I'm graduating school in December. At that point, my (subsidized) student loans will start being due, my grandparents are giving me $16k as a graduation gift (approximately the amount of my student loans), and I will begin work at a job where I can save about $4000 a month given projected living expenses.
Student loans are $13,500 at 3.5% and $2,800 at 5%.
I've considered putting the money towards a downpayment on a house sometime mid- to late 2015 (I plan on moving in the fall, so this makes some sense) and then paying off the loans after securing the house. Or, I could pay off the loans right away and put off the house for a few extra months, but then I'm paying rent for that time and moving a lot instead of investing in the house. Or I could put it in stocks, but that only seems logical if I plan on renting for the foreseeable future.
My question: How would you employ the $16k windfall and future line of savings, given a blank slate? House, debt, stocks, combo?
UPDATE:
I've been thinking about this and the $5500 into a Roth IRA sounds great. But I just had another question - I originally opted out of the 401k plan at my internship favoring liquidity, but I'm thinking of putting off the house until 2016 which would mean I don't require such liquidity. My company's plan says I can contribute to a Roth 401k or "traditional after tax contributions" (not quite sure the difference). Would this be a smart way to invest the $5000 from my internship that I was otherwise going to put in a personal vanguard account?