Recent college grad. Down payment on a house or car?
$27,000 for a car?!  Please, don't do that to yourself! That sounds like a new-car price.  If it is, you can kiss $4k-$5k of that price goodbye the moment you drive it off the lot.  You'll pay the worst part of the depreciation on that vehicle. You can get a 4-5 year old Corolla (or similar import) for less than half that price, and if you take care of it, you can get easily another 100k miles out of it. Check out Dave Ramsey's video.  (It's funny that the car payment he chooses as his example is the same one as yours: $475! ;) )  I don't buy his take on the 12% return on the stock market (which is fantasy in my book) but buying cars outright instead of borrowing or (gasp) leasing, and working your way up the food chain a bit with the bells/whistles/newness of your cars, is the way to go. "Given the state of the economy, and the potential of a rough near future for us recent grads (i.e. on/off work), I would recommend holding off on large purchases while your life is in flux.  This includes both a NEW car and purchasing a house. My short answer is: you need a reliable vehicle, so purchase a used car, from a major dealer (yes this will add a fairly high premium, but easier financing), that is 4-5 years old, or more.  Barring the major dealer purchase, be sure to get a mechanic to check out a vehicle, many will offer this service for a reasonable payment.  As people point out, cars these days will run for another 100k miles.  You will NOT have to pay anywhere near $27,000 for this vehicle.  You may need to leverage your 10k for a loan if you choose to finance, but it should not be a problem, especially as you seem to imply an established credit history. In addition to this, start saving your money for the house you would like to eventually get.  We have no idea where you live, but, picking rough numbers, assuming a 2 year buy period, 20% down, and a $250,000 home, the down payment alone will require you to save ~$2,000/month starting now. Barring either of these options, max out your money to tax sheltered accounts (your Roth IRA, work 401k, or a regular IRA) asap.  Obviously, do not deplete your emergency fund, if anything, increase it.  10k can be burned through in a heartbeat. Long Answer:  I purchased a brand new car, right out of school, at a reasonable interest rate.  Like you, I can afford this vehicle, however, if someone were to come to me today (3.5 years later) and offer me the opportunity to take it back and purchase a 4-5 year used vehicle, at a 4-5 year used car price, albeit at a much higher interest rate (since I financed), it would be about a 0.02 second decision. I like my car, but, I'd like the differential cash savings between it and a reliable used car more.  $27,000 is also fairly expensive for a new vehicle, there are many, very nice vehicles, for 21-23k.  I still would not consider these priced appropriate to spend your money on them, but they exist.  However, you do very much need a reliable vehicle, and I think you should get one. On the home front, your $400 all inclusive rent is insanely cheap.  Many people spend more than that on property tax and PMI each year, so anyone who throws the ""You're throwing money away!"" line at you is blowing smoke to justify their own home purchase.  Take the money you would have spent on a mortgage, and squirrel it away.  Do your own due diligence and research the home market in your area and decide for yourself if you think home prices have bottomed and will stay there, have further to go, or are going to begin to rise.  That is a decision only you can make for yourself. I'd add a section about getting expenses under control, but you said you could save 50% of your takehome pay.  This is an order of magnitude above the average.  Good job.  Try doing 50% for 4 months, then calculate your actual amount.  Then try to beat it." Not long after college in my new job I bought a used car with payments, I have never done that since. I just don't like having a car payment. I have bought every car since then with cash. You should never borrow money to buy a car There are several things that come into play when buying a car. When you are shopping with cash you tend to be more conservative with your purchases look at this Study on Credit card purchases.   A Dunn & Bradstreet study found that people spend 12-18% more when using credit cards than when using cash. And McDonald's found that the average transaction rose from $4.50 to $7.00 when customers used plastic instead of cash.  I would bet you if you had $27,000 dollars cash in your hand you wouldn't buy that car. You'd find a better deal, and or a cheaper car. When you finance it, it just doesn't seem to hurt as bad. Even though it's worse because now you are paying interest.  A new car is just insanity unless you have a high net worth, at least seven figures. Your $27,000 car in 5 years will be worth about $6500. That's like striking a match to $340 dollars a month, you can't afford to lose that much money. Pay Cash If you lose your job, get hurt, or any number of things that can cost you money or reduce your income, it's no problem with a paid for car. They don't repo paid for cars. You have so much more flexibility when you don't have payments. You mention you have 10k in cash, and a $2000 a month positive cash flow. I would find a deal on a 8000 - 9000 car I would not buy from a dealer*. Sell the car you have put that money with the positive cash flow and every other dime you can get at your student loans and any other debt you have, keep renting cheap keep the college lifestyle (broke) until you are completely out of debt. Then I would save for a house.  Finally I would read this Dave Ramsey book, if I would have read this at your age, I would literally be a millionaire by now, I'm 37. *Don't buy from a dealer Find a private sale car that you can get a deal on, pay less than Kelly Blue Book. Pay a little money $50 - 75 to have an automotive technician to check it out for you and get a car fax, to make sure there are no major problems. I have worked in the automotive industry for 20 + years and you rarely get a good deal from a dealer. “Everything popular is wrong.”         Oscar Wilde Don't buy the new car. Buy a $15k car with $5k down and a 3 year loan and save up the rest for your car. A $500/mo car payment is nuts unless you're making alot of money. I've been there, and it was probably the dumbest decision that I have ever made. When you buy a house, you end up with all sorts of unexpected expenses. When you buy a house AND are stuck in a $500/mo payment, that means that those unexpected expenses end up on a credit card. "As a car guy, I wouldn't spend 27 large on anything that wasn't ""special"" - you'll be looking at for at least the duration of the loan and for me it'll better be very special lest I get bored with it during that time. But that's just me. If you want a transport appliance - spend around $5k-$7k on a decent used vehicle, pay it off within a couple of years or less and keep throwing money at your downpayment. Now if you have any student loan debt, buy a $3k car, learn how to fix it if necessary and pay off the millstone, err, student loan ASAP." I'd suggest buying a used car for cash, car loans are a bad idea. I bought my last car a few years ago for $8k off of craigslist, and it is still running great. Make sure you get a car checked out by a mechanic before buying (usually they'll drop it off at a mechanic you want to have take a look, or perhaps just go with you). My general rule is to not take out loans for anything which decreases in value. So a home mortgage would be fine, a car loan is not a great plan. Buy cash, and save for the next purchase. If you buy a decent used Corolla (or other small import car), you can get it for $8k, it will likely last a few years at least. That could end up costing you less than $200 per month total, or less. Much better deal in the long run. That sounds like way too much for a car! I suggest you get a used car that only has a few years on it and is in mint condition. Not only are they cheaper to purchase, they are also the cheapest to insure. When I was in that boat a few years ago, I went for the car first.  My thoughts: If I get the car first, I'm guaranteed to have a car that runs well.  That makes it more convenient to commute to any job, or for social functions.  I ended up dropping about $20k into a car (paid cash, I don't like being in debt).  I chose to buy a really nice car, knowing it will last for many years to come - I'm expecting to not replace it for about 10 years from the purchase.  I would urge you to consider paying in full for the car; dumping $20k+ is a lot, and there are plenty of nice cars out there in the $10-20k range that will work just fine for years to come.  One benefit of paying in full is that you don't have a portion of your income tied into the car loan. The main reason I chose not to go for the house first had more to do with the difference in commitment.  A home mortgage is a 30-year commitment on a large chunk of your income.  With the job market and housing markets both currently working against you, it's better to wait until you have a large safety net to fall into. For example, it's always recommended to have several months worth of living expenses in savings.  Compared to renting, having 6 or more months of mortgage payments + utilities + insurance + property taxes + other mandatory expenses (see: food, gas) comes out to a significant amount more that you should have saved (for me, I'm looking at a minimum of about $20k in savings just to feel comfortable; YMMV).  Also, owning a house always has more maintenance costs than you will predict.  Even if it's just replacing a few light bulbs at first, eventually you'll need something major: an appliance will die, your roof will spring a leak, anything (I had both of those happen in the first year, though it could be bad luck).  You should make sure that you can afford the increased monthly payments while still well under your income. Once you're locked in to the house, you can still set aside a smaller chunk of your income for a new car 5-10 years down the road.  But if you're current car is getting down to it's last legs, you should get that fixed up before you lock yourself in to an uncomfortable situation. Don't be in too much of a hurry to buy a house.  The housing market still has a ways to go before it recovers, and there's not a whole lot to help it along.  Interest rates may go up, but that will only hurt the housing market, so I don't expect it to change too much for the next several months.  With a little bit of sanity, we won't have another outrageous housing bubble for many years, so houses should remain somewhat affordable (interest rates may vary).  Also keep in mind that if you pay less that 20% down on the house, you may end up with some form of mortgage interest, which is just extra interest you'll owe each month. I generally agree with the sentiment in many other answers that $27K is more I would personally spend on a car if I were in your position. Having said that, the following assumes you are already intent on buying that car.  Even if you change your mind, I think the general ideas still apply. Buy a car. Unless you definitely know you are living in the area for a good long time, avoid buying a house and get a car instead.
Not really money related, but: how long are you going to be staying there? Once your wife graduates, would you be potentially moving to another area, or needing to move to be closer to where she works? If so, you might want to wait until after she graduates and you know where you'll be, before putting down money on large stationary items like houses. What are your goals in life?   If one of them is to appear wealthy then buying a high price import is a great place to start.  You certainly have the salary for it (congratulations BTW). If one of your goals is to build wealth, then why not buy a ~5000 to ~6000 car and have a goal to zero out that student loan by the end of the year?  You can still contribute to your 401k, and have a nice life style living on ~60K (sending 30 to the student loan). Edit: I graduated with a CS degree in '96 and have been working in the industry since '93.  When I started, demand was like it is now, rather insane.  It probably won't always be like that and I would prepare for some ups and downs in the industry. One of the things that encouraged me to lead a debt free lifestyle happened in 2008.  My employer cut salaries by 5%...no big deal they said.  Except they also cut support pay, bonuses, and 401K matching.  When the dust cleared my salary was cut 22%, and I was lucky as others were laid off.  If you are in debt a 22% pay cut hurts bad. The house next door to the one I grew up in just sold for $45k. Just because they build bigger houses doesn't mean that you have to buy one. I'm sure my parents could have bought a much bigger house.  Did you ever look into community college for core classes, I had many friends in college that go about 1/3 of their credits out of the way for about 1/4 the state college. College has always been expensive, it's nothing new. And a new car is a pretty idiot investment, a good education in an indemand field not so much. I was able to graduate debt free, but after a year of college was able to land jobs at more than 2x minimum wage. Remember, few unskilled people, mostly high school age are the ones earning minimum wage, [5.2%](http://www.bls.gov/cps/minwage2011.htm). There is no correct answer. It all depends on you. If you have a fund dedicated to a purpose (house, car, daycare, vacation, etc), in my opinion you are best served by keeping it dedicated to that function in most cases.  Say that you find a home that you want to by in two years. If you have good credit and appropriate debt/income ratios, your car payment will not pose a problem to getting that home. But not having enough money for a down payment will. I like Nathan's answer some, but am horribly curious as to why you have not made payments on a $3500 student loan?  If you are wealthy enough to afford a new car, this should be paid off next week.  IMHO. Above all else your financial goals should dictate if you buy a new car.  What are they for you?  If the goal is to build wealthy quickly then Nathan's advice may be to unfrugal for you.   If your goal is to impress people with the car you drive and accumulate very little real wealth then purchasing or leasing a car should be a top priority. So to answer your question correctly one must understand your goals.   For 2016, the average car payment is $479 per month.  If you invested that in a decent growth stock mutual fund in 40 years you'll have around 2.6 million.  However, you do need something to drive now.  If you can cut your car expense to $200 per month, and save the other $279 you will still end up with about 1.5 million in that same 40 years.   Personally I attempt to shoot for $200 ownership cost per car per month.  Its a bit difficult as I drive a lot.  Also I would not purchase a new car until my net worth exceeded 2 million.  At that point my investments could mitigate the steep depreciation costs of owning a new car. "I recently moved out from my parents place, after having built up sufficient funds, and gone through these questions myself. I live near Louisville, KY which has a significant effect on my income, cost of living, and cost of housing. Factor that into your decisions. To answer your questions in order: When do I know that I'm financially stable to move out? When you have enough money set aside for all projected expenses for 3-6 months and an emergency fund of 4-10K, depending on how large a safety net you want or need. Note that part of the reason for the emergency fund is as a buffer for the things you won't realize you need until you move out, such as pots or chairs. It also covers things being more expensive than anticipated. Should I wait until both my emergency fund is at least 6 months of pay   and my loans in my parents' names is paid off (to free up money)? 6 months of pay is not a good measuring stick. Use months of expenses instead. In general, student loans are a small enough cost per month that you just need to factor them into your costs. When should I factor in the newer car investment? How much should I   have set aside for the car? Do the car while you are living at home. This allows you to put more than the minimum payment down each month, and you can get ahead. That looks good on your credit, and allows refinancing later for a lower minimum payment when you move out. Finally, it gives you a ""sense"" of the monthly cost while you still have leeway to adjust things.  Depending on new/used status of the car, set aside around 3-5K for a down payment. That gives you a decent rate, without too much haggling trouble. Should I get an apartment for a couple years before looking for my own   house? Not unless you want the flexibility of an apartment. In general, living at home is cheaper. If you intend to eventually buy property in the same area, an apartment is throwing money away. If you want to move every few years, an apartment can, depending on the lease, give you that. How much should I set aside for either investment (apartment vs   house)? 10-20K for a down payment, if you live around Louisville, KY. Be very choosy about the price of your house and this gives you the best of everything. The biggest mistake you can make is trying to get into a place too ""early"". Banks pay attention to the down payment for a good reason. It indicates commitment, care, and an ability to go the distance. In general, a mortgage is 30 years. You won't pay it off for a long time, so plan for that. Is there anything else I should be doing/taking advantage of with my   money during this ""living at home"" period before I finally leave the   nest? If there is something you want, now's the time to get it. You can make snap purchases on furniture/motorcycles/games and not hurt yourself. Take vacations, since there is room in the budget. If you've thought about moving to a different state for work, travel there for a weekend/week and see if you even like the place. Look for deals on things you'll need when you move out. Utensils, towels, brooms, furniture, and so forth can be bought cheaply, and you can get quality, but it takes time to find these deals. Pick up activities with monthly expenses. Boxing, dancing, gym memberships, hackerspaces and so forth become much more difficult to fit into the budget later. They also give you a better credit rating for a recurring expense, and allow you to get a ""feel"" for how things like a monthly utility bill will work. Finally, get involved in various investments. A 401k is only the start, so look at penny stocks, indexed funds, ETFs or other things to diversify with. Check out local businesses, or start something on the side. Experiment, and have fun." On paper the whole 6 months living costs sounds (and is) great, but in real life there are a lot of things that you need to consider. For example, my first car was constantly falling apart and was an SUV that got 16MPG. I have to travel for work (about 300 miles per week) so getting a sedan that averages close to 40MPG saves me more in gas and maintenance than the monthly payment for the new car costs. When our apartment lease was up, the new monthly rent would have been $1685 per month, we got a 30 year mortgage with a monthly payment of $1372. So buying a house actually let us put aside more each month. We have just under 3 months of living expenses set aside (1 month in liquid assets, 2 months in a brokerage account) and I worry about it. I wish we had a better buffer, but in our case the house and car made more sense as an early investment compared to just squirreling away all our savings. Also, do you have any debt? Paying off debt (student loans, credit card debt, etc.) should often take top priority. Have some rainy day funds, of course, but pay down debts, and then create a personal financial plan for what works best in your situation. That would be my suggestion. I'd suggest waiting until a bit after you are married. To Eagle1's point, even $23,000 is not a huge sum of money.  You didn't make any mention of a desire to buy a home, but if that becomes part of the plan, I'd want every cent of liquidity I can get. I wrote Student Loans and Your First Mortgage to explain why your buying power for the house is lowered by paying that loan. In your case, $5000 is 20% of $25000. For a good 20% down purchase, I'd want those funds available. You also don't mention retirement accounts. Depending on the home purchase timing, I'd start to think about putting aside at least the $5500 per year IRA/Roth IRA maximum. "The loan is the loan, the down payment is not part of the loan.  The principle amount owed on the loan at the beginning of the loan is the amount of the loan. If your loan amount is $390,000 then that's below the ""jumbo"" classification.  Your down payment is irrelevant. Lenders may want or require 20% (or any other amount) down so the loan will meet certain ""loan to value"" ratio requirements. In the case of real estate the lenders in general want a 20% down side cushion before you're ""upside down"" (owe more than the home is worth). This is not unique to homes and is common in many secured lending instruments; like cars for example." Buy a house when you can, but keep driving your current car until it dies. In ten years' time, a house should be worth more than you paid for it, while a new car will be worth next to nothing. And research shows that buying possessions like cars doesn't actually make you happier, even though you think it will. The good debt/bad debt paradigm only applies if you are considering this as a pure investment situation and not factoring in: A house is something you live in and a car is something you use for transportation. These are not substitutes for each other! While you can live in your car in a pinch, you can't take your house to the shops. Looking at the car, I will simplify it to 3 options: You can now make a list of pros and cons for each one and decide the value you place on each of them. E.g. public transport will add 5h travel time per week @ $X per hour (how much you value your leisure time), an expensive car will make me feel good and I value that at $Y. For each option, put all the benefits together - this is the value of that option to you. Then put all of the costs together - this is what the option costs you. Then make a decision on which is the best value for you.  Once you have decided which option is best for you then you can consider how you will fund it. As a new graduate, aside from the fact that you seem to have the extra $193/mo to pay more towards your loan, we don't know anything else.  I wrote a lengthy article on this in response to a friend who had a loan, but was also pondering a home purchase in the future. Student Loans and Your First Mortgage discusses the math behind one's ability to put a downpayment on a house vs having that monthly cash to pay towards the mortgage. In your case, the question is whether, in 5 years, the $8500 would be best spent as a home down payment or to pay off the 6.8% loan.  If you specifically had plans toward home ownership, the timing of that plan would affect my answer here, as I discuss in the article.  The right answer to your question can only come by knowing far more of your personal situation.  Meanwhile, the plan comes at a cost. Your plan will get rid of the loan in about 5 years, but if you simply double up the payments, advising the servicing company to apply the extra to principal, it would drop to just a couple month over over 4. As you read more about personal finance, you'll find a lot of different views. Some people are fixated on having zero debt, others will focus on liquidity. In the end, you need to understand each approach and decide what's right for you. From personal experience (I financed a new car from the dealer/manufacturer within weeks of graduating, still on an F1-OPT): "Does your planning include contingencies for Can you afford the late fees, insurance increases, bad credit hits and all the other downsides when this goes bad? Why does she NEED a new car on lease? Personally? I'd go for option B) Do what it takes to have her OWN a car. Why not just have her get a car that costs IN ENTIRE the $3k that would be used for a down payment on a lease? Maybe add a bit of your own money ""for old times sake"" to the pile? Or a small loan to get to where she can get a usable, dependable car? Say, a $3-5k loan in your name that she's responsible for the payments. $3-10k can get a very dependable old car. 10 great cars for 6k or less Everyone else has been burned by her - for whatever reason. No idea what the reasons are, but she seems to be unable to pay her bills. Why would this time be any different? Your name on a car + someone who can't pay bills = a bad proposition. I would LOVE to help anyone who's been important in my life. Including MY x-wife. But I wouldn't agree to this deal unless I KNEW that I could 100% cover the costs when things go bad - because at this point, odds are they will." The key to becoming wealthy as a self-employed person is the drive to be successful. A driven person, who starts their own company (or companies, should they fail), will find success. Assuming that you define success as the accumulation of wealth, then yes, self-employment is correlated with wealth. But as matt mentions in the comments, there is no casual (in the statistical sense) relationship between self-employment and wealth. While I can't say for sure, I would argue that drive is more important that the employment situation.