@George Gammon
I completely agree with "you can't argue with math " (I have a math degree). However we are not purely logics creatures and often make emotion driven financial decisions. There's a reason why people exit the stock market at the bottom despite all historical data and logic says to leave your money as it will bounce back.
@Ashley Gish I am doing all 3 recommendations I've seen.
1) With a nod to George's philosophy I take all windfall money (primary residence flip capital gains, W2 bonus, etc.) for my next reasn estate deal as the most LOGICAL use of my money.
2) I refinanced my remaining 68k @ 7% student debt last month down to a 5 year @ 3.64% (feel free to calculate your hourly income/ savings equivalent of the 3 hours I spent refinancing - I plan to pay off in 3 years regardless of term and rate, still save a couple thousand over the 3 years).
3) Reducing our lifestyle inflation (cutting expenses by living more intentionally) and using the extra money to throw at the student debt.
My own debt risk tolerance for bad debt (I consider any debt not tied to any non income producing asset or my primary imo) is low before I increase my good debt position with real estate. But if I pay off the student debt with the windfall money, we don't get the added life (financial) experience of not only living within our means but under our means. Those habits will pay dividends for the rest of our lives.