<prompt> Human: Hello PF, I am a long time lurker of this subreddit and first time poster. My brief story is that I was living abroad and running my own small business. Eventually, the business couldnt support my living costs, I incurred some credit card debt, and moved back home. During this time I started learning how to code and eventually got into a coding bootcamp intensive 3 month training course. My plan before starting was to use some existing credit cards I had open to do a promotional 0 APR balance transfer for 12 months and get a job before the interest payments started up again. However, it took about 6 months longer than planned to get a job, and those interest payments are back and I would like to pay them all off as soon as possible. My new job is making 95k as a software engineer in the Bay Area. My living costs are around 1500 a month due to many meals eaten at the company and living with roommates. My debt is as follows: 25k loan at 19 APR 9k cc at 17 6k cc at 16 7k loan at 10 5k cc at 0 until August before interest starts againWhat is the optimal way to pay down the debt? Is it better to tackle the higher interest rates first and continue from there? I dont like debt at all, so I can see the relief of paying down the smaller debts first. But I also enjoy the feeling of min-maxing and doing the most optimal solution.My next question is how to start contributing to the company 401k. I dont have any retirement savings, but I do have a 2k emergency fund. There is a 4 match in the 401k, but I dont believe I can start contributing to it for another couple of months since I just started. Is it best to contribute the maximum matched amount as soon as possible? How does that play in to my strategy of paying down my debt? Thanks in advance for any advice.  <response>: For 2018, I recommend that if you cannot refi any of this debt that you make only the minimum contributions to your 401k to get your company match. Then put everything you can towards the highest interest rate debt. There is no way you can pay it off this year but focus on paying off all debt over 10. Dont start paying the zero interest loan until it starts accruing interest, then prioritize it among other debt based on the go to rate.You might be able to consolidate your high interest debt with an outfit like LendingTree, or Capital One, but I am skeptical youd be able to do that before showing material progress on paying down your debt. If you cant refi this immediately dont lose hope, try again after a few cycles. Lenders may need to see you are taking your balances in the right direction and can hold the job awhile.In 2019, there are two alternative strategies, which path depends on how your 401k match is administered. Some companies will do an end of year adjustment so that if in the beginning of the year you contribute nothing but by end of year you have met the match requirements they will give you the full match. Some dont and evaluate the match in each pay period. Find out how your company does it. If your company will make a year end adjustment then starting in 2019 stop your 401k contributions to focus all cash on debt reduction. Once your interest bearing debt is gone reset your 401k contributions to cap out over the remaining course of the year. If your company doesnt do a year end adjustment for the match then in 2019 keep contributing just enough to get the match until your debt is gone. Then increase it. 