<prompt> Human: Hi rperonsalfinance,Ive been lurking on this sub for a while and would like your input on a topic with a close friend.The discussion we had is that hes fully convinced hes be better off paying his high interest rate debts by taking out a loan from his 401K with his current employer. Heres some data to consider: Age: 27 Current Annual Income: 60Kyear Expenses: Covers Debts 774mo, Currently Rents 680mo, and the rest I assume is for food, clothing, etc... 401K Balance: 30K can take out max 15K for loan Debt 1 - Credit Card - 6500 balance 225mo payment 18.99 variable interest Debt 2 - Private Student Loan - 5500 balance 59mo payment 8.99 fixed interest Debt 3 - Unsubsidized Stafford Student Loan - 10500 balance 170mo payment 4.35 fixed interest Debt 4 - Car Loan - 8000 balance 320mo payment 2.49 fixed interestHes planning on taking the full 15K to pay off as much debt as he can while continuing to knock down the remaining debts. The main point hes making is that the loan will pay itself back and that the immediate return from paying off the high interest rate will be great than from investing in the markets. In addition hes convinced that the interest charged on the 401k loan is deductible I told him Im 100 confident that its not true.Im a huge supporter of retirement savings and am strongly against using the account as a piggy bank.rpersonalfinance, What are your thoughts to consider? What are some points I can make to deter his motivation? In addition how will this affect his contributions going forwardi.e. will this decrease his contribution limits per year?.I would appreciate any feedback.EDIT 1: Added age and expenses  <response>: You cant save people from themselves, but Id strongly suggest he make up a budget and cut out unnecessary eating out and entertainment expenses and see what kind of discretionary income he has left to throw at the credit cards. Having lived on 60k with 600 rent, he probably has a lot of wasteful spending he could cut down on and get rid of the credit card debt and smaller student loan within a year. The car loan isnt really high interest so Id keep paying the minimum on that. Once Debts 12 are paid off, hell have extra money to throw at that to get rid of it in another year or less. If he was going to refinance it, Id go through some place like Sofi, but I dont think theyd beat a 4 rate on that small of a balance. 