<prompt> Human: Hey all! I have been aggressively paying off my student loans. I have paid off about 13,000 so far this year. I have about 7,000 left at about 5 interest before Im all done. I have contributed 900 to my Roth IRA so far this year. Im not sure that Ill have the money to both pay off the rest of my loans and max out my Roth by the end of the year which I set as my own goal. I do know that I could still make contributions to my Roth until April that would count on this tax year.Just wondering if I should shift my focus over to the Roth for a little while or keep going with the loans. Thoughts?EDIT: I am self-employed. I contributed a few thousand several years ago and I have maxed out my Roth IRA the last two years as well, splitting my funds between the loans and the retirement account. The last 12 months I focused heavily on paying off my 30k student loan burden.  <response>: The loans are a guaranteed 5 ROI. Pay them off first and then you will have more cash flow to put into your IRA. Youre not guaranteed a 5 return in your IRA for the same fairly short time period it will take to pay off your loans in full. Debt free is the way to be. 