<prompt> Human: Hi PF, I graduated last May, have a full time job, and live with my parents temporarily. I have 3 student loans: 3500 at 6.8 4500 at 6.0 4500 at 5.0I have roughly 23k in online savings, 8k in checking, 2600 in a 401k, and 2300 in a Chase Mutual Fund.My question is... is it smart to pay off my student loans? I make 33,000 before tax at my job, plus about 5000 in self-employment which I pay taxes on. I am engaged, and will be starting to look at buying a house in the 24-30 months range.Is there any benefit to not paying off my student loans? I know theres tax advantages which would help, because of the self-employment, but can it really outweigh a 6.8 interest rate? Psychologically, debt doesnt bother me too much if I know its beneficial so dont consider that a barrier.Right now I contribute 15 of my paycheck to 401k, and will be putting a 5000 lump sum into a Roth IRA before April 15.EDIT: No other debt e.g. credit card, car payment, etc..Assistant: It makes no sense to spend 1 on interest to get 25 cents of it back from a tax deduction. Ive been in your situation and paid off my loans 26 years early. It was the best decision Ive ever made, and my rate was 3.75. If I were you, and had those kinds of reserves and income, I would pay them back immediately. The piece of mind youll get from being debt free is incredible, plus it frees up X dollars that you can now use for other investments if you see fit.Human: Great to hear from someone who was in a similar situation. I agree -- I figured if I was going to regret something, Id be more likely to regret not paying them off than paying them off.I guess my concern was that it would take 12,500 out of reserves that I then wouldnt be able to use for a 20 down payment.  <response>: Its never smart to put yourself in more debt before you pay off old debt. 5 is a lot to be paying someone else to borrow money when you clearly dont need to be borrowing. Pay it all off first and put off the house hunting another 4-6 months to recoup some down payment money. 