I’m not someone who’s well-off comparatively. I’m a single, 38 year old making ~$55k in a government job in a low cost of living area.

I have significant student debt of >$100k that I’ve been paying on for 10 of my 13 years out of school. I will qualify for PSLF forgiveness after 4 more years of government work.

Even though my housing costs have more than doubled in the last year (rental shortages and living on my own versus roommates), I still manage to save somewhere between 30 and 43% of my gross income (depending on whether you count the 5% deduction for state pension and company match for my 401k). With the generous math, I’m saving 16% for retirement (5% pension, 6% 401k contribution, 5% company 401k match). I save another 26-27%. That savings is currently bucketed towards 1) gifts, 2) travel, 3) replacement car, and 4) house…where any excess goes towards the house savings.

My parents are doing fine with money from a retirement perspective. They have enough expendable retirement that they’re even redoing parts of their house for purely aesthetic desires. But they’re of an age where I’m not sure how much longer I have with them or for how much longer they’re capable of capitalizing on their relative health. Likewise, my niece sister/niece are fine from a needs perspective. But they don’t have enough money for the extra stuff.

Im considering setting aside about 8% of my gross income (about 1/3 of my non-retirement savings…about 1/2 of what I’m currently setting aside for house savings) for the next ~5 years to do some hopefully-memorable trips with my family while the opportunity is still there.

Given that I’m not a big earner…that I don’t own my own home yet…that my plans for the future hinge largely on my keepingy government job 1) through a possible recession and 2) long enough to forgive my student loans, how irresponsible is this decision? How do I even go about making this decision objective when it’s borne from an emotional place?

Thanks for any help.