Gut check on my current financial situation
I’m looking for some outside perspective on my financial situation and whether I’m on a reasonable trajectory for retirement.
41yo, stable career making about $158k/year gross, 7 years until I can retire with a pension = 50% of my current salary. No kids, never married. I own a small house with property with about $80k left on the mortgage at 3.5% interest. House is worth roughly $400k now but needs work (Roof, Siding, kitchen/bathroom updates). Monthly mortgage is about $1,100.
I currently:
- Max out deferred comp/retirement contributions ($24,500/yr)
- Have around $170k invested in deferred comp retirement account
- Invest another ~$800/month into stocks/index funds (mostly QQQ/VOO style investing with ~$65k invested currently)
- Keep about $10k checking and $20k savings
- Bills are relatively low overall with the only debt being mortgage and a $650/mo car payment.
I also have side income from a business that averages around another ~$1,500/month profit but haven't gotten the initial investment back yet and the $1500 could stop at any time realistically.
The thing I struggle with is balance.
Part of me thinks I should aggressively pile money into investments while I’m still relatively young. Another part of me feels like I’m already doing “enough” and should focus more on enjoying life, travel, hobbies, experiences, etc. while I’m healthy and able to.
I don’t really come from a wealthy background, so sometimes it’s hard to know what’s financially smart versus what’s unnecessarily conservative. I was paying the mortgage down from the start with an extra $400/mo but have since redirected that into the investment account mentioned above (ETF's) with the thinking that the growth from that would exceed the 3.5%
Some things I’ve debated:
- Whether I should be investing more heavily
- How much cash I should realistically keep liquid
- Whether I’m behind, ahead, or about average for my age/income
- Still contributing to investments after retirement, leave them alone and let them grow, or withdraw monthly or as needed.
- After retirement and my income drops, should I gradually move investments into a Roth?
- Health insurance after retirement is going to be expensive, how much can I expect that to impact quality of life?
I know personal finance is subjective, but I’d genuinely appreciate perspectives from people who are farther along financially or closer to retirement. What would you do differently in my position?