<prompt> Human: I have 50k in 13 student loans, I also have 55k in my 401k.From what I have found online, I will pay 20 withholding and a 10 early withdrawal penalty, which would leave me with about 38k to pay down my loans... question is.. should I do this? or not?About me... i am 45, Married with 3 children, and make about 60k a year and my tax refund was 11k between state and federal... savings is about 7k.. my only other retirement account holds about 20k.My screw up, initially I was presented a lump total and was told that I could not pay principal until the interest was paid, so I thought that the total interest was what I had to pay before i could start paying the principal amount. discovered last year that it was not accurate.I have been paying on the loans for about 5 years, minimum 130 IBR until last year where I started putting extra 200 into a loan to pay them off. Have paid off one loan and a 2nd is almost gone. RateInterest Balance pay offGroup: A6.00...198.16...3,736.60 ...3,736.60 Group: B5.60...223.74...4,746.88 ...4,746.88 Group: C5.60...223.74...4,746.88 ...4,746.88 Group: D4.50...66.63...2,184.21 Group: E4.50...104.69...3,434.26 Group: F6.80...1,464...9,024.77...9,024.77 Group: G6.80...937.91...5,774.04...5,774.04 Group: H6.80...468.97...2,887.03 Group: I6.80...899.25...5,537.01 ...5,537.01 Group: J6.80...449.78...2,768.67 Group: K6.80...419.52...2,578.88 Group: L6.80... 0.48...235.59 Group: M6.80...426.07...2,619.15...2,619.15 totals...5882.9450273.97...36185.33This would leave about 14088 in loansThank you for your advice.  <response>: No. You are like 20 years away from retirement and you want to wipe out your retirement savings? That is a terrible idea. If anything, you actually are way behind in retirement savings and need to save more.With such a large tax refund, you should just take the next 5 years and apply the refund amount directly to your loans to wipe them out. 