Is it better to pay off debt or 401k? (2024)

Is it better to pay off debt or 401k?

Key takeaways. If the interest rate on your debt is 6% or greater, you should generally pay down debt before investing additional dollars toward retirement.

If you have low-interest rate loans and expect higher returns on the investments in your 401(k), it may be a good strategy to contribute to your 401(k) while chipping away at your debt—making sure to prioritize paying off high-interest rate debt.

The short answer: It depends. If debt causes daily stress, you may consider drastic debt payoff plans. Knowing that early withdrawal from your 401(k) could cost you in extra taxes and fees, it's important to assess your financial situation and run some calculations first.

Investing and paying down debt are both good uses for any spare cash you might have. Investing makes sense if you can earn more on your investments than your debts are costing you in terms of interest. Paying off high-interest debt is likely to provide a better return on your money than almost any investment.

Paying off debt can feel like it has to be your only financial priority. But you should do some saving while you're paying down debt. Even a small cushion of emergency savings can keep you from going deeper into debt when an unexpected expense pops up.

“Shark Tank” investor Kevin O'Leary has said the ideal age to be debt-free is 45, especially if you want to retire by age 60. Being debt-free — including paying off your mortgage — by your mid-40s puts you on the early path toward success, O'Leary argued.

Once you reach 59½, you can take distributions from your 401(k) plan without being subject to the 10% penalty. However, that doesn't mean there are no consequences. All withdrawals from your 401(k), even those taken after age 59½, are subject to ordinary income taxes.

You can do an early withdrawal or a loan, but neither affects your credit or credit score. While the three credit reporting bureaus have access to just about everything in your financial world, they don't have access to it all — and that includes your 401(k).

We see this question on occasion and understand why it may seem this way. But, no, you don't pay taxes twice on 401(k) withdrawals. With the 20% withholding on your distribution, you're essentially paying part of your taxes upfront.

What debt is most important to pay off?

Prioritizing debt by interest rate.

This repayment strategy, sometimes called the avalanche method, prioritizes your debts from the highest interest rate to the lowest. First, you'll pay off your balance with the highest interest rate, followed by your next-highest interest rate and so on.

To summarize, you should keep putting money into your Roth since all of your debt is low interest. However, if your credit card interest rate jumps after the introductory period, consider focusing on paying down that debt over saving for retirement.

Repaying debt is vital to your financial health. Although using retirement funds to address debt isn't ideal, it can be viable. If you can avoid early withdrawal penalties or avert a steep interest rate from accumulating debt, your retirement account could bring financial relief and put you on solid footing.

The 50-30-20 rule recommends putting 50% of your money toward needs, 30% toward wants, and 20% toward savings. The savings category also includes money you will need to realize your future goals. Let's take a closer look at each category.

Here's the average debt balances by age group: Gen Z (ages 18 to 23): $9,593. Millennials (ages 24 to 39): $78,396. Gen X (ages 40 to 55): $135,841.

This money will need to last around 40 years to comfortably ensure that you won't outlive your savings. This means you can probably boost your total withdrawals (principal and yield) to around $20,000 per year. This will give you a pre-tax income of $35,000 per year.

At what salary should I max 401k?

We recommend investing 15% of your gross income to save for retirement (that's Baby Step 4, by the way). So if you're 100% debt free and have an annual salary of $150,000 or more, you could max out your 401(k) simply by investing your entire 15% through your workplace retirement plan.

The basics. If you retire at 55, and the average life expectancy is around 87, then 300K will need to last you 30+ years. If it's your only source of retirement income, until the state pension kicks in at around 67/68, then you are going to have to budget hard to make it last.

Deferring Social Security payments, rolling over old 401(k)s, setting up IRAs to avoid the mandatory 20% federal income tax, and keeping your capital gains taxes low are among the best strategies for reducing taxes on your 401(k) withdrawal.

The easiest way to borrow from your 401(k) without owing any taxes is to roll over the funds into a new retirement account. You may do this when, for instance, you leave a job and are moving funds from your former employer's 401(k) plan into one sponsored by your new employer.