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My husband and I have $150k in student loan debt. In the last two years, we have gotten serious about paying it off and have significantly increased our payments. We pay $2500/month towards the debt, and are on track to have it paid off by the end of 2023, possibly sooner. Since July of 2016, we have paid the balance down a little over $40,000.
Though I am happy with the progress, I feel like we could still be doing more to pay this down faster. I think retirement savings is a priority, so we each save 10% for retirement. Though I consider us frugal, we have a pricey mortgage, aren't willing to go down to a bare bones lifestyle to get this paid off in a couple years.
Anyone have a debt is this ballpark, and have some pointers that worked for you, be it budgeting, refinancing, time management with jobs....ect? Just asking to see if there is something I haven't thought about.
Congratulations! That's quite an accomplishment to pay down $40,000 of student loan debt in a little over a year.
I think you're on the right path, and the following probably won't hold the miracle answer, but if you have Federal student loans and wanted to look into consolidation, income based repayment plans, and, depending on your jobs, loan forgiveness for public service, to see if there is something that might help you get it down sooner, this site might be worth a read through:
RosieSD, I always appreciate your posts and well thought out responses.
I think we have exhausted all of the federal loan assistance and forgiveness opportunities due to income. I did get a grant through the state of California because my job is in health care, which should shave some time off my loan. Did anyone in this situation get worthwhile advice from a financial planner? I had one, but honestly didn't think he helped me with anything outside of investments.
I read a lot of articles about people who pay down high levels of debt faster than us, but we don't have the ability to make drastic cuts due to where we live.
My husband and I have $150k in student loan debt. In the last two years, we have gotten serious about paying it off and have significantly increased our payments. We pay $2500/month towards the debt, and are on track to have it paid off by the end of 2023, possibly sooner. Since July of 2016, we have paid the balance down a little over $40,000.
Though I am happy with the progress, I feel like we could still be doing more to pay this down faster. I think retirement savings is a priority, so we each save 10% for retirement. Though I consider us frugal, we have a pricey mortgage, aren't willing to go down to a bare bones lifestyle to get this paid off in a couple years.
Anyone have a debt is this ballpark, and have some pointers that worked for you, be it budgeting, refinancing, time management with jobs....ect? Just asking to see if there is something I haven't thought about.
I think you are asking for a miracle.
Given your statement of: "frugal, pricey mortgage, and NOT willing to go down to bare bones lifestyle ", doesn't leave much room. One of thise must change, it's only temporary.
Many college grads can't afford any mortgage until their student loans are paid off, so you are ahead of the game.
The only thing I can see is to calculate how much more you could pay down faster If you temporarily suspended retirement savings. Yes it IS IMPORTANT, but if it would allow you to pay it off by, say, 2020, that's only 2 years of non retirement savings, not a big deal if you are young. You can easily make up the difference in the years of 2021-2023 to get you back in track, PLUS you'd have the money from the SL debt to squirrel away into retirement, or to pay down the house, or split between the two.
We are older, just bought a new house in 2015, and spent two years suspending retirement to pay it down quickly. We also accumulated some debt updating and upgrading the house, though wish we had waited on that. We should have BOTHthe mortgage and debt paid off within the next three years. We now save some for retirement, increasing each year as we pay down both. The goal is to own the house in 3 years and the debt paid off, then a hunt ALL that into retirement, and we only have 11 years for my OH, and 12 years for me til retire ment. We want to be debt free going into retirement on the house, as well as amass more money for retirement.
And I assure you we make less than you most likely do.
Other ideas, though it will lean towards the bare bones you say you don't want, but avoid vacations, pay thst towards the debt, if you have a paid for car, or will in short time, keep it for at least 10-12 years, if you need to replace one, but a used 2 or 3 year old less expensive car, pay all raises or monetary gifts towards the SL debt, avoid eating out.
There are ways you can get ahead by not be bare bones. After all if you sacrifice for just two years, you will shave at least 3 years off your loan. The two years will fly by much much faster than the long 5 years of doing what you are now with no changes.
depending on the job and how badly they need you due to a shortage, etc... some hospitals are paying off/down student loans as an incentive to stay with them for a while
What do your interest rates look like? If they are super high then you probably should look into refinancing options. You may be able to shave off a few points of interest and save thousands over the remaining life of your loan. I've done it (granted I started with considerably less debt than you) and it has worked out rather well.
The biggest needle-mover for me was simply cutting expenses. I track every penny I spend, categorizing and tallying as I go. I used to wait until the end of the month to run the totals, but I like updating in real-time so that I can catch myself slipping into old habits. I have a set percentage going into savings each month with the excess going towards student loans. Without knowing more about your situation and finances, I have no idea if there are in fact areas for you to cut comfortably. With that said, sometimes things that seem uncomfortable actually aren't once you are experiencing them. So I would suggest cutting some things that make you wince, try it out for a month or so and if you are miserable you can always revert back to prior spending levels.
My husband and I have $150k in student loan debt. In the last two years, we have gotten serious about paying it off and have significantly increased our payments. We pay $2500/month towards the debt, and are on track to have it paid off by the end of 2023, possibly sooner. Since July of 2016, we have paid the balance down a little over $40,000.
Though I am happy with the progress, I feel like we could still be doing more to pay this down faster. I think retirement savings is a priority, so we each save 10% for retirement. Though I consider us frugal, we have a pricey mortgage, aren't willing to go down to a bare bones lifestyle to get this paid off in a couple years.
Anyone have a debt is this ballpark, and have some pointers that worked for you, be it budgeting, refinancing, time management with jobs....ect? Just asking to see if there is something I haven't thought about.
Post your monthly budget and many here can give you advice.
get part time jobs and throw all of that money at the loans? You might not technically be going to a bare bones lifestyle, but if you are working all the time, you won't have a lot of time to spend extra money so that might help too.
If you are unwilling to make additional cuts in your budget to pay off debt than I'm not sure what sort of result or advice you're looking to hear. If a second job is an option that might help but you'd need to evaluate how much you'd actually make. Normally it makes far more sense to cut expenses.
You're probably better off increasing that 10% retirement savings rate and slowing down paying off the school loans. The school loans and mortgage will be paid off eventually. If you don't get your retirement portfolio busily compounding, it will be tough to retire.
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