Pay off Taco early??????

I'd use $4K and pay down the taco, save $2K, and then do whatever you want (fun, vacation, etc.) with the remaining $4K

 

My $.02, family first. Discuss a vacation budget with your wife and stick to it. While on vacation bring up "the first home" thing. A home will be an investment. Rather than making payments toward something you'll never own (renting), you'd be making payments toward an asset. Much the same as making payments on your Taco.

 

I hate the idea of going to any automotive forum for financial advice.

BUT, if a first home is in your future then hold on to that cash until that's sorted out. The underwriting process can be stringent and $10k cash in hand goes much further than owing $10k less on an installment loan. If nothing else, secure that part and reassess. I'd hate to see you tie up that cash, then get raked through the coals during underwriting and have to sell your nearly paid-off vehicle in order to meet whatever requirements they have.

The good news for you, your head is in the right place
1. You're thinking family first with a vacation but want to be mindful for the best value for the memories
2. You're thinking about owning a home and the goals to achieve in order to do it
3. Even if you have a car payment (which you clearly hate) at least it's on the smartest vehicle produced, which mitigates the overall risk exposure.
4. You're both relatively young in the grand scheme of life, nothing needs to happen right now.

My wife puts a huge value on vacations, I place a higher tag on consumer debt... So to meet in the middle, we plan long in advance and place a little bit aside each month for a vacation fund. It really helps the budgeting part and keeping her expense expectations in line so we're not going all willy nilly.

 

It all depends on your interest rate. Hypothetically - If it’s 0% don’t pay it off early. That’s free money and the future value of a dollar is less than present value so paying it off over time actually saves you money. If it’s 10% I’d be making a lot effort to get it paid off as soon as possible.

 

Id do the vacation. Time spent with the family is priceless, and you never know when you're gonna run out of that time. I'd take the vacation any day over the other options, the truck will eventually be payed off and you will eventually get a house.

 

Buying Spys long term is not playing the market. Common sense. Bitcoin is.
Great advice, pay off a depreciating asset instead of investing.
You need to do some research.

 

Not clear on your occupation and earning potential, but it would help knowing how long it took you to save that 10K and if it's all from earned income vs. income + wedding gifts. If it took you 4 years squirreling away income while in the early stages of starting a family, you are truck poor and should be looking for cheaper wheels because kids are expensive. If it took you 6 months to save 10K, you should be banking that money and establish a year of expenses for you and your family to insure against job loss. Assuming there are no other consumer debts, save for retirement next, kids college and house downpayment. You can finance kids college, you cannot finance retirement.

However, you have to live... research and budget for a reasonable get away to an area you are interested living in... Disney is absurdly expensive and a waste on children too young to remember it, in my humble opinion.

To sum... my best advice is to obsess about building wealth as a practical matter. Don't consider your home (or truck) as a measure of your wealth. Savings and investments (minus your debt) is your net worth. Its great being in my late 40s and having 25+ years of savings and investing and sad that some of my peers essentially have no net worth because they spend every penny of earnings and then continue to use debt to carry them. They will never retire and then load their kids up with crippling college debt which will actually hamper them in their career choice. If you want to be "rich", read about how rich people got rich, they saved, researched and invested.

But, this is about a truck and $10,000. If I were your best friend, I would tell you to sell the truck, 2 year lease something for $200 per month that fits your family and bank the $450 per month. In two years, that would bring your savings to more than $20,000 and you should have your relocation decisions/plans in place. That would a valuable lesson budgeting, savings and the sacrifice required to move in a positive direction.