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Having debt hanging over your head is no fun. But it's an investment in yourself and your future.
Think of it as another mortgage, but treat it like a car loan, and pay off in 5 years or less.
If you adopt a frugal life and frugal spending habits, you will habe it accomplished before you know it. I know it seems daunting now, but time will fly by faster than you think.
We bought a house, already updated and well done in fall 2015 with only 10% down. Not a cheapo to-be-renovated house, but nicely done house. Here it is 2.5 years later,we already own half the house, paying down another 40% rather quickly. We knuckled down, lived frugally and threw all extra monies towards it to get that done.
It's taking a little out of our retirement savings, but we are closer to retirement so it won't matter much we don't think. We'd rather have it paid off too when retirement comes, so we can be free and clear to reinvest in our retire ment locale.
Waaaaay to many chicken littles here. Your job is in Healthcare. If it is something like nursing, you will ALWAYS have a highly paid job. As such, you will be able to pay that balance off.
These numbers do not look overwhelming to me. They could become if your fiance loses his job, but if you are both earning, you will be fine.
Living in car, as someone suggested, is an absurd advice. Ignore that.
However, there are steps that you can take.
First of all, make sure that you and your BF are on the same page as far as debt and spending habits. I know couples who also had a lot of student debt, but their approaches to it differed and it was a constant source of stress.
Second, keep expenses in check. If you do have a wedding, make sure it is small and manageable, not some massive affair.
See if any consolidation on your loans is available - SoFi etc.
If moving is possible, explore areas that will help you with student debt-forgiveness for working there. I know that if you work as a HC professional in a rural area of a couple of years, you can get significant debt relief, while still making a good salary.
You will be fine! Don't let this overwhelm the rest of your life.
You literally have to live on either coast and have invested 10+ years ago already in order to take advantage of the appreciation boom to the degree that you have seen. This is not forecasted to be the case any longer, and is an anomaly to the majority of the country. You ma'am, got in at the right time and in the right location. These types of things aren't likely to happen to people who just bought. But, congrats on your property appreciation - you were lucky/smart. Additionally, your equity means literally nothing unless you're selling today, which is entirely the point. My uncle on Long Island lost $100k in equity recently by waiting 2 more years to sell his house. In that time, builders razed the trees on the 5 lots next to his house and built 5 more units, driving down the value of his home. He sold it about a month ago after officially retiring.
You're also misinterpreting my statement about the house. The idea is that couples want to pick out a home together, but doing so after buying this home in the next 3-5 years would likely be costly and without any equity to pull from would be a poor financial decision.
So, rather than selling, if they were to couple up and get married, the best idea for their finances is to keep that house - but that is tough for some couples to adapt to. I wouldn't suggest that it would break a couple apart - just that it isn't the smartest financial move to sell that home and buy another in the majority of cases when you already are saddled with "crippling" debt.
I honestly never heard of couples caring about picking out a house "together" especially since folks are getting married later and later.
My son got married at 26 earlier this year, he had a house, she lived in an apartment. My daughter in law is getting her masters in nursing lol so she was more than happy to not have a rent payment.
I don't think I was lucky at all. I had to live somewhere and when I first purchased I was 29. In my high cost of living area a decent 1 bedroom apartment where you won't get mugged is going to set you back at least 1,000 dollars. I would never ever encourage any young person to light fire to 1,000 dollars a month. again even with switching jobs, most people change jobs without moving every time.
While my equity is not easily accessible, I do not have to sell to use it. but I get your point, but it's also not going to disappear. it may go up and down but that's also true of my investments in stocks.
And with many retirees a large chunk of their wealth is in their paid off houses.
Anyhoo,
I think it depends on age. Your uncle is probably middle aged (I made the assumption since you said he's retired)so he's on the downhill slide as far as wealth accumulation. Now my kids are just starting out, I want them to increase their net worth and one way to do that is through home ownership as opposed to renting.
I agree they shouldn't sell but I can't imagine anyone with a bit of sense, getting upset because their spouse OWNED property before they got married. lol, where I come from having someone who owns their own house is looked upon as a good thing.
personally I hope my kids wouldn't marry anyone that stupid. just me
28 year old f, $86k student loan debt, making $80k gross per year
My bf is 32, finishing his mba, will be $90k loans when he is done on a couple years. Anticipate him making $65-75 when finished and gradual increase with experience
You make $80k, and he will be making $70k; together your household will be making $150k.
Keep your housing expenses less than 1/3 of your gross income, $50k/year. It can be done!
Put 10% of your income to pay down your debt. And when he starts working 10% of his income again his debt. Together you two will then have ~170k in debt, and you would be paying $15k/year against your debts.
Steady and consistent as you go. When you finally get the debt paid off, keep the 10% theme going to build your retirement savings. Once you have built the lifestyle habit you want to hold onto that. By 40 you should both be out of debt, and on your way toward retirement.
I honestly never heard of couples caring about picking out a house "together" especially since folks are getting married later and later.
My son got married at 26 earlier this year, he had a house, she lived in an apartment. My daughter in law is getting her masters in nursing lol so she was more than happy to not have a rent payment.
I don't think I was lucky at all. I had to live somewhere and when I first purchased I was 29. In my high cost of living area a decent 1 bedroom apartment where you won't get mugged is going to set you back at least 1,000 dollars. I would never ever encourage any young person to light fire to 1,000 dollars a month. again even with switching jobs, most people change jobs without moving every time.
While my equity is not easily accessible, I do not have to sell to use it. but I get your point, but it's also not going to disappear. it may go up and down but that's also true of my investments in stocks.
And with many retirees a large chunk of their wealth is in their paid off houses.
Anyhoo,
I think it depends on age. Your uncle is probably middle aged (I made the assumption since you said he's retired)so he's on the downhill slide as far as wealth accumulation. Now my kids are just starting out, I want them to increase their net worth and one way to do that is through home ownership as opposed to renting.
I agree they shouldn't sell but I can't imagine anyone with a bit of sense, getting upset because their spouse OWNED property before they got married. lol, where I come from having someone who owns their own house is looked upon as a good thing.
personally I hope my kids wouldn't marry anyone that stupid. just me
Yeah, that's weird. If somebody I am dating already owns a condo or a house, I would view that as a sign of responsibility and maturity.
Obviously, if they bought a super luxury condo with 5% down and are barely able to afford the HOA fees, the equation changes, but owning property being a deal breaker is one of the weirder things I have read on these boards.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned this yet... Side Hustle!
Get up on Saturday and hit a few garage sales or estate sales, maybe go to an auction or 2. You'll see guitars for $10, old mowers for $5, or random little things people are just looking to get rid of. Sell the bigger items on craigslist and the smaller items on ebay. Its not earth shattering $, but its VERY easy to make an extra $2,000-$3,000 a year with very little time or effort. Could turn your payoff period from 10 years to 7.
I don't understand people's shock at $89k in student loans. If you haven't been in the college process lately you might not realize that many public universities (forget private ones) cost $20k+ easily a year with tuition and room. Unless you are a TOP student, you won't earn significant scholarships either. Not everyone has parents who saved. Rents in many cities have skyrocketed so trying to save money by living off campus is often not an option. Yes, you can do the community college/transfer to 4 year university route but statistics show that most students then require a 5th year to get all their required classes which is more tuition.
OP at least has a much higher paying job than the average college graduate.
Last edited by Coloradomom22; 07-23-2018 at 10:10 PM..
I don't understand people's shock at $89k in student loans. If you haven't been in the college process lately you might not realize that many public universities (forget private ones) cost $20k+ easily a year with tuition and room. Unless you are a TOP student, you won't earn significant scholarships either. Not everyone has parents who saved. Rents in many cities have skyrocketed so trying to save money by living off campus is often not an option. Yes, you can do the community college/transfer to 4 year university route but statistics show that most students then require a 5th year to get all their required classes which is more tuition.
OP at least has a much higher paying job than the average college graduate.
I had community college credits transfer from HS classes and did my four year in under three years. While also getting a commercial and CFI pilots license which was a part time job in and of itself. I also worked.
Perhaps it's a "motivation" issue if someone is taking five years to get a four year. My sister took five+ years, and graduated with $80k in debt, she just didn't care about school. IMO she never should have gone.
FWIW I had a buddy with $70k in loans but a decent salary (roughly $70k). He lived in an RV for two years and put all his money into his loans. This was a pretty good solution and wiped out that debt quickly. It might work for the OP as well.
The OP needs to look at this from a four or five year perspective. In that time they can have this massive amount of debt wiped clean and have enough for a nice down payment and reserve on a house if they live frugally. Those frugal habits will carry them the rest of their lives.
I had community college credits transfer from HS classes and did my four year in under three years. While also getting a commercial and CFI pilots license which was a part time job in and of itself. I also worked.
Perhaps it's a "motivation" issue if someone is taking five years to get a four year. My sister took five+ years, and graduated with $80k in debt, she just didn't care about school. IMO she never should have gone.
FWIW I had a buddy with $70k in loans but a decent salary (roughly $70k). He lived in an RV for two years and put all his money into his loans. This was a pretty good solution and wiped out that debt quickly. It might work for the OP as well.
The OP needs to look at this from a four or five year perspective. In that time they can have this massive amount of debt wiped clean and have enough for a nice down payment and reserve on a house if they live frugally. Those frugal habits will carry them the rest of their lives.
a lot of assumptions here. the OP said she is in Healthcare. that very well might mean she has a post-graduate degree. I don't understand why people have to insert their folksy bootstrap story in every post, regardless of relevance.
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