🔺 r/personalfinanceuMatchaSetPoint·54 days ago
Older folks: Do you regret investing in a brokerage over maxing your 401K?
Curious to hear from people further along than me on this. My situation: I'm 26, and I moved back home to aggressively save for a couple years after getting a remote job making around $100k. I'm rent-free and debt-free. I work in tech, mid-level, and a bit worried about my career path given AI. While my role is stable at the moment, I am trying to stuff as much money under my mattress, so to speak, just in case. My buckets: Roth IRA: Opened and maxed this year in FXAIX. Plan to continue maxing. I like the flexibility to withdraw contributions if I end up laid off, need to go back to school, or want to put it toward a first-time home purchase. Brokerage: $15k in FXAIX. Plan to contribute to this heavily from now on. Probably about $2.5k every two weeks. 401k: $10k. I contribute 6% to get my full employer match of 3%. HYSA: $20k. I plan to get this higher before I move back out, depending on where I land. I'm weighing NYC against somewhere MCOL with good nature access. I would like to experience the city while I'm still young-ish. My goal is to have the brokerage working in the background toward a down payment in case I end up somewhere HCOL for a few years where I won't be able to s…