5/19    I have lots of student loans, all of which are in deferment
        due to economic hardship (aka I'm too poor to pay them off
        now). If I have a little bit of money available each money
        ($100-200), should I contribute towards paying them off
        or is it better to contribute that money towards retirement?
        Thanks
        \_ Deferment as in you don't accrue any interest and you
           don't have to make payments, or deferment as you don't
           have to make payments but interest accrues?  Also,
           could you make the minimum payment if you were not
           on deferment?
                \_ Deferment meaning don't need to pay interest
                   but it does accrue interest. -op
                   \_ OK, if you start paying a minimal amount,
                      are they going to start demanding you
                      pay more and put you in a bind?  Last,
                      what, of any, of this is tax-deductable?
                        \_ Nope, I can pay off however much I
                           want at any time, and it doesn't
                           affect anything else. But, I don't
                           know about the tax question.
                           \_ The tax question is kind of
                              important to answer your
                              question.
                                \_ Well if it's anything like
                                   other student loans (and it
                                   should be), the interest
                                   accrued is deductible.
                                   \_ It's better than deductible.
        \_ OK, to summarize the deleted, the interest is tax
           deductable.  Next question:  if you save your $100-$200/m,
           can you make more than the interest on that $100-$200/m,
           when you discount that interest by your Fed tax rate?  I.e.,
           when you enhance that interest by your Fed tax rate?  I.e.,
           suppose your effective Fed tax rate is 15%, can you make
           >= .85x <student loan interest rate> on your $100-200/m?
           >= 1.15x <student loan interest rate> on your $100-200/m?
                \_ Or is this 1.0x?  Or .85x?
           If so, then you are better off keeping the money and
           building up a nest-egg--from which you can pay the loan
           later if the interest rate goes up, etc.
           later if the interest rate goes up, etc.  If you put the
           money into a Roth IRA, the question is can you make >=
           1.0x <student loan interest rate> on your $100-200/m?
        \_ If it's accruing interest then you should pay it. Otherwise you
           will be paying interest on interest, which is *BAD*.
        \_ It depends on what the interest rate is on your student loans.
           If it is less than 5%, you should certainly invest first, and
           delay paying your student loans for as long as possible. If it
           is higher than 12%, you should certainly pay if off (unless you
           have some higher interest debt, like credit card debt). If it
           is in between, it kind of depends on how good an investor you
           think you are. You should probably error on the side of caution. -GS