Should I wait to pay into retirement?
I have just become eligible for insurance and retirement benefits with my new job. I am 24, my husband is 25, and my son is 3. The information they are giving me is pretty limited, and there are 22 different options for retirement account companies to choose from, all of which are 403(b) and 457(b). They don't say that they will match retirement contributions, but there is pension that starts after 5 years. The formula for the pension is years of service x 2.25 x average monthly compensation that is automatically taken out of my checks.
My household income is $3670 monthly and our total minimum expenses is $3100 monthly, but we will be getting regular raises for the next 5 years. Our income in 5 years will be $4380 monthly and we will have paid off a lot of our debt by then.
I am unsure if paying the full amount into my retirement at this point will be as useful as paying off our debt aggressively, or even putting money into my sons savings for his college fund, since that will be coming up sooner than my retirement. Any advice would be appreciated