I have ready many, many opinions on the topic, but never one with my specific scenario, of course. I would love to hear some opinions on what others would do in my shoes.

I'm a 36 year old in the Clearwater, FL area. I just sold my home (purchased 5 years ago) for a nice return and am now at a crossroad. I moved in with my girlfriend and am paying half of all the expenses, including mortgage, which comes out to around $750/month. In total, my monthly expenses have dropped by $1,500 after selling the house. With that, here are my current financials:

Liabilities: Student Loans ($55K @ 4.8% & $250/mo), Car Loan ($9.5K @ 5.5% & $300/mo)

Assets: Cash ($105K), Stocks (Not touching these, but around $20-30K)

Expenses: 2K/month with the loans

Subtracting expenses from take-home leaves an extra $2.5-3K each month. Also worth noting: 7% of my paycheck currently goes to a 401K and I get a 3.5% match from my employer.

Credit Score: Excellent

Would you suggest I:

- Pay off all my debt first

- Pay off none or some of my debts, such as the car loan ($9.5K) which frees up $300/month, and use my available cash (Less at least 6 months worth of expenses, so probably up to $70K) to invest

- Some other approach

The $65K in debt is only costing me around 5% and I'm not stressed about having those debts. My gut is telling me I would regret investing (paying back) that much money to get a 5% return when I could get much more than that by investing it. However, I want to make the smart decision, whatever that may be. My goal is to have at least $2K/month in cashflow within the next 5 years; more would obviously be great. Though I have no interest in fully retiring, I also want to be in a position to retire, if desired, within the next 10-15 years. Having that financial stress gone would be amazing.

I look forward to hearing your input. Thank you!

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