Kate Phelan

Make sure that you have other debt that you might be servicing, taking care of, right?

Make sure that you're making a choice that is not

the one that you think you need to make now because it's that time to hit that milestone.

But it's a choice that you're actually ready for.

And then don't lose sight of your financial well-being beyond that goal of buying the house.

You still need to be doing things like, am I contributing to my 401k?

Am I making some of these other small money moves that are going to put me in a good spot so that when I am ready to own the home, I'm truly ready?

So I think that it's not just about saving for that down payment.

It's about being in a spot where you feel actually secure with what that's going to mean.

Because servicing a mortgage and being the one who's responsible when the water heater blows up and things happen like that is really different.

And people need to make sure that they've really thought that through and are prepared for it.

I think that people need to bear in mind that you have a couple of different horizons that you're looking at.

What am I trying to achieve financially in the next three or five years?

And what am I trying to achieve long-term, right, for the rest of my life?

And what will that look like?

If you're in the heyday of your career, you're in that building wealth stage of life, you need to be thinking about all of the competing priorities that you have.

So Scott makes a good point.

It's one of, I think, the most critical for young people is, I mean,

Make sure that you're matching your 401k contributions with what your employer will do, because if not, you're just leaving money on the table.

So make some of those types of choices.