<prompt> Human: Most likely a dumb questionidea, but Im curious...I am most likely leaving my current job sometime in the future. The job that I may take is paying almost double what I make now. I have 18,500 in my 401K now. I have 20K in student loan debt. I have some credit debt now, but it is very close to being paid off.Ive always heard it is a terrible idea to cash out before 59.5 years of age. However, from my very very simple search I plan on doing more research, in addition to asking here, it looks like I would lose something like 3k by cashing out. 3k is honestly a lot, but in the long run, I will probably pay as much in interest paying off my student loan. My new job has a lot better matching, and my pay is almost double. My housing arrangement wont change and its incredibly cheap for the area.Is this a terrible idea?  <response>: You are going to pay full income taxes on that money, and a 10 penalty, and you lose out on all the future compound growth of that money. Your 18,500 will probably turn into 13,000 or less. Why on earth do you want to throw money away? 