My husband and I are trying to decide where to invest an extra $1k every month. We’re looking at either brokerage (what we’re currently doing) or a 403b account. Our goal is early retirement, somewhere between the age of 53 and 55. We are 29 and 32 right now.
My husband has a 401k with his employer and I have both a 403b and 457b through mine. I can contribute the IRS limit to each the 403b and 457b. So, between the two of us, we have 3x the IRS limit that we can contribute to employer sponsored retirement plans. He maxes out his 401k and I max out my 457b (this is a deferred compensation plan, allowing me to withdraw penalty free after leaving my employer, regardless of age). I am prioritizing my 457b because of our early retirement goals. I also contribute enough to my 403b to get my employer match, and some more. In 2025, I contributed about $7500 to my 403b. We both have Roth IRAs and max them out every year and already have for 2026.
Currently, we are contributing $1k/month to a brokerage account. However, I’m wondering if it would make more sense for that to go into my 403b instead because it’s a tax advantaged account and we are planning to use my 457b to bridge us between start of retirement and age 59.5. We already have 6 months of expenses saved in a HYSA for our emergency fund.
Any thoughts on where this extra $1k/month should go would be greatly appreciated! Brokerage, 403b, or somewhere else? Thanks in advance!