<prompt> Human: Hello -- I am 35 years old and have around 25k in personal debt. I have 110k in my 401k. A good portion of my monthly income goes towards paying down this debt. Would it be a wise idea to withdraw what I owe from my 401k in order to pay off all of my debt? I would rather take the money I am spending towards my debt and put it into savings rather than paying off all of my debt.Here is a breakdown of my finances:Net Monthly Income: 3500Total Expenses: 2600Rent: 783.33Car Pymt Ins: 534.87 Working on selling the car, this is too high...Utilities Cell Phone: 190.00Credit Cards: 650 10,700 reamingDiscover Personal Loan: 434.49 14k remaining; 12 APR This loan was taken out 2 years ago to consolidate debt that was accumulated earlier in my life. In retrospect, definitely NOT a good idea to get this loan. This is the one that kills me every month.Once I account for food, gas, and other incidentals, the remaining money I have every month 750-1k stays in my checking account.I am proposing I withdraw around 25k from my 401k to pay off all of my debt. I will then be able to save over 1k per month.I currently contribute only 5 of my gross income towards my 401k. I would even be open to changing this to at least 10 in order to speed up the growth.With all the money I make, it really feels like I am getting nowhere. I feel I make too much money to feel broke all the time. I truly feel I have learned from the financial decisions in my past and feel my proposal would allow myself to get ahead sooner than later.I am married, with our first child on the way. We currently rent, and would like to buy a home within the next few years. I live in California. My wife starts a new job this Monday after being laid off for one year. Her new job pays 60k, and she has 0 debt.Questions:Would it be in my favor to withdraw from my 401k to pay down my monthly debt? Its not the most ideal situation, but I am not able to get ahead in the savings dept. because all of my money is gone every month.How much of a negative implication does this have for me when I retire? Withdrawing this much from my 401k would set back my retirement income, but I am hoping to counterbalance this loss with the increase of monthly cash savings, and also the increased percentage towards my 401k.  <response>: You say you have an extra 750 to 1k a month, after your expenses. Why not put that money into your personal debt? When your wife starts her new job, presumably some of that money is going into the bills, meaning you will have even more left over to tackle your debt. You can stop contributing to your 401k in order to really make headway on your debt, but dont take money out of it. 