So my wife and I are expecting our first child in 7 weeks or so. She makes roughly $42k/year, and I make the same, but close to $50k/year if we want to include overtime pay. Our plan is for her to take 12 weeks off to stay home, and return to work after that time. Because her leave is unpaid (public school teacher) I was wondering if it would make any sense to boost my take home pay during this time by reducing my 401k contribution. Currently I put 15% into a mix of Roth and traditional options and need to contribute 5% for the full employee match.
My current 401k balance is around $43k, so at age 27 I’m pretty happy with the progress made so far. Without crunching numbers, I’d estimate I could bring home and extra $200/ paycheck, or $400 a month if I reduce contributions. We do have a decent chunk in our savings account, so I’m in no way worried about being financially strapped, but would like to not pull from there as much as possible (future down payment for building a home in a few years). After my wife returns to work, I’d put my contributions right back to 15%, or more, depending on if I receive my yearly pay increase by then or not. Curious to hear everyone’s thoughts!
Submitted November 10, 2017 at 06:57AM by sneakypete23 http://ift.tt/2je7Wkp
