<prompt> Human: Throwaway here. This has been a good year for my wife and me financially. I took a new job as an IT contractor. Long story short, we were able to pay off all of our credit card debt almost 40k. We are about to pay off her car, which will leave us with only her student loans in the way of debt.Weve climbed out of the credit card hole and plan to stay there. Ive also recently started full-time employment with the company I was previously contracting for. Details below. Were both 30 years old Student loan is 34,000; rate is 6.8 No other remaining debt no auto loans 37,000 in an IRA rolled over from when I left my job 154,000 annual income, soon to be 114,000 we are expecting in May 2014 and she will be staying home with the baby My company does not offer 401k matching until 1 year of employment Take-home pay of 8498.62 monthly presently, soon to be 6234.62 monthly Monthly expenses of 4340.50 this is with the minimum payment on the loan Should have 3 months of expenses in an emergency fund built up in 6-7 months. None to speak of only 1000 saved now.My question is this:I was planning to contribute the full 17,500 over 2014 to my companys 401k program. My thought was that since the 401k is pre-tax, while my take-home pay would be quite a bit less, I would actually end up 184.15 ahead total every 2 weeks.However, if I take the 657.69 this amount is an even 15 of my gross salary bi-weekly 401k contribution and put it toward the student loan, it can be paid off 89 months faster and we can save 9,684.50 over that time frame.I made this graphic to try to illustrate what Im trying to ask. The 28 effective tax rate might be too high or low.Basically, I need some help deciding whether to max out 401k and keep paying the interest on the loan, or to contribute 0 for the next 2 years and just knock the loan out. I also understand there are some tax implicationsdeduction opportunities on student loan interest.Im not crazy about the idea of contributing nothing to retirement for 2 years, but if it makes the most sense financially, I get it.Also, please feel free to shoot holes in other parts of the plan. Were both excited to have good, stable income ahead of the baby coming. The wife and I are equally accountable for the situation we got ourselves in with credit cards, and weve both decided to get serious with a budget. Weve been able to stick with it for almost a whole year now. We just want to make sure were making the most of our money.Edit: formatting  <response>: Pay off the student loans after you contribute just enough to get any matching funds from your employers. Your student loans have a high interest rate - so paying them down represents risk free 6.8 return on investment. Thats very hard to beat. 