See ya soon old friend . <| sep |> How is your take home 3300 when you make 72 k ? Unless I missed something . That doesn ' t come anywhere near 72 k . To your question , IF you are going to stay with your parents , just open a brokerage account without them knowing and learn about investing . I ' m not teaching you here , but get some good books on investing . My wife was too scared too , so years ago I did it anyways without her knowing . When she saw all the profits she had a change of heart . Bottom line , do what YOU want to do . You are 28 years old . If you are going to live with your parents then you need to save more too . I ' m sorry if this is harsh , but 120 k saved on a 72 k salary is sad when you live at home . That ' s how much an averagely successful person making 72 k that moved out at 18 would have saved up by then . You should have at the very least 250300 k saved up . Tldr Start super saving 90 % of income , and invest in index funds . OR move out , keep 1015 k liquid as emergency , and invest the rest .