This is not a realistic example. I hope that people don’t actually take this advice. Most people do not fall so nicely into this thin example. For perhaps .1% of people this works, but for the other people so lucky to have an employer match, take advantage of it. This article fails to mention that for many people there are tax advantages to paying off your student loans over several years. And the stock market general earns a greater return than the hypothetical 6% interest rate dreamed up for the equations. Finally, one of the only advantages to this plan mentioned is the government gets less interest income, which I hardly see how that is a benefit to the payer. I disagree and don’t believe Medium should promote this piece.