<prompt> Human: So, my wife and I are supposed to be getting 20,000 dollars in a couple months and we need some help deciding where it should go. We have roughly 2,000 in savings and a combined 12,000 in 401k. We also have a 245k mortgage that we owe 241k on at 3.25, a combined 120k in student loans, roughly 6,000 in credit card debt at 23 apr, two car loans - one we owe 4,000 at 11 interest and the other 6,000 at 9 interest, and a healthy mix of other standard bills. We are not struggling to pay our bills so this is not really a matter of lowering our monthly debt, but more so where we will get the greatest overall return on the 20,000. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Assistant: Pay off highest interest first. I cant understand why you have a 245k mortgage when you have such outstanding debt. Youre paying so much in interest every month. Use the 20k to pay off your credit card debt, car loans, and throw the rest at the student loans. Human: The difference between renting and buying was only about 300 dollars a month, at least by purchasing we will build up our overall net worth, instead of flushing it down the drain on rent.  <response>: Im going to come to your side on this. I bought my house for 135k 3 years ago. Its worth 215k today. Best decision of my life. People here wont agree with me but I did a cash out refi, got rid of PMI, paid off all my CCs, all my private student loans that were unable to be consolidated by the bank, have 10k in a savings account and my cash flow now allows me to save 20 of my income comfortably even though my mortgage is a little higher. Im make a single income of 60k with a family of 4 and we are cash flow positive because of buying our house when we did. My AC will probably die soon but Im prepared for it. My kitchen sink broke and we were able to fix it with the emergency fund.I vote you pay off the CC, both cars, and put the rest in a savings account. Then whatever your payments were on the cars and credit cards goes directly into savings every month.PAY YOURSELF FIRST!!! 