<prompt> Human: Ive got 22,500 in debt. I consolidated it into a loan in an attempt to pay it down with a reduced interest rate. However, I was laid off and my new income is 15k lessyear than when I set up the loan and the payment is not doable its peer to peer so no refi. Ive cut my spending as much as possible, just short of car living. Im a single mom with a school aged child and minimum wage jobs after paying for a sitter in my area pencil out to about 0.50-1.00hr take home pay. Its a tight market and I do not have a degree which is increasing my challenges around finding above min. wage part time work hard. So, second job is tough although Im looking for work I can do from home but so far thats yielded nothing. Ive got just enough in my 401k after penalties to pay off my debt completely. My new job offers 401k matching fully vested after 5yrs. The company is profitable and growing and my position has a certain amount of security that my last job did not. Should I just cash out 401k, eradicate debt and then put the surplus and profit shares into retirement? Im fairly confident that I will be able to move up within the company and increase my wage. I will also get regular annual cost of living increase and the amount I have to contribute will go up. My thinking is to take the pressure of debt off, live below my means and bank every cent I can into my retirement. Ive tried using calculators but Im struggling with clearly assessing the situation. My sister recommended letting the loan default and dealing with shit credit but I dont feel like thats a real viable option either.  <response>: Can you transfer your old 401K into your new 401K and then take a loan out on it? Typically you can do 50 loan on total balance. You said job is very stable, so this would be a feasible strategy. 