How much should I have saved by 40?

Rules of thumb like 3x salary are a rough sanity check, not a plan. What matters more is savings rate: consistently directing 20–25% of gross income toward retirement, taxable investing, and specific goals reliably outperforms hitting an arbitrary multiple by a birthday.

Should I pay off debt or invest first?

Capture the full employer match first — it is an immediate return nothing else matches. Then clear anything above roughly 6–7% interest. Below that, investing generally wins on expected return, though paying down a mortgage has a real behavioral value some households reasonably prefer.

What should I do with vesting RSUs?

Treat each vest as cash you chose to receive in company stock. Withholding at the statutory 22% supplemental rate is often short of what a high earner actually owes, so plan for the gap. Selling at vest and reinvesting in a diversified portfolio is the default; holding is an active concentration decision.

How much cash should I keep?

Three to six months of essential expenses for a stable two-income household; closer to twelve if your income is equity-heavy, commission-based, or tied to one employer. Add any known near-term lump sum — family building, a down payment, a sabbatical — on top of the reserve rather than inside it.

What do high earners most often get wrong at this stage?

Lifestyle absorbing every raise, concentration in employer stock, and skipping the backdoor Roth because it looks complicated. Each one is quiet, none of them feels like a mistake in the moment, and together they explain most of the gap between a large income and actual wealth.

Building Wealth in Your 30s and 40s

Your Prime Wealth-Building Years

Your 30s and 40s are usually when income finally outruns expenses — and also when the largest, least reversible decisions get made: the house, the kids, the job change, the equity grant you either managed or didn't. What you do in these two decades sets the ceiling for everything after.

For LGBTQ+ households, there is an additional wrinkle: the milestones often arrive in a different order and cost more. Family building is funded rather than incidental. Legal protection is bought rather than assumed. And a lot of high earners are living in expensive metros specifically because those are the places where being out is uncomplicated.

The order of operations

Emergency fund — three months of expenses if you have stable W-2 income and a partner working; six or more if you are single-income, commission-based, or self-employed.
Capture the full employer match. It is an immediate 50–100% return and the only one you will ever get.
Clear high-interest debt — anything above roughly 7%. Below that, investing usually wins.
Max the HSA if you have a high-deductible plan. It is the only triple-tax-advantaged account: deductible in, tax-free growth, tax-free out for medical. Pay current medical costs from cash and let it compound as a stealth retirement account.
Max the 401(k) — $24,500 in 2026, plus $8,000 catch-up at 50 and a larger $11,250 super catch-up at ages 60–63.
Roth IRA, or backdoor Roth if you are over the income limits. Watch the pro-rata rule if you hold pre-tax IRA money.
Mega-backdoor Roth if your plan permits after-tax contributions with in-plan conversion. For high earners this is often the single biggest missed opportunity.
Taxable brokerage for everything after that — and for goals that arrive before 59½.

Aim for a 20–25% total savings rate if you are earning well. Fifteen percent is the standard advice; it is calibrated for a retirement at 67 with Social Security carrying more of the load than most high earners will accept.

Where high earners actually lose money

Concentrated equity. RSUs that vest and sit, ESPP shares never sold, ISOs exercised without an AMT projection. Your job and your net worth should not depend on the same company.
Lifestyle creep on the raise, not the bonus. The fix is mechanical: escalate the automatic contribution the same day the raise takes effect, and treat bonuses as 80% savings by default.
Uninsured income. Your earning power is the largest asset you own in your 30s. Group long-term disability usually replaces only 60% of base pay, is capped, and is taxable if the premium was pre-tax. An individual own-occupation policy is often the highest-value insurance purchase of the decade.
No term life once someone depends on you. For unmarried partners sharing a mortgage, this is not optional — there is no survivor benefit to fall back on.
Housing math done emotionally. In high-cost metros, the buy-versus-rent calculation frequently favors renting for anyone likely to move within five to seven years.

The legal layer is part of wealth building

Wills, healthcare directives, powers of attorney, and correct beneficiary designations are what keep the wealth you built with a partner from going to a relative you have not spoken to in a decade. Review beneficiaries every time you change jobs — see Estate Planning for Unmarried Partners.

Investing rules that survive contact with reality

Own broad, low-cost, globally diversified equity funds; keep total costs under 0.15% where you can.
Rebalance once a year or on a threshold, not on a headline.
Keep money you need within five years out of the market entirely.
Automate everything. The main advantage of automation is that it removes you from the decision.

The plan is the point

Individually, none of these moves is complicated. What is hard is sequencing them against a family-building timeline, an equity vesting schedule, and a two-career household where both people have opinions. That is the work — and it is what we do. Book an intro call or read our guide for high earners who aren't rich yet.