<prompt> Human: Hey Guys,First time poster here and Im a big fan of personal finance on here. Some of you guys are very bright and I hope you can help me out with my iquestion. I currently have a student loan of 9,700 with subsidized and unsubsidized combined. I also have an auto loan with 49 payments left of 236 for a principle balance of 10,191 with 6.9 interest.. The student loan has interest of 3.6 with 118 payments left started paying on january. I just started a new job in November making 42,000 a year plus benefits. I just finished paying off credit cards and have about 500 left over per month after expenses. Should I use the extra money to pay off the loans faster or should I begin saving for an emergency fund and then open a Roth IRA. Currently only 1000 in EF. The student loan equates to about 2000 in interest over the 10 year life of the loan. While the auto loan will equate about 2,200 in interest over 4 more years. Thanks in advance for any help.Edit. I want to thank everyone for their help. I did have some credit card debt that I paid off immediately after getting my new job. I have read the total money makeover and listen to his radio show almost daily. Thats partly why I was torn to not listen to his advice and build my emergency fund. But I will begin with the emergency fund. I also contribute 6 to my company 401k. They match 100 up to 6 and an additional 4. I work for a utility they take care of their employees so essentially 16 of what I make is going to a 401k for now.  <response>: Emergency Fund over everything. If you dont have money to cover unforeseen problems, those problems will compound into much bigger problems than paying interest on a debt. 