Everything you said makes me think you are heading in the right direction except for the 60k car :-) Spend 30k on a lightly used car if you want "nice".
It sounds like you have three different goals, and they break down neatly into:
1) short term: car
2) medium term: house
3) long term: retirement
First: If you can afford to (and it sounds like you can), max your 401k. Your 401k is a vehicle that allows you to "borrow" money from the government and earn interest on it (by being able to postpone taxes). Personally, I invest 100% of my 401k in an S&P 500 index. I have Fidelity, so my fund is Spartan 500 Investor Class (FUSVX). Use whatever S&P 500 index is available to you, though. If you still have money left, put it into a Roth IRA. Same deal: index fund. That covers your long term goal.
Now, for the house. I'm not sure what to say here. Most of my personal savings is also in the Spartan 500. If you've got a sliding window of 5 years to buy a house, I'd recommend the same. Convert to something more stable (bonds?) when you've made some money... then hold on to it while you're waiting to buy a house. However, consider buying one right now with little money down. Prices are stabilizing and interest rates are still historically low.
Finally, short term. You're young, so you probably won't listen (and honestly, that's okay -- I'm not picking on you): don't buy a 60k car. Spend 30k on a used Audi or BMW if that's your thing. Personally, I would recommend spending 23k on a used Honda. You will be amazed (maybe) at what 23k gets you for a used Honda. Same deal as the house, though. Buy it now, with little money down. Interest rates are really low.
Good luck. Mid 20's and already talking about saving half of your pay check. You'll be fine. Just max that 401k. And please don't get a 60k car :-)
Great advice here. Definitely get into an index, or a handful of mutual funds. Your bank savings account is losing you money. I'm 100% into mutual funds and honestly I should just switch over to the index you're using, emacdona (I'm also at Fidelity). Everything I've read suggests indexes do at least as well as funds, and it's truly "set it and forget it".
About the car: I agree that 60k is ridiculous, but don't get the Honda. Get a car you like. Or do get the (used) Honda, and also a car you like. I bought a 2007 Z4 Coupe for less than 24k back in 2011. Taking her up to the track is literally the most fun I've had in my life, and it's emerging into a full hobby as I'm trying to get into ChumpCar this year. Motorsports is a great hobby. I wrote a short article about it a year ago:
coldpie, you are absolutely right: if cars are a hobby, get one you will enjoy driving. And like you alluded to, there are plenty of options well under 60k.
However, if all you're looking for is to get from point A to point B with a sunroof, heated seats, and low mileage... you can do all that for under 25k in a Honda that will last you over ten years. If you want a little more zip, spring for the V6 ;-)
Yeah, agreed on the car thing. Last year I bought a used '09 Accord V6 fully loaded for $17.5k with great maintenance records and low miles. My other car is an '08 Outback, which I bought in '09 for $18k and it had extremely low miles.
You DO NOT need to spend over $20k to get a great, reliable used car. I am guessing your standards for fun to drive might be different than mine, but an Accord V6 has plenty of power and you just never have to worry about maintenance.
It sounds like you have three different goals, and they break down neatly into: 1) short term: car 2) medium term: house 3) long term: retirement
First: If you can afford to (and it sounds like you can), max your 401k. Your 401k is a vehicle that allows you to "borrow" money from the government and earn interest on it (by being able to postpone taxes). Personally, I invest 100% of my 401k in an S&P 500 index. I have Fidelity, so my fund is Spartan 500 Investor Class (FUSVX). Use whatever S&P 500 index is available to you, though. If you still have money left, put it into a Roth IRA. Same deal: index fund. That covers your long term goal.
Now, for the house. I'm not sure what to say here. Most of my personal savings is also in the Spartan 500. If you've got a sliding window of 5 years to buy a house, I'd recommend the same. Convert to something more stable (bonds?) when you've made some money... then hold on to it while you're waiting to buy a house. However, consider buying one right now with little money down. Prices are stabilizing and interest rates are still historically low.
Finally, short term. You're young, so you probably won't listen (and honestly, that's okay -- I'm not picking on you): don't buy a 60k car. Spend 30k on a used Audi or BMW if that's your thing. Personally, I would recommend spending 23k on a used Honda. You will be amazed (maybe) at what 23k gets you for a used Honda. Same deal as the house, though. Buy it now, with little money down. Interest rates are really low.
Good luck. Mid 20's and already talking about saving half of your pay check. You'll be fine. Just max that 401k. And please don't get a 60k car :-)