Are my financial goals reasonable?

[pikey412]

Age:
28, married, no kids yet, soon-to-be homeowner, mortgage will be ~$1400/mth/30yrs

Income:
Mine:$52k/yr not including overtime
Wife:recent grad; soon to be school teacher, so add ~$30-33k in a few months

Debts:
None (except for impending mortgage)

Accounts:
Checking: ~$5,500
Emergency Fund: $13,000
Roth IRA: $6,000
Investments: $19,000
(no 401k at current job)




I'd like to retire on time at 67 with my primary residence and a vacation residence paid off and $1.5mil saved for living in retirement. I plan of possible 2 children with 529s funded for them.


Does this seem possible? Or are my goals too lofty? Is so, is there anything I can do that you guys can think of to come closer to achieving this?

[Broken Arrow]

You know what? I say it's possible!

However, there are too many unknown variables to be certain of it.

For example, we don't know how much further you respective careers will scale. Hopefully, it will be a lot. Conversly, we don't know how much more in expenses you may incur into the future. Hopefully, not much.

If I have to distill my personal beliefs into one line, it would be "To hope for the best, and to prepare for the worst."

But if all goes well, and one is willing to work hard enough and make certain sacrifices towards it, I don't see why you can't meet your goals.

[zetta]

I think you've made a great start, and your financial goals sound very reasonable. Taking your combined income as $85k, I might suggest $1.7M for retirement (rule being 20x income) as a starting goal.

I'd highly recommend reading All Your Worth by Elizabeth Warren. You've done a great job staying out of debt, and her book really fits someone like you. Her chief suggestion is that you divide needs/wants/savings of your after-tax pay as 50%/30%/20%.

As a teacher your wife probably will have some option like a 403(b) plan, which is similar to a 401(k). She may have a pension, too, but be careful about counting on it initially since it may take many years to become vested in the plan. Be sure and save 15% of your income toward retirement -- split it between the 403(b) and the ROTHs.

After that, look at saving to replace your cars when they wear out and contributing to the 529 plans.

Try to keep to the same standard of living as your pay rises -- saving more and more each year.

[autoxer]

Does this seem possible? Or are my goals too lofty? Is so, is there anything I can do that you guys can think of to come closer to achieving this?

Yes it is possible. You will probably want to max out both of your Roths, to take advantage of some tax breaks. What percentage of your income do you expect to put into long term savings?