(MONEY Magazine) – AFTER TWO YEARS OF MARRIAGE, this young Portland, Ore. couple have finally pushed their bank account balance above $1,000. Until about six months ago, when they began putting aside $200 a month from their $61,000 joint income -- Cliff, 27, a credit manager for a sod and grass-seed company and Michelle, 26, an advertising director for a chain of retail stores -- they were in a spending, not a saving, mode. ''We had money to play with for the first time after being starving students,'' explains Cliff, a tad sheepishly. Now the Wrights have a new priority: buying a home within two years. They figure they will need to come up with roughly $15,000 to cover the up-front costs needed to close on a $100,000 starter home. That's why they are eager to get their $1,000 into investments that could earn high returns. ''We're young and can make back any losses,'' says Cliff, ''so why not take a chance?''

THE ADVICE Increasing their savings will do Michelle and Cliff more good than knock-it- out-of-the-park investing. But to find the money to save, they need to pay down debt. Currently, loan payments eat up about 10% of their gross income, twice the level that MONEY experts think is appropriate. Also, though the Wrights are willing to take risks, they shouldn't. Their two-year target for buying a house allows them no time for missteps. Fullerton, Calif. financial planner Carl Camp points out that if they can put aside $500 a month -- about 10% of their gross income -- it would take only two months longer to save $15,000 in an investment earning 3% than in one earning 10% (29 months vs. 27 months). His suggestion: Put that $1,000 in a money-market fund such as one of those recommended in the table opposite. The money fund can then do double duty as an emergency reserve and, eventually, as a down payment fund.