Advice

What do you do?

Appreciate the thought. I did not think about contributing that much to the 401k to make us Roth eligible.

If you and your wife are making over $200k then you're in very solid shape. The problem most people have is lack of income. Your problem is having more income than you know what to do with - a very good problem to have.

The emergency fund is fine. Definitely get your other savings vehicles going though. ETFs and index funds are the way to go. Personally I like Schwab but Vanguard, Fidelity, TD Ameritrade and others are perfectly good too.

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There's just no way to post your income and not come off as a raging douche, even if you're looking for legit advice. If your question was what type of life insurance you should get and Vanguard retirement, I don't know why a step by step outline of your income is needed other than as a not so subtle brag

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One reason is he's going to be ineligible to contribute to a Roth so I'm guessing he's trying to figure out alternative savings vehicles

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I would pay a professional to look at your accounts if you are serious.

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See my post above. This is not advice.

Should the OP see a dentist? A dentist is a professional. Maybe an architect?

I just came hear to spit ball ideas with people. I'm not going to take everyone's advice but like I said, I'm a long time lurker and feel like a lot of posters on this board have a lot of good ideas.

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Don't worry about those comments. I've wanted to start a thread asking for some ideas, but am not comfortable posting my details and risking the "subtle brag" bullshite.

As to your situation, I'm surprised at how low your retirement savings are based on your income. You either live well and have a few toys, or your income is a more recent event. If the latter, how stable or certain is your income?

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I hate to interject (again) into the OP's thread, but there are quite a few folks who knock out student loans after attending graduate/medical/professional school then start saving for retirement. With interest rates of student loans at or above nearly 7%, it isn't that bad of an idea, right?

I am in a similar situation as the OP. When I started earning money, my company didn't offer a 401k match (they funded a pension instead), so that's what I did--knocked out a small amount of student loans initially then started retirement savings.

Now, I am hitting 401k hard. Maybe I put myself behind a bit, but I feel like I did the right thing. God forbid I would have asked for advice on this board.

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Then make a recommendation for someone that he should speak with.

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Fair enough. And you're right, I could've been more helpful than to dogpile on the other comment. For that, I apologize. It wasn't me who said anything about validation.

At a minimum, I'd look for someone with a CFP - this guarantees they've at least made it 3 years and have some experience. I'd avoid banks and wirehouses. I agree with your comment on NWM, and I'd lump in New York Life and other primarily insurance companies in with them.

When you meet with someone ask them the simple question: What is the breakdown of your commission based (mutual funds, private offerings, annuities, and insurance) vs. fee based revenue? Preferably <5%, but anything over 10-15% commission based products would make me very nervous and I'd want to know their explanation. It would indicate to me they were still, at least partially, in the "eat what you kill" stage of their career or that's just how their firm works and how they were trained.

Then ask the exact same question for assets under management. This range can be a little higher because once an advisor can go fee based, it may take some time to transition the business from those legacy assets. Preferably <25%, but not over 30-40%. This would indicate rotation in a particular advisor's career and you want someone who is either in this stage or passed it.

Finally, the reason you want a fee based advisor, despite what the interwebs say, is you can fire them tomorrow if you decide you're unhappy and not pay an arm and a leg to break up with them.

While it doesn't appear kosher to pump a brand on here (other than Vanguard ), I'll leave it at, you can search these forums for other recommendations.