<prompt> Human: I currently am employed making 70,000 a year. I am paying off student loans and also saving for a future house down payment. I plan on buying a house within two years, once I am married to my now girlfriend and she is done with grad school. I know right now that I can comfortably afford houses in the price range I am looking at, but the down payment is another issue since it is a large one time payment. Right now I am just putting money in a savings account that I wont touch for any other reason than the down payment. My question is, should I keep the money in the savings account, or look for other ways of investing it until I am ready to use it?  <response>: Keep it in savings. You cant risk losing principal to short term volatility. For example, if you had your invested your money in the stock market last year and needed it to make a downpayment now, you would have lost 10 or more just this month. Its not a risk you can take for an expense that is expected to take place in the short run. 