DISQUS

Amanda · 2 years ago

Congratulations! I can't wait to be in your position, truly inspirational!

wealthy_1 · 2 years ago

Congratulations and continued success! I wish debt free forever!!!!!!!!!!

Curtis · 2 years ago

I just finished off my undergrad loans earlier this year (year 8 after school, though I only had 11 grand), but I still have a few grand left from my MBA that I finished last year also. I had employer reimbursement for most of it, but had to pay it back when I left. Luckily, I got my bonus about then and it ended up a wash.

One thing I notice most mortgage brokers leave out on the tax savings is the fact that you get a standard deduction. For married filing jointly like me that is over 10k this year. So, I don't really save anything on the first 10k of mortgage interest each year, I would have had that tax savings anyway.

john · 2 years ago

Congrats! I'm working on my own (and wife's) college debt of almost $70k. Our loans are at 3.25%, and should be lowered an additional .5% soon, so we're focusing on saving and investing right now.

mapgirl · 2 years ago

Zowee. That's a lot of money. Good for you. I am sure the blog revenue helps. *winky*

So how does it feel? Like a huge weight off you? What's your next goal now that you've got cash flow freed up?

Andrea · 2 years ago

Good for you, that's quite an accomplishment. Most people just let student loans languish, I think mostly because the financial advice tells them that other routes are more profitable but there's an immense relief when things are paid off and you have fewer liabilities.

klerg · 2 years ago

Debt free is king!!! Congrats Flex!!!!!!!!!!

Flexo · 2 years ago

Just to clarify -- this is Sasha's post and Sasha's achievement. Perhaps we need something to better differentiate our posts. My remaining $14,000 in student loan debt will be paid off sooner than planned now that interest rates on savings have dropped, but not yet.

Chief Family Officer · 2 years ago

Congratulations, Sasha! That's really awesome :D

Sue · 2 years ago

That is extraordinary! Good job. Well done. Congratulations.

Personal Finance Blog · 2 years ago

Great job! Congratulations!

Kris · 2 years ago

Sasha, congratulations! That's outstanding. I paid off Sallie Mae last month, and MAN did it ever feel good. The best part was receiving a "Congratulations. Nice doin' business with you" e-mail yesterday. Way to go!

mga · 2 years ago

Congratulations on that milestone of life. I achieved that a few years back and it was a great feeling to have.

Now I’m working towards eliminating the mortgage payments, while trying to balance retirement savings with that. I should probably find a good financial advisor like you did to help me figure out a good balance of the two.

Sasha · 2 years ago

Mapgirl,

I don't really know what my next goal is, but I'm up for suggestions. I have a few mortgages between my primary residence and rental property, and I could go towards trying to pay them down sooner, but with assuming I'l resell my primary residence in a few years anyway, it may not be worth it.

Really, I'd like to grow my cash net worth. I keep seeing Flexo's rise monthly on this blog, but my finances were all channeled to the debt so I've not seen my worth rise much at all in the last 2 years. Also, I still have too many expenses.

Oh, and I'm just the associate blogger here... =)

Sasha · 2 years ago

Kris,

Thanks. I'd love to get that e-mail:


Dear Sasha,

Thanks for doing business with us. We promise never to bother you again. Ever.

Really, forget we ever existed.

Love,

Sallie Mae

Sasha · 2 years ago

Andrea,

I kept hearing the same thing--that I should just ignore the debt and try to invest in stocks which would earn more. But I'm not much for higher-risk investments, and I decided I'd rather get rid of what seemed like a slow leak of my personal funds than take a chance on something that can fluctuate either way.

Also, the loans just annoyed me in principal. I want to remember college fondly...

Sasha · 2 years ago

John,

That's a very nice interest rate--be sure to lock it in if you get it ever lower! My rate used to be more like that but I was late in consolidating and the rates went up. One of my dumber moves....

Sasha

John · 2 years ago

Sasha,

The rate is locked in, so I'm set there. We consolidated a few years ago. The .5% reduction is for a certain amount of on time payments.

Kris · 2 years ago

Sasha - TOTALLY. I printed mine out and I'm putting it on my fridge.

Marie · 2 years ago

Thanks for posting this. My husband and I both have masters. I got mine in 2005 he finishes his Apr 2008. We had $55,456.27 in student loan debt and I panicked. We make 21k a year (have 2 kids) and got it down to $51,168.79 for a total paid of $4,287.48 to date. I was feeling like we weren't making any progress. But your post has encouraged me to keep chugging.

Vixen · 2 years ago

Major congratulations are in order.

I just had to take out my first student loan. It scares the shit out of me. Fortunately, I did city college the first two years. I'm looking to be in something like 10k in debt by this time next year. Eeeek.

Not to mention, I'm planning on a Ph.D after this. That equates to: super expensive schools! My least expensive option would be something like UCLA which is still 13k a year.

Meg · 2 years ago

Congrats! What a wonderful feeling it must be.
I can't wait until I feel it. Only 10 more years.

FinanceAndFat · 2 years ago

That's awesome! Congrats!

My wife and I have about $65K combined. Yeah, that's going to take a long time...nice to see a student loan success story though!

Sasha · 2 years ago

Marie,

I think it is important to give yourself some leeway as well. While I paid more to my student loans during certain periods, there were some times when my financial focus needed to be elsewhere, so I just paid the minimum, like when I was in grad school or dealing with unexpected expenses. With your income and family situation now, I can understand that it might be hard to really focus in on the debt. Understand that even if you are paying the minimum, you're still making progress--with a family on a tighter income, the emergency fund becomes even more important, so that may be where your priority lies. You can always work on that fund, place it in a high-yield savings account, and use the interest as extra, "Bonus" principal payments on your loans.

Thrifty Penny · 2 years ago

That's awesome! Congratulations! Do you hear that around the corner? That's right, it's the sound of sweet success. Corny, I know!

SJean · 2 years ago

Congratulations!! I clicked over because my name is also Sasha, and it is just not that common of a name.
My student loan debt is 20k sitting at 0% interest, but it still bothers me!

Stephanie · 2 years ago

Wow! Congratulations! I'm still chipping away at my student loans. But reading your post reminds me that one day, I can be free of student loans, too!
And I also got some ideas of how to pay my student loans off faster without putting myself in a place where I'll be scared of things happening. I just will keep my emergency fund at a certain point, and every time it reaches a certain higher point (due to automatic deposits and earned interest) I can pay that big chunk to my student loan company!

IndependentGirl · 2 years ago

I'm just one more person here to say "Way to go!!" Thanks for sharing.

nathan · 1 year ago

If you work in public service and make monthly payments for 10 years, your remaining balance is paid off courtesy of your friendly federal government. Thanks to the Democratic party controlled Congress for finally making this happen...making education a priority. See Public Law 110-84.

Ray · 1 year ago

Hmm interesting..I'm the opposite. I managed to consolidate my $35,000 law student loans at a very low fixed rate at 2.25%. I'm in no rush to pay them off since they're better spent sitting in an interest account.

Ex-student · 1 year ago

Hi everybody, Since the cost for studying in an american college or university is so high and getting a loan for that is so high too....many american students started to study, on the other side of the border, in Canada where the cost of studying is generally 10 000$ which is much less than the majority of the american colleges and universities. Lower you debt potentiel as much as possible. Thanks

Mike · 1 year ago

Fairplay to you. That is some going. I love to read about success stories like this. It gives inspiration to all the rest of us.

AJ · 5 months ago

I have $110k in student loan debt for just undergrad. I can not even get a job that pays me anything because I did liberal arts. I am working on changing things though.