I'm 32, wife is 30. One kid (4) and second on the way this fall. I've not spent much time at all to be extremely knowledgeable in the investing world, so we've kept it simple with some input from an advisor who manages a few accounts for us (roth IRAs and some old employer 401k/403b accounts that we rolled over into traditional IRAs).
- No debts outside of mortgage
- Both maxed out 401k contributions (all Roth now)
- Contribute full state tax deductible amount to 529 plan for kid
- Contributed max to Roth IRA annually until we passed the income limits
- Next up is sorting out what to do around backdoor/mega backdoor roth
I'm sure the costs of two little ones will hold us steady in this state for a few years, but then onto getting some money into taxable accounts (either learning on my own, or using our advisor). It's very hands off and simple for us and don't watch the market constantly.
Our income situation obviously helps, but the biggest thing for us was starting straight out of college contributing really significantly to employer retirement plans. Like every college kid, I was dead broke when I graduated and started my first job. I started contributing 10% to 401k immediately and but when you start out like that, you never miss the money. Then every raise over the years I would up the contribution percentage by half of the raise (4% raise, increase contribution by 2%) until I was maxed out. Again, never missed the money because I never saw that "new" salary. I just saw the small increase that ulimately came through. Probably "better" ways to do it, but for simplicity sake it was a great way to get a jump start on things.
