New Year’s resolutions. Are you all about them? I’m not all about a resolution, I’m all about goal-setting. Some might argue it’s the same thing but check out the different definitions.
Resolution: a firm decision to do or not to do something
Goal: the object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result
The reason I set goals instead of make resolutions is because a goal is something long term that one achieves from making many small decisions and taking many actions over the course of time. A resolution is sort of like, oh you messed and did or didn’t do something you resolved to do might as well give up. Goals are longer term and if you hit stumbling blocks you have an opportunity to try a new approach or shift the goal.
So with my rant about resolutions let’s get right into the two student loan goals you can set for 2017 that will begin your path to student loan liberation.
1. Know your number.
You will hear me say this time and time again but I mean it. You should know exactly how much money you owe. None of this, “I owe about $70,000” garbage. How much exactly do you owe? Not knowing your number is a form of denial. Whether you own that number or not, the interest will own you. So go to your loan servicer right now and look at your amount. Commit it to memory and look at it after each and every payment.
The reason you need to know your number is so you can pick a repayment strategy that makes sense for you. You need to know details like how fast your interest accrues, how much you owe in private vs federal loans, and what your debt:income ratio is.
2. Set a specific repayment goal.
You can set a goal to refinance, choose a different payment plan, pay off a certain amount, etc. Any of these goals have specific measurement so you can see if you met your goal at the end of 2017. Choose a goal that makes sense for you. If this is the year of building up your emergency fund it doesn’t make sense to set a dramatic dollar amount repayment goal. Be reasonable but push yourself to build forward momentum and take charge of your student loan debt.
What are your goals for 2017? Student loan related or not I would love to hear them! Comment below or share your goals on the Repayable Facebook Page. I’ll be posting a video tomorrow of my 2017 goals and reflecting on the progress I made on my 2016 goals.
Repayable is being released January 1st, just in time to set yourself up for a year of student loan success. You can pre-order the e-book here and the print version will be available for order Sunday January 1st!
Recent Comments