We're saving each month, but it just goes to a savings account. We max out our 401Ks, and I'm trying to see what else we can do. How do you invest your money?
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My company has ESPP (employee stock purchase plans), stock options and RSU (restricted stock units (? I think).
I have 401k but haven't maxed out my contributions (oops... Missed opportunity). I have opened up an IRA to help with retirement.
Then there are kids education savings plans.
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We did two things. We bought a condo thst we rent out and we invest in stocks.
DH uses two stock apps: Acorns and Betterment besides our Schwab account. One of the stock apps automatically rounds up any purchases we make on our CC to the whole dollar and the change gets used. Another stock account sends over a preset amount every week based on a daily amount we set. That amount is tied to how much we "budget" for my lunch since DH skips lunch. The way it's all set up its super easy to just keep contributing.
We each contribute 10% to our 401k, employer matches less. Starting this year we no longer contribute to my IRA. Sometime this year DH will find another excess savings vehicle for us to use, but I bet that may just be daycare tuition- still an investment in our future.
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This is a hot topic in our household right now and I'm also looking to better understand how others are having success with savings/investing. Looking forward to seeing what others share.
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We max out our 401ks, contribute to 529s, and then we invest in stocks through Charles Schwab.
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Just a 403b, IRAs and money market acct.
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@MrsKerch: With us as well. I finally got him to agree to invest in a CD ladder, took me a year.
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First, max out a Roth IRA for both you and your husband, if you're eligible. Also consider investing in your HSA if either of you has one - it's one of the few vehicles that where you never pay tax and while you may not need health money now, most people need it eventually, unless you die very suddenly. After that, any extra savings goes into stocks. We have some in conservative accounts that we plan to use in the next few years, the rest goes into relatively aggressive accounts since it's going to be there until retirement.
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First priority was maxed 401k, then maxed Roth IRA. I have a managed portfolio through merrill lynch from forever ago. I just don't have it in me to actually do the research and know enough about the market to be more active, so I just have a financial advisor that takes care of it. It's set up based on my input of risk and goals. DH does his on investments. He toyed around with stocks (which ended up being too volatile for him) and options for a bit, then settled on just a few funds that track the S&P with options on those. Took him about 2 years to find an investment strategy that he was happy with.
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I currently do not max out on 401k... Hopefully I will go back to doing it when I'm done with needing unpaid maternity leave and also not having to pay for daycare.
I have a 401k, IRA, and a portfolio where our savings are. Then I do have emergency savings just sitting in an account. Haven't been able to pump much money into anything... So like I said before I hope I can start contributing regularly in like 5-6 years.
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@looch: Wait because he wants to just sit in all cash???? I might need to have a talk with him
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401ks, 529s, and then managed brokerage accounts for both us and the kids. If you don't have a ton of money to invest but just want to get started and get a little helpful advice Vanguard is often at great place for getting started! Once you have more significant assets I would suggest moving to an advisor with more tailored investment advice and financial planning capabilities, but for the young investor Vanguard is great.
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@Truth Bombs: He's so complicated...the main problem is that his European retirement investment accounts are guaranteed return and his is sooo risk averse. He is into gold and cash. And he won't hold stock in the company we work for, because he says I have too high a concentration of it (and as you know, the 401k matches in the stock fund). As if it can't get much worse, he also doesn't want to hold the accounts through work because of privacy. So yeah, it's frustrating.
eta: My IRA has vanguard funds, though.
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After maxing our 401Ks, we invest our savings in a Vanguard account (we're not Roth IRA eligible.) Vanguard has super low fees and is a great place for learning about/starting to invest!
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@looch: I just do the target date on the 401K. I'm also anti company stock (they match the target date for me) and my accounts here at the branch are so actively managed, I feel like the target date is a good balance. And man, the headache of holding accounts elsewhere would totally outweigh the privacy issue for me! Though our ops manager is one of my BFFs (and has her accounts with our team) and my husband thinks its SO weird that we each know how much money the other one has.
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@looch: but cash is a guaranteed money loser against inflation!
I do agree with him that you shouldn't hold too much stock in your employer because it's too much concentrated risk.
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I don't, but my husband has only mutual funds and ETFs since he works for an investment banking firm and has a lot of restrictions on what type of personal investing he can do. Of course he has his 401k, which he maxes out.
For myself, I've been procrastinating. I have a pension fund, but I have some other money that is just in cash form that I need to figure out what to do with--but I've procrastinated making phone calls to see where I should put it for my retirement.
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@Truth Bombs: thanks for the Vanguard tip. We have our 529 with them, so I'm going to set up a call. Have you used them, and did you find them helpful? I was holding off on using a financial advisor because I wasn't sure about the fees, and I heard they tend to push products.
@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: We were considering a rental property, but do you think even with the mortgage + taxes, + property manager, its still worth it?
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@sunny: I am seriously out of ideas on what to even say so I have stopped trying.
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@Pumpkin Pie: well, we moved my SIL in there and she has a sweetheart deal just until she finishes grad school, I hope.
We don't have a property manager, so with mortgage, tax, & insurance it's not that bad. The tax benefits make up the difference. 
I don't know how long we will keep the condo, but SIL is committed for the next four-five years. By then if we sell or hold it longer it should be a nice return. If we had to do it all again I wish we could have made a cash offer- closing costs still suck even though the condo didn't cost much.
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@Pumpkin Pie: I am a financial advisor
Yes, there are bad apples in the bunch just like in ANY profession. But I promise you the large majority of us want to help our clients and do the best we can for them. But working with a professional tends to be more cost effective when you are wealthier, so when we have people referred to us who might not be the best fit for how we do business, we often refer them to Vanguard. So no, I don't have accounts with them, but am familiar with them and their funds.
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401k for me, 401(a) for DH, and 529. We would do a Roth IRA if we were eligible.
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RRSPs for me and DH, DH does some stock market stuff that I don't understand, and RESPs for our girls
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RRSPs for DH that we max yearly. Max out a tax free savings account for me yearly. Max out (well the highest the government will match to) an RESP for DS. My tax free and DHs rrsp are in mutual funds. DH has some also in stocks.
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401K/TSP, and our CPA just told us we need to start investing more heavily. I am thinking a beach house in the next couple of years.
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We max out our 401Ks, and HSA every year. We also invest in stocks. The biggest one was purchasing a house 4 years ago that has almost doubled in value so we were able to refinance it for a great deal.
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@Pumpkin Pie: +1 on Vanguard funds which have very low expense ratios. I have accounts with both Vanguard and Fidelity but I hold Vanguard index funds in both. I prefer the Fidelity interface, but that is just personal preference. However, a BIG plus for Vanguard accounts is that purchasing Vanguard index funds (mutual funds/etfs) are free. Fidelity will charge you a trading commission of ~$8 for etfs.
https://investor.vanguard.com/investing/joint-account-individual-account
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We keep enough cash on hand as an emergency fund (6 months of combined take home salary), we also put a chunk of cash into our 401Ks, and once we have extra cash (I can dream about not paying daycare eventually), we are planning to sell our house and upgrade to something nicer in a great school district that we can hopefully get a good deal on. We are all about buying a house, living in it for 2 years, and hopefully selling for a tax free profit a whole 2 years later. Not only is it tax free but you need somewhere to live anyhow, so to us its a great way to invest.
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We keep an emergency fund, max out 401k/403b and Roth IRAs, contribute a small amount to LO's 529 and also to an additional investment fund (via Betterment). I keep a Vanguard fund as well. The rest is in a savings account and is earmarked for downpayment on a new house in 2-3 years. I keep thinking we should invest the downpayment funds but I don't want to take a chance on the market in the immediate future and CD rates are so low that our savings account is pretty much the same.
We don't have a property manager, so with mortgage, tax, & insurance it's not that bad. The tax benefits make up the difference. 
I don't know how long we will keep the condo, but SIL is committed for the next four-five years. By then if we sell or hold it longer it should be a nice return. If we had to do it all again I wish we could have made a cash offer- closing costs still suck even though the condo didn't cost much.
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