138 - How Do I Balance Retirement Savings with Debt Paydown?

Listener Question

I'm 36 years old with a wife, a 2.5 year old and hopefully a second child in the near future. I currently have a job with a non-matched 403b but it also currently offers a pension (and hopefully still will when I retire in 25-30 years). My wife's employer offers a matching 403b. I currently contribute 15% per pay period into my 403b and my wife about 11%. I’ve been working a few years longer than her and excluding my current 403b account, I have about $75k in an IRA from previous 401k rollovers (post-college thru taking my current job in the summer of 2018). I still have about $45k remaining in principle student loans at 4.35% fixed (8 years left on a 10-year refi loan). I graduated college in 2007 and have been paying my student loans every month since then. My current min monthly payment is $575. Does it make sense to cash out my IRA/rollover account and finally just payoff my student loan, pay off a small amount of credit card debt from a trip we took to Hawaii a few years ago, and ultimately free up some cash to increase my monthly 403b contribution, and build our emergency fund back up to a healthy level, especially as the cost of living increases and we plan to add another child to our family? Or is it absolutely insane to throw away $75k saved over the previous 10 years of my career?

Planning Points Discussed

• Retirement Planning
• Utilizing Time Efficiently
• Capital Appreciation
• Purchasing Power
• Other issues (IRAs, Inflation, Financial Goals, etc.)

Timestamps:

3:57 - Listener Question

4:56 - Pension Income

7:28 - Tax Implications

11:29- Paying Down Debt

14:18 - Refinancing Knowledge

16:22 - Unknown Expenses

19:08 - Aligning Your Financial Goals

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