potent_dotage

potent_dotage t1_iyeaop5 wrote

Situations like this makes following something like Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps nice because you wouldn't even have to think about it: you obviously pay off the loans before you take on a mortgage (although they also have kind of a weird hang-up with moving back in with family sometimes).

The PRIME DIRECTIVE is not always so clear on the best path forward when it comes to student loans that are somewhere in between low and high interest.

One piece of advice I'd feel confident in giving is, if those student loans are federal loans on pause, then it makes sense to just stack up that cash and push the decision down the road. That way you have options later on if you have trouble with your living situation or work situation. You can't undo payments if it turns out you need that money for something else.

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potent_dotage t1_iuiqop7 wrote

The most important purpose of (non-retirement) savings is to tide you over if you lose your income. I am not and have never been in the military, but my sense of it is you don't really need to worry about job security.

The second important purpose is to avoid needing to go into debt for unexpected expenses. But if you're already in debt and can just borrow at 4% or less again, there's no reason to hold back paying off higher interest debt.

So if those things hold I agree with this answer: maintain the match and small Roth IRA contribution, otherwise focus on the debt, specifically the car debt. As others have said you might sell it, but if you're underwater, you'll probably have to focus it down first. At that point you can revisit the decision to sell or not.

I've never spent that much on a car but I'd be thinking about how my situation would be strictly better if I sold it and then took out another loan on, say, a new Corolla. Used car prices are still insane so currently that might be a better idea long term than trying to buy used.

Alternatively, if you don't drive a lot, you might follow the other advice and sell it to buy a high mileage used car to use until the used car market returns to its previous state. You can occasionally find some deals on decent Toyota or Honda cars with 200k+ miles; if they are mostly highway miles and the car is well-taken care of, they'll still have a good bit of life left in them. As long as the engine and transmission are good, it's usually not too expensive to keep them on the road (certainly less than your current car payment).

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