Retire before I'm 55

I think I might actually hit this goal. I’m going through our finances and trying to find ways to reduce expenses and increase savings. I think some of the biggest things that are going to help this are paying extra each month towards our mortgage, switching to a bi-weekly mortgage payment and the increased amounts for the maximum IRA conributions over the next couple of years.

I don’t remember exactly how old I was, but I probably had 30-35 years to do so at the time. Now I’m almost 30 and I’m not really sure how I’m doing. I know I could do better, but I worry about upcoming expenses that might sidetrack me. Can I afford to put more in my 401k? Can I afford not to? How much are kids going to cost me and how much will they delay my retirement? What if I lose my job? Do I really want to try to start my own business and risk losing that money that would have went into savings? All tough questions.