Your tax-advantaged accounts are full. This step opens a simple taxable brokerage for everything beyond them, lifts your total savings rate to 20%, and schedules a yearly 1% raise so it keeps climbing on its own.
Any dollar you save beyond the tax-advantaged limits has nowhere to go but a taxable brokerage — no contribution limits, no withdrawal-age rules. Without it, the money piles up in checking and earns almost nothing.
Raising your total savings rate from 15% to 20% cuts roughly three to four years off the path to financial independence — more than almost any investment return you could chase.
All accounts combined. 25%+ opens early-retirement options.
Once it's compounding, the habit is set.
Tied to your annual raise, until you reach your target.
"Taxable" is less scary than it sounds. Gains on investments held more than a year are taxed at 0–20%, well below income-tax rates, and broad index funds rarely trigger taxes until you sell. Hold international stock funds here and keep bond funds in your 401(k) or IRA, where their interest is sheltered.