<prompt> Human: Hello, PF! One of my parents is in crippling debt. She my mother has probably 100k of debt including mortgage and makes 40k per year. I have a question. Do you guys agree that its worth it to take about 100k out of her 401k and pay off all her debt? She understand now that she needs to never go into debt again.A little more info. Probably 34 of what she pays in bills every month is to debt repayment and it has left her with no money to enjoy her life at all. Shes depressed and scared. Shes pretty much one emergency away from bankruptcy. She has, however, done really well with her retirement savings and has about 800k in her 401k. I know its not good to withdraw funds from retirement accounts, but she will be 59 12 in a few months and can avoid the 10 penalty.This is a woman whos literally in tears every time money comes up, because shes so scared and depressed. So, despite the fact that its not idea to withdraw funds from retirement accounts, what do you guys think, given the circumstances? It would make her so much happier, and Ive agreed to help her with her finances after all this so she never goes into debt again. Shell still have money for retirement and plans to withdraw from social security at 65. I, personally, think this is the right move for her. If she doesnt do something drastic like this shell never be out of debt.What say you?tl;dr: mom is in crippling debt, want to withdraw 18 of retirement funds to get her out and increase her quality of life 10-fold. Assistant: Okay, have to ask. 100k of long term debt on 40k with 800k, what is going on?I would force her to create a detailed budget first. I dont see why she is having problems.If 34 of her money goes to debt repayment, either she is lying about the type of debt or size, lying about the amount going to repayment, or is excessively repaying her debt off.Human: The problem is, while shes been putting money away for retirement, she has just accrued a lot of debt. It is totally possible. She was just stubborn enough to never stop contributing to retirement, which I feel has done well for her because of the size of her nest egg. Now, I think she just needs to use a bit of it and free her mind. Shes not lying about anything. Ive looked at all her stuff.  <response>: Sorry, I was more articulating that the lack of information makes it hard to come to the conclusions and actions at hand. It says that she gets 1,538 per paycheck and after taxes would be 1,200 22 effective tax rate. If she was to pay 34 if after taxes to debt repayment and interest, that would be 900 a month. Which is massive for only 100k of long term debt. Is it all mortgage debt? What is the effective interest rate? What is the remaining length? Can she refi? Is it the highest and best use example, if its a house, might she want to downsize before retirement to end the debt?? 