<prompt> Human: Sorry for the long post, but I think this applies to a lot of people, so here it goes. Ive had numerous discussions and posts over the past few weeks regarding massive student loan debt. I think a lot of that discussion has been informative, but I wanted to start another thread to explain myself a bit more thoroughly regarding this topic.In short, many in this subreddit believe that you should wait to invest until you pay off your debt. Just take this post from yesterday, look at most of the advice besides mine, and youll see that most people advocate to not start investing until you pay your debt completely.Conversely, I believe that once your loan balance is high enough, you should actually focus more on investing than paying off your debt. More specifically, once your debt exceeds 100,000, IBR allows you to reap huge benefits while not paying that much more over the life of the loan.This huge financial benefit has been proven with recent research. A great resource is Ed-Central, whose mission focuses on low income students: We combine a steadfast concern for low-income and historically disadvantaged people with a belief that better information about education can vastly improve both the policies that govern educational institutions and the quality of learning itself.However, in writing about how IBR may affect lower income individuals, the website writes In its current form, IBR provides larger subsidies to borrowers who attended graduate school than it does to those who borrowed only to finance an undergraduate education. The federal loan program lets graduate students accumulate very high balances, but imposes low annual and aggregate limits on undergraduates. Because borrowers with big loan balances can repay their loans under the same IBR terms as those with low and moderate balances, the bigger the loan balance, the bigger the benefit. Whats more, these graduate school benefits are available even to borrowers earning a high income during repayment.In other articles on that site, the writers have proven that borrowers wont pay that much more over time if they opt for IBR compared to standard student loan repayment. Take my situation, for instance which I wrote about in third person for some reason here Some background: I had to pay for four years of undergrad tuition, three years of law school, and seven years cost of living. I wasnt able to keep up with interest while I was in school, so my loans capitalized and were at a balance of 150,000 when I graduated. Note: please save the you shouldnt have gone to school for another day...that train has left the station and isnt helpful to the 1 million borrowers that have more than 100,000 in loans. I luckily found a job paying 47,500 gross and take home about 2,600 monthly. My standard repayment default ten year repayment plan is 1,700 per month. That leaves me with 900 for rent, food, gas, car insurance, cell phone, etc. In other words, zero money to invest, despite being frugal and living in a low cost of living area.With IBR, however, my payment is 325 per month. This is incredibly beneficial for several reasons.First, this measly amount keeps me current on each of my loans. This is obvious, but when it comes to applying for a mortgage, its huge--my debt-to-income ratio goes from 65 to 12.5. Thus, being on IBR will allow me to apply for a mortgage.Second, IBR allows me to begin investing. Simply put, Im a huge believer that my money compounding over time will achieve leaps and bounds beyond any money Im saving in the short term by paying off my student loans sooner. Yes, paying them off more quickly would allow me to invest more in my late 30s and early 40s, but that leaves a lot less time for interest to compound over time. Third, contrary to a lot of opinion, you never get kicked out of IBR. If you make more than the threshold to qualify which is almost impossible based on the governments formula if your debt is above 100,000, you remain enrolled in IBR, but your payment can never exceed the 10 year repayment amount anyway. To illustrate all of the above: Im going to start maxing out my Roth IRA right now age 27. Assuming a 7 return, my Roth is worth 375,000 total by the time I have to pay the tax bomb with 137,500 of that being principal. Studentloans.gov estimates I will ultimately pay 160,000 over the life of the loan and have 160k forgiven, giving me a 64,000 tax liability when Im 52 so 224,000 total paid towards a 150,000 loan over 25 years. But, I pull my principal from my Roth, pay it, max out the Roth until Im 60, and its worth 605,000 when I retire.Conversely, if I took this subreddits advice and made the standard repayment, I really would have zero money to invest or save for a house until I paid off my loans I also wouldnt qualify for a mortgage because my debt to income ratio would be bonkers. I would pay about 210,000 towards my loans in ten years or just 15,000 less than if I were to go on IBR. And then once Im finally done repaying, I start investing when Im 37 in my Roth. If I retire at 60, my Roth is worth just 329,000, or almost 300,000 less than the other plan.Of course, like I said earlier, paying off my loans earlier would allow me to invest more in my 30s and 40s, and I might be able to catch up on my investments when I can cross that bridge. But is that the life I want to lead? No.I dont want to be a slave to my loans.I dont want watch my 20s and 30s go by as Im stuck paying my loans.I dont want to not even be able to buy a house due to my student loan payment.I do want to travel.I do want to start investing.I do want to buy a house within 2-3 years.And IBR allows me to do that, all while not paying that much more towards my loans over the long haul.Yes, my student loans are something Ill have to put up with for 25 years. Ill have to file separately and thus backdoor my Roth, keep my AGI down in various ways, resubmit the IBR paperwork every year, set my payment up on autopay, etc. But in the meantime, Ill be able to begin investing, travel, buy a home, etc., all while not paying that much more over the life of my loans. So my question to rpersonalfinance is this: where is my logic going wrong? Every time I post something about this I get downvoted and criticized. But isnt there a point in time where student loans are in fact high enough that its more beneficial to play the IBR game and just move on with your life?Assistant: Well your biggest problem is that you make shit money for the amount of schooling you have. 47,500 is downright insulting for an advanced degree.Human: I live in a very low cost of living area. NYT cost of living calculator estimates I make the equivalent of 124,000 if I lived in NYC. Plus, Im on a five year partnership track. Income will increase considerably then.  <response>: From past experience. Dont count on this money until its in the bank. I was promised the world by my last employer, promises never materialized but I was paid decent, and then laid off with crappy severance after almost a decade. So, dont plan for it 