What would be the fastest way to pay off 170k in debt? (Location? Refinancing Plan? Government P)

[Gnostic.Spirit]

Where would you live? What government program would you sign up for ? and who would you refinance with?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[pezdispenser]

Move to some ****hole like El Paso. Work for CVS or Walgreens. They might even give you a few thousand dollar sign-on bonus depending on how ****ty the location is. Pick up as many extra shifts as you can. Make $170k+/yr. Remember, no state income tax in Texas. Live on beans and rice (no trouble getting this in El Paso). You'll be done in 1.5-2 years.

Refinance if you want with DRB, SoFi, First Republic, etc on a 5 year variable rate for 1.9%. You'll pay it all off anyway before interest rates can rise substantially.

 

[Gnostic.Spirit]

Move to some ****hole like El Paso. Work for CVS or Walgreens. They might even give you a few thousand dollar sign-on bonus depending on how ****ty the location is. Pick up as many extra shifts as you can. Make $170k+/yr. Remember, no state income tax in Texas. Live on beans and rice (no trouble getting this in El Paso). You'll be done in 1.5-2 years.

Refinance if you want with DRB, SoFi, First Republic, etc on a 5 year variable rate for 1.9%. You'll pay it all off anyway before interest rates can rise substantially.

Would love to get this weight off of my shoulders as fast as I can. Anybody have any information on people who have moved to Alaska/ Arizona/North Dakota or any other obscure state?

 

[BMBiology]

Would love to get this weight off of my shoulders as fast as I can. Anybody have any information on people who have moved to Alaska/ Arizona/North Dakota or any other obscure state?

Search for barrow, Alaska on this forum. Some guy here claimed to make 300 k a year.

 

[RxStudentatUB]

Search for barrow, Alaska on this forum. Some guy here claimed to make 300 k a year.

Cost of living is expensive in Alaska. The monthly stipend they hand out to their citizens is like counting peanuts these days. A registered pharmacist in the Northwest has also mentioned there are a surplus of floater pharmacists in Alaska, mostly concentrated in Anchorage. This is going to spread out to Barrow very soon and soon bonuses will be a thing of the past over there. I would look for positions near the Texas border and work there until another opportunity near a metro area becomes available.

 

[xiphoid2010]

Move to some ****hole like El Paso. Work for CVS or Walgreens. They might even give you a few thousand dollar sign-on bonus depending on how ****ty the location is. Pick up as many extra shifts as you can. Make $170k+/yr. Remember, no state income tax in Texas. Live on beans and rice (no trouble getting this in El Paso). You'll be done in 1.5-2 years.

Refinance if you want with DRB, SoFi, First Republic, etc on a 5 year variable rate for 1.9%. You'll pay it all off anyway before interest rates can rise substantially.

This might be tongue in cheek but its actually not far from the truth. Border towns in Texas does pay higher. Heck, you can probably even live on the Mexican side and work on the US side.

Also, you can save on gym membership, since joining the Mexican swim team is free, they practicing daily in the Rio Grande.

 

[farmadiazepine]

I was able to save just about $430,000 in cash in exactly 4 years and 1 month of working as a pharmacist. This does not include what I saved up in 401k. If you are serious about paying off your debt as fast as possible, and if you are entertaining some of the crazy ideas mentioned so far, then consider what I did.

The first thing is you live at home with your parents just like you were back in high school. You don't pay rent, you don't pay any bills, no nothing. I didn't pay rent, no utilities, no cable, no internet, no phone, no EZ Pass, no nothing. My car was a hand me down from my parents, I drove a 1992 Toyota Corolla, then a 1999 Toyota Corolla, and the cars were taken care of by them. I didn't pay for anything, except life insurance. You have to live at home, not in a place of your own, and you have to drive a car which is either paid off or someone else is paying for.

The second thing is work. You will be making pretty much the same amount of money wherever you are. Sure, it will range, but we can all safely sum up a retail pharmacist is making $100,000 a year. Most make more, like I finished at $140,000 a year for 40 hours a week as a staff pharmacist. To make the most money, work as an overnight pharmacist. Do it in retail either at CVS or Walgreens. They pay excellent, and the schedule is usually 7 on 7 off. During your 7 days off, you pick up extra hours either at CVS or find another place to work during your off week like an independent, consulting work, hospital work, some sort of per-diem work, etc. You will be working every day, maybe a day off a week. Make sure you also work holidays. I worked every holiday for 3 years including Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years (literally spent midnight in a CVS store 3 years in a row).

Finally, you have to save all your money. Spend only what is necessary on expenses like gas, for example. The rest goes into the bank. The checks I was taking home, I put maybe 95% into savings, and I kept saving, saving, saving.

My saying was "I work 8 days a week". I literally ate, slept, worked for 3 years. I did it right after I graduated because when you are young you have the most energy, and in my opinion, its the best time to do it. There is little to sacrifice other than your time. I saved up what I needed to save up, and now I'm done.

You can pay off $170,000 quick if you are dedicated. Many people will tell you this is crazy, what I did. I agree, it is crazy. Its unsustainable. There was no professional development, or personal growth in those 3 years. It was just time spent working in exchange for money. Now, I have a way less paying job, but I have peace of mind, and that is what is really important.

Last, if you are really hungry, you can make more money being a prostitute.

 

[Judgment Dragon]

Which pharmacy school are you currently attending?

 

[pharmerjohn]

...

Last, if you are really hungry, you can make more money being a prostitute.

I'd like to know more about this... uhhh... for science, of course! How do you get started? What if you're a male?

 

[farmadiazepine]

I'd like to know more about this... uhhh... for science, of course! How do you get started? What if you're a male?

Just a suggestion. I have no idea how to get started.

 

[pharmerjohn]

Just a suggestion. I have no idea how to get started.

haha... I was only kidding, but it'd be interesting to see some dude "Magic Mike" his way through student loans. Pharmacist by day, male stripper by night... ehh... it could happen. I know a few females who are willing to sell their "virginity" for having their student loans paid off.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

Live in a trailer. Shop at Aldi. Drive a used 2004 Ford Taurus.

That was my gameplan for the first 2 years, anyway. I paid down like $100k.

 

[BMBiology]

I don't know why some of you guys have to live life to the extreme in order to pay off your student loans.

If you make 120 k a year and take home 75% after taxes, that is 90 k! Surely you can put 50 k toward your loans and live on 40 k. The point that I am trying to tell you is there is more to life than paying off your loans. Life goes on. No one is going to wait for you. Not your friends, not your significant other. Maybe your family will wait for you but that is it. So live a little as well. Once your youth is gone, it is gone forever.

Always look at the bigger picture. Have a plan and you will do just fine.

 

[BMBiology]

I paid off 150 k in student loans in 3 years. It wasn't difficult at all. I wanted to appreciate my hard work so instead of using direct deposit, I would take my paycheck to the bank, get in line and deposit it. After I have paid off my loans, I invested heavily in the stock market. Got in at the right time. This year I am going to make close to 300 k..majority of it from the investment I made.

 

[Gnostic.Spirit]

I paid off 150 k in student loans in 3 years. It wasn't difficult at all. I wanted to appreciate my hard work so instead of using direct deposit, I would take my paycheck to the bank, get in line and deposit it. After I have paid off my loans, I invested heavily in the stock market. Got in at the right time. This year I am going to make close to 300 k..majority of it from the investment I made.

Nice man!! That's really awesome for you and the perspective you bring to the table. How long have you been out of school for now? 300k in the stock market?? What stocks are you invested in and what amount have you put in yourself?

 

[Gnostic.Spirit]

Which pharmacy school are you currently attending?

I am at East Tennessee State University in my P4 Year.

 

[BMBiology]

Nice man!! That's really awesome for you and the perspective you bring to the table. How long have you been out of school for now? 300k in the stock market?? What stocks are you invested in and what amount have you put in yourself?

The majority of it is from my investment. Dumb luck really. If you had put money in the stock market from 2009-2014, you were bound to make good money. Stocks were cheap by then. They are not today. Some may even say they are expensive.

I see middle management and my friends work 50, 60, even 70 hours a week. For what? So they can pay 28% federal tax, in addition to medicare, social security and state tax? Of course they need to "reward" themselves since they had worked so hard. So they end up spending on things they don't need which requires them to keep on working more and more.

Be generous to yourself but keep things in perspective and have a plan. Don't trade your health and time for money you don't really need. Keep your mind sharp. Don't be like most pharmacists and forget everything they learned right after they are licensed. Learn how rich people make money and equally important, how they keep most of it instead of giving it to the government.

 

[pezdispenser]

This might be tongue in cheek but its actually not far from the truth. Border towns in Texas does pay higher. Heck, you can probably even live on the Mexican side and work on the US side.

Also, you can save on gym membership, since joining the Mexican swim team is free, they practicing daily in the Rio Grande.

No, I was being serious. I have a friend who did almost exactly what I outlined.

 

[Gnostic.Spirit]

I don't know why some of you guys have to live life to the extreme in order to pay off your student loans.

If you make 120 k a year and take home 75% after taxes, that is 90 k! Surely you can put 50 k toward your loans and live on 40 k. The point that I am trying to tell you is there is more to life than paying off your loans. Life goes on. No one is going to wait for you. Not your friends, not your significant other. Maybe your family will wait for you but that is it. So live a little as well. Once your youth is gone, it is gone forever.

Always look at the bigger picture. Have a plan and you will do just fine.

Another question, my friend. Would you recommend putting any money into stocks or anything or solely work on paying down the debt as fast as you can? Would love to hear more advice from you

 

[BMBiology]

Another question, my friend. Would you recommend putting any money into stocks or anything or solely work on paying down the debt as fast as you can? Would love to hear more advice from you

For a new grad with debt, I recommend putting money in your 401 k up to the company match. Put it in index funds like Vanguard because of their low fees. If you are around 27 or so, I would put 30% international, 35% large caps, 35% small caps.

Put a big chunk of your money toward your student loans. Refinance to a lower rate. Set a goal of paying everything off in 5 years or so if you have less than 200 k. That is about 50 k a year including interest.

Most importantly, keep on looking for a job that you see yourself doing for the next 10 years and not hating it. If you hate your job, it doesn't matter how much money you make. You are going to hate your life.

Plan ahead. It is fine to work a lot but make sure it is going to lead you to somewhere. Some people just work and work but there is no advancement in their career. They are stuck and as they get older, it is harder to work that many hours. They also become a liability as they keep on making more money per hour than a new grad. Easy target when their company needs to make cuts.

If you are still young, pharmacy is a fast way to make a lot of money. But you need to invest that money early so it can grow and grow. You need something else. You want to be the guy who doesn't need a 9-5 job just to put food on the table. That should be every new grad's goal.

 

[farmadiazepine]

This dude has awesome advice ^