Teacher eyeing the finish line
40 y/o NYC teacher — sanity check on trajectory / “protect the engine” phase?
Looking for a temperature check from people who are further along than me, especially anyone in pensions/FIRE/teaching/public sector situations.
I’m 40, single/no kids currently, finishing my 18th year as a NYC public school teacher.
Current salary: ~$123,700
Salary in Sept: ~$130k
Roughly ~$142k two years later
Then top step around ~$150k+ before future contract raises.
If I continue picking up occasional tutoring/extra classes/coverages, I think my final average salary for pension purposes could realistically land around the equivalent of ~$150k–165k in today’s dollars by retirement.
Plan is to retire at 55, which is the earliest I can take full pension. Pension should be ~63% of final average salary.
Current assets:
- 403(b)/TDA: ~$202k
- contributing about ~$2,000/month total
- recently added the new Roth 403(b) option NYC teachers just got
- contribution split is now roughly 70% traditional / 30% Roth
- about ~$1,400/month traditional + ~$600/month Roth
- all equities (roughly 80% US / 20% international)
- Roth IRA: ~$20.4k
- fully funding annually
- all VT
- Taxable brokerage: ~$160k
- mostly ETFs/index funds
- small amount of Microsoft + Bitcoin that I’ll probably simplify eventually
- Cash/emergency/sinking funds: ~$30k
Total net worth is a bit over $400k.
Current rent is $1,975/month.
I’m currently investing roughly:
- ~$31K/year into retirement accounts
- maxing Roth IRA
- ~$700–800/month taxable (to be increased with raises and tutoring per session)
As raises come in, my plan is to capture most of them and increase taxable investing. I’m also considering taking on an extra class or more coverages at work specifically to increase taxable investing and hopefully get total annual investing closer to ~$50k/year next year.
Important context:
- likely marriage in next few years to someone with a low six-figure income who is aligned with long-term financial goals
- no plans for extravagant lifestyle inflation (maybe a Catskills cabin when it makes sense)
My question is basically:
Am I at the point where this becomes more about consistency and protecting the system than constantly trying to optimize every variable? it’s also a really high stress environment - so knowing this part of my life is squared away can help me ignore the noise of institutional/workplace drama that I once felt I needed to participate in order to survive.
Meaning:
- keep expenses reasonable
- keep investing steadily
- stay healthy
- avoid major mistakes
- keep working
- let compounding + pension do their thing
Or am I still in a phase where I should be aggressively trying to ramp income/savings harder than I currently am?