Read this article if you know your total debt load and want to figure out how bad it actually is.
Estimated read time ~ 9 minutes.
By now you’ve figured out how much you owe, what type of loans you have, and what repayment plan you’re in. Now it’s time to assess your financial situation. You have to draw conclusions about the impact your student loans have on your finances in order to set goals that meet your unique needs.
So how do you know if your student loan debt sucks hard or just sucks a little? The answer is the debt to income (debt:income) ratio. This handy little ratio helps quantify your debt load relative to your income. Think of it this way, $40,000 feels different if you make $28,000 per year than if you make $100,000 per year.
A side note that the debt:income ratio I talk about is not the same as the debt:income ratio creditors use to determine your financial viability. This ratio focuses on total student loan debt load and annual income. The common debt:income ratio focuses on monthly debt payments and monthly income and is reported as a percentage.
How to calculate your debt:income ratio.
- Grab your total debt: we’ll use $40,000 for this example.
- Estimate your total annual income: we’ll use $28,000 for this example.
- Divide your debt by your annual income: $40,000 ➗ 28,000
- Your quotient is your debt:income: in this case it’s about 1.4
What does your debt:income ratio mean?
Your debt:income gives you a quick way to assess the affordability of your debt. In general the higher your debt:income the harder it feels to repay your debt. As you make more money it feels easier to repay your debt with the same or even higher debt:income.
For example if your student loan debt is $150,000 and you make $100,000 per year it’s easier to make your payments than if you have a debt total of $45,000 and make $30,000 per year. Why is this the case? Essentially the more money you make, the more you have left after paying for basic costs of living. You may elect to pay for a higher quality of life as you make more but there’s less financial pressure on the basics like groceries, transportation, and health insurance.
What’s a good debt:income ratio?
The answer is, it depends on how much you make. If your ratio is less than 1:1 it will likely feel affordable. However if you make a salary that’s high enough to cover cost of living and then some a ratio of 1.5:1 may feel affordable. Generally, I would aim to cap your debt:income ratio at 1.5:1.
What to do with your debt:income ratio.
So what do you do if your debt:income ratio just isn’t that great? Well, there are only two sides to this equation, your debt and your income. The only thing you can do with your debt once you’ve borrowed it is repay it. The flexible side of this equation is your income.
There are a ton of resources out there on ways to make extra money. You can try to move to a better paying position in your company, switch to a better paying field (that doesn’t require more education and debt), ask for a raise, or start a side hustle. There are a lot of resources out there for making any of these moves. I’ll link up my favorite side hustle podcast at the end of this post.
What did your debt:income ratio reveal to you? Did it bring up more questions than answers? I would love to hear your thoughts on the Repayable Facebook Page or in the comments below. As always you can send an email to me jeni@repayable.org.
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