Rent vs. buy
Buy now, or rent a little longer?
Compare retirement, college funding, and cash, not just monthly payments.
Comparing a mortgage payment to rent only tells part of the story. Wealth Coach shows how buying now versus renting longer could affect your retirement, accessible cash, college funding, and other goals.
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Example: Renting versus buying
Could buying a home bring retirement two years closer?
This household compares its current rent with a home purchase in 2027.
Scenario ARent · $4,500/month
Scenario B$800,000 home · 2027
- Projected retirement age
- 6260
- College funding
- 177%150%
- Vacation
- Fully fundedFully funded
- Lowest accessible cash
- $55,000
Buying projects earlier retirement for this household, while reducing college resources that still exceed the goal.
College funding above 100% means projected resources exceed the stated funding goal. It is not a probability of success.
Compare renting and buying. See how each could fit your financial future.
Illustrative projections for a sample household. Your results will depend on your circumstances and assumptions.
The Decision
Rent vs. buy is about more than the monthly payment.
Buying may mean building equity and locking in today's home price.
Renting may mean keeping more cash available, continuing to invest, and building a larger down payment.
But neither tells you which path makes more sense for your financial future.
The answer depends on your rent, the home you're considering, your down payment, mortgage rates, savings, income, goals, and what you expect to do next. Wealth Coach brings those pieces together so you can compare the two paths across your entire financial life.
See it in action
Your rent. Your home. Your financial future.
Compare buying now with continuing to rent and see how each choice could affect the rest of your financial life.
How Wealth Coach helps
Change the assumptions. See what changes everywhere else.
Wealth Coach lets you compare the alternatives and immediately see what happens across your financial future.
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What happens if you buy now instead of two years from now?
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What if you consider a more or less expensive home?
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What if you put more money down?
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What if you keep renting and save the difference?
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What if mortgage rates change?
Retirement
Could buying now or waiting change when you can comfortably retire?
Accessible Cash
How much money would you have available after the down payment and other costs of buying?
College
Could either path affect how much of your children's college costs you can fund?
Other Goals
What does buying now versus continuing to rent mean for everything else you're working toward?
The bottom line
There isn't one right answer to rent vs. buy.
For one person, buying today may fit comfortably within their financial future. For someone else, renting longer may provide flexibility they value more. The important thing is understanding what each choice means for you before you make it.
Wealth Coach helps you compare the paths so you can decide with confidence.
Start by seeing where you stand. Free.
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3–5 minutes
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See where you standWe built the financial decision tool we couldn’t find.
Wealth Coach combines highly customizable financial scenarios with approximately 250,000 interconnected formulas to help you understand how one decision could affect your other financial goals.
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Run the decision on your numbers
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Set up your financial picture and goals once. Then compare buying now with continuing to rent and see how each choice could affect the rest of your financial future.
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Wealth Coach provides illustrative projections. Not financial advice.
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