@Marci — That sounds like a plan. Good luck.

@Shuchong — Good article on your blog: http://butwhydoesnt.blogspot.c.....nt-vs.html. I left a comment.

Then, when you calculate your asset allocation, treat the student loans as a bond.

Then have two different options for bringing your portfolio back to your desired asset allocation – you can either buy more stocks to reduce your bond percentage, or you can pre-pay your loan. Your choices can be based on expected equity returns, need for liquidity (you can sell stocks, but you probably can’t get money back out of your student loan once you’ve put it in) etc. Some people might also consider holding a little bit in a bond fund because of the rebalancing opportunities it presents.

@MoneyGrubbing — While I agree that there should be some emergency fund, I don’t think it should be a large amount like 3-6 months that most experts recommend. Young people are a lot more resilient and flexible to deal with financial emergencies (they are not heavily burdened like older adults), so they should be more willing to take calculated risk to get rid of their debt and start off their retirement savings.

However, when it comes to choosing between paying down student debt, contributing to retirement savings, and establishing an emergency fund, the emergency fund wins out. It’s important to have a good contingency fund in place before you start allocating your money. Most student loans are not readvanceable and retirement savings are not always easily accessible — you want to make sure that you can meet your obligations and provide for your needs in the event of an emergency or sudden job loss.