Weddingbee boards

From what I understand, you can get a tax break for paying student loans.  So I chose the pay most and leave 5k option.

I'd say what is the interest rate, do you have any other loans at a higher interest rate, do you have anything set aside in savings, and since it sounds like your annual income would qualify for the student loan interest credit- would that make a difference in your taxes?  If you having nothing in savings, I'd put some there.  If you have the crazy super low interest rate, I'd be inclined to pay some off but maybe not the whole thing.  You never know when you might need that money and if things improve, you could pay off more.

I was around the 80K mark when I graduated and am down to the final 10K, so I know your pain!

Put three months income into the bank. Whatever you make monthly after taxes.  Don't touch it, that's your emergency fund.  You can certainly add to it along the way even in small amounts here and there. 

That's in case you lose your job, you have a small cushion to help you out.

Now whatever is left, pay that to your student loans.

edit: if you and SO are engaged, or heading that way, you need to disclose financials to him. All out on the table.  Paying off debt is huge, for both of you in the future, but so is coming into that kind of money.  If the tables were turned, and he made a big (albeit responsible) financial decision without you, you'd probably think, "why didn't/couldn't he tell me?"

I read Suse Ormans book, one of her many.... I would pay down debt, like credit cards first, then I would make sure you have a crap ton of money in your savings, like 8 months to live on, in case you lose your crappy job- THEN I would pay down the rest of your loan.

I'm so jealous! You look like you have some financial freedom there, missy!

I think this decision largely depends on what your next steps are going to be in life. However, I strongly suggest NOT cutting up your credit card(s) as having NO credit is nearly as bad as having bad credit. And, if you aren't using your credit cards, your not demonstrating your ability to handle credit responsibly. Have plans on buying a house in the next few years? Hang on to those cards! Even if you pump one tank of gas and pay it off online before you even get your billing statement it will still show use on your credit reports and be building your credit profile.

You need credit, just teach yourself to use credit responsibly, (if you aren't already) and don't become a slave to your credit cards. I use mine for EVERYTHING and pay them off approx 2x a month, sometimes more. I always pay them off before the statement cuts so the balance is low when the banks report to the credit bureaus and it doesn't look like I am maxed out on my cards. I use them because I get great rewards. One of them gives me 3% cash back on nearly everything and if I hold off on cashing in my rewards until I have banked $200 in cash back, they give me an extra $50 bonus. So, I get a check for $250.  I would have to look up my account to see for sure how much I have made, but off the top of my head I'd say it's around $1500 just in the 1 1/2 years I've had this card.

As for the student loans, definitely pay off any credit card debt first as they are surely pegging you for higher interest rates and the banks have been ratejacking people left and right. Read your credit card notices very carefully ladies, you know those stupid inserts that come with your bill or those things that say "important information about your account" the fine print ususally has to do with an increase in rates/change in terms. 

I personally would put some money away for a rainy day especially since you don't seem to be too confident in your job. Then take the rest after doing the above and pay down the student loan debt. If you have multiple loans pay off as many as you can to leave you with say only one monthly payment each month and a much lower debt load. Then if circumstances allow you can continue to pay more on it each month until you pay it off much faster, or hopefully not, but if you did lose your job or something unfortunate happened you'd only have one much smaller monthly payment to keep up with and you would also still have a little cushion in savings for such an emergency.

My FI and I hve 55K in student loans together (we both got our Master's degrees at the state college which saves a lot of money!!) and we've gone back and forth on paying them off right away or paying off a lot but saving a bit for a house... I vote for the house he votes to get rid of them all together. I think as long as you knock at as much as you can (while keeping a rainy day account in case something happens!) you're as good as gold :)

Good luck!

Just read HotChild's response and if you have private loans that are sucking up that much interest...then I agree with her...pay more towards the loans, but still keep some in savings.

Just use the $ to pay off whatever debt is costing you more in interest and hang on to the one that is charging the lowest interest rate and take your time paying that off.

If you're going to be stuck paying more interest on them later, then pay them off now!