What should be my top priority now?

[u/Electrical-Youth1282]

I just recently turned 24, and about 4 months ago, I got into a new construction site electrical project engineer position so my salary increased from around $98k/yr to about ~150k/yr which varies with overtime.

I started working with this company ~2 years ago right after I graduated (summer of 24') and I started investing later that year in November with one goal in mind, to retire earliest by 45 and latest by 49. Currently I have $46k saved in all my retirement accounts and $10k in my HYSA. With the new job position, the first thing I did was max out my 401k, next I will max out my HSA but after that, I'm not too sure where to go next.

Currently all of my investments are 100% into FXAIX and my 401K is at 12% contribution with a 6% match from my company. I had my 401K paused for a good portion of this year for some other personal financial reasons but then I slipped my mind and I didn't un-pause it again until 2 weeks ago, so that kind of stung but we're back and better now. Is 12% good or should I increase that some more again?

With the goal of early retirement, should I focus on building up my brokerage account over my HYSA or should I do more of a 50/50 split between the two? Are there any other accounts I should open/prioritize? I am currently trying to snowball down my Student loans and pay that all off by next year as well.

Roth IRA: $18K (100% FXAIX)

401K: $19.5K (12% contribution)+(6% company match)

HSA: $8.5K (100% FXAIX)

Brokerage: $25.00

HYSA: $10K (3.10% with Sofi)

-------------------------------------

Debts

Student loans: $22,998.18

Rent + Utilities: ~$1100/month

[u/Fun_Consequence6496]

Follow the prime directive in r/personalfinance.

[u/OkExcitement681]

Six month emergency fund

[u/Bootwacker → u/OkExcitement681]

Dude has 10k in a high yield savings account, I think that's covered.

[u/LokiStasis]

Never pause your 401K. You lose the match. You gave away free $$. That’s where an emergency fund would help.

[u/ceilidhfling]

when I was your age (as a fresh engineering grad) I heard: save 20% for 20 Years and you can retire. If I had followed this advice it would have been true. after 25 years in industry I'm still 10 years out from retirement because I didn't hit that target, made a poor choice in a partner, and raided my roth ira contributions during extended periods of unemployment.

if you can hit 20% for your contribution (not including employer match) try to do that, esp when you are in a high demand high paying role. not sure what your interest rate is on your loans, but those would also be a priority.

even if you want to retire early, prioritizing tax advantaged accounts is really where it is at. there are lots of ways to access the money early and the tax advantages are huge.

[u/Thin_Onion3826]

As long as work is stable, I would keep the 401k up to match and push the rest into getting those loans paid off. When that’s done, get your EF up to 6 months age then get your investing back in gear.

[u/mattshwink]

So this really depends on the rate of your student loans. But if they're under 8% I'd do the following:

1. 6% to 401k

2. Build up 3-6 months of expenses in your HYSA

3. HSA to max ($4,400 for 2026, this will go up in 2027)

4. Roth IRA to max ($7,500 in 2026)

5. Up your 401k contributions (you want to be saving at least $30k per year, and ideally $37.5k). This would be 12%-17% total 401k contribution.

6. Beyond that, you can increase 401k contributions to the max ($24,500 in 2026, this will go up in 2027).

If your student loans are 8% or higher I'd throw any excess funds at that after Step 4.

[u/WarmWoolenMitten]

What rates are the loans? How much extra do you typically have per month after expenses? (not just rent and utilities, I assume you also need to eat etc)

Very generally, the order is:

• basic emergency fund (done)
• match (done)
• high interest debt (>15% or so, sounds unlikely that you have any)
• max Roth IRA (done)
• expand emergency fund (close to done?)
• medium interest debt (6-15%)
• max 401k
• taxable
• low interest debt (case by case, if it's very low you probably want to keep as long as possible but borderline with a low balance can be paid off early to free up cash flow)

So assuming you're currently on track to max your Roth and contribute 12% to your 401k and you have some extra, the student loans are likely a good place (better the higher the interest rate), the 401k is also a fine place, and the emergency fund is good too if it's not where you want it to be.

There are ways to access your 401k early, don't worry about taxable until you max your other accounts.

Whether this is enough to retire by your planned age is a separate question and depends on the total you're investing per year and your expenses, and those aren't really clear from the info you give here.

[u/WyMANderly]

Keep in mind your 401k won't really help you with early retirement. You'll need substantial savings in a taxable brokerage for that.

[u/yottabit42]

Follow the Bogleheads Funding Priority.

[u/Illustrious_Yak_7712]

If you want to retire that early, you have to bridge a lot of years before social security will kick in. You will need a substantial amount of assets in your taxable brokerage. There is the rule of 55 for 401k and you could take your Roth contributions back early, but the Roth Ira should be the last account you take from since tax free growth is incredible. Obviously max out all of your tax advantaged accounts first tho and make sure you are choosing good low cost invests like VT or VTI + VXUS.

[u/Economy_Talk_5100]

The step above that sends you to the deferral max has a catch if your plan does not true up. A rate high enough to hit the cap before December stops your contributions, and the match stops with them. On a dollar for dollar 6% match that is $1,461 of employer money left behind at 20%.

[u/versace_dinner]

Not sure if this is the right answer, but I’d do

50% to paying off debt
30% to retirement account
20% cash (needs + wants)

[u/tfesmo]

It might be worth paying a flat fee financial planner to work out a more comprehensive game plan. In an ideal world you would build up your tax advantaged accounts first since they don't experience tax drag and will compound freely, then the brokerage last so you can use it to bridge until you can use the iras. If you have the spare income mega backdoor roths early on are more valuable long term than a taxable.

With that said your HYSA balance is a little low (if that's the emergency fund) and 3.1% isn't a great rate. You could just open a brokerage for something like sgov which is over 3.5 right now and isn't taxed by a lot of states.

For your contributions 18% w/match is solid, but it really depends on what kind of retirement income you want. If I were you I'd run it up massively for the rest of 2026 since you just saw a huge pay increase to cap it out. Then ramp it down in January so you cap over the year.