Thanks for posting, OP. This discussion has been very informative. DH and I are in our mid 40s with similar aspirations of rebuilding on our lot or a massive gut reno at some point (who knows when or if we can even swing it). This post really has us thinking about which direction we should go in and when.

As a person who is actively managing our investments, your retirement portfolio built entirely on index funds is incredibly impressive. I was just thinking that we will need to start moving a small portion of our funds into bonds soon before the last of the interest rate cuts, but hell I am changing that strategy to index funds for the most part! Thanks again and keep living your best life, don’t be bothered with any hate!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've stopped maxing my 401K in my 40s for exactly this issue. My money is going elsewhere.

That said, you should get a mortgage, and you will have no trouble getting one with your asset position, on top of other retirement benefits.

OP here. What tax bracket are you in though? We are in the 37% bracket usually plus high state income tax. We have been for probably 15 years. We also plan to start Roth conversations filling the 24% tax bracket as soon as we retire. We plan to wait to 70 for SS.

I think about stopping the 401k contributions above match now. At least I would be paying that taxes now. But honestly I don’t think it moves the needle much given that the returns in our 401ks have been far exceeding any annual contributions.

I don't mean to be rude, but if you've been at 37% for 15 years then you have a spending/saving problem that will eat you alive in retirement if you don't make some serious changes. At that income level your savings should be WAY more. Your taxable accounts should be WAY higher. You've been taking home AT LEAST $400k/yr for @15 years. Even maxing out pretax withholding you're at $300k take home. Your spending is very high. If you don't make some changes that savings won't last long.