In what category would I put a loan I took to pay an expense
A loan is most generally a liability, a part of the balance sheet.  Expenses & income are part of the income statement.  Income is the net of revenues after expenses. The interest is an expense on the income statement, but the loan itself does not reside there unless if it is defaulted and forgiven.  Then it would become a revenue or contra-expense, depending on the methodology. The original purpose of the income statement is to show the net inflows of short term operational accruals which would exclude new borrowing and repaid loans. The cash flow statement will better show each cash event such as borrowing debt, repaying debt, or paying off a bill. To show how a loan may have funded a bill, which in theory it directly did not because an entity, be it a person or business, is like a single tank of water with multiple pipes filling and multiple pipes extracting, so it is impossible to know which exact inflow funded which exact outflow unless if there is only one inflow per period and one outflow per the same period. That being said, with a cash flow statement, the new loan will show a cash inflow when booked under the financing portion, and paying a bill will show a cash outflow when booked under the operating portion.  With only those two transactions booked and an empty balance sheet beforehand, it could be determined that a new loan funded a bill payment.
"You need to track all of your expenses first, inventarize all of your assets and liabilities, and set financial goals. For example, you need to know your average monthly expenses and exactly what percentages interest each loan charges, and you need to know what to save for (your children, retirement, large purchases, etc). Then you create an emergency fund: keep between 4 to 6 months worth of your monthly expenses in a savings account that you can readily access. Base the size of your emergency fund on your expenses rather than your salary. This also means its size changes over time, for example, it must increase once you have children. You then pay off your loans, starting with the loan charging the highest interest. You do this because e.g. paying off $X of a 7% loan is equivalent to investing $X and getting a guaranteed 7% return. The stock market does generally does not provide guarantees. Starting with the highest interest first is mathematically the most rewarding strategy in the long run. It is not a priori clear whether you should pay off all loans as fast as possible, particularly those with low interest rates, and the mortgage. You need to read up on the subject in order to make an informed decision, this would be too personal advice for us to give. After you've created that emergency fund, and paid of all high interest loans, you can consider investing in vessels that achieve your set financial goals. For example, since you are thinking of having children within five years, you might wish to save for college education. That implies immediately that you should pick an investment vessels that is available after 20 year or so and does not carry too much risk (e.g. perhaps bonds or deposits). These are a few basic advices, and I would recommend to look further on the internet and perhaps read a book on the topic of ""personal finance""." I agree with the advice given, but I'll add another angle from which to look at it. It sounds like you are already viewing the money used to either pay off the loan early or invest in the market as an investment, which is great. You are wise to think about opportunity cost, but like others pointed out, you are overlooking the risk factor. The way I would look at this is: I could take a guaranteed 6.4% return by paying off the loan or a possible 7% return by investing the money.  If the risk pays off modestly, all you've done is earned 0.6%, with a huge debt still hanging over you. Personally, I would take the guaranteed 6.4% return by paying off the debt, then invest in the stock market. Now this is looking at the investment as a single, atomic pool of money.  But you can split it up a bit.  Let's say the amount of extra disposable income you want to invest with is $1,000/mo.  Then you could pay an extra $500/mo to your student loan and invest the other $500 in  the stock market, or do a 400/600 split, or whatever suits your risk tolerance. You mentioned multiple loans and 6.4% is the highest loan.  What I would do, based on what I value personally, is put every extra penny into paying off the 6.4% loan because that is high.  Once that is done, if the next loan is 4% of less, then split my income between paying extra to it and investing in the market. Remember, with each loan you pay off, the monthly income that previously went to it is now available, and can be used for the next loan or the other goals. "If I understand correctly, your question boils down to this: ""I have $X to invest over 25 years, are guaranteed returns at a 0.6% lower rate better than what I expect to get from the stock market over the same period?"" Well, I believe the standard advice would go something like: Rational investors pay a premium to reduce risk/volatility. Or, put another way, guaranteed returns are more valuable than risky returns, all things equal. I don't know enough about student loans in America (I'm Australian). Here a student loan is very low interest and the minimum repayments scale with what you earn not what you owe, starting at $0 for a totally liveable wage - Here I'd say there's a case to just pay the minimum and invest extra money elsewhere. If yours is a private loan though, following the same rules as other loans, remember the organisation extending your loan has access to the stock market too! why would they extend a loan to you on worse terms than they would get by simply dumping money into an index fund? Is the organisation that extends student loans a charity or subsidised in some way? If not, someone has already built a business on the the analysis that returns at 6.4% (including defaults) beats the stock market at 7% in some way. What I would put back to you though, is that your question oversimplifies what is likely your more complex reality, and so answering your question directly doesn't help that much to make a persuasive case - It's too mathematical and sterile. Here are some things off the top of my head that your real personal circumstances might convince you to pay off your loan first, hit up Wall Street second:" "My grandma left a 50K inheritance You don't make clear where in the inheritance process you are.  I actually know of one case where the executor (a family member, not a professional) distributed the inheritance before paying the estate taxes.  Long story short, the heirs had to pay back part of the inheritance.  So the first thing that I would do is verify that the estate is closed and all the taxes paid.  If the executor is a professional, just call and ask.  If a family member, you may want to approach it more obliquely.  Or not.   The important thing is not to start spending that money until you're sure that you have it.   One good thing is that my husband is in grad school and will be done in 2019 and will then make about 75K/yr with his degree profession. Be a bit careful about relying on this.  Outside the student loans, you should build other expenses around the assumption that he won't find a job immediately after grad school.  For example, we could be in a recession in 2019.  We'll be about due by then.    Paying off the $5k ""other debt"" is probably a no brainer.  Chances are that you're paying double-digit interest.  Just kill it.   Unless the car loan is zero-interest, you probably want to get rid of that loan too.  I would tend to agree that the car seems expensive for your income, but I'm not sure that the amount that you could recover by selling it justifies the loss of value.  Hopefully it's in good shape and will last for years without significant maintenance.   Consider putting $2k (your monthly income) in your checking account.  Instead of paying for things paycheck-to-paycheck, this should allow you to buy things on schedule, without having to wait for the money to appear in your account.   Put the remainder into an emergency account.  Set aside $12k (50% of your annual income/expenses) for real emergencies like a medical emergency or job loss.  The other $16k you can use the same way you use the $5k other debt borrowing now, for small emergencies.  E.g. a car repair.   Make a budget and stick to it.  The elimination of the car loan should free up enough monthly income to support a reasonable budget.  If it seems like it isn't, then you are spending too much money for your income.  Don't forget to explicitly budget for entertainment and vacations.  It's easy to overspend there.   If you don't make a budget, you'll just find yourself back to your paycheck-to-paycheck existence.  That sounds like it is frustrating for you.  Budget so that you know how much money you really need to live." "Turbotax community had a similar question. They claim you just put it into ""Office Expense"".  I never understood why there are so many categories when they are just summed up and subtracted from your income. How can you possibly get in trouble for putting something in a wrong column if the final tax liability doesn't change." Do I get a write off for paying student loans? Maybe.  See https://www.irs.gov/publications/p970/ch04.html Generally, personal interest you pay, other than certain mortgage interest, isn't deductible on your tax return. However, if your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is less than $80,000 ($160,000 if filing a joint return) there is a special deduction allowed for paying interest on a student loan (also known as an education loan) used for higher education. For most taxpayers, MAGI is the adjusted gross income as figured on their federal income tax return before subtracting any deduction for student loan interest. This deduction can reduce the amount of your income subject to tax by up to $2,500.  Read the whole document to be sure, but that's the basics.   You'll have to fill out a 1040 or 1040A to claim a student loan deduction.  It won't be on the 1040EZ.  You do not have to itemize though.   What kinds of write-offs and credits are available for someone who is single and lives in an apartment with two roommates? As a practical matter, in 2016 you'll get the standard deduction for someone who is single ($6300) and the personal exemption ($4050).  It's extremely unlikely that you'll be able to deduct more by itemizing.  Most people who itemize are taking a mortgage interest deduction.  Major medical bills are another possibility, but they have to be more than 10% of your adjusted gross income (it's one of the lines on your tax return).  Assuming you rent and are reasonably healthy, you are unlikely to have enough to itemize.   The most likely additional deduction would be the one for an IRA (Individual Retirement Account).  Although you might be better off doing a Roth anyway (no tax deduction).   If you are self-employed or making more than $100,000 a year, there are additional issues.  But most people aren't.  If you filled out a W-4 and will get a W-2 back, you aren't self-employed.  Hopefully you have a rough idea of your annual income.   The first $9275 over your deductions will pay 10%.  After that, up to $37,650 you pay 15%.  The 2016 link above has a link (PDF) to the full table if you need more than that.  Note that that is the first $48,000 in income with your $10,350 in deductions. The loan is private, so the business is more of a red-herring. The fact that you're closing it and lost a lot of money explains the loan, but is rather irrelevant otherwise as the loan is personal. Do consider potential tax benefits on writing off a loss, talk to a local tax adviser on that. Pros: Cons: I'm sure there are more considerations, of course, and I'm not familiar with the Canadian social safety nets to understand how much of a damage con #1 would be. Short answer: student loans are loans given to people that are currently enrolled in school and yes, you can use them for personal expenses.  Long answer: be very careful because you can easily be financially ruined if you borrow too much and can't repay it quickly. Once the loans get beyond a certain size relative to your income, you can find it hard to stay ahead of the interest payments let alone actually pay off the principal. These are the facts you need to know: