<prompt> Human: Hi PF,First off, posting from mobile, apologies for any errors. I just took a new job after my wife and I had our first child and have been reexamining our budget and savings goals. It seems like all the advice I see is constantly telling me to max retirement savings before moving on to other goals. Its almost like all other spending goals are afterthoughts to retirement. While I understand the importance of saving for retirement, it seems to me that saving 12 of my pre tax income will generate more than enough savings for our retirement goals currently making 80k, 6 estimated return, current age 25, retirement age 65, 900 a month contributed before 4 employer match giving me a nest egg of over 2.5 million, which would allow for a 3 safe withdrawal rate of 75k annually, which is more than double our current annual spending. This comes out to an annual contribution of 10,800 and seems to more than cover me. I hope my rough math there will be forgiven, but please let me know if Im neglecting some considerations. It just feels like overkill to me to prioritize funding retirement in the midst of other savings goals like paying off house early, starting college savings, saving for new cars, or saving for major home repairs. I cant imagine the benefit of maxing out my retirement accounts to the full 401k and IRA maximums. Sure, it nets me the absolute highest return objectively, but what will I actually do with that money once Im there? Is it not to the detriment of life in the meantime?Please help me to understand why maxing retirement accounts is the right move in the midst of more immediate savings goals, or help me understand how to invest wisely for these short less than 3 year and medium less than 15 year goals. Thanks!EDIT: Thanks to mostly everyone for the replies! It seems like the consistent response is that because of the rising cost of living, inflation, and the un-knowability of the future, maxing out retirement is the safest course of action. I get that, and I think it is sound and helpful advice. Thanks especially to those that shared from their own changes in income levels or life events that altered their savings goals.I still feel like there may be a degree of blindly repeating some personal finance maxims and not looking at the scenario posed, though e.g. you cant take out a loan for your own retirement; I know that, that scenario isnt being discussed here. Money should be serving specific goals. Unless my goal is to accumulate the highest net worth possible, it still seems to me that prioritizing other things besides my retirement accounts even before they are maxed out will serve my personal financial goals better than blindly maxing out 401k contributions. It would take a lot more detail for me to explicitly list out all goals, so thats on me for not being more explicit in the original post. An example of such a goal would be an upcoming major plumbing repair, or helping with kids college funds.My hope in posting was to understand: 1 am I missing some risks in planning for retirement?, which I think was sufficiently answered as maybe, who knows what life will bring, so be conservative; and 2 does it not make sense to put other financial savings goals ahead of retirement if I have found a monthly savings rate that will allow me to achieve my retirement goals? I still dont feel that I have an answer to this question, outside of putting my money into short-term savings. It seems a shame to me that I cant find more lucrative options for short- and medium-term savings, but I guess that is the state of the market.__Edit 2__: Thanks to everyone for the replies. I think over the course of the day you all have convinced me to max my retirement savings for now and when I get closer to retirement age, or when a life circumstance arises that I need to prioritize, I can cut back on my contributions. If I have over-saved, I can either pull back on contributing or retire early. If I max out, I minimize the risk of under-saving.I tend to want to find one monthly figure and plan around it indefinitely into the future. That approach means that I need to pick an option that gives more liquidity to deal with more short-term savings targets. I need to remember that as life changes, I can adjust my contribution levels, and contributing the most now makes the most sense, both considering my financialfamily position and the value of compound interest.Thanks for the help!Assistant: You are forgetting inflation. 6 estimated return is only about 3 real return after expected reflection. So your 75K withdrawal is probably only worth 30-35K in todays dollars. 6 is also an optimistic number, most recommend 5. The other thing you are forgetting is taxes. At the end of the day, its all about keeping as much money for yourself. Most people have a lower tax bracket in retirement, so you end up with more money by deferring now and paying later when your only other income is Social Security.Human: Fair point, I definitely concede that they are some numbers. However, I mostly have seen 8, so I thought 6 was conservative and accounting for some of these things. Arent historic returns 10? Legitimately asking.  <response>: Those are historic returns of the stock market. Most people have a significant of their portfolio in bonds and cash so they dont lose all their life savings in a bear market. Once you get close to retirement, you will want to be something like 6040 or less, otherwise your income will fluctuate from year to year. Then there is the time period. That 10 might be a historic average, but any 20 or 30 year period might be significantly less. Look at Japan right now. Maybe 10 will continue, but if you want to protect yourself and your family you need to save more. 