<prompt> Human: I just received 25,000 for my birthday. I have never had this much cash in my life before, and I could use some advice on how best to use it.About me: 35 years old, 50kyear job, 120k in federal student loan debt I followed my dreams and fell flat on my face.Which would be the best to do or please, submit your own: Scenario 1: throw all 25k directly at the loans, and keep paying the remainder down until I hit the 25-year mark and theyre forgiven Scenario 2: hold onto the 25k in something safe and use it as an emergency fund, freeing up my salary to go toward paying down my loans until I hit the 25-year mark Scenario 3: same as Scenario 2, but use IBR to pay as little as possible for 25 years, and then use the 25k to pay towards the tax bill for all the forgiven loan money taxed as income, in conjunction with savings gathered from the 25 years of minimal payments.Thanks for you help!Assistant: You dont get 120k in student loans and then take a job making 50k. You need to be working your ass off. You are in a deep ass hole and you have a small shovel. You should be delivering pizzas at night, mowing lawns or whatever. If you arent working 60 hours plus a week then you are doing it wrong.We arent interested in being a slave for 25 years to a measly 120k in loans. You need to increase your income and get those paid off in like 5 years.You should have an emergency fund. Normally you would throw everything at debt but I feel you need to have a few thousand as baby emergency fund and then throw the rest at the loans. Just forget you are even getting 25k. Scenario 3 doesnt count because youre not waiting to the 25 year mark to have any loan forgiveness120k at even a low 6 percent interest means you are paying 7200 a year just in interest. Human: Im sure its not popular but Im with this guy gal, do you want to spend the next 25 years with this over your head. Plus dont you get a tax bill for this in 25 years. Which could easily have you paying taxes on well over 250k in debt forgivenAssistant: I definitely dont want this hanging over my head. My instincts were for the 2nd scenario, but I didnt know if there was some way to make the money work better for me. I agree with himher too, I just dont like being ridiculed for not making a ton of money, especially when its not my choice. If you or ulivingaboard have any advice that isnt Stop being so poor, Im happy to hear it.  <response>: I dont think they were trying to be ridicule your income. More like that you need to think about a second job until you get this debt under control. I truly wish you good luck and Im sorry it did not work out like you hoped. But the good news you are young with at least 30 more working years to recover 