Does my 2023 Savings Goals make sense? HSA is where I’m struggling the most to solve

Submitted by kepachodude t3_zzg268 in personalfinance

  1. Roth 401(k): increase contribution % from 10 to 14% (Already met the employer match. Salary raise was 4.29%.)

  2. Roth IRA: invest max $6.5k on day 1 of the new year. Pulling $ from Emergency Savings

  3. HSA: this is where I’m struggling the most. My employer hasn’t said anything yet, but I think they’ll contribute $250 and the remaining $3,600 balance will fall on me. I’m the “lump sum and forget” type of investor, but would contributing $600/paycheck be too much? That would be 6 paychecks, or Q1 of the year. I’m curious to know others plans on contributing to HSA.

  4. Emergency Savings: slowly build back to safe pre-determined level after my $6.5k contribution to the Roth IRA ^ (always maintained 1 year worth of expenses)

  5. ESPP: continue 5% contribution. Feel pretty confident with my company at the moment and I always plan on selling shares in lots once they reach the Qualified Dispositions.

—Between Steps 1-5, this is a 32% savings rate—

  1. Taxable Brokerage: Leave as is? Start investing when savings is back up?

  2. TSP: Cannot contribute into this since i left the military. Leave as is? (unsure to move it over to Roth IRA or Employer 401k.)

  3. I-Bonds: Leave as is. (hitting year 1 since I invested $10k last year. Sort of like a super-last resort emergency account for the next 4 remaining years)

I’m curious on everyone else’s 2023 goals as well!

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Comments

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BouncyEgg t1_j2bef51 wrote

What analysis have you performed to conclude that going completely Roth 401k would be better for you over Traditional 401k?

What's your plan if you experience an emergency before the EF is able to be replenished?

What about maintain the EF as is and then contribute to the Roth IRA over time? (as opposed to the other way around)

You can contribute the full thing in one day or you can spread it out. "Too much" is if you contribute so much that you don't have enough to pay for your housing/food/bills/etc.

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WithinN0rmalLimits t1_j2bfegw wrote

From what OP posted, the emergency fund is a year worth of expenses. Even taking 6.5k out, there would still be more than enough of an emergency fund left over

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kepachodude OP t1_j2bg6bc wrote

Right, it’s only 2-3 months of expenses for me. Not too impactful, but I-bonds are my super duper last resort

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kepachodude OP t1_j2bfsqx wrote

  • I don’t like the idea of paying taxes when I retire if I go the traditional route. I expect to move into a higher tax bracket as I get older and I would want my tax obligations out of the way.

  • $6.5k would only ding me maybe 2-3 months of expenses. I still have the $10k+ worth of I-bonds as last resort if my life really went to shit after 10 months lol

  • I’ve been listening and reading articles, books, and podcasts to understand that Lump Sum is best in the long run. I understand it’s not by much that’s lump sum is better than DCA, but doing it monthly or weekly would it feel like I’m timing the market. That’s a psychological issue that would mentally kill me if I kept seeing the market go up or down and then have 2nd thoughts. I’d like to keep emotions out if I can.

  • yeah you have a point. I’ll need to review my budget again to find out how much is too much and what my cash flow will be monthly.

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BouncyEgg t1_j2bgpuc wrote

> I expect to move into a higher tax bracket as I get older.

A common mistake I observe is that "get older" may be in reference to "working life."

The proper analysis should be tax rate now vs tax rate at disbursal. For most people, disbursal is when they are not just older, but also retired. And for most people, retired means low/no income.

Why?

Because retired.

If you're still working when you're old and in a high tax bracket, do you need to be disbursing your retirement funds? Most likely you'd leave them alone until you stop working.

> $6.5k would only ding me maybe 2-3 months of expenses. I still have the $10k+ worth of I-bonds as last resort if my life really went to shit after 10 months lol

Fine.

As long as you acknowledge that you have a plan or are willing to accept a smaller emergency fund for a period of time.

Perhaps it should also prompt you to re-evaluate whether or not you actually desire a 12 month EF.

> I’ve been listening and reading articles, books, and podcasts to understand that Lump Sum is best in the long run. I understand it’s not by much that’s lump sum is better than DCA, but doing it monthly or weekly would it feel like I’m timing the market. That’s a psychological issue that would mentally kill me if I kept seeing the market go up or down and then have 2nd thoughts. I’d like to keep emotions out if I can.

Investing as the money comes available is a reasonable approach too. (ie Set auto-investments to occur every payday) This is often mistaken to be DCA, but it is not. DCA involves intentionally holding cash and avoiding investing until a defined time period.

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mlachick t1_j2bk34d wrote

Your goals look great. I would just do $300/month for the HSA to make sure you don't over contribute and get in trouble, especially if you're a lump sum and forget about it type.

I 100% agree with getting your Roth contribution done ASAP. The market is garbage right now. Might as well get in while the getting is good.

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eckliptic t1_j2bl5ph wrote

What exactly is is your pretax salary and are you confident your retirement effective tax rate on X needed income would be higher than your current marginal rate

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johnnyg08 t1_j2cgfm9 wrote

I'd have lost my ass if I invested $6,000 in my Roth on Jan. 1.

I actually thought about doing it...glad I didn't.

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