It's not completely irrational to take on additional debt to maintain 401k contributions, especially if you're in lower income brackets. You can't lose your 401

It's not completely irrational to take on additional debt to maintain 401k contributions, especially if you're in lower income brackets. You can't lose your 401k to bankruptcy, which in some ways makes it a more stable investment than not taking on the emergency debt. There are tax benefits as well. There's also the budgeting and discipline aspect- if you make yourself work inside of a budget (one that's comprised of your money after your retirement savings) you're much more likely to stick with it in the long term. Once you start allowing emergencies to alter your retirement plans you may end up doing it again in the future. It's much better in that case to take on the additional debt and take paying that down out of another part of your budget.