<prompt> Human: Long time lurker on PF, this is my first post so please be gentle. Warning: Wall of text Current state:We are married, 32 years old, have a combined income of approx 200k. We have 3 mortgages between us - one house that we live in and 2 other investment properties which are both netting positive by a small amount each month. This amount goes back in the maintenance fund for these properties so essentially we dont count this as income per se. We are both in stable jobs and she doesnt contribute to a retirement fund while I contribute a tiny amount to mine. Note that there is no 401k match from my employer so there is a bit of lack of incentive there. Each month I probably save about 2000-3000 on average but it just goes in to a savings account by default unfortunately. I know that this is a really poor practice and Im embarrassed to admit it, but consequently I typically have about 100k savings languishing in a personal savings account. Its more or less been sitting there for many years.. the amount increases as I save each month and then decreases when I make major purchases like our primary residence I used about 125k for down payment renovations and down payment for investment property about 40k. I currently have around 100k in my savings account. We dont have any budgets or strict limits with how we spend each month, but we are fairly responsible adults who live within our means with several random discretionary spends littered throughout. Despite that, on average we easily spend less than what we make on average. We both drive nice cars, but both are now paid off in full. Both our student loans are also paid off in full and we dont have any credit card debt other than a revolving monthly balance which we pay in full each month. Current debts and investments summary: 1. The house we own and live in. Mortgage payment is about 16-17 of our post-tax take home pay every month, this is very manageable. 2. Investment property 1 - Rent collected on this exceeds mortgage payment so there are no current out of pocket costs on this 3. Investment property 2 - Rent collected on this exceeds mortgage payment so there are no current out of pocket costs on this 4. Revolving monthly credit card debt for groceries, entertainment, eating out etc - paid in full every month, no interest is paid on these. This is essentially 0 debt. 5. Student loans - paid off in full 6. Car payments - paid off in full Total debt: 700k. Its all in mortgages, this sounds very large but about 50 of it is investment and which is paying for itself and the rest is our primary mortgage so its easily manageable. We dont have any other investments at all unfortunately. But the good news is that we also dont have any other debts. What we DO want:We would like our money to be accessible and fairly readily usable from now through age 60. But we want it to grow as opposed to sitting in an account doing nothing. We dont have any near term goals for spending this money - dont need to buy a house or car, dont plan on having kids, nothing else planned etc. We would like to travel occasionally but those are not major sums of money. What we DONT want:We dont want a huge amount of retirement savings. To make a long story short - we are committed to having a great quality of life in our younger years. Given that we expect to have health related issues when were 60 as is normal yes I realize that medical advances in 30 years from now will have extended our lives and health a lot, we dont wish be to be around much past 60 to endure those. Instead, wed much rather focus on living our lives fully until that time. So while I am contributing to my 401k for retirement, I am strongly considering stopping that because I dont see much of a point in doing so. There is currently very little in there anyway right now - I think somewhere in the region of 10k.We do understand that we could change our minds and probably need to hedge our bets a bit etc. We do no want to have any kids or dependents, but again I realize that that could change somewhere down the line so we should hedge our bets again.Investment advice needed:Now here is the question - how should we invest our money? Our goal is not to collect the gains 30 years from now, but rather - 5, 10, 15, 20 years from now. Given the very active real estate market where we live, I think its best to invest in more rental properties. I realize that the markets swing up and down but once we set a loan rate for a 30 year mortgage and ensure that current rent received on that property exceeds the mortgage payment, that rent will likely keep going up so I expect to stay net positive over the life of the loan, as long as they stay rented. I am unfortunately completely unfamiliar with Vanguard I see it mentioned here often and with mutual funds, index funds, stocks, ETFs, expense ratios etc in general but very willing to learn if anysome of those are the right options for us. I would consider us to be generally fairly risk-averse but I also think its time to start taking on some more risks, because with that risk will come reward.So how and where should be go about investing? And where can I get a 101 primer on this? Ive read through the FAQ and sidebar links but Im still unsure of where to start.. PS - there is some sentiment on PF about self-indulgent threads, this is not my intention. I consider myself fortunate but think I could have made some better choices and now Im eager to start learning. TL;DR: Approximately 100k-150k in savings for the last few years, help us not be stupid and figure out howwhere to invest for returns in 15101520 years. Not interested in retirement savings.Thanks PF. Assistant: we dont wish be to be around much past 60 to endure those To be clear, youre planning on double suicide instead of retirement?Human: Wondering the exact same thing. Seems like trying to retire early and saving money for it would be a safer bet.Assistant: Its so far away, who knows what will happen in the meantime. Our focus is more on enjoying our lives right now, without exposing ourselves to too much long term risk. Early retirement is definitely the plan, I should have clarified that.  <response>: How can early retirement be the plan if youre not saving for it? 