Investing

I say no.

A TDF is just a mix of stocks and bonds, which gets more conservative as it gets closer to the target date. In the current climate, you should expect bond rates to drop for the next year or two as the fed cuts rates, and there are concerns of a significant market correction in stocks if there's weakness in the labor market. Add to it that TDFs are intended to be placed in tax-sheltered retirement accounts, so there may be a bit more taxable churn than other funds.

That said, if you're not sure you'll actually need it in 5-7 years and may hold out longer, there's no problem investing that money. But if there's a decent chance you'll need it before 5-7 years, investing it would have a bit too much risk for me.

So here's my advice:

• if you could wait longer than 5-7 years if needed, go with 100% stocks - far riskier than a TDF, but if there's a correction in the next couple years, you'll be buying on the way down and could end up having a larger down payment in 5-7 years, or you could need 8-10 years if the market corrects in 5-7 years (i.e. soft landing for now)
• if 5-7 years is a harder timeline, it should go into safe investments - CDs, treasuries (yields are falling, but whatever), etc

Any stock based investment is more risky for short-term saving as there is no guarantees of returns and potential drops in value. For long term savings, the dips can be waited out and on average have historically gotten good return over the long run. For shorter term savings you could consider fixed income like CDs. While the rates are lower, they are guaranteed so you will have your money when you need it

I prefer etf's like vti, or spy. Maybe spyg of you're bold. Be ready to stare at losses though, maybe for a while and ask yourself if you can stomach that.