Hola investors and personal finance enthusiasts. I really need advice and I guess I am putting a lot out there. Mods, would you give me permission to delete at least part of this after a day or two?
I have a goal of working part-time for family/spiritual/health reasons. I made a budget and have been scouring it for ways to cut back but I can't make the numbers work!
One question I have--is it worth it to scale way down on saving for retirement for the next five years while it's important to be more present for my tween? What's the minimum I could put towards retirement and still have enough to retire at 65-67? And don't suggest crypto, lol!
I am about 18 years away from retirement and only started seriously saving for it last year, due to life circumstances. Last year I finished paying off credit card debt, built up an emergency fund and since my job did not provide retirement benefits, I opened a ROTH IRA with Fidelity and there is $12,600 in it now. It has a YTD 4.62%. I opened with the intention of investing but once I started researching, I realized I just don't have time to do all the research, monitor, and re-balance, etc. to do it in a way that makes sense--my life is very busy right now. And I just felt very nervous about making a mistake. So I am thinking about converting the whole thing to a ROTH IRA Fidelity Go account which will be managed by robo advisors. (Isn't 2024 wild? Who would have thought I'd be typing those words ten years ago.)
Over the last year I had to deplete my emergency fund and some credit card debt crept back in. So I reduced what I was putting into my IRA from $500/mo to $150 so that I can prioritize first paying off the cc debt, then build 3-6 months of emergency savings back up. Savings are in a high-performance savings account (3.80%) at Capital One.
Meanwhile, I started a job that has retirement benefits. I can make pre-tax or post-tax contributions to a 403(b)
plan up to the set IRS limits. The benefits guide says: "Upon hire, all employees are automatically enrolled in a 403(b) plan at a deferral pre-tax percentage of 2%. After one year of service, [company] will match fifty cents on the dollar for the first 4% of employee contributions."
I have a small pension account from being vested in a different state's retirement system from a previous job. The estimate for the monthly benefit amount is currently about $510/mo. What should I do with this account? Keep as is or roll it over somewhere?
Finally, right now a big spending priority is travel to see my family in FL every year, about 1 or 2x/year and as my parents get older--my mom is in her mid-70s right now--I feel it's very important go more frequently. It costs at least $2000 per visit. (Moving closer to them is not an option for me right now and they won't move closer to me).
I guess my question is - what is the minimum I could save for retirement right now?