⚖️ How should you prioritize credit card debt, emergency savings, and retirement?

You are juggling credit card debt, an emergency fund, and retirement. The order you tackle them matters. A common dilemma in your 30s is whether to pause your 403(b) or 401(k) to aggressively pay off credit cards. This calculator shows exactly how much wealth you lose if you skip your employer match to pay off debt faster.

First, let's look at your employer match. This is free money, usually offering a 50% or 100% immediate return—far higher than any credit card interest rate.

Next, enter your high-interest debt. Even at 24% APR, the math usually says to get your full employer match before throwing every extra dollar at this balance.

How much total cash can you put toward debt and retirement each month? We will compare two paths: Path A takes the match first and puts the rest toward debt. Path B puts 100% of this budget toward debt, delaying the match until the card is paid off. (This model compares the net wealth generated over the exact same time period, assuming you resume match contributions once debt is gone).

This view was inspired by:

• debt-avalanche-vs-snowball

For further related reading, check out:

• Reddit