Am I a Fool?

As you all know, because I have exclaimed loudly, proudly and repeatedly, I finally paid off my student loan debt earlier this year.  It was a huge weight off of my shoulders.  However, I have always wondered if I was a fool for paying it all off.

I have a friend who graduated with approximately $200,000 in student loan debt from law school! She is determined to utilize the Public Student Loan Forgiveness program to erase all of that debt.  She has to make payments on the loans for 10 years and work for, in her case, the State (or some other qualifying employer) for that entire 10 year time period.  She is on a income based repayment plan, which means her payments are about $700 a month.  All and all she had a pretty cushy job.  She makes about $70,000 a year, she has a retirement plan (to which the state contributes a portion) and she receives about 6 weeks of vacation time a year.  Her job is pretty secure.  The only uncertainty is, will the Public Student Loan Forgiveness Program still be around, in the small form as it is now, when her 10 years are up. 

It took me 10 years to pay off all of my debt and I paid over $75,000 back in total (the loans totaled about $61,000 before interest).  I now make $80,000, have 3 weeks of vacation time and no retirement plan (ROTH IRA it is). Oh and I paid back every penny that I owed- less about $3,000 that I received as an employment perk several years ago.


Okay, tell me was I silly to make all of those monster debt payments?  I could have stayed with the State for 10 years and paid, probably, a small payment and gotten the majority of the loans forgiven.  (I promise if I was still working for the State my salary would probably only be in the 60,000s and when I first worked for the State I had so much debt that my discretionary income would have been minimal.) I would not have had to make $2000 payments in order to pay it all off and I could have kept more money for myself in the long run.    

$1,000s!!

Yesterday was payday and I made a large payment on my one remaining student loan.  I used the entire $400 I received in travel voucher reimbursements, the $1622 I budgeted for the payment and the excess money I had left from last budget period.  The total payment amounted to $2,154!  That payment brought the balance down to $1,693 (with interest calculated through 1/31/16)!!!  I am paid up for over 9 years, my next payment is not due until May 16, 2025!!

 Literally, only $1,693 stands between me and being DEBT FREE (except for my mortgage)!!  I am pushing my pessimism aside and I am going to be debt free by the end of this month! If I am able to pay this off at the end of this month, I will have cut over 14 years off of the original repayment plan!

Student loan Numbers Through December 2015

I tracked my student loan payoff amounts (somewhat) for 2015.  The total amount owed at the end of each month is shown below.

December 2014: $23,650
February 2015 $22,226 
April 2015: $19,408
May 2015: $18,939
June 2015: $16,632
July 2015: $14,824
August 2015: $12,392
September 2015: $9,999
October 2015: $8,019
November 2015: $5,692
December 2015: $3,844

I paid a total of $20,317.22 to my student loans in 2015, of that amount $506.26 went to interest.  I made my final goal of paying $20,000 to my student loan in 2015!! I'm so excited that I accomplished that goal.  It was a great year for student loan payoff.  My next payment is not due for over 8 years! 

Coming soon, an analysis of how I did on my 2015 goals!

$4,000s and new goal!

Yesterday I made a payment on my student in the amount of $545.  $250 came from the travel voucher reimbursement that I just received, $260 came from my budget and $35 came from leftover money from the last budget period.  That payment dropped the balance owing down to $4,904 (with interest through 12/31)!!

I achieved my newest goal of paying the student loan into the $4,000s by the end of the year.  I also accomplished my new goal of paying $19,000 on the student loan this year.  The total amount paid onto my student loan this year is $19,253.22! I have not done an updated calculation on the interest, but I will do one at the end of the year after I make my final payment for 2015.  It will likely be just over $500 interest. 

I now have a new goal to pay $20,000 to the loan by the end of the year.  I have a $492 payment budgeted out of my last paycheck of the year.  That leaves me $254.78 short of my goal.  I have 15 days to find that extra money!!  Wish me luck!

Quick Student Loan Payment Alert!

I made a $250 payment on my student loan out of the travel voucher money that I just received.  The balance is now down to $5,442.  I'm now paid up through April of 2023.  Slow progress, but the numbers are definitely falling!

Sucess!

I finally received a travel voucher reimbursement check yesterday, just shy of 3 months after the travel! It is for just over $1,000 and half of it will be going back into my travel fund and half will go towards my student loan.  This will help me make my goal of $19,000 paid on my student loan by the end of the year. I still have about $400 in travel vouchers outstanding, but I'll worry about those later.  I only have one more trip scheduled for the rest of the year and that $500 should cover it (gas hotel room, etc.) With this travel voucher payment and the rest of the money I have budgeted for my student loan for the year, I should be able to get my student loan balance down into the $4,000s by the end of December!!!

Student loan numbers through November

I have been tracking my student loan payoff amounts (somewhat) for 2015.  The total amount owed at the end of each month is shown below.

December 2014: $23,650
April 2015: $19,408
May 2015: $18,939
June 2015: $16,632
July 2015: $14,824
August 2015: $12,392
September 2015: $9,999
October 2015: $8,019
November 2015: $5,692 (with interest calculated through 12/15)

As of Monday, I have paid a total of $18,458.22 to my student loan this year.  Of that amount $493.46 has gone towards interest.  I will probably pay about $500 in interest by the end of the year.

My goal is pay $19,000 to the loan by the end of the year, only $541.78 left to go before December 31, 2015. When I look at my budget I'm about $50 short, but  I will figure it out.  I can't believe I'm about to pay $19,000 in one year onto my student loan, it's crazy, especially where at the beginning of the year I was still paying for dental expenses. I'm so glad that I've been able to do so much.  No matter what happens from here on out, I'm proud of what I have been able to accomplish. 

$5,000s!!

I just wanted to put up a quick post before I get off to work today.  I made a  payment on Monday and my student loan balance fell to $5,692!!! I am in the $5,000s.  I originally thought that by the end of December I would only get the balance down to $5,600, but by the end of November I made it!  My next payment is not due until February of 2023. 

I still have another $492 budgeted for an end of December payment!! My goal, now, is to get this thing paid down into the $4,000s before the new year.  I will have to scrimp, save and cut back on Christmas, but I will do it.  If this all works out, then that will be less money that I have to pull out of savings at the end of January to pay it off. 

Happy Holidays everyone!!

Budget November 16-30

We don't get paychecks until Monday because the 15th fell on a Sunday, but I wanted to go ahead and put my next budget period up.

$210 utilities
$100 groceries
$1529 student loan
$300 thanksgiving
$33 alarm monitoring
$200 spending
$50 savings
$100 gas


 I have a little money leftover from the last budgeting period to help me get through the weekend.   I have a $60 prepaid debt card that I received as a result of the new tires I purchased last month.  I think I am going to buy a Publix gift card with that prepaid debt card and use it for Thanksgiving. (The rules regarding the use of the prepaid debit card are overly complicated.) That way, hopefully, I will have cash leftover after Thanksgiving that I can put on my student loan.  I'm also still hoping that the firm gives us gift cards for Thanksgiving as we likely will not receive Christmas bonuses this year.  If we receive gift cards from the firm, I may have more money that I can put on my student loan after Thanksgiving.

I have some travel coming up for work and I still haven't bothered the bookkeeper about my travel vouchers.  I have a trip on Tuesday and another one at the end of November.  I then have 2 more trips in December (for now).  My travel fund is on $0, I need to fill it back up.  Speaking of that, I may take some money from that student loan amount and throw it in the travel fund, until I get reimbursed.  I hate to keep taking money away from the student loan, but I don't know what else to do.

Veterans Day and Odds and Ends

First, oh my goodness, payday is not until NEXT Monday (16th), I'm so ready to put a payment on my student loans.  It feels like I have been in the 8000s forever.  Is anyone else as impatient as I am? I really need to learn patience, it is not one of my virtues. 


I hope everyone has exciting plans for Veterans Day.  I plan to stay home, clean, read and work in the yard. Hopefully, a no spend or low spend day.  I gotta make this money stretch until payday.

I have a few expenses coming up: a new water filter for the refrigerator, thanksgiving grocery items and some travel for work at the end of the month.  That reminds me, I need to email the bookkeeper sometime this week to make sure she reimburses me for (some of) those outstanding travel expenses.  I already have 2 trips planned for December.

While I'm concerned (as I spoke about in my previous post) about the new associate that has been with the firm for almost 2 weeks now, I'm excited that maybe I won't be gone for 2 weeks in February for a trial in Central/South Florida. That would have been an expensive trip and I would have hated to carry those expenses for 2 months until the firm reimbursed me. 

Okay, I just wanted to type out a few things that had been on my mind.  I'm going to go get a few things done.  Have a wonderful Veterans Day (especially those of you who have the day off). 

Missed Goal

Gosh darn it, I missed my $8,000 goal for my student loan! I was really hoping I would be able to pay it down into the high $7,000s by the end of October but, as you can see in my previous post, Murphy got in the way.  I'm very disappointed, but there have been several other missed goals on this journey to debt freedom.  Despite this missed goal I'm still making good progress on paying down my student loan.

Here are the numbers so far this year:
December 2014: $23,650
April 2015: $19,408
May 2015: $18,939
June 2015: $16,632
July: $14,824
August: $12,392
September: $9,999
October: $8,019

Also, with this most recent payment (today) on my student loan I have officially paid over $16,000 on my student loan this year.  $16,087.22 to be exact! 

!$@!!! Murphy!!

So yesterday as I was driving home from work I noticed that my headlights looked odd in the reflection of the car in front of me.  When I got home I pulled into the garage and left the lights on so I could check.  Well, my fog lights and indicators lights were working, but 2 of the main headlights were totally out.  The other 2 were on very dim and definitely on their last legs.  My car is 9 years old and the headlight bulbs have never been replaced- so I guess it was about time to replace them. 

Anyways, I promptly went inside and researched the replacement bulbs for my car and instructions on how to replace them.  Talk about expensive!! I had 4 bulbs that had to be replaced: 2 low beam bulbs and 2 high beam bulbs.  On the internet without tax, I estimated the cost for all 4 bulbs to be about $58.  I went to the auto store today and the cost was almost $64 with tax.  However, I was able to replace the bulbs myself and save some money in that respect. I had just about $60 left in my budget for this 2 week period.  I was hoping to put that $60 towards my student loan, but that about covered the cost of the bulbs.  So much for the extra money on the loan.  Oh well.

Student loan payments and interest 2015

So far this year I have paid $15,625.22 to my student loans. Of that amount $468.28 has gone towards interest. I will probably pay less than $50 in interest for the remainder of the year.  I should easily make my goal of putting $16,000 on my student loan this year, less than $400 to go. 

I currently owe about $8,500 and at this point I have approximately $13,700  in savings.  Which means, according to the Dave Ramsey theory, that I have more than enough to pay off my student loan and, in fact, should payoff my loan.  I'm really teetering on the edge of whether I should pay off the loan.  At this point, I don't really feel comfortable with taking so much money out of my meager savings.  I have a 9 year old car and a house to maintain.  However, I also am so damn tired of paying on this loan.  But still, it's too close to Christmas to quickly rebuild my emergency fund and I don't want to get stuck in a bad situation because I was impatient. 

My original plan was to pay down on the loan until the end of January and then take the remaining balance out of savings (approximately $3,500) and pay it off.  I think I am going to stick with that plan, but as the days roll by slowly and I obsessively track the interest paid on my loan, I am getting more and more anxious. What would you do?  Pay off the loan in January or do it right now?

$8,000s!!!

Yesterday I made a $1,050 payment to my student loan and that dropped my balance down into the $8,000s! Holy crap, I can barely believe that at the end of December of 2014 I owed $23,650.  Again, the balance is barely down into the $8,000s- the exact amount owed is $8,962 (with interest calculated through 10/31), but it's still in the $8,000s.  I have a little money held aside to pay off my credit card (work travel expenses) and a little for an oil change- so I likely will put a little more on my student loan before I get paid again.  I have a small chance of actually making my goal off $8,000 by the end of the month! Alright, I need to get moving- I gotta put a load of clothes in the washing machine (and hopefully dryer) before I head to work today.

Catching up

I took this weekend to spend some time catching up on a few thing around the house: cleaning my bathroom, the kitchen, etc.  I plan to try and do some yard work today after I go for a walk with a friend. 

Payday is looming brightly head this coming Thursday and I am certainly looking forward to it.  I won't be able to make a huge payment on my student loan out of this upcoming pay period due to travel expenses, but I'm hoping to still put at least $1,000 on it.  That will bring me down into the $8,000s.  I am hoping with crossed fingers and sugar on top that we get Christmas bonuses this year! I would put $1,500 on my student loan out of that bonus.  Happy positive thoughts people!

Here's the progress I've made on my student loan so far this year (by month):
December 2014: $23,650
April 2015: $19,408
May 2015: $18,939
June 2015: $16,632
July: $14,824
August: $12,392
September: $9,999
October:??

$9,000s!!!...barely

Just a quick update.  I just made a payment on my student loan and I now owe $9,999 (with interest calculated through 10/15/15).  I'm down into the 4 figure range!  Whoop!! My next goal is to have the balance down to $8,000 by the end of October.  My next payment is not due until September of 2020!! Okay, gotta go catch a plane, toodles!

10,000s!!

 I made my mid- September student loan payment today and it already processed.  The outstanding balance is now into the $10,000s!! I owe approximately $10,540, with interest calculated through September 30, 2015.

I'm almost into the 4 figure range!! I originally had a goal to get the balance down to $10,750 by the end of September, but I think I will modify that goal to $9,999 by the end of September.  I will get into the 4 figure range by the end of the month!! I'm excited, but trying not to get too excited.  I just need steady progress through the end of the year.

$12,000s

I'm officially down to a balance of $12,393 on my student loan! I'm loving the progress at this point. My next goal is to have the balance down to $10,750 by the end of September.
For my end of August payment I was able to put $661 on the loan: that included my regular $492 payment, some leftover money from various budgeted areas from the previous 2 weeks and a health insurance premium rebate issued by the firm. The minimum monthly payment due on the loan is $150.82. 

Anyways, based on that $661 payment, I don't have a payment due until May of 2019.  The original end date for the loan was August (??) 2030.   If I am able to stick with my plan I should be able to pay the loan off at the end of January of 2016, cutting 14 years off of the loan.

Here is a month by month total:

(2014)
December $23,650

(2015)
April $19,408
May $18,939
June $16,632
July $14,824
August $12,393


I'll admit, as I get closer to the finish line I'm getting even more impatient.  I'm so ready to have this loan gone and start saving and investing.  I still also worry that something bad will happen before I have a chance to pay this thing off.  Sigh.  I will just keep plugging along and hopefully blessings will continue come my way.

Happy Friday Everyone!

$13,000s!

I am narrowing in on getting the student loan debt down into the 4 figure range!! I made my mid- August payment and now I owe $13,036 (with interest calculated through August 31, 2015) on my student loan.  I should be able to make my goal of $12,500, easily, by the end of the month.  I should be able to get the balance below that if I am reimbursed for my May and June travel vouchers before the end of the month.  I have paid off over $10,000 so far this year! 

Lucky...

I was thinking the other day about the day when my student loan will be finally paid off. As you know from my previous posts I still have just under $15,000 to payoff.

Let me tell you, paying off all of my debt (student loans, credit card debt, car loan, etc.) has been a major struggle for me.  I have been in debt up to my ears for the last 10 years.  However, I'm sure that the day that I announce to my friends and peers that I have finally paid off my student loans I will receive many comments about how "lucky" I am to have paid off my loans.  Already, in just speaking to friends and peers many have commented how lucky I will be to have my student loan paid off next year.   I have said numerous times to so many people how "lucky" they were when they had money to do something cool.  Wow, just thinking about that irritates me.  I don't feel lucky at all, I feel beat down and run over.  I have had to sacrifice so much just to be able to get as far as I am and I still feel so far behind.  Man, I wish I had been socking money away in the stock market for the last ten years.  I feel like I don't make enough money and that even after all of my debt is paid off, I don't think I'll have enough money to adequately save for retirement and have a little fun.  Life is so stressful.  While I am extremely grateful for all of my blessings and the knowledge and passion to manage my finances, I don't at all feel lucky.  I feel like I have worked hard to get a law degree and worked my way up through the years to get a decent salary.  Nothing about my journey so far as felt easy or lucky.