<prompt> Human: I should point out that this is for a 4 year professional graduate program. I expect about 100,000 in debt at graduation, which is honestly much lower than many of my classmates. The speaker told us we have 5 years out of school to save up 50,000 in savings. That way, if you are offered partner at a law firm, or to open a new medical practice down payment, or need any other lump sum to boost your professional career, that you have the money. He stressed this before student loans, as the goal is that we will all have significantly higher salaries within 10 years from graduation, and having opportunity money will increase that. My original plan was to put the majority of my salary into loan right out of school and live like a poor college student a few extra years. This would decrease overall interest costs, but I would not be able to build up such a large savings. Obviously I have and will continue to add to my emergency fund, and will pay at the very least the minimums on all loans when the time comes to pay them. This seems like a risky plan. Has anyone ever heard of this before, or done it after graduating from a professional program?  <response>: I graduated a few years ago. I lived as cheaply as possible in the beginning, but as I have gotten older, my desire for expensive things has increased, so I save less now. My advice is live as cheaply as possible for as long as you can handle it. To answer your question, it all depends on interest rates. I had loans at 8 and some at 2. I paid those high ones off as quickly as I could. I still have some 2 ones and I dont care enough to pay yet. 50k is a huge safety net. 20-25k is more reasonable, but you cannot live on unemployment for that long. Also, thats so much money not collecting interest or paying down debt interest. And yes, you could invest, but you probably wont make back high enough returns. A lot of people think they can just do the stock market, but they really cant. The easy ways to make money arent profitable anymore. I split my funds between saving and paying down loans. Paying off debt just feels good. 