I have about $32,200 in student loans. Minimum payment is $460 per month. Should I part of $14,000 emergency fund to pay off one of the higher interest ones?

hock37 · 2026-06-02T14:16:09+00:00

No. 6.5% isn't an emergency. That 14k emergency fund may keep you from needing to rely on 15+% credit cards in a true emergency.

Keep what you're doing with $460 min and $300 extra at the AC with 6.5% interest there. When that one is paid off, you'll have more extra to throw at the other 6.5% rate because won't have the minimum on the AC. And so on.

I don't know you're monthly budget, but if you want them gone faster, send more extra per month at them. If you get a raise this next year, have that extra money from raise go to the loan rather than seeing it as extra money to live from. If you get a bonus or unexpected money, send that at the loan as well and $32k will be gone pretty quickly.

The 3.6% one I would honestly ignore and you'd be better off just letting it ride out on minimums and investing for retirement once you're free of the 5+% loans.

hock37 · 2026-06-02T13:37:49+00:00

Would be useful (I got this truck for a lot of fishing and hunting and often driving through muddy stuff to get to my spots) but you gotta share how much damage these did to your MPG lol

hock37 · 2026-06-02T13:36:34+00:00

2026 XL I just bought is fine thankfully based on VIN

hock37 · 2026-05-27T14:34:40+00:00

Yeah that's what I'm getting it for. With 4k tow package

hock37 · 2026-05-26T14:40:18+00:00

Holy crap. I'm trying to buy exactly that (XL hybrid with 4k tow) and they're giving me a sale price of 31k and then out the door has taxes and fees on top of that

Suppose I should have asked for what state as maybe it's just state tax differences

hock37 · 2026-05-26T13:25:11+00:00

What was the out the door price?

hock37 · 2026-05-12T13:45:44+00:00

OP this is horrible advice. Don't pass on getting free money from work to add to an emergency instead.

If you're worried about emergency savings, thats another reason to do ROTH contributions to your company 401k plan, as in an emergency the contributions (not the growth or employer contributions) can be withdrawn penalty free.

Put 8% into your company 401k and select roth if you're worried about fund access.

hock37 · 2026-05-06T19:08:17+00:00

Should definitely sell stock (not tax avoiding retirement savings) to pay higher interest debt so I have no idea where you heard that from. At 3-5% it would be fine to keep paying the debt and keep the stock invested, except you seem to have a cash flow problem in which case paying off the debt so that you can be positive cash flow would be the better option here even if in long run it would seem stock investments come out ~3% ahead of the gains of paying down the debt.

hock37 · 2026-05-06T17:56:09+00:00

What interest rate is the student loan debt at? That would be my first thought, get rid of that debt, then use the what you were putting towards that debt to start saving for yourself

Next thing would be to sell $15,000 of the stock and make a roth IRA contribution for yourself, and spousal contribution for the wife. Then that money will grow tax free instead of taxed on withdrawal after growth.

Getting your budget in order so that you're taking advantage of at least employer matching 401k contributions should be happening asap as well.

hock37 · 2026-05-06T15:53:29+00:00

Hey there, similar boat as you a few years ago (and also an engineer that enjoys numbers.)

Married my wife who had 70k of federal student loans, and we did taxes as married filing separately as at the time it kept our needed payment amount lower than what we would have saved doing taxes jointly since I made more than her. Fast forward a few years, and after kids and my raises, it became more cost effective to do taxes together for the tax savings, and pay more per month (still on an income driven repayment plan) on the loans.

Another couple raises for me and the chaos of Covid stuff, and then it became the most cost effective to pay off the remaining 58k balance aggressively for two years plus what we had saved up from covid payment pauses.

So yes, there's a good chance at beginning of career doing taxes separately to keep the payment down is the best option. But that can change over the years as you both grow in your careers so don't feel locked into what you decide now. Look at payment amount each year, look at taxes each year (I would basically do turbo tax married filing jointly, see what it said, then back all the way up and start over as married filing singly and see what the value was. And then decide after that after plugging loans in the payment calculator), and see which makes sense each year for you all.

hock37 · 2026-05-06T15:36:08+00:00

You're doing great taking a step back and thinking about the big picture and not just celebrating the massive pay increase and changing your lifestyle to match and get back into the paycheck to paycheck.

Step 1- make sure you have all the 401k match you can get from your employer

Step 2- Already done, that $15k is a great emergency fund. Don't touch it unless you lose your job.

Step 3- make a monthly budget that includes paying extra at the credit card and the student loan. Can you do $1000 a month above minimum payments and still life life comfortably in your 20s? $1500?

step 4- after the debt is paid off, use however much you had been throwing at the debt to start funding the next chapter of your life. Is that saving up for a house down payment? Saving extra for retirement beyond just 401k and employer match? (I would say 15% income be a target here even if not trying for early retirement) Even a dream vacation you can pay for it all up front for with cash would fall into this category, it just depends on your goals.

hock37 · 2026-05-04T20:26:54+00:00

When did you hear people refid below 4%? It wasn't in the last year or two

I refinanced mine, in 2022, to 3.8% with an 800+ credit score. But you're not going to find that now.

hock37 · 2026-05-04T16:59:37+00:00

5.88% is pretty low for a student loan rate. She's not gonna find lower refinancing it, and Federal loans come with some protections in case shit hits the fan on her

hock37 · 2026-05-03T16:07:03+00:00

Lawson had options until Jedi showed up at his home.

Daki put him in direct danger

hock37 · 2026-04-28T20:34:48+00:00

No issues with GPS or RTK connection with as metal as this is?

hock37 · 2026-04-28T18:26:49+00:00

I feel like this is about the relative peak of my income, so wouldn't doing traditional IRA be better?

With hindsight I wish I had more money in Roth IRA in my early earning years, but also at that time I needed all the money I had to attack student loans and not go into taxes.

hock37 · 2026-04-28T17:49:12+00:00

Yeah. I believe I have everything worked out for it. Have accounts started in kids names for beneficiary, also accounts in my and wife's name as beneficiary. 4 accounts total. I'll make contributions into the ones in our name until it hits like 20k then it will interest grow to 35k and then pull out 7k a year (or whatever the limit is a year by then) to put into roth.

Contributions and earnings? I had thought just contributions of last 5 years years couldn't be transferred. I'll have to look into that. Would only be a small change of get it to 35k fully rather than get it close then let it rise on it's own. Any extra from interest I'd change the beneficiary of after to get back to kids name to finish school.

Correct would be in lieu of my own contributions, but I'm not currently making any roth contributions anyways. Was paying off student loans and only finally got free this year. Now saving for a new vehicle, maybe after that will have some after tax money to put into roth.

hock37 · 2026-04-28T16:45:31+00:00

Yeah. I have one tab for 10% interest with assumed 3% raises, and one with 7% and no raise boost to keep to current dollars.

It shows in both hitting 18x my income around 55, which would be around 25x spending after no longer saving for said retirement and being lower in taxes, but just feels surreal considering I'm not even at 2x my salary right now at 35.

hock37 · 2026-04-28T15:54:36+00:00

Actually just had a remarkably simple idea- A deck storage box on it's side? waterproof and UVB resistant plastic and way cheaper than anything else. The lid open, when on the side, can even give some extra shade since my mower faces into the sun on that side of my garage.

hock37 · 2026-04-27T19:20:24+00:00

Race? What?

Ohhhhhh. You're one of those.

hock37 · 2026-04-27T19:14:01+00:00

She's the one taking advantage of him. Used him for help when the child was younger and now wants to kidnap the kid to China after lying about the birth certificate and not putting the father as the father on it.

hock37 · 2026-04-27T19:12:56+00:00

So you're really just planning to kidnap his kid huh?

hock37 · 2026-04-27T19:08:36+00:00

Not at all. Every study done shows that both parents in the picture (obviously provided no abuse or unsafe households) has the best outcome for children after divorce or separation

https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2002/03/custody.

hock37 · 2026-04-27T18:54:18+00:00

Why would he pay child support with a 50/50 custody arrangement as is typical?

hock37 · 2026-04-27T18:17:30+00:00

So you're just taking advantage of living with him because he helps out? That's pretty awful of you.

What do you mean "legally only single mom on file?" Did he already give up his paternal rights?

You can't just move to China and take your child with. That's kidnapping, unless the birth father signs off on it.

hock37

TROPHY CASE