<prompt> Human: My husband wants to use part of his 401K as a downpayment on a house. We have no other savings. Our credit is on the mend, but I personally dont think were ready for that level of commitment no matter what the cost. Hes adamant that renting is a total waste of our money, and I completely disagree. Im happy having a roof over our heads,but to me it seems he will never be truly happy unless we own a home. I dont want him to touch the 401K bc i think well totally get screwed!! Is there any evidence out there that using a 401K for down payment is a bad idea? BTW, hes 45 and makes about 110k. We have 3 kids, and Im a SAHM.Edit: THANK YOU ALL for taking the time to read and respond. I feel better about not being the one whos holding us back. We are blessed to be healthy and have a job that provides us with all our needs and then some. I will share all of this with the husband and hopefully we can come to an agreement to be better financially before we take the plunge. TIL we suck with money, and have a lot of work to do!  <response>: Youre taking out a loan against yourself robbing your retirement to take out a loan from a bank mortgage. Youre hitting yourself twice with this. The savings in rent reduction are nice, but they arent really going to make up the extra 5-10 years of work required to build your retirement back up.I dont think its a smart decision. 