TLDR: I'm in my 20s and I've decided to largely forgo retirement savings for the next few years in anticipation of wedding, housing costs. Am I being reasonable?
Using a throwaway for obvious reasons. Basically, in the next 3 years my girlfriend and I will likely get married and buy a house together. I'm 27 years old, making $105k / year in a high cost of living area. My only debt is about $24k in a private student loan at 4% interest, for a graduate program I finished about a year ago. I currently rent and pay $950/month. I have $35k in investments across 401ks and IRAs.
As for my 401k, my employer matches 4%, so I've recently reduced my contribution to exactly 4% so I can take advantage of the match but no more.
I'm trying to save $20k for an engagement ring, $20k for the wedding itself, $30k for a down payment (future wife will contribute equally), and ~$20k to pay off my remaining loans prior to the wedding (just so we'll both be debt free). These costs are flexible but I prefer to plan for the extremes. I get paid biweekly and have about $1200 each paycheck to put into high yield savings, which has me on track to have saved that amount plus a sizable emergency fund by age 30.
I'm a bit uneasy contributing so little to retirement, but it is for a very limited amount of time while I prepare for these high, one-time expenses. In 3 years, I'll be able to max out my 401k for the rest of my career.
Is this reasonable, or am I an idiot?
Submitted October 21, 2018 at 05:38PM by fp12930 https://ift.tt/2AlytCI
