<prompt> Human: So a little about me: Im an engineer for a well known manufacturing company in the south and I was at this really politicalpowerful get together today with some folks that are in government as well as CEOs of some of the top companies in the area and it got me thinking. Im doing alright for myselfspecifics later but I was wondering how in the hell these people got to be the way that they are. I know some of it is family money - but its got to start somewhere right? Anyways, here is the specifics of my situation:23 years old.Mechanical engineer by schooling and manufacturing by experience.Pretty good connections from collegelife in general. I have gotten very lucky with the folks that I have become acquaintances with. Id be willing to bet I have a very solid connection in a very broad range of industries.Moved around a lot over the last year but right now Im in a southern city with a relatively low cost of living.Heres the kicker: roughly 25k in the bank and 26k in school loans.Thats the part that kills me. Ive been working for a year and saved up all that money and I know I need to pay off my loans but for some reason Im holding on until my savings and my loans are at least equal and then ill start crushing them. I know it doesnt make sense financially and I know the math behind it all but thats just the way Im gonna handle it.Anyways, if youre still reading I appreciate the effort thus far and I hope that youve got a bit of help for me. See, Id really like to be in that upper class of people for some reason. Maybe its the Maserati that I saw the random CEO driving in today or maybe its because I dont know what else to shoot for. Either way Id like to hear from you folks if youre interested in helping a guy out.  <response>: for some reason Im holding on until my savings and my loans are at least equal and then ill start crushing them. I know it doesnt make sense financially and I know the math behind it all but thats just the way Im gonna handle it. ...Because you are someone who is a mechanical engineer and understands math, I am having a hard time understanding this. One way to get rich is not to incur debt. Another way is to pay off your debt in a manner that minimizes the interest you pay, i.e. the cost of borrowing the money. Every week you persist in this strategy of building up a lump sum that you will throw at your debt in the future, you are literally losing money. If youd like, the mathematically inclined pf readers will be happy to quantify just how much it is costing you every day to delay, or how much you could save by accelerating your repayment.If you said you were investing your money and earning a regular return greater than your debt interest rate, Id be a little less censorious. I certainly wouldnt expect you to drain your emergency fund, but you really could focus on killing the debt so that you can then proceed to continue building wealth in positive net worth land. 