by Repayable | Dec 19, 2016 | #Millenniallife, Money Matters
Hi everyone my name is Jeni. I want to share with you why I’m constantly talking about, writing about, and spreading the word about everything student loan debt related. I was woke to my lack of knowledge about student loans when I uncovered a $7,000 mistake. Let me get right into my tale.
I come from a working class family. My mom and dad have worked hard their entire lives. Thankfully, they’ve impressed that work ethic on me and my siblings. It’s the key ingredient to my resilience and grit.
Although neither of my parents have a college degree, they’ve always stressed the importance of doing well in school. So naturally I decided to go to college to earn myself a white collar career. One that would enable me to build a financially secure lifestyle so I wouldn’t have to worry about money. I chose to become a pharmacist because I love science and math, it helped people, and it would make me the kind of money I thought I would need for financial security.
During my six years of college I worked hard at part time jobs to ensure the only thing I had to borrow money for was tuition and books. I worked to pay for my cost of living which was no small feat. I can remember in my third year of pharmacy school working two jobs at around 20 hours per week. Sometimes, if the shifts stacked just right it was up to 30 hours. Every single break in college was an opportunity for me to work full-time. I didn’t travel, or chill and Netflix. I worked as many hours as I could get my hands on between the two jobs.
Despite working my ass off I manged to graduate with $128,000 in student loan debt. By the end of my pharmacy residency year that number rose to $132,000 even though I had paid over $6,000 toward my loans.
I can remember the relief I felt when I started to make pharmacist pay and really go after my debt. But even with aggressive payments, I didn’t feel like I was getting anywhere.
Then 2015 tax season rolled around and I filed my taxes, submitting the amount of interest I paid on my student loans into the tax form.
And then the pivotal moment in my repayment happened. I typed $13,776.15 into that box and a message came up. The message told me that my individual income was too high to claim this tax deduction. I almost lost it.
I mean this was ridiculous. The only reason I made too much as an individual to deduct the interest was because of those loans. I worked my ass off through college and residency, and now they were keeping all of my tax money?! Eff that!
So I was furious, not only had nearly half of my student loan payments gone to interest but I couldn’t even take the measly tax credit (you can only deduct $2,500). It felt like the government was taking my money twice.
But what could I do about it? Change that tax code? Yea right! Change my interest rate? Maybe but it seemed pretty sketchy. Then I heard an ad for SoFi and an add for Earnest on two different podcast shows. So I decided to do some googling to find out exactly what refinancing was all about.
I checked out both sites and submitted applications. Ultimately Earnest gave me the best interest rate so I went with them. My interest rate went from 6.8% on my federal loans to 3.36% on my refinanced loan overnight. This was in June of 2016.
My mistake and lack of knowledge cost me $7,000 in 2015. and who knows how much additional money in interest on principal that would have been paid down. If I had known about refinancing sooner my remaining debt would be <$78,000 instead of $85,000. It’s a big difference.
I wanted to do something to help people like me out. People who have made the responsible choice throughout their education but are still screwed with mountains of debt.
So for awhile I complained about debt and talked about it and annoyed everyone to death until the idea for Repayable was born. I want you to learn from me instead of having to learn the hard way at a cost. It’s tough to navigate the waters of student loan debt without guidance. It takes hours of sifting through difficult to find information to gain even a mediocre understanding.
Repayable is here to guide you, encourage you, and help liberate you from the shackles of student loans.
You can always ask me any question here in the comments, on the Repayable Facebook Page, or by sending me an email to jeni@repayable.org
For the sake of transparency, if you click my Earnest link and refinance we both get $200. I didn’t choose Earnest because of this. I chose Earnest because they have the best borrower benefits and gave me the best interest rate. Choose the refinancing company that’s right for you.
Like this:
Like Loading...
by Repayable | Dec 5, 2016 | #Millenniallife, Money Matters
Giving the perfect gift can be such a thrill… until you look at your bank account. When you’re aggressively repaying your student loan debt it can feel like every extra gift is pulling you farther away from financial freedom. That mindset can make you feel pretty grinchy!
Don’t worry, you can navigate Holiday gifting without completely derailing your student loan repayment strategy.
Read on for my solid strategies to avoid being a Scrooge without falling off the student loan repayment bandwagon.
Fair warning, this article is really designed for folks who are making extra monthly payments rather than just the minimum monthly payment. If you’re already making only the minimum monthly payment your budget is much tighter than the strategies in this article cater to.
Make every gift worth it.
If you’re going to buy gifts make them worth it. Don’t just buy someone something for the sake of doing it. Really try to find out what that person wants/needs and spend your money on that.
For example when buying gifts for your friends or family who have student loan debt of their own consider buying them something that alleviates another cost burden. You could consider gifting an annual membership fee to their professional organization or alumni organization. Boring, yea, but you’re helping them out and you can feel good about that.
It’s not all or nothing.
Extra student loan payments aren’t all or nothing. Just because you can’t make as large of an extra payment as usual doesn’t mean you can’t pay any extra. The “all or nothing” attitude will delay your repayment. It’s ok if you can only afford to throw an extra $50-100 at your loans this month. That’s still some progress.
Map out your gift-giving.
Come up with a gift giving plan that includes all the people you need to get gifts for, how much you want to spend, and then an extra mystery gift for in case you forgot someone! This way you can decide how much you’ll be spending and you can hold yourself accountable for making even a little bit of an extra payment.
Size does not matter.
Think small and meaningful gifts rather than extravagant and expensive. Your student loan debt repayment is important to you. This means during the holidays you need to take a little extra time to carefully plan your gifts so you can get the most bang for your buck on a gift that someone will remember.
Here are a few gift ideas that can be meaningful without costing you a mint. The Amazon links in this post are associate links which means I get paid a commission if you make a purchase.
For the ladies in your life:
- If she wears earrings find her a unique pair of earrings that really shows off her personality. Here are some of my personal favorites for the writer, reader, scientist, engineer, or 90’s girl.
- For the avid reader, find some classic second hand books in good condition or a new book that you know she would love to read. Tie the books together with some twine for an old-timey feel and toss in her favorite snack so she can munch and read.
- Consider a gift card to somewhere she likes to go. Is coffee a treat for her? Buy a little gift card to her favorite coffee shop. Does she love fashion? Get her a Stitch Fix gift card. The possibilities are endless when it comes to gift cards. Just be sure to make it a little more personal with a handwritten card.
For the guys in your life:
- If he’s a gamer the obvious move is to buy him a new release he’s been eyeing. The not-so-obvious move is to go retro and buy him the digital NES system. It’s $60 which is about what you would expect to pay for the freshest titles on Xbox or PlayStation. We’re children of the 80’s and 90’s the nostalgic value of this digitized 1985 system is off the charts! P.S. anyone could also buy me one of these… I want one so bad!
- Does he consider himself a mixologist? Consider getting him a mixology kit or a specialty cocktail kit. An alternative would be a new cocktail book to suit his style.
- Is he a fitness enthusiast? Consider getting him a gift card to his favorite running store. Or the piece of workout gear you know he needs. Is he a coffee lover? Give him a gift card to his favorite coffee shop. The possibilities are endless for gift cards. Just don’t forget to make it a little more personalized with a handwritten card or something cute.
For everyone:
- A movie you know they would like. I’m thinking Star Wars: The Force Awakens or Star Trek Beyond for the Sci Fi lovers in your life, Step Brothers or The Big Lebowski for the comedy lover, Zootopia for the cartoon lover, Space Jam or Jurassic Park for the 90’s kid, the movie options are endless.
- My upcoming book Repayable makes a great gift for anyone looking for student loan debt liberation. I expect it to launch near Christmas. The Kindle version will be available for pre-order ($6.99) on Amazon very soon. The print version should be available by the end of December ($12.99).
- A unique travel coffee mug for the tea or coffee drinker on the go like this one for photographers. Make it a good one that doesn’t leak no matter how you tip it.
- Vacuum cleaner, gym membership, or an etiquette book. Bahaha I’m just kidding about these! Unless someone specifically asks you for any of these gifts you’re going to offend them.
Enjoy shopping and repaying your student loans you rock star. Nothing is impossible in the quest for student loan liberation!
Comment below with your best and worst Holiday gift ideas!
Like this:
Like Loading...
Recent Comments