Need advice

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105k cash in bank.

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Hope this isn't just sitting in a bank account.

Are you relocating and staying with the same company (same income)? That is a pretty important question for us.

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I wld prefer to get a home I can pay off in 5 years or less, but with mortgage interest rates so low I am wondering if I should just bite the bullet and get more house now and shoot to pay of in 10 years.

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Just get the house you can pay off in "5 years or less" but with interest so low right now you may be better off not paying it off so quickly.

You're doing fine. You'll make the right decision. The only 'advice' you need is where to put that 105K.

60k of my cash is allocated to down payment. the rest I plan to keep in bank for emergency fund. Unless someone has better advice. I am really inexperienced with money and have no idea. I grew up poor so I never have been exposed to financial rights or wrongs.

1. With rates as low as they are you shouldn't be in such a hurry to pay it off. Especially if you itemize tax deductions, your real interest rate will probably be in the range of 3% or so. Paying that off is not a particularly good rate of return, it's only a percent or so above the long-term rate of inflation.

2. If you don't have a Roth, get one and start maxing that out. One great feature about a Roth IRA is that if you need to you can withdraw up to the amount you put in without any penalty, but your earnings are tax-free. That is a much better way of stashing extra money than sticking it in a taxable savings account.

Damn dude. You're doing really well.

What field do you work in if you don't mind asking?

And make the move. Phoenix is hot as balls, but not in the NOLA/South way. Most people I know love it there.

As others have said, you need to be doing more with that 105k after you make a DP. That's a lot to have just sitting earning nothing. Are you at least getting 1% off of it?

Thanks, I am a DoD contractor, engineer. And finance illiterate.

invest some of that 105K in a financial advisor or some classes, or good reading material.

i know it sounds smug but you have GREAT money coming in and need to know how to optimize your situation. sitting on 40k cash thats not doing anything for you is wasting a chunk of the benefits that come with a good salary.

and then you can pass on the good life lessons to the little one on the way.

+1 on the need to educate yourself financially. books, a class, online stuff, a consultation with a paid (non-commission earning) financial advisor...all of these things would help you out. $100K sitting around could be working harder for you.

RE: Phoenix, not so sure it's the greatest move. Sure, you can buy more house...but it's a dang desert. You're moving to an environmentally unsustainable place, with deep cultural divisions. Practically everyone is a transplant, or an ex-Californian who was priced out of THAT real estate market. Huge housing bubble burst, I know people who lost 50% of their home value in the past decade and finally decided just to sell (after nearly a decade of waiting for rebound) rather than keep living in PHX. The city itself is huge & sprawling; consider your potential commute as hours of your life you'll never get back.

Don't let overvalued NOLA prices be the only factor in a lateral move. A 15 mile commute for cheaper prices outside the city may be a better idea than a cross-country move. (Unless you love the desert.)

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Doesn't this describe NOLA as well?

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While it might describe NOLA, it's pretty easy to work in the NOL and not live in Orleans/Jefferson parishes. Draw a slightly bigger commuter circle and you'll find better schools, functional representative government, lower insurance rates, lower crime, etc. All of this within a commuting distance equal or lesser than the average commute distances in the Phoenix area.

The burst is one reason I am thinking about moving there. I can live in a great home, access to great golf courses and not be harassed by people for my spare change as I walk to work. Thanks for the input from everyone.