My husband had a 2005 Scion xB. He drove it until he was hit in 2011 and it was totaled. Thankfully, he was perfectly fine but we were so sad to lose that car. I was excited to see one listed here. He replaced it with a Kia Soul (which he’s still driving) but it’s not as fun!

Could also do a textbook company? I think they only hire former teachers because you are experts in your field.

I have this issue, too. I found out that if you work in a place that pays into the teacher retirement AND social security for 5 years (in my area), then you can eliminate that Windfall act and collect the full amount (that you are entitled to) from both sources. So, after 18 years teaching, I now work for my county government which is one of those employers that contributes to both.

Work on educating yourself about how the taxes for each type of account work. It’s super boring (pre-bedtime reading?) but super important. You’re doing such a great job saving that I hate to see your hard-earned money eaten away by taxes. For example, you actually pay taxes twice on money that’s in a taxable brokerage account: first when you earn the money, and second when you take it out (although those are at lower capital gains rates, but that 15% could change over time). Even though you’re thinking of the brokerage account as being flexible and accessible, it’s not, really – imagine that the market is down 40%. Do you really want to withdraw from that account at that time? You could, sure, but it wouldn’t be a strategic move.

If the tax issue is just so boring you can’t stand it, another good way to think about which accounts to use and why comes down to two words: diversification and flexibility. By having money in diverse pots, all with different tax treatments, you give yourself flexibility to manage your cash flow and tax bill at various points in your life.

I found a technical but very helpful document from T. Rowe Price called “How to Make Your Retirement Account Withdrawals Work Best for You” that helps visualize the above notion: https://www.troweprice.com/personal-investing/resources/insights/how-to-get-more-out-your-retirement-account-withdrawals.html. Scroll to pages 3 and 4 and read the “before and after” example of “Retirees with Relatively Modest Income.” That’s probably pretty close to your situation. It helps to visualize why it’ll be good to have a variety of differently-taxed accounts – so that you can draw on them at different times during retirement.

Ultimately, I think you should redo which accounts you’re contributing to. It is likely that your best order of priority is the two Roth IRAs (open one for Tara), then your pre-tax 401k, and finally, the taxable brokerage account.

(Note: Before redoing all your monthly contributions, I would get really clear on what Rob’s estimated pension is and what your estimates are for Social Security. Those are important to have so that you feel secure in your strategy!).

I don’t have a taxable investment account so I have no experience with buying/selling funds within one, but the folks who have already commented with specific directions on how to better optimize that account seem spot-on. I don’t see why you’d keep funds with .33 expense ratios if you don’t have to.

Tara mentions being nervous about cash flow a few times. I totally hear this, and the way I’ve dealt with it is to have 1-2 months of expenses sitting in my checking account. I hate budgeting/tracking every dollar (sorry, Mrs. FW!), so it helps me to be okay with having automatic withdrawals into my retirement accounts.

Finally, does Tara really want to FIRE, or is it more about having flexibility to do something like freelancing? I ask because I work in communications, and there are several wonderful editors on my team. I love my field, and Tara said she does, too. So, why FIRE? Is it possible to shape your plans such that Tara still earns some income later on? I feel like having a job that you love is a gift and can help in so many ways.

Best of luck to both of you!

If you two would only earn enough to cover your current expenses, so that you could leave your savings and investments to grow over time, a rough estimate is that in 15 years or so you would have enough money to be FI. (By that time you’d have roughly $1 million from your current $380k in investments).

So to me that means (indeed) that Rob should start looking for a new job right now. Maybe he can go parttime in his teaching career as a first step. Maybe he should just move on and find a different job that brings him more joy. Rob should create an income of at least $1k posttax per month. That’s an incredibly low amount and very easy to get to for someone with his talents, diplomas and experiences; so he has a lot of freedom to find any type of job that brings in at least that much and that brings him joy or at least much less stress/anxiety.

It is very likely that Rob will bring in more than $1k/month over the next couple of years. That means that you two will probably reach FI status even sooner than 15 years from now. (And it can also mean that you two can start spending a bit more on fun/sastisfying/interesting stuff and activities).

So there is an abundance of options in your life. Please make new decisions from the comfortable position that you’ve reached by working hard so far.

Thank you for this, Martha! I really appreciate your sharing.

Yes, this is my situation. It’s really frustrating.

What you have to do to make up for when you may need more money from your paycheck, if you max out 20,500, is have your emergency fund accessible so that you can draw our 5-10,000 if needed. Then, replenish your emergency fund.

You’re doing great!