<prompt> Human: Im curious how people balance between saving for retirement and saving for a home.I am able to save about 1,800 a month which is approximately 45 of my take home pay. Right now I put 1500 towards my Roth ira401k and 300 towards my emergency fund. My emergency fund will be at 6 months worth of expenses in about half a year.Even if I move that 300 a month towards retirement, I still dont hit the yearly max of 23,500.How would you recommend saving for a home but still taking advantage of as much tax deferred dollars as possible? Id like to save up for a down payment between 50,000 and 75,000. Thanks!  <response>: I am single, have no idea whether I will end up in a permanent relationship or not, no idea whether Ill want to retire to the same city Im living in now or not, no idea how long Ill want to stay where I am now, and love the idea of being able to pick up and move if I feel like it.For me, I feel it makes more sense to save towards retirement. I also know that, in case all the stars align and I want to buy a home right that second, I can take contributions and some earnings from my Roth IRA up to 10k earnings, some money from my traditional IRA up to 10k, and a loan from my 401k. I do have a down payment savings account, but in terms of proportions of what I can afford to save, a lot more is going towards retirement.But, it sounds like you have a much more concrete goal in terms of home purchase than I do. In your shoes, I dont think it would be crazy to do something like follow the generic 15 savings towards retirement guideline, and everything else towards your home purchase.You also cant afford to end up with a paid off home but no income in retirement, since taxes and maintenance expenses never go away. 