1) Don't chase past returns
2) Account for ER on how it will affect your growth (both the funds you mention would never get a look from me due to the 0.7x ER, a real drag on the performance IMO)
3) Since you are married, what about your spouse's contribution? I assume you are talking Roth IRA based on the amount.
4) You do know the Roth limit increased for 2019, right? It's $6k/year

Not advise, or recommendation or anything else similar disclosure.

But I agree with the .7 expense ratio. 5-10 years ago that wouldn’t have been horrible. But that’s off the charts now. I haven’t looked up the funds or anything, but I would be shocked if you couldn’t find a similar fund for half or less that tracks that. Hell didn't Schwab and Fidelity come out with some zero expense ratio ones recently?

When it comes to expense ratio, there is a race to the bottom right now. I’m not sure exactly what is driving the change. This stuff still costs money and you can only eat not charging anything for so long.

Just spoked with Fidelity yesterday in fact. They've got "zero funds" that don't charge anything. The choices are limited (only 4 I believe?) but one of them is the total market fund. Which is virtually the only thing that makes sense statistically speaking anyway. The mutual fund industry is a bunch of hokum.

I'm also disclaiming any responsibility for this so take it for what it is - "advice" from a stranger on the interwebs. Though I have a professional license in a related field and manage my own almost retirement ready portfolio ;)

You are doing great...the only suggestion as others have stated is find some funds with lower expenses. I use Vanguard funds - very low expenses. I also NEVER buy a sector fund. Schwab funds are probably fine. Today's hero is tomorrow stalled fund. I'm in a different place (55 years old) so I have a more conservative view and portfolio.

Here are the most important things IMHO
- Save more than you think you need too
- Do not carry debt, pay off house early
- Buy low expense funds
- Don't get fancy
- Spread your risk
- Do this for the next 30 years

I've spent a lot of time pondering this. I've read extensively and think:

-you need your property paid off
-you need to be diversified
-you need to understand the real volatility that could impact your future retirement
-fees

If you retired in 99/00 or 07/08 you need to imagine what losing x% of your future savings look like following a serious event.

Part of the solution to this is diversification. Rentals for example provide income even if market shits the bed.

There are funds that allocate and supposedly mitigate risk: alphasimplex, 130/30 funds and others that offer different types of passive index funds that track things other than the markets.

My caution with index funds are the volume invested, the historical volatility and who will buy if people head for the doors.

Worth reading: bogle, thaler, schiller, malkiel, lo

The reason I'd suggest reading them, is if you are going to be investing potentially hundreds of thousands through individuals perhaps taking the time to understand it is worthwhile

Food for thought

Consider Target Funds, specifically Vanguard. They'll adjust your risk as you near retirement. They're great options for people who like to set and forget. Their fees are quite low at .15%

Good stuff.

Our only debt is our mortgage and we are aggressively paying it off, planning on paying 15 years. We could pay it off faster, but want to aim to maximize our dollar and putting towards the market where we can aim to beat our 4.5% mortgage rate is what we plan to do.

Correct me if I am wrong, but those that wanted to retire in 99/00 or 07/08 while they lost x% of their investments, it was only lost for the duration of the market decline. Once the market rose back above where it started to fall they were able to regain their investments, correct?

Your comment on index funds is what I have learned is one of the potential cons and not mentioned much.

I guess I could also part invest in both mutual and index or would that be spreading my investments to broad to maximize ROI?

I do not plan to invest in individual stocks at all.