Student loans... paid

[SCFinfan]

Glory glory hallelujah!

Last loan payment of right around 5.3k went thru on 9.5.13.

Goodbye forever, Sallie.

[Brian Fein]

Got any advice for those of us still paying?

Better yet, any money we can use to pay it?

Congrats.

[Phishfan]

Congrats. Gettting a loan off your back sure feels good and those student ones are a bitch.

[Dave Gray]

My sincerest congrats for this.  It's quite an accomplishment on many levels.  To finish school is its own accomplishment, but finishing the loans is another.  Good for you.  I hope the excess money and reduced stress go towards a better life for you and your family.

[SCFinfan]

Thank you all. I very much appreciate your kind words.

While I have no money (literally) right now to help any of you, unfortunately, if you want the way I did it, it was this:

1. I did not consolidate my loans. I bit the bullet on the non-consolidated loans so that they stayed in individuated chunks, rather than one huge monster loan. I then paid the minimum amounts for many months at a time, which in turn allowed me to save, save, save.

Using that savings, I would then target and take out the student loans. I would not do this in the way someone like, say, Dave Ramsey would approve of: smallest loan *amount* first. Rather, I did whichever loan had the worst (or comparably equally worst) interest rate. I'd kill that loan, and then, ta-da, you automatically have given yourself a raise. One of the biggest moments was a few years ago when I dropped a huge batch of cash on one of my loans, and went from like a 650$ a month payment to a 329$ a month payment. While it's not much per month, say, it's been... 20 months now since I paid the elevated amount. Given that time, it was a snowball effect, and it allowed me to move even more quickly on the other loans.

2. This sounds strange but, get married. Is much easier if you have a good partner and 2 oars in the water. W/o my wife, I would probably be getting this done next year, or perhaps the year thereafter. I do not make loads of cash, but, w/ her salary included in the big pot, and our mutual frugality, I went from having an impressive amount of liquidity when I got married to a comfortable amount of liquidity now. Or well, before 9/5, I did.

I also had a lot of good luck and some nice parents too. Parents were great because they allowed me to relax and eat w/ them at times and also would help me if I got into dire straights b/c of cashflow issues. That only happened once, mind you, but, I am glad they were there.

[SCFinfan]

One nice perk:

Work drama worries me a lot less now. I feel like the Joker in that one scene in the Dark Knight...

You have nothing, nothing to threaten me with! Nothing to do with all your strength!

[Landshark]

Congratulations SCFinFan.  A student loan is one of the most toxic loans around.  Thankfully you got rid of yours. 

[dolphins4life]

I didn't have any student loan debt when I graduated. 

However, if I had taken out loans, it wouldn't have been so bad for me because I would have handled things differently at school.

1) I would not have left my coop job early as often and made sure to get as much money as I could from it
2) I would not have lived on campus after sophomore or middler year
3) I would not have given up as many proctor shifts as I did and still do to spend time with my friends

I made a lot of money while going to school.

[dolphins4life]

just curious, what kind of tax credits do you get for making student loan payments

[Landshark]

just curious, what kind of tax credits do you get for making student loan payments

The interest on them is tax deductable

[SCFinfan]

The interest on them is tax deductable

But the deduction is capped, right?

http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc456.html

[Landshark]

But the deduction is capped, right?

http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc456.html

Yes the deduction is capped.  But some is better than nothing.

[SCFinfan]

Yes the deduction is capped.  But some is better than nothing.

Yeah. Although, none is better than some when it comes to student loans in general.

You're a professor, right?

What is your take on student loans nowadays?

[Landshark]

Yeah. Although, none is better than some when it comes to student loans in general.

You're a professor, right?

What is your take on student loans nowadays?

Don't borrow more money than necessary is my take.  Factor in your living costs and plan your borrowing accordingly.  Student loans are not dischargeable in a bankruptcy and will remain with you for life until they are paid off.  Wanting to live like a corporate executive now will cause you to live like a student when you graduate