<prompt> Human: Were considering paying off our loans as early as tonight or tomorrow night. The only thing were worried about is dropping our emergency fund down to 10k. Are we being irrational? Wifes loans: 7k 6.8My loans: 15k 5 VariableWe both have pretty secure jobs, so I imagine we would be able to build the fund back up by the end of the year. Its just tough to lose that large cushion.Were also planning to move to a new apartment by the end of May and well incur some expenses there.Assistant: Do you really, REALLY need 32k in EMERGENCY funds? The standard is to have 3-6 months worth of bills in an emergency fund. Are your monthly bills really 5-10k?Human: No we definitely overshot on the emergency funds. Id be comfortable with the 10k, but 15k-20k would leave us virtually stress free.Assistant: Just pay it all off, that last 5k will build up faster without monthly payments. Youll be totally fine with a 10k emergency fund, and once you get back up look into paying off the rest of your debts or investing the money.Just remember, youre doing great.Human: Thanks. We actually feel like were playing catch up sometimes when we see our peers buying houses, going on vacations, starting families, etc. Not even saying we want any or all of these things, but you have to remember everybody has a different story.And at least we can now say we crossed a milestone of being debt free.  <response>: Along with what everyone else said about not comparing yourself with others- you also have to keep in mind that just because your peers are doing these thing doesnt mean that they can afford them. I had a co-worker who was paying off her Hawaii trip 5 years later, and was lamenting that she was about to add her Europe trip to the bill. 