There is a lot to like in all the materials. I owned an aluminum bike in 1976 until it got stolen. After getting back into the sport, my bikes are now steel as durability and cost are more important. Some people must own sport cars, if your one of those then go for Carbon or high end aluminum. If not then take a look at steel touring bikes, a lot of my steel bikes are 20 to 30 years old. And that is fine if the bike was quality to begin with. A quality bike will ALWAYS be a good bike, no matter the material.
I'll throw Ti into the mix as a great balance of light weight and durability but not for cost. I have one Ti frame that's 20 years old with over 75,000 miles on it and it's still "like new". It wasn't cheap but the cost has been amortized over a lot of time and distance.