<prompt> Human: My wife is an assistant principal of public high school in Brooklyn and makes about 100k. At 31, shes been with the Dept. of Ed. for 9 years, and if she retires at about 60 38 years service time, shell have a little more then 70 of her salary paid out to her until she dies. Let me say outright how bloody fortunate we are. Well aware, and humbled.I make in the neighborhood of 30k as your friendly neighborhood security guard, and together we have about 7k a month in take-home pay after 10 goes to our retirement plans, of which about 4k is gobbled by fixed and semi-fixed expenses, notably a 2200 mortgage with 620mo maintenance fee its Brooklyn. That leaves 3k. We also have a 1 year old child.Everything Ive read on this lovely, lovely sub stresses heavy retirement savings, which has been enlightening. But it seems like well be well set for retirement, especially when our mortgage is paid off when were both 61 hopefully. So Im kind of not sure what to do with my savings.We have the kid, so I wonder if I should forego IRA contributions and instead plow the money into a 529? Other things Ive thought of doing are paying off our modest car loan and our modest student loans, or maybe even throwing money at our mortgage to pay down the principal 4.5 interest? Then Ive also thought: Youre being dumb, you should still put in an IRA. Maybe a Roth IRA so you can pull from it.Then theres investing. Im a rank amateur in this field and will do more research. But Id be interested in building up -- maybe in lieu of those IRAs -- a semi-liquid Big Ticket Fund, to spend on things like vacations, home renovations, kids camps and travel teams, etc. Id like this to be accessible, obviously, but it seems like I could build it big enough that part of the money could be out there doing work. Index funds? Or maybe this should be the Roth IRA?A few last things. 1. I definitely realize nothing is a sure thing, though I would be very surprised if my wife lost her job. Shes tenured, and very good at it. I guess it would be more likely shed decide on other employment, but this seems very unlikely too. And Id be thunderstruck if we ever divorced. Were extremely solid 7 years in. 2. I am not sure, on the other hand, if her pension could be legally pared down in the future. I would of course be interested in information here. 3. I plan on insuring both our lives but havent gotten there quick yet. All of this is a process -- thanks PF! 4. I believe in generally living modestly instead of precise budgeting, so though I understand where youre coming from if you think its folly, I dont want my big ticket fund weighted toward particular goals. I have a small kid, might have another, and truly dont know what to expect out of life.Many thanks for your help, peeps. Lurking on PF has been a real education but it seems like my situation might be a little different. Assistant: Youre treating the pension as a given. Public pensions, especially local state pensions, are anything but sure things these days. If you have the money to save in other tax-advantaged retirement vehicles then its stupid not to do so.Nobody ever complained about having too much money in retirement.Human: If anyone has more information on this Id of course be interested. As of right now shes told shell have 70-some percent of her salary paid out until death. What are the odds really that that would be pared down so drastically that it would make retirement with social security and 10 savings in our 401Ks truly uncomfortable? It would have to be something pretty cataclysmic, right? Or am I too bullish on NYCs or labors future. And though I understand your last sentence, Im not wild about locking the money in a retirement chest IF it could be better put to use in other ways, which is what my post is about.  <response>: Youre being too bullish on labors future in this country.Were worried about my Dads pension because he taught in IL. And because of something called the windfall prevention act, he wont be eligible for Social Security.Put money in those IRAs. 