u/EnvironmentalSand841

Mostly a food for thought question. Someone starting out from nothing, why wouldn't they start off investing in a Roth IRA as their emergency fund. If you are worried about stocks, invest in low risk funds. You can always withdraw the contributions if you have an emergency. Then, if you max your Roth out, you can start building an emergency fund in a HYSA until the next year. Rinse repeat until the HYSA has the 3-6-9 months of expenses that you want. Meanwhile you are helping set yourself up for the future. I always see the advice, emergency then Roth IRA and to me it makes more sense to temporarily use the Roth IRA as your emergency fund.

Am I potentially on track here?

31 years old, 500k mortgage remaining over 24 years, 2.35% interest. Approximately 3.5k monthly with tax, ins., HOA.

Make roughly 200k a year (construction so this is variable, but the future looks very bright).

112k in traditional 401k and 56k in Roth IRA.

I plan to max my traditional 401k every year, plus get roughly 28k employee contribution.

I will likely backdoor 7500 into my Roth every year but could also begin investing into a regular brokerage to try and have some fun money now.

There is potential for a wife and kiddo. My girl will be retired from the military in the next 5 years and we will also have that retirement income, plus whatever career income she lands after retiring, if she decides to continue working.

Edit: open to suggestions for non-tax advantaged investment opportunities. I like the idea of real estate/ renting property, but in California, high initial investment and not landlord friendly, and doing it across state lines seems like it might be a reach. I suppose I could throw it into an index fund and be passive and let it grow.

Other info I didn't include, 3500 a month for housing expenses, $400 in auto insurance (truck and motorcycles), truck and motorcycles are paid off), will call it $500 on other bills (phone, gas, internet, subscriptions). Maybe $400 on gas for the truck. I can definitely reel in my spending on food.

Edit 2: y'all are incredible and while I've been stalking personal finance for months, still missed a bunch of important details, so here's some more. I have a pension with construction, and while retiring at 55 includes a penalty, not working earlier is my priority, plus I can access my 401k at 55 as well. For healthcare I have the VA from my time in service.