Suggestions for monthly allocating to debt vs investing

Personal Finance and Budgeting

Looking for some feedback on our current allocation of money towards debt and investing. We’re fortunate to be able to tackle a good chunk of both simultaneously.

Starting with debt. We started out with about $600,000 of student loans and have worked that down to $435,000. The interest rates are 4.78% and 5.625%. For the last year we’ve been putting $12,000/month into student loans. The minimum mandatory amount per month for the student loans is $6,500.

We also have an expensive mortgage in a HCOL city that is about $12,000/month at 5.875%. The rate is a 7 year ARM and we’re about 1.5 years into it.

For investing, we max out 401k, HSA, and backdoor Roth IRA. Additionally we have automatic recurring investments every 2 weeks on payday with $2,000 going into our taxable account, $300 going into a separate taxable account set aside for our infant son, and $275 into a 529 account. All of these investments are in low cost total market index funds.

So investments outside of retirement accounts are about $5,150/month and additional debt payment is $5,500/month. That split between investing and debt repayment feels reasonable, especially with all of our tax-advantaged accounts.

Right now the amount of money going into the student loans feels too high. We recently refinanced from a 6+% loan to the 4.78%. Originally I wanted them gone as fast as possible. But now that seems less prudent and I think having them paid by the end of the ARM on the mortgage is a good target. That only requires $1,200/month extra to student loans over the minimum payment. And that leaves $4,300 to allocate elsewhere. My gut says to put it towards principal on the mortgage. That extra repayment for the life of the mortgage would save over $1,000,000 in interest (not accounting for changes in interest rates). That plus having more equity to refinance in the future seems like a better return than adding more to the stock market.

How would you allocate in this situation? Really appreciate any feedback on our current plan.

Posted Jun 11, 2026, 10:41 PM UTC

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