Your money, handled.

Congratulations on your baby! I’d aim for about $35,000 in your emergency fund, enough for roughly six months of essential household costs once daycare starts. Your Emergency Savings has $24,000, or about four months on that basis, so there’s about $11,000 to build up, not an immediate need to find it all at once.

That target uses your current essential budget plus your estimates of $300 a month for baby essentials and $1,400 a month for daycare starting December 14. Your separate Savings has $10,000 you’ve kept flexible for other family plans; I wouldn’t treat it as already earmarked for the emergency fund.

I’d adjust the household budget for baby essentials now and daycare when it begins, since neither has an allowance in the active budget yet. I’d also check life and disability coverage for both of you, and make sure your beneficiaries reflect your family now. Want me to add the $300 baby essentials allowance and plan the $1,400 daycare allowance in deezbills?

Done. I added $300 a month for baby essentials and $1,400 a month for daycare to your Household budget now, so you can get used to that cost before daycare starts. I also set up your Emergency fund goal at $35,000. The goal is set to manual funding, so this didn’t move any money.

I’d start your first-home plan with $1,500 a month toward an October 2029 purchase, but I wouldn’t choose a house-price ceiling yet. Your current income and budget, including daycare, leave an estimated $2,255 a month; that savings pace leaves $755 a month for other needs if your pay and spending hold. I’d leave Checking for bills and your $24,000 Emergency Savings intact.

Over three years, that pace would add $54,000. If you decide to put your currently uncommitted $10,000 Savings toward the home too, you could have $64,000 for the purchase before any interest. That’s a projection, not cash already set aside for a home; I’d keep money needed on this timeline in savings rather than stocks.

The target needs to cover more than a down payment. The CFPB consumerfinance.gov puts closing costs at roughly 2–5% of the home price, before moving costs, and the monthly budget must cover the mortgage, taxes, insurance and upkeep. Your rent would be replaced by those costs; North Carolina buyer assistance nchfa.com may be worth checking later, but we can’t count on eligibility or the same terms in 2029.

What home-price range are you picturing around Raleigh?

A $350,000 townhouse looks like a plausible target for October 2029, provided you keep saving $1,500 a month and its full monthly cost fits once you know the HOA dues and mortgage terms.

• Cash to buy: With 10% down, you’d need $35,000 plus roughly $7,000–$17,500 in closing costs, or $42,000–$52,500 before moving and repairs. Three years at $1,500 a month would build $54,000 if you make every deposit, so the higher end leaves little extra. You could choose to use some of your uncommitted $10,000 Savings without drawing on Emergency Savings. CFPB consumerfinance.gov

• Monthly cost: At Freddie Mac’s October 1, 2026 survey rate freddiemac.gcs-web.com of 7.28%, a $315,000 loan would be about $2,155 a month in principal and interest. If the townhouse is in Raleigh and assessed at $350,000, current local tax rates s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com add about $265 a month, bringing that illustration to $2,420 before HOA dues, insurance, possible mortgage insurance and upkeep. That survey rate assumes 20% down and isn’t a quote for your 10%-down purchase in 2029.

Your planned budget has $2,255 a month left after daycare and current expenses, so the monthly cost may fit, but the unknown extras matter. Do you have a listing or a rough monthly HOA fee for the townhouses you’re considering?

Done—I set up First home with a $54,000 goal for October 5, 2029, and a $1,500 monthly savings plan. It starts at $0; I didn’t use or earmark anything from Savings or Emergency Savings. The monthly amount is a plan, not an automatic bank transfer.

I’d use Checking to cover the roughly $1,190 monthly gap between your net pensions and your current budget, then refill it selectively from Joint Taxable Investments. That gap is based on your budget, not a record of what you’ve actually spent, so I wouldn’t set a fixed withdrawal amount from it yet.

• Joint Taxable Investments: Check what each investment cost before selling. Generally, only the gain is taxed, so choosing which holdings to sell can affect your tax bill.

• David Traditional IRA and Anne Traditional IRA: Withdrawals are taxable income. Since you haven’t started Social Security and aren’t yet required to draw from these accounts, it’s worth comparing a measured withdrawal or Roth conversion each year with leaving the money in place.

• David Roth IRA and Anne Roth IRA: Your ages and the year you first funded them support tax-free qualified withdrawals. I’d keep that flexibility rather than use the Roth accounts first.

I wouldn’t choose a conversion amount from a federal tax bracket alone: North Carolina tax and, later, Medicare premiums matter too. David may also qualify for age-65 deductions starting in 2027, which is a reason to compare years before converting in 2026. When do you each expect to start Social Security? That could change which years are best for drawing from the traditional IRAs.

That’s okay. You don’t need to choose a Social Security start date to cover the budgeted $1,190 monthly gap. I’d stick with using Checking, refilling it selectively from Joint Taxable Investments, and review any withdrawal or conversion from David Traditional IRA or Anne Traditional IRA year by year rather than build the plan around a date you haven’t chosen.

When you have benefit estimates for different start ages, we can compare those choices alongside the tax cost of drawing from your savings.

Saved Retirement savings withdrawal approach in David & Anne. We can come back to it when you’re ready; it’s a provisional plan, not an instruction to make any withdrawals or conversions now.