I'm not too well-versed in this area, to be honest. Based on what I've been told, it depends on the situation. The main question for pre-tax vs Roth would be whether you think your income (from withdrawing from your retirement accounts) would be higher or lower in retirement. Higher income in retirement would benefit from Roth (pay taxes now, vs paying more taxes later), while lower income would benefit from pre tax (defer taxes now and pay less later). Most FIRE folks tend to fall into the pre-tax bucket because they're saving such a big percentage now (and so they would withdraw, and thus pay, less taxes by paying taxes later). There's also the question about income growth. Generally, I've heard Roth to be better at the start of your career while you're in a lower income bracket. I think the answer is *both*, technically. Unless you're starting at a Big N company, I've heard that the optimal strategy is to split it some way when you're in the mid-20s tax brackets. I am a lazy person - so I max out a Roth IRA and a pre-tax 401k to get a little bit of both (with my MBDR also adding more to Roth). Definitely one of those questions that would benefit from someone that knows taxes intimately. Hope I hoped to point you in the right direction though!

At least it's a good problem to have.

Hell yeah! Keep it up and you'll reach your goals 💪

Yeah, $120/month would be super super slim pickings these days unless you were very deliberate about time and location. Glad to hear that you're putting more money though towards life experiences though!

Good question. It's personal preference for myself. I know that I won't be able to hit the total combined limit under my savings rate, so I just preferred to front load my pretax 401k and back load whatever is left into the MBDR. Next year, I might switch over to doing equal amounts to have a consistent flow of money instead of all at once in either account. What do you do for your retirement account?

@raymondwzeng I determine the overall amount I'll pay and have equal payments taken throughout the year. Generally my last payment will be less. I ask bc depending on the company, this method could affect your match for a company who does it per paycheck.

@@stephanielcowart6867​​⁠Honestly it’s time in the market. Even though it’s minimal. Your money has more time to grow.

It's more time to compound and has a ligher likihood to hit the beneficial gains of the market

Amazing ! I have Liquid Cash I want to put into stocks, but I want to ensure good profits & safety. Care to share how you achieved such milestone.?

Essmildaa Morgan is well known, just look her up

Thanks, Looked her up, I can see her profile here on the web, will send her a well articulated mail. I hope she finds space in her schedule to help me.

Essmildaa Morgan is finally getting the popularity she deserves and this docent come as a surprise. my favourite stocks are Amazon,Walmart, Visa & Telsa

Consistently investing in quality dividend paying companies with the right guidance over the long term is a relatively easy plan to create generational wealth.

@@melodyn6419 Yep!

Definitely a situation of starting on 2nd base. Expecting year 2 to be more or less on my own unless they have something they don't want to tell me about yet.

@@raymondwzengI think it’s cool you’re transparent about it

Fr

Also this is great because I am somewhat in a similar position as you but at age 24, so I have someone to keep me motivated to try to keep up with you in terms of net worth, cheers bro I’ll see you at the top!

Great idea! I'll see what I can put together.

this.

@@annacui1 Good question! It's actually not that difficult to take money out of your 401k before 59.5 without paying the penalty (but not without paying taxes). The Roth Conversion Ladder and SEPP (72t) are 2 popular options in the FIRE community.

@@raymondwzeng I had the same question - thanks for the answer. Followup question: Why bother putting it into the 401k if you're gonna take it out again and pay taxes on it anyway?

Thanks for the question! Beyond the match (which I may or may not vest, depending on if I stay at my current company long enough), I anticipate that my AGI in retirement will be lower than it is now. It makes sense then to defer taxes now vs. paying them now.

I have about $6000 of combined student loans and medical bills. I talk about exact amounts during my monthly net worth updates.

@@raymondwzeng just found your channel.. looking forward to learning

That's definitely one of my focus areas now - improving my fitness and diet for longevity. Focusing on a few things (not eating like shit, zone 2 heart rate training almost daily) but nothing crazy. How do you tackle your health?

You are going crazy!

Good to know, thank you so much!

Congratulations!

That's the assumption I'm rolling with. It'll be amazing if I get the promo, okay if I get a nice raise instead (5% being the norm, before the next year's round of raises). You're right in that I'll probably have better luck looking elsewhere. We'll see what happens.

Good question! Thankfully the medical "debt" is at 0% interest rate, so even though it'll take time to pay off, I'm not in a hurry to do so. It's a similar situation as my student loans where I'd rather invest the difference rather than paying off the loans early.

That's a great question, also what's your (and his) retirement number? Mine is around 4 million

@@aaronquadd3019 that’s solid if you want to pull 8% even 4% would leave you pretty and it would still be able to grow

That's an interesting question. Assuming market conditions stay the same, the *earliest* that I could theoretically retire would be in my late 20s-early 30s. I'm probably going to stick it out though for a few more years until I hit my target of between 1.5-1.75M, sometime in my mid-late 30s. 40 is my hard cutoff. I'm assuming that I'll probably pull the trigger and "retire" in my mid 30s to do what I want to pursue without having the pressure of money. Of course, that's all assuming that nothing changes in my life dramatically. Getting a partner/kids/house could throw off my numbers 😅

@@bunkerchester2623 my hope is to retire by 50, I'm 26 now. I also want to be able to pay off my house and to put my (hopefully 3 children) through private school. If l pull out 4%-5% for the remaining 35 years of my life hopefully there is enough left to give to my children when I pass.

Good question! This money is part of my inheritance. My parents are aware of my pursuit of FIRE and want to help out by having me start investing the money early. It's a level of trust and privilege that I am blessed with.

Haha, thank you! I could optimize it further, but I enjoy my level of spending and wouldn't sacrifice it for the maybe 1-2 years that it *may* save at the most. I'm lucky to be able to do both - most folks can't save aggressively and enjoy life.