<prompt> Human: I recently spent 13,000 of the money I had been saving for my two toddlers and used it to pay off my one credit card. I feel really guilty for spending their money even though my husband and I were the sole contributors to the account. We are trying to pay off our debts now in hopes of being in a better financial situation in the future. Should we have left their savings accounts alone?  <response>: Im of the mind that the best financial thing you can do for your kids is to never depend on them financially. And, you cant be sure of that until your own future is secured. Its like putting your own oxygen mask on before your kids.So, in that vein, you always pay your debts down first. You always fund your own retirement first. Only if that stuff is all handled should anyone put money aside for their kids. Again, in my opinion So yeah, you did the right thing. Especially as it was credit card debt... continuing to pay crazy interest on that so you could mentally compartmentalize some money for the kids thats actually still yours would see you come out way behind compared to what you did. Money is fungible, so you gotta put it to work in the best place possible. Detach the strings, labels and guilt. 