Loans, School, Marriage, etc. - Advise Greatly Appreciated!

[chortitza]

Edited to Remove

[AlwaysBeenASaver]

I would recommend, in this order:

1. Save up for, or, if you already have, keep an emergency fund. Lack of emergency funds is what tends to throw people off course on their savings/payoff plans, and put them further into debt.

2. Pay off the student loans. I understand the desire to purchase a home, but I think it would be better to at least get the student loan debt down quite a bit before going into a mortage, property taxes, homeowners insurance, and the cost of maintaining and repairing a home.  Additionally, I think it might be stretching yourself thin to have a new marriage, a new home, graduate school, and a full time job all at the same time.

3. Save up enough that you can not only purchase the home, but still have your emergency funds untouched as well as budgeting for the "hidden costs" of owning a home, to avoid credit card debt when (not if) something goes wrong with the home.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

Congrats on your upcoming marriage!

I agree on waiting to buy a house until you have killed the unsubsidized loan.

In my experience, you can get a decent conventional mortgage with 5% down--yes, 20% is better, but 5% is workable. So pay the loan, then save up AT LEAST the 5% and a decent emergency fund.

Another reason to hold off on buying a house is that most people tend to buy a bigger house than they would rent. Rent a one- or two-bedroom apartment while you're saving up.

ALSO, home ownership is a major pain in the ass, and you will be incredibly busy while you're in grad school. Don't do that to yourself. I really, REALLY wish that my husband and I had NOT bought houses (yes, two of them) in our 20s. We could have saved a lot of money renting an apartment instead (even leaving aside the fact that we decided to move after all and wound up losing both all our money, and our credit rating, in a short sale).

[GizmoTX]

OP, you really need to wait on a house until you know what your employment situation is for both of you, what the location is, & if you are happy with it. Grad school & a new marriage will put a lot on your plate to deal with, another reason to wait on the house. I agree with other posters about an emergency fund, reducing or eliminating your debt, & saving a house down payment, in that order.  We lived in apartments for our first 7 years & saved a ton. We rented furniture at first, so moving was much easier, & waited to select things that were scaled for a house when we finally bought one.

[cincystache]

Great job with the free grad school and working while doing that and congrats on getting married.
I vote no on buying a house any time soon. Taking care of a house while being a newlywed and trying to work and go to school is a lot to handle. Just rent for a few years while saving for retirement and paying down debt (in that order).

Here would be my priority list:
1. If you have a 401k through either of your employers I would contribute enough to get any matching that is offered.

2. Save an emergency fund of ~3 months of expenses in an online bank (1% interest)

3. Max out IRAs for both of you (5,500 for each of you) each year from here on out.

4. Pay off any debt higher than 5% interest

5. max out all of your other retirement accounts (401k, 403b, HSA etc.)

6. Pay off all student loans.

7. Save 20% for a down payment and then buy a modest house.

8. You are now debt free except a mortgage and you are maxing out all of your retirement accounts. At this point you can either pay off your mortgage sooner, invest in taxable accounts for financial independence or a combination of both depending on what make you feel better.

Good luck!

[Dezrah]

If you reach the point where you’re debating whether to save for retirement or save for a house, absolutely put it in a Roth IRA (beyond employer match, of course).  That way you’re saving for retirement with the option to change your mind down the line and get the house instead.  You can’t do that in reverse and get the same tax advantages. 

Just focus on living simply as much as you can stand and you’ll achieve all these goals before you know it.  Good luck.

[therethere]

If you reach the point where you’re debating whether to save for retirement or save for a house, absolutely put it in a Roth IRA (beyond employer match, of course).  That way you’re saving for retirement with the option to change your mind down the line and get the house instead.  You can’t do that in reverse and get the same tax advantages. 

Just focus on living simply as much as you can stand and you’ll achieve all these goals before you know it.  Good luck.

I'd advise opening a Roth for 2015 even if you can only contribute a very tiny amount. You are able to withdraw from a Roth penalty free for first home purchase. But the account has to be open for five years (otherwise you can only pull contributions not the gains). Not saying you will need or use it. But I think its a good option to have. You might as well get the five year clock started if you haven't already. You might also be eligible for the Saver's Credit to give it an added push. Just a thought.

[justajane]

Yeah, definitely pay off the unsubsidized one. While in grad school, I let mine compound. I wish I had attacked it head on. Of course, don't pay on the others if they are deferred. Will they be? I don't know how working full-time while in school affects those things.

I would also wait on the house. When you marry, it's easy to want to pull the trigger soon, but in your circumstances, it just doesn't make sense until you know for sure that you are staying. They always say 5 years is a good amount of time to stay in a home, but I think it's closer to 8-10 IMO.