<prompt> Human: My wife and I are both 27 making a combined 182kyear gross. My employer matches 0.80 for every dollar I contribute to my traditional 401k up to 8 of my gross income 90kyear AND contributes 3 of my income automatically. My wifes employer does not offer a retirement savings plan. Weve been contributing the IRS limit to Roth IRAs in each of our names. We both have excellent credit, and were pre-approved for a mortgage loan from a couple different lenders.Were considering building a house for close to 400k. We currently have a little over 30k saved for a down payment, and were living rent-free with my wifes parents, so were saving the majority of our paychecks. We wouldnt close on a new construction until sometime in December, January, or possibly February, depending on how long the builder is willing to give us obviously, the more time they give us, the easier it will be to get to 20 down and leave more savings for an emergency fund. Im debating stopping our IRA contributions just for the remainder of the yearuntil we close in order to put an extra nearly 1k into savings each month. If we do decide to do this, we would likely be able to save enough at the beginning of next year to still max out our 2015 contributions before April 15, 2016. I understand the potential ramifications due to lost interestdollar cost averaging, and theres of course a chance we wouldnt be able to max out our 2015 contributions given the additional expenses for a new house; though, we have all the furniture well need for at least the first couple years, and appliances are included in the price of the home, so those big purchases are already accounted for. Anyway, would the benefit of reaching or not having to stretch as far for a 20 down payment and the accompanying PMI avoidance and best possible interest rate compensate for the disadvantages of temporarily stopping our IRA contributions?EDIT: In the interest of continuing a helpful discussion and addressing some points of contention, I thought Id add a few more details. First of all, I really appreciate all well, most of your comments; I came here for different perspectives, and Ive certainly heard them through mostly productive discussion. So thanks for that.Now, I certainly understand that my wife and I are fortunate to be in a very favorable financial situation. Weve both worked hard to earn undergraduate and graduate degrees that, in turn, led to well-paying careers. Were also fortunate to have parents both hers and mine who are happy to help us out while we transition from grad student life to the real world. Weve only been living with my in-laws for about a month, and were trying to save up as much as possible in 6 months, because if try to make the builders wait too long, we could lose the opportunity to build the house we want. As for the comments asking where all our money is going, we do have student loans and a car payment, cell phone bills, car insurance, and foodmiscellaneous expenses to pay for ourselves, which account for 2kmonth. Like ucam_zilles suggested, were taking in 10kmonth after taxes. Again, we have 30k saved right now, and were targeting a down payment around 80k. Even saving 8kmonth that is, without contributing to our IRAs, wed need 6-7 months to save the additional 50k we need. Add on top of that even just an extra month to have something of an e-fund left after the down payment. It would be fine if we could stay with my in-laws as long as we needed to save this amount, and while my in-laws would be happy to let us stay, the builder may not be so flexible. They obviously want to sell all their lots as soon as possible, so to ensure were able to get one of the lots wed prefer in this particular new community - which is in a great location for home values, proximity to work, good school districts, etc. - were kind of at the mercy of the builder as far as how long theyre willing to delay starting to buildclosing on our home. As it stands now, the earliest we could feasibly close would be December, though we may be able to get the builder to agree to delay things a month or two. In any event, hopefully you can see how were cutting it close even with potentially stopping IRA contributions realistically, we may have to stop IRA contributions AND take out some or all of the allowed 10k from my IRA for a first-time home purchase. Hence, I hoped to gain some perspective on whether or not the benefit of more easily reaching a 20 down payment with some remaining e-funds could outweigh the cost of reducing retirement savings at a fairly young age.  <response>: I just went through a very similar time in my life so Ill speak from experience 29, DINK, 200kyr gross. Last year, I bought the house- although I would actually say modest condo - for 250k. Put 5 down. Still paying PMI, but actually still pay less than I did when renting. With the savings over renting I was able to quickly build my emergency fund and max out my savings contributions. Emotionally, I feel significantly more at ease now and it is much easier to hide away savings now. Buying the place and paying the PMI arent the penalties that most folks describe when compared to the stability and lack of stress you may feel when 1 you have your own place and 2 you guys arent living with the parents any more. I have experienced no new home buyer horror stories and 12 months later my emergency fund and savings are full. So, to directly answer your question, I do not think that reaching for 20 is something you have to do. Pay the PMI, get out of the parents house and take advantage of the low rates. While PMI may not be the best economic choice, for someone in your shoes it may actually be the best spiritual answer just as it was for me. For reference, PMI on my 250k place is only 140 per month. Note: this advice isnt for everyone. 