<prompt> Human: I have roughly 13k in Federal Stafford loans at 6.8 interest. Ive been employed as an independent contractor in a fairly stable setting for 11 months I can plan on at least another 2 years in this job. My take home pay is roughly 10k-11k a month and I have 50k spread among my business bank account and my checkingsavings. I havent paid taxes on this yet due to being in my first year of self-employment and having no income last year.Is it wise to just pay off this 13k in a big lump sum immediately? I feel like I can afford it, I am just not sure if its a great plan to just sign away such a large percentage of my assets to clear the student loan debt, particularly at the expense of a retirement contribution Im 26.Any help would be much appreciated.Assistant: If you can afford it, pay it off unless of course youre making more than 6.8 interest elsewhere. Figure out the taxes youll owe, what youll have leftover, make sure you have an emergency fund, and pay it offHuman: Well thats the issue. I can afford it, but is it worth paying off at the expense of a sizeable retirement contribution? Im 26 and fresh out of graduate school with no retirement savings. I can put 13k toward student loans, but that will eat substantially into the amount of money I could contribute toward retirement this year.In other words, I can afford to pay off the student loans, but cannot afford to pay them off and then put 15k or so into a retirement account this year. I need to have a large emergency fund roughly 20-25k in order to feel comfortable. So is it better to pay off the loans in a lump sum or to put that money toward retirement? Or should I just split the difference?  <response>: Im 26You have 41 years to build a retirement nest egg. Get out of debt and be free! 