<prompt> Human: Looking for some advice on how to handle an incoming signing bonus from my new job. The amount is not relevant, but it will be more than enough to cover the amount mentioned below after taxes are deducted.I currently have 13k in student loans at 3.8 interest and my monthly payment is 200 minimum is 115. Ive always told myself that I want to get rid of this debt as soon as possible whenever I have the opportunity to. However, my stock portfolio has performed quite well over the past year Apple, Amazon, BerkshireB, few others and with the recent big hit to tech stocks Facebook, Netflix, etc. it is becoming a bit harder to justify not putting that money to work and try to outpace the 3.8 from my loan.A potential route I have thought about is to pay off half of the loan, investing the rest, and increasing my monthly payment to 400 to accelerate the payoff.On one hand, getting rid of the debt would feel good, but wouldnt really improve my quality of life as the monthly payment is so insignificant. On the other hand, I dont want to look back in a year or two knowing these investments could have returned much more.I know there is very much a risky move, but I am curious to hear how some of you would handle this situation.  <response>: 99.2 of the time, over 30 years, with money invested in a market index fund, you will beat that 3.8 interest rate. On average, if you invested instead of paying it off, you would end 103,136 ahead at the end of 30 years. 