<prompt> Human: I recently graduated with a BFA and went on to start my first real job. Amazingly, Im getting paid pretty well for a non-STEM major. Ive always been relatively frugal, but Ive basically lived paycheck-to-paycheck for as long as Ive been an adult, so transitioning to actually having finances leaves me clueless.This month has been nothing but registering for one new account after another joint account, savings accounts, credit card, investment accounts, retirement accounts... the list goes on. Now I just have to figure out how to allocate my income, and I would love some advice on how to prioritize my loanssavingspension for a secure future. Heres the breakdown:INCOME Bi-weekly take-home: 2400Im lucky to make decent money right out of school, but Im in no way guaranteed to make this kind of money for the rest of my life. If I lost this job, I would probably take an offer in a different subfield, which has much lower pay. Id like to leverage my current paycheck for a financially secure future, even if my pay goes down later.DEBT Student loan: 70k 2.63 interestI have a lot of debt. Its a 20-year plan and its already accruing interest, but I dont have to start paying until January 2014. Payments are on a quarterly basis, with a minimum payment of 1200quarter. If I wanted to pay it down in 4 years, Id be putting down 5000 a quarter, or 1666 monthly. Is this possible, or too aggressive? Could I afford to pay more, or is it wiser to pay less and invest the money instead?EXPENSES Rent: 1700 Utilities: 171 electricity, gas, internet, Netflix, Adobe CC Groceries: 200 Entertainment: 200 eating out, alcohol, weed, books... Personal care: 100 hair and makeup Total: 2371I live in San Francisco, and the rent is too damn high. Moving is not an option we have rent control, and these days studios cost more than our 2BR apartment. I share it with my boyfriend, who pays 700 in rent. We operate with an income ratio of 2:1 :August is one of those magical months with three paychecks, thank god: I spent about 3000 this month on a new wardrobe, furniture, etc. That should be all of the big spending I need to do though, which makes budgeting easier going forward.SAVINGS Savings: 10500 Emergency fund 700 vacation fundI have no idea what Im doing here, halp. I got a starting bonus from my employer, and I put basically all of it into savings. Its a good start, but I think ultimately 18,000 is my goal for emergency savings. Thats 7 months of living expenses, plus relocation expenses should be enough in the case of a second dot-com bubble.Id like to save for travels too. I need 1000 for a fun getaway to Portland, and 2000 to go home for Christmas...RETIREMENT Savings: 3900 across Roth401KMy employer doesnt match 401K, and so I just divided it evenly at 5 per paycheck to both Roth and 401K. Is this too little? Too much? For reference Im 23.---Holy shit thats long. As you can see, I have a lot of questions... rfrugal has always been very helpful to me when I had no money, and reading rpersonalfinance helped me get started with all these accounts. Now I would love your advice on what Im doing right, and what I can do better.Assistant: Agreed about not paying any more than minimums on your student loan. Get a head start on retirement savings. If that 2.63 is fixed, its a fantastic _nominal_ rate - not worth paying off early unless youre really averse to holding any debt. On top of that, the effective rate is probably closer to 2 itself.In short, the mathematically correct answer is to prioritize savings - retirement and your upcoming trips, maybe a future car fund - over repaying that student loan. My employer doesnt match 401K, and so I just divided it evenly at 5 to both Roth and 401K. Is this too little? Too much? For reference Im 23.Is this the entirety of your retirement savings? How good are the fund choices? If theres no match, Id prioritize a Roth IRA you make too much to qualify for a deduction on a t-IRA, so the type isnt even a decision first, unless the fund choices are fantastic.It appears youre in the 25 marginal federal bracket and the 9.x in California. Id put all of your 401k contributions into _traditional_ - unless youre super spendy it doesnt sound like you are, at least - beyond an occasional splurge, which is fine, I think youll be in a lower bracket in retirement unless tax rates change radically, which I doubt they will at the bottom.Its also worth asking what funds youre _in_ for the 401k, but that doesnt affect the question of how much to put in?Human: The 2.63 is floating, not fixed. However I could lock it down for 5 years at a rate of 2.869. Worth doing? Just in case the floating rate goes up?Fund choices? Its set up through Fidelity, on their Fidelity Advisor Freedom 2050 Fund. I dont have any idea what that means honestly, so Ill take any advice you have!So you are saying I should put less towards my loans, more towards my retirement fund? Got it. Should my first goal be to max out my Roth IRA?Thanks so much!  <response>: However I could lock it down for 5 years at a rate of 2.869. Worth doing? Just in case the floating rate goes up?I would highly recommend taking advantage of this. If rates go up and many anticipate they will, though maybe not until 2015 or so you will have years of advance warning to prepare.You could easily keep investing in a higher interest rate environment while paying the minimum on your very cheap loans, then get rid of them in a single bulk payment in 2018 before the rates jump up to the higher level.Versus now, where your rate probably reset quarterly or monthly, so you could just be surprised one month as your rate and monthly payments go up and suddenly youll be regretting not paying them off more aggressively. 