Help with a personal finance discussion between myself and gf.

[Brian H.]

Hey folks!

Ok, so my girlfriend has, at this point, about $45k in her retirement from her job.  It is a 403(b) plan from a hospital.  She has multiple varieties of debt she wants to pay off to get out from under all that financial stress.  She asked me today if it made sense to cash in almost $30k of that retirement and eat the penalty to pay off the debt. It is a combo of student loan debt and a vehicle loan.  

My response was "Absolutely not! Do not touch the retirement account for that! We will figure it out some other ways." Is this the right direction? It would be really financially unwise to touch that retirement for something such as paying off debt... right? Or no?  Looking for some direction.

Thank you!!