the max we want to hold in these if college costs more than what is in there, we'll just cash flow it.

With the leftover money, we've been saving it to pay off our house. More and more though, i'm thinking of investing that money and trying to get to the FIRE number. Realistically if we don't pay off this house, we'll use that money to buy some land and build the "dream house/retirement home".

Oh, yeah. We've got a pretty nice sized HSA balance as well.

posted by j_crazy

401k - max (6% company match)

IRA - max (1 each for me and the wife)

HSA - max ($1500 company match)

529 - we've been putting a fair amount per year in for 5 years now, i feel like we are getting close to the max we want to hold in these if college costs more than what is in there, we'll just cash flow it.

With the leftover money, we've been saving it to pay off our house. More and more though, i'm thinking of investing that money and trying to get to the FIRE number. Realistically if we don't pay off this house, we'll use that money to buy some land and build the "dream house/retirement home".

 

That a ROTH IRA? 

Retirement age 67 life expectancy 78. So basically you guys are not enjoying life so you can do well for the last 11 years of your life. Had a coworker retire last year. We got out of school on a Friday and he died Friday night. He was 66 years old. I save in a 403b a little but I would rather take vacations and go to steeler games etc and enjoy my life now while I can enjoy it. No one is promised tomorrow. This choice is easier because I don’t have kids and don’t plan on having any 

posted by geeblock

Retirement age 67 life expectancy 78. So basically you guys are not enjoying life so you can do well for the last 11 years of your life. Had a coworker retire last year. We got out of school on a Friday and he died Friday night. He was 66 years old. I save in a 403b a little but I would rather take vacations and go to steeler games etc and enjoy my life now while I can enjoy it. No one is promised tomorrow. This choice is easier because I don’t have kids and don’t plan on having any 

Your goals are different than others. Not everyone’s financial planning is the same. Your post is terrible. 

Max out 401ks, have an Ally savings account for the amount that sits in there for bills (one of the higher interest rates), and have the rest of our savings with a financial adviser (fuck 2018, especially Q4). Put a little in HSA and also the limit of $5k for dependent care for daycare. Don't do any trading of my own other than take the discount on my own and my wife's companies. 

Besides savings though, we are pretty cheap. Baby is expensive, daycare, had a patio and fence installed, but really we don't eat out that often and don't buy much clothes related. Basically we live well beneath our means, but will splurge when we want, knowing that we are good the rest of the year.

posted by SportsAndLady

Your goals are different than others. Not everyone’s financial planning is the same. Your post is terrible. 

Lol I was only half serious my SO does all the saving and makes significantly more than I do as a teacher so I pay for more of the fun stuff we do but I also recognize you can’t take it with you so we try to be reasonable in both sides of that coin

posted by geeblock

Lol I was only half serious my SO does all the saving and makes significantly more than I do as a teacher so I pay for more of the fun stuff we do but I also recognize you can’t take it with you so we try to be reasonable in both sides of that coin

You’re a teacher so I’m assuming you have a pension? So that makes sense you wouldn’t NEED to file money away for retirement. Others don’t get that luxury and need to. 

posted by geeblock

Retirement age 67 life expectancy 78

I'm not trying to work past 55, at most 60. 

posted by geeblock

Retirement age 67 life expectancy 78. So basically you guys are not enjoying life so you can do well for the last 11 years of your life.

False dichotomy. While some people do (a cousin that acts like money has an expiration date), I have no need to spend every cent I make to enjoy life. I get as much enjoyment buying a mutual fund or a stock as I would taking one more vacation per year or buying some physical object. In fact, if being the polar opposite of a hoarder is also a condition, I have it. One of the best parts of my college years is that everything I owned fit in my car.

We max out our 403Bs, keep our emergency fund (6 months) in a 2.2% savings account, have a little money in S&P 500, but mostly put everything extra into her private student loans. I also have a pretty nice pension through my job. A couple of her loans have interest rates that exceed anything we could moderately expect to return from other investments. Once we have everything > 6% or so paid off, which should happen in the next year, I'll start thinking more about our financial goals.

I'm very basic. 401k, savings account and I use the Qapital app to unknowingly stash away funds for random shit. 

My goal is to get into the property game eventually to set myself up for the future.

posted by SportsAndLady

HSA accounts are the greatest thing since sliced bread.

I forgot about HSA accounts.  Been awhile since I've had one offered thru an employer.  But the chance to pay any sort of healthcare cost pre-tax is terrific.

I haven't really looked at CD's or short-term treasuries in a while.  I do money market fund in my brokerage for the small & short cash holdings I have....past 12 months it yielded 1.94% (less 0.16% expense fee), which is pretty competitive with 12-month cd's and treasuries.  Might be costing you 20-30bps over a year, which isn't that much and worth the convenience factor.

I see no reason to pay off a house, honestly.  You could have locked in like 3.5% over 30 years, which ends-up maybe around 2.6% after tax for most people.....On top of that, it's [normally] an appreciating asset that should average about 3% a year.  Plus, married couples can exempt $500k capital gain on a house sale from tax.  So financing your home, at these rates, is basically free money.  Then you can turn around and invest that mortgage money wisely and average 6-7% long-term capital gain.

Years ago when people were pulling equity out of their house, they were being smart.  But then they stupidly blew that money on disposable and depreciating assets.

I also live well below my means. I have had my car for 10 years. I can’t get my teacher pension until I work 35 years which would put me at 60 years old five or take. But I would only get 66% of my salary and I can’t get insurance until 64 years old. So I will be working 40 years but I will get over 80% of my salary unless they keep cutting teacher pay/benefits. So I will retire at 64 after working 40 years which is fine. I don’t want to be one of those people who retire and then get a job anyway. At some point I will take a principal job and get a nice boost in my top 5 year avg, but for now I enjoy teaching 

posted by geeblock

Retirement age 67 life expectancy 78. So basically you guys are not enjoying life so you can do well for the last 11 years of your life. Had a coworker retire last year. We got out of school on a Friday and he died Friday night. He was 66 years old. I save in a 403b a little but I would rather take vacations and go to steeler games etc and enjoy my life now while I can enjoy it. No one is promised tomorrow. This choice is easier because I don’t have kids and don’t plan on having any 

I know you said later your were only half serious, but I'll respond anyway. We're saving a bunch, while paying down debt, which will leave us debt free with a nice amount of retirement + cash when we're 42ish. At that point I'm hoping I'll be able to semi-retire. Given my line of work I should be able to line up a few projects a year to keep money flowing in and only work part of the year. And given my wife's job insurance won't be an issue.

We also take a couple trips a year and go out and enjoy ourselves whenever the mood strikes us. We're not necessarily super frugal, we just spend money on things we enjoy now. Our budgeting app keeps us on track with that.

posted by geeblock

I also live well below my means. I have had my car for 10 years. I can’t get my teacher pension until I work 35 years which would put me at 60 years old five or take. But I would only get 66% of my salary and I can’t get insurance until 64 years old. So I will be working 40 years but I will get over 80% of my salary unless they keep cutting teacher pay/benefits. So I will retire at 64 after working 40 years which is fine. I don’t want to be one of those people who retire and then get a job anyway. At some point I will take a principal job and get a nice boost in my top 5 year avg, but for now I enjoy teaching 

Wife’s dad was a principal, do it as soon as you can! The benefits are insane. And then when you retire, if another local school district needs a temporary principal, you can get paid plus your 90%+ pension. 

posted by justincredible

I know you said later your were only half serious, but I'll respond anyway. We're saving a bunch, while paying down debt, which will leave us debt free with a nice amount of retirement + cash when we're 42ish. At that point I'm hoping I'll be able to semi-retire. Given my line of work I should be able to line up a few projects a year to keep money flowing in and only work part of the year. And given my wife's job insurance won't be an issue.

This makes sense.. I just know people that don’t enjoy life and then die. Or for example my kinda not friend who ranted about Obamacare for years, saved every dime and never had fun and his wife just got diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer and they did a go fund me and raised 25k in two days even tho he ranted about healthcare and handouts for years. I just want you guys to hiug your loved ones and understand that experiences and trips ect.. are worth more than a house. (Also this is why white people benefit from generational wealth) it is important also so there isn’t a wrong answer imo 

posted by justincredible

I know you said later your were only half serious, but I'll respond anyway. We're saving a bunch, while paying down debt, which will leave us debt free with a nice amount of retirement + cash when we're 42ish. At that point I'm hoping I'll be able to semi-retire. Given my line of work I should be able to line up a few projects a year to keep money flowing in and only work part of the year. And given my wife's job insurance won't be an issue.

Also I know u can retire on OC money lol