kdcui

I have a question regarding balancing paying off my student loans versus contributing toward retirement.

I'm 24 living in New Hampshire (no state income tax) and my gross income per month is about $4800.

At the moment I am contributing about 12% of that into my 401(k), with a 3% match (100%) from my employee.

I am considering bringing my contribution down to 3% to meet the match and investing the other 10% into a Roth IRA, however before I go and start investing more money it got me thinking about whether I should use the extra money to pay my student loans.

Right now I have about 50K in student loans, which I am paying back aggressively, about $1300 a month. At the rate I am paying my loans, assuming the same income, I should have them paid off in about 4-5 years.

My monthly net after 401(k) deduction (12%) and after personal expenses is still around $800-1200 depending on the month, and would be more if I lowered my 401(k) contribution to 3%.

So basically the question is, should I use this extra money to pay more toward my loans (currently paying around $1300) or use it to invest in retirement (Roth IRA, and 401(k) once Roth is maxed)?

Sorry if the post is a bit long...

Thanks!