<prompt> Human: Im 26 years old. I have a 5000 loan at a rate of 10.5. My payments are around 170 for 4 years. If I were to withdraw from my 401k to pay the loan off now, I understand I would take a 10 penalty plus the tax of 25.My question is if I were to use the newly freed 170 to put monthly into stocksbonds, would I come out on top in the long run? What would I have to make on those stocks to make it worthwhile? Im going to assume its not worth it unless I grow the money I would be saving, correct me if Im wrong.Thx in advanceAssistant: The withdrawal penalty is 10. Thats almost equivalent to your current interest rate. Youd still be better off keeping it in a 401k.Human: So I would save 10, lose 10 making it a wash, but if I invested the money and got an 8 return on it, I am not understanding how that would not make it worth it.  <response>: Youre already getting an 8 or whatever you want to use return on it. 