<prompt> Human: Hey PF. I am in need of some advice and guidance. Currently I have a total of 520,000 of Federal Student loans. I am starting my first job this summer with a salary of 129,000. How can I make this work? Should I pay off ASAP? I was hoping to attempt to pay off accrued interest before it capitalizes. Is this a good strategy? Edit: I also have around 40,000 in stock, should I sell this now while my income is the lowest it will be and put towards higher interest education debt?Assistant: Should I pay off ASAP?Yes.First and foremost, you need to create a budget. Consider this your battle plan. Its a crucial component for winning the war killing your debts. Without this budget, you will lose and your money scattered in the winds. Budget: Create a budget that outlines your net income, monthly bills and expenses - line by line - such as rent, utilities, food, car note, auto insurance, gas, etc. Also include your debt obligations, broken down, loan by loan, line by line, each with a total amount owed, interest rate, and monthly minimum. Add in another other lines to your budget i.e. travel, savings, etc. Emergency Fund: This is just as important as a budget. After youve figured out your monthly billsexpenses, you need to add an additional line to your budget: Emergency Fund. Treat this as a monthly bill and fund it. You need to build up at least 3 months preferably 6 months worth of billsexpenses to be kept as cash in a checkingsavings account for immediate access. Consider this your insurance as a buffer from worst case scenarios. 401k: Also you should be contributing to your 401k up to the company match at this present time. Once your debt obligations have been cleared, you can come back and increase the contributions up to the max. Attacking your loans: Youll need to sort your loans based on interst rate from highest to lowest. Disregard balance.For example: 100,000 6.8 --- Throw everything at this. 250,000 6.0 --- Min. 200,000 5.5 --- Min.Then: 250,000 6.0 --- Throw everything at this. 200,000 5.5 --- Min.Finally: 200,000 5.5 --- Throw everything at this.This is called the Avalanche method. Punch in your numbers at Unbury.us and see what you get.Overall, you will want to continue living as a poor student. Even with your six figure salary, you may be inclined to reward yourself with things and trinkets. Avoid this trap. Avoid lifestyle inflation. Youre top priority is to pay off these loans asap. In the long run, you will be rewarded by putting in the hard work now.Good thing is that your loans are all Federal, so all your loans have access to all their repayment plans and benefits. You can consider repayment plans such as Income Based Repayment or Public Service Loan Forgiveness. See here for more details.So what you need to do is post your monthly budget and all the details in between. And also post your student loan debts expanded, line by line.Edit: Thanks for the gold, uHaskelle! Much appreciated!Human: Thank you for this advice and website. I have a 6 salary 100 match so I will make sure to take advantage of that.  <response>: Depending upon your job security, I would consider skimping on the emergency fund until you have everything paid down. This will save you a considerable amount in interest over the long run and if youre bringing home 7k every month you should have the cash flow to direct to emergencies as needed. 