NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast - Life’s Big Buys: Travel Splurges and When to Cut Retirement Savings for a Home Down Payment

Episode Date: December 8, 2025

Learn how to shift savings between retirement and a home down payment without derailing your future. How do you balance big life experiences with long-term financial goals? Is it smart to scale back retirement savings to buy a home sooner? Hosts Sean Pyles and Elizabeth Ayoola discuss wedding budgeting, honeymoon spending, and saving trade-offs to help you think through your own big-ticket plans. Fresh off his San Francisco City Hall wedding and multi-city honeymoon through Japan and South Korea, Sean shares how he saved ahead of time, avoided debt, and still came home with money left over. They talk about budgeting for flights and hotels, deciding when to splurge versus save, the realities of travel fatigue, and how to reset your budget afterward by trimming categories like clothing. Elizabeth also opens up about her “37 to 37” joy challenge, holiday shopping stress around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and the emotions of planning birthday and Christmas spending. Then, fellow Nerds Dalia Ramirez and Kate Ashford join Elizabeth to discuss whether it makes sense to divert retirement savings toward a home down payment. They walk through how to prioritize savings goals, use age-based benchmarks to see if you’re on track, and set a clear end date for any “pause” to protect your future self. They also break down key differences between Roth IRAs and 403(b)s, when it may be smarter to lower 403(b) contributions instead of tapping a Roth, how first-time homebuyers might use up to $10,000 in Roth earnings for a purchase, and the trade-offs of sacrificing compound growth today for the long-term benefits of owning a home. Enter to Win NerdWallet's Debt-Free December Sweepstakes: https://www.nerdwallet.com/m/loans/personal-loans/debtfreedecember  Use NerdWallet’s free retirement calculator to check your progress, see how much retirement income you'll have and estimate how much more you should save: https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/calculators/retirement-calculator  Want us to review your budget? Fill out this form — completely anonymously if you want — and we might feature your budget in a future segment! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScK53yAufsc4v5UpghhVfxtk2MoyooHzlSIRBnRxUPl3hKBig/viewform?usp=header In their conversation, the Nerds discuss: retirement savings, home down payment, diverting retirement savings, saving for a house, Roth IRA withdrawal for home, Roth IRA first time homebuyer, 403b vs Roth IRA, pension and retirement savings, retirement savings benchmark by age, compound interest retirement, emergency fund vs house down payment, balancing savings goals, saving for retirement in your 30s, retirement calculator planning, how much to save for retirement, wedding budget, honeymoon budget, travel budget planning, Japan trip cost, Tokyo travel budget, Seoul travel budget, big life event budgeting, saving for wedding and house, Cyber Monday shopping tips, Black Friday shopping stress, holiday gift budget, birthday spending, joyful spending, government pension retirement planning, high interest debt payoff vs investing, reducing 403b contributions, Roth IRA contributions vs earnings, and first time homebuyer rules Roth IRA. To send the Nerds your money questions, call or text the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373 or email [e-mail]. Like what you hear? Please leave us a review and tell a friend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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you get your practice in. Experiencing that sweet and salty satisfaction again and again and again. Santa gets cookies. You get Rees. Nothing else is Rees. Guess who's back from the depths of newlywed bliss in Tokyo and didn't come bearing any gifts for his favorite Sagittarius co-host? Sorry, Elizabeth. I'm back, but I just didn't have room in my suitcase. Maybe next time. Oh my God, fine. I'll take it, but only because I love you. Welcome back, Sean.

Thank you. Welcome to NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast, where you send us your money questions and we answer your money questions and we answer. them. With the help of our genius nerds, I'm Sean Piles. And I'm Elizabeth Ayola. This episode, we answer listeners' question about diverting savings to a house-down payment. But first of all, public surface announcement, as you heard, Sean is back, and we want to hear all about his wedding and honeymoon. Congratulations again, Sean. Thank you. After three weeks away, I am finally back from my travels and my wedding, and I'm only a little bit jet lagged, and you know what? I missed you guys. We missed you too. So let's chop it up. First and most important, how was the wedding?

I have to say, it was one of the most beautiful days of my life. Everything went so perfectly, and we were surrounded by our friends and our family. Garrett and mine's vows were so beautiful. We brought everyone to tears, which I felt very proud about my writing skills for. And the venue itself, San Francisco City Hall, was just delightful, stunning. The harpist was a perfect little addition. I'm glad I splurged on that. And I just wouldn't have done it any other way. I feel so grateful for how that day turned out. Oh, I'm so happy you had a wonderful time.

And I wish I could hear those wedding vows. But as you said that, a quick side quest, I saw some data in my inbox the other day that said people are using chat chbt for the wedding vows. I can't imagine. There's a separate edit that I left called Am I Overreacting? And someone said, my husband, or almost husband, use Chat, GPT, to write their vows, and I left them at the altar. am I overreacting? Yes. And, you know, I'm going to say maybe a slight overreaction,

but it's your wedding those people. We put your heart and soul, not a robot's heart and soul into these words. Exactly. And before we move on from that, somebody that I know, use Chat CheapyT to write an apology note. And that didn't go well either to their partner. No. Okay. So we're going to move back onto the blissful wedding ceremony. What were the most indelible moments from the ceremony and reception? The ceremony itself, just being in San Francisco City Hall, the space is stunning, and being there with Garrett, seeing him in this beautiful setting, being there together to celebrate our love was perfect. So that was just being in the space together. And the reception, I think part of it that was really fun was that we had fairly informal seating, so I could hop around to a bunch of different tables and chat with everyone.

And then for the reception, the party part of it, we went out in the Castro and I'll never forget the image of my mom. mom dancing to Carly Ray Jepson at my favorite gay bar in the Castro. It was just the best. Wow. You see, this is what I love money for. I think money is about being able to pay for experiences like this, right? These lifetime experiences. So I'm sure it was worth every penny. Especially because we didn't go into debt for it. I'd been saving for so long. And I think that helped me just be in the moment and not be worried about my finances because I knew it was all covered. Well, now we want to hear about the honeymoon. We want to hear about Tokyo. Was it everything that you thought it would be? Was it more? Yes. Well, to be totally clear, it wasn't just Tokyo for my honeymoon. Garrett and I

traveled quite a bit. We first went to the northern part of Japan, this region called Hokkaido, which is kind of a rural area. I went to a spa there for a few days. Then we went down to Tokyo. We were there for five days. Then we hopped down to Kyoto and we were there for about four days. And we went to Seoul, South Korea, and we were there for almost a week. So we went to all these beautiful different places. Tokyo was so fun. I felt like I was living. in the future because they just have society, like, done right there. Like, people are polite. The streets are clean.

You can get amazing food at convenience stores in a way that you simply cannot in America. I walked over 20,000 steps pretty much every day, and I'd never felt healthier and just more relaxed at the same time. I will say I have a couple of friends who have been to Japan, and they all give that same feedback that it's like living in the future. Now, I'm curious since you were city hopping, how was the transportation and how much did it cost? I don't have a number for you because I spent this money back in July. I paid for it way back then just to have it all covered. But in total, we had about seven flights throughout all of our

travels. And so that was kind of a lot by the end. But the travel itself was pretty easy. I was worried about taking airlines that were like based in Japan or based in South Korea. But there was English on every flight. And I also fortunately didn't feel like I was pulled between too many cities to quickly because we had enough time to like relax, unpack our suitcases in each location and really feel grounded there, which I think was something Garrett and I really wanted for our honeymoon. Well, that's so important. Otherwise, you go through all the motions and then you feel exhausted and it's really hard to be present when you're tired all the time, right? So I love that you guys took those breaks. And then I'm curious about like the public transportation. Did you take any buses, any trains?

Were those like being in the future too, if you did? Definitely in Tokyo. We took a lot of trains because the infrastructure there is just so accessible and really affordable too. It's the best way to get around the city. We only took a car to the train station when we were going to Kyoto because by that point, I had acquired so much stuff I had to buy a new bag that I had filled with all of my stuff. So I wasn't about to schlep that. Yeah. Well, I knew that I was going to do that going into my trip and I did all my Christmas shopping while I was over there. So it wasn't just stuff for me, although I was doing the classic one for you, one for me, purchasing. And I'm delighted to say I have so many new clothes that look so great on me, including this beautiful sweater that I'm wearing right now. And y'all can't see, but me and Sean are twinning right now. We're both wearing beautiful blue sweaters. So check the social clips to see how nice we look. By the end of the trip, though, I'll say that I was experiencing what I'm calling exhaustion fatigue.

And in Seoul, we didn't take public transportation one time over the course of the six days we were there, in part because we went to the train station to load up a card, and they wouldn't take foreign credit cards. to pay for, to buy a transportation ticket. Yeah. So at that point, we were like, well, I'm just going to get Ubers because they were super cheap there. Like my Uber from the airport to Seoul itself, which was about an hour drive, was $40. Shut the front door. Yeah. And because we were so exhausted from at that point, you know, about three weeks of travel, we said, let me just take Ubers everywhere. And, you know, 30-minute Uber was maybe $6. And so I think I probably spent about $100. over the course of the week on several Ubers, which really is a pretty good deal.

And well worth it because we were so exhausted. And at that point in a trip, we're just trying to enjoy things, but not feel too much of the mental strain of like, okay, let me figure out this whole new transit system in a language I don't understand. Yeah, that's the part that stresses me out about going to a non-English speaking country. And of course, it's my responsibility to learn some of the language. But, yeah, it can be pretty stressful. You know, as you were talking about packing or rather buying things. and needed an extra suitcase, I thought about great money-saving hack that I use sometimes when I travel.

Yeah, what is it? And I do not buy another suitcase. Sometimes I just leave things that I'm not going to wear anymore at the airport when my suitcase is too full. Yes, I know. It's pretty ridiculous. You'll buy things there and leave it there? No, no.

Things I brought. Yeah, I'd be like, well, I don't really need these pajamas anymore. I don't really need this T-shirt. And then I'll just leave the things at the airport so that my baggage is not overweight. Very ridiculous. That is kind of wild, Elizabeth. I can't imagine just parting with myself. For me, I will find a way to slam my suitcase shut. I don't care how full it is. But yeah, maybe I'm just a hoarder. I can't get rid of my stuff like that. No, and maybe I'm just ridiculous. That is not a real money saving. You are a little ridiculous. All right. So when I travel, Sean, I spend the most on food and accommodation. That's usually where most of my money goes. And then child care because, you know, I'm single mama and someone's. got to watch I.O. when I don't bring him. So what were the most expensive line items in your

travel budget? Well, perhaps not surprisingly, the flights were a little expensive, getting to and from Japan and everywhere else we went. And then hotels, too, they were decently affordable in Tokyo. We stayed at this hotel that was really bizarre. I wanted to get us a room that had laundry in it, and so I found this place that seemed kind of nice, had laundry, was fairly centrally located. We get to the hotel. It turns out that this room that I booked, which is a VIP suite, is in the basement. It is really long. It's about as long as our house is here. And every surface is covered in mirrors. And there are chandeliers about every five feet. It is just like the most glittering, shining room you've ever imagined. There's a karaoke setup in it. It was kind of

crazy. But somehow that was the most affordable room that we booked for the entire trip, but also the most gaudy, too. So I was happy to get a good deal on this totally ridiculous suite that we stayed in for a little while. Yeah, mirrors everywhere, sign me up and don't call me vain, but I like to look at myself. Yeah. Was there anything in particular in terms of cost that did surprise you in new travels? A lot of it was just how affordable food was in particular. I mean, in Japan, I had the best version of Japanese food that I've ever had in my life, of course, and also the most affordable. Like in Portland here, my favorite ramen place, a bowl of ramen is going to run me close to $20.

And I had a better version of ramen in Tokyo, and I think it costs me maybe the equivalent of $10. So that was surprising. Just how accessible the convenience stores are. People talk about these a lot with Japan trips. You go into a 7-Eleven or a Lawson and you get like a little onigiri or an egg sandwich or a drink. and it amounts to three bucks, and that's your lunch for the day. And then you're just back out exploring again. So I found it to be much less expensive than visiting a city like New York or Chicago.

Well, it sounds like your money was well spent, but is there anything that you would do differently, budget-wise, now that you're back home, now that you're looking at your bank account, you know, is there anything you do different? I'm going to say no, because guess what? I still have money in my savings account that I put aside for this trip. So I did pretty well. Wait, you got some leftovers? Yes. I have over $2,000 left in my savings account. Oh, that's a win.

A win is a win. Yeah. That is a win. So I think in total between my wedding and my honeymoon, I spent around $26,000. So not nothing, especially because a lot of those expenses came over the past month. But again, I've been saving for so long, and I still have money that I was planning to set aside for it. So guess what? I'm buying myself a new bed frame.

Oh, look at you. I'm fully in nesting mode. now that I'm back home. Really, really, really love that for you, Sean. Now, my last question for you is, now I know you were saying that you're going to have to replenish your emergency savings over time, which makes sense. What are you planning to cut back on so that you can do that?

It's going to be my clothes budget because I already bought so many beautiful garments in Japan and in Korea that I don't need anything else. And in fact, I need to start donating things because I'm pretty much out of storage. So I don't need to buy any more clothes, and so I won't, and I will use the money that I would have spent on whatever I wanted to buy. Throw that right into my emergency savings or other life goal savings. That's right. You just got to reshuffle the buckets. But hey, Elizabeth, I know you've been asking me questions, but I haven't heard about your life over the last month. So I want to hear hotspot questions for you.

What was your rose, thorn, and bud about your finances over the last three weeks, rapid fire? Wow. Okay. Let me see. A rose is my birthday. It's December the 18th, and since I was 35, I do a countdown to my birthday. So I'll do 35 to 35. I'm training 37 this year. So I started over the past three weeks my 37 to 37. I have been surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly, spending a lot of those things because I find one joyful thing to do a day on food. So I've been eating a lot. And for me, that is a rose. Wait, so just so I'm totally clear, you have, it's almost like an advent calendar of 37 days leading up to your 37th. birthday. Okay, I love that. Exactly. And I have to choose one thing a day that brings me joy. And I'm just learning how much I like to eat because most of these things have been food related. Okay, hold on. I love that. But quick aside, because my brain is looking ahead to the future when you're 100 and you're going to be spending a third of a year celebrating your birthday. Do you know what? Do you know what? I'm not going to lie to you. Let me tell you something. So the first year, I did a list. Like I wrote down 35 things I'm going to do. This year, I was like, one, two, three, 37. It was getting hard.

It's harder and harder. You got to get creative. So that's why I was like, you know what? So I haven't pre-planned out the things. And sometimes I just look for a joyful thing in my day, right? So it's just about being present and aware of what's bringing me joy that day. But yeah, to answer your question, yes, exactly. At 100, I'm going to have to start 100 days early, and it's going to be a long journey, you know? Yeah. Well, that's really sweet. That's a good rose. So what about your thorn in your butt? Ooh, so I would say my thorn this year is figuring out, or over the past couple of weeks, is trying to figure out Christmas gifts alongside the sales because I wanted to capitalize on Cyber Monday and Black Friday. And I get really stressed out with buying things for other people because I want to buy something that they like. And then I have to read all these reviews. Yeah, not just junk. Exactly.

And also the sales are not really sales anymore. It's like, guess what, they raised the price two weeks ago just to lower it for Cyber Monday. we see your game and we're not playing it. Or $2 off? Like, yeah, thanks, no thanks. Right. So that definitely stressed me out. And then what was the last one?

We had a rose. We had a thorn. Your bud. What are you looking forward to? Ooh, of course I'm looking forward to my birthday and Christmas. Last year, I and I went riding around neighborhoods to look at lights. And it was such a so softy, beautiful moment for us that I was almost crying. So I just, it just makes me so happy.

Yes, I'm looking forward to doing that again this year. And oh, I didn't tell you, Sean. I would say this probably goes in both the rose and bud category. But I haven't celebrated my birthday with people since my 21st birthday. So this year, I'm doing a gathering with some of my close friends, and we're going to make gift boxes for homeless people. So that's going to be how I celebrate my birthday. Yes, I'm really looking forward to that. You're a good person.

I love that. Oh, thank you. Well, thank you for giving me the rundown on your finances ever the past few weeks because I've missed you. It's good to talk with you again. Yeah, thank you. All right. Well, now that we've discussed all that you spent and you hit me with those surprise questions, I think it's a good time to mention the sweepstakes if you haven't heard about it already. NerdWallet has an ongoing debt-free December sweepstakes happening to help people pay off debt. Every day from December 1st through the 25th, one person will get $100,000 from NerdWallet. You can enter for free at nerdwollet.com slash debt-free December or in the NerdWallet app. And Sean, while you were away, our sweepstakes were announced on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Did you know that? I saw that. That is so crazy. How cool. It is. I felt like, Mama, I made it. We're on Jimmy Kimmel.

All right. In a moment, we're going to answer listeners' question about whether it's a good idea to reroute savings for retirement to a house down payment. But before we get into that, listeners, a reminder for you to send us your money questions. Maybe you're wondering about the best way to save up for your own wedding, or you see the holidays rapidly approaching. and are wondering about how to get the best prices on everything from presents to airfare to lodging. Whatever your money question is, we, the nerds, are here to help you. Leave us a voicemail or text us on the nerd hotline. The number is 901-730-63. If you need it again, it's 901, 730, and ERD.

Or email us at podcast at nerdwallet.com. Okay, let's get to this episode's money question. That's up next. Stay with us. We're back in answering your money questions to help you make smarter financial decisions. This episode, we're using a question from a listener who sent us a text. But before that, let's introduce today's guest co-host for this segment of the show. We have our fellow nerd Dahlia Ramirez.

Hey, Dahlia. Hi, Elizabeth. It's great to be here. All right, Dahlia, since you are my guest co-host today, I'm going to let you do the honors of reading the listener question. So, hi, nerds. I'm writing in with a question about balancing savings goals, specifically whether in my current budget I can reallocate some of my savings from retirement to a home down payment. Here's the information I think is pertinent. I'm 33 years old with steady work in state government with modest annual pay increases and union negotiated inflation adjustments. I currently contribute about 22% of my pre-tax income to retirement.

I have a competing financial goal, which is that I would like to purchase a home in the near future. In our area, homes that would suit my family's needs currently cost about 380 to 425,000. We anticipate living in this area for 7 to 10 more years. My partner and I currently have $40,000 saved for combined down payment and closing costs. I set aside about $8,000 a year towards a down payment, and this year I started a separate savings bucket for home repairs that will grow at about $1,000 a year. So my question is this. Can I divert savings money from retirement to a house down payment? And is diverting future investments to my retirement? retirement accounts better than using a small sum for my retirement to use towards a down payment.

Thank you for your input. To answer the listener's question, we have Kate Ashford, a core personal finance nerd who is not a stranger to the pod. Welcome back, Kate. Hi, guys. Thank you for having me again. So the listener seems to be struggling to decide financial priorities as it relates to saving. Now, Kate, if you had to provide a hierarchy for savings, what would that list look like? Sometimes people get hung up on it being either or when it can be both. as the listener seems to be doing. It doesn't have to be in either or, but you do have to

prioritize. Generally speaking, financial priorities might look like having a good emergency cushion of three to six months of living expenses. You want to make sure you're making any kind of mandatory or matched retirement contributions. This reader did mention to us that they have a mandatory 10.5% contribution to their pension plan. So that's a given. If your company offers a match, you should probably be contributing enough to get that their minimum. make sure you're paying off any high-interest debt. That's going to be high on the list. And then after that, saving for a home-down payment can fit right in along with maybe making additional retirement contributions and then longer-term goals like college savings. So you just have to put

things in an order for yourself. Hey, does it ever make sense to hit the breaks on retirement savings to fund a different financial goal? At Nerdwoll, we suggest getting at least a 401K match, so you're not leaving free money on the table. But for example, if you have compounding high interest debt, it can make sense to redirect some funds. Dahlia, it's definitely possible to thoughtfully pause your retirement savings to pursue other goals, but there are caveats, right? You mentioned a 401k match. So if you're eligible for one of those, you should consider saving at least enough to get that match because that's free money. And you also mention high interest debt. It's probably worth your while to get that off your plate,

or at least set up a solid payoff plan before you really get aggressive about retirement savings. But after that, you can pivot some cash toward other important short-term goals. Generally, I wouldn't pivot all cash, but that will kind of depend on how you're doing on retirement savings. Now, if the listener does reduce their retirement savings, how can they determine how much to reduce it by? A benchmark for retirement savings is at least putting aside 15% of your pre-tax salary every year, but that amount could vary depending on how much you have saved. Now, the listener said they're putting around 22% towards retirement savings, which is pretty high above that benchmark. How can you decide whether it's the smart financial move,

to reduce that percentage. This listener is well above average. As you mentioned, they're putting 22% away for retirement each year. There's a number out there, I went and wanted up. Of people who have a 401k retirement fund, the average employee is saving 7.7% of their income. So that's from Vanguard for 2024, so not as much as 22. Generally, the recommended savings level is 15%.

So this reader is saving more than that. So they may be ahead of the game, but they're going to have to do some math. I recommend using a retirement calculator, nerd wallet has one, to get a sense of what you'll need and whether you're on track to get there with your current contributions. They might be ahead of where they need to be, in which case they can divert a chunk of their savings toward a home down payment, easy. Then see what happens to your numbers if you divert, let's say, 7% of your income toward

a house down payment for a year or two and save only 15% of your income. Set an end date, this is a short-term goal. So at a certain point, the idea would be to go back to your original savings level as needed. And if you're way behind on retirement, diverting retirement funds to a house down payment might not be the wisest course of action, but this reader doesn't seem like they're in that position. I know when I first started trying to calculate my retirement savings or how much I should have, I did use a calculator, but sometimes it still seemed overwhelming. So for anybody out there who may feel like that, another way to look at it is that we recommend having at least by 30, one times your annual salary saved. that's a very good marker. Our reader is 33, so they can check in on this kind of immediately. And in case you're wondering, the goal overall is 10 times your salary by age 67. Those are the rules of thumb

from fidelity. So, Kate, what are the pros and cons of halting retirement savings? We know losing out on compound interest is the biggest downside. And the more you invest and the longer you invest it, the greater the benefits for your savings pot long term. Are there more pros and cons we should know about? Well, Dahlia, for sure, you're going to miss out on that growth over the years between now and when you retire. People talk a lot about the power of compounding and can kind of make your eyes glaze over, but they're not exaggerating. The earlier you start, the less money you have to save each year. But the reader wouldn't be stopping all savings. They're just talking about decreasing the amount for a period of time, and that money isn't

just disappearing into a black hole. It's going to be put into a house, which is also a big asset that can often be leveraged in your retirement years. So it can kind of be viewed as just pivoting with some of your retirement money. I often have apprehension about minimizing my retirement savings, but I like how you're looking at it as it's going towards another financial goal that supports your financial future. Exactly. All right, let's move on to the next part of the listener's question, whether they should divert funds from their Roth or 403B. Now, they told us that they currently contribute about 7% of their aftertax income to max out their Roth IRA, and they contribute 4.5% of their pre-tax income to a 4.3b with an annual 0.5% increase up to 12.5%. Stay with us, guys. I know that was a lot of numbers.

Now, both are retirement accounts, but they offer different benefits. Kate, can you talk through the pros and cons of diverting funds from each? So these accounts are different in a few ways. Roth IRAs are funded by putting in after-tax contributions. So the money in there grows tax-free and all qualified withdrawals and retirement are tax-free. So that is a nice account to have. A 403B works like a 401k, but it's for employees at public schools, nonprofits, some faith-based organizations. And it works in that contributions are pre-tax and they reduce your taxable income, but you will pay tax on future withdrawals. You could make an argument for either choice, but one thing to keep in mind is that Roth IRAs are more flexible. You can take contributions.

out ahead of age 59 and a half without taxes or penalties. The 403B, on the other hand, your money is kind of locked in there until age 59 and a half unless you meet some pretty specific requirements. So it's probably worth considering stopping or lowering the contribution to the 403B in the short term and keeping some or all of the Roth contributions because the money you're putting into the Roth is more accessible if you need it. So that 403B money is locked in, But the listener wants to know whether they should consider moving a small amount from their Roth towards their home down payment fund. We know a benefit of Roths is that you can take contributions, not earnings, without paying

penalties or taxes. Can you touch on this? So because a Roth IRA is funded with after tax money, all your contributions are available for you to take back out without penalty or taxes at any time. That's contributions, not earnings on those contributions. So this does require some pretty good record keeping. And to be clear, I'm not advocating using your Roth as a fair. piggy bank, but it does have some flexibility. If the listener is a first-time home buyer,

they may be able to benefit from a Roth withdrawal too, right? Yes. So in addition to the flexibility to take out contributions at any time, if the listener is a first-time home buyer, it sounds like they are, they might be able to benefit from a Roth withdrawal of earnings. You can take up to $10,000 from a Roth for a first-time home purchase without paying any taxes or penalties. But honestly, I probably wouldn't move any money from the Roth until it's nearing time to put money down, I would concentrate on building up that down payment fund with the knowledge that if you need it, you can pull out up to $10,000 from that Roth. Right. They're not moving immediately, so there's a little time to get that money built up.

Let that grow a little. Yes. Is there anything else the listener should consider, Kate? I do want to mention that my answer might be different if this reader was saving less for retirement. If someone had texted us and said, hey, I'm saving 10% toward retirement, and I want to cut that in half to save for a house, I would really want them to look at the math and make sure their retirement still looked okay if they did that. And for anyone really considering a big money move like this, it's probably a good time to talk to a financial professional to see what they recommend.

And I do want to say out loud, I'm just super impressed that at 33, our reader, is saving 22% of their pay toward retirement. And has a pension and has thought ahead to pre-fund home repairs. We should all be so disciplined, right? We really should. All right. Thank you so much for coming on, Kate,

to answer this question and also lending your expertise. thank you for having me. And that's all we have for this episode. Remember listener that we're here to answer your money questions. So turn to the nerds and call or text us your questions at 901-7306373. That's 901-730 N-E-R-D. You can also email us at podcast at nerdwollet.com. And of course, we want you to join us next time to hear about how to invest your retirement fund. In the meanwhile, follow smart money on your favorite podcast app. That's Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and iHeartRadio to automatically download new episodes. And here's our brief disclaimer.

We are not your financial or investment advisors. This nerdy info is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes and may not apply to your specific circumstances. This episode is produced by Tess Vigland. Hilary Georgie helped with editing. Nick Kirstme mixed our audio and a big thank you to NerdWallet's editors for their help. And with that said, until next time, turn to the nerds. Thank you.