300 K in debt after graduation, how to pay off aggressively?

[Judgment Dragon]

What pharmacy school did you attend?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[mentos]

Rice and beans. Beans and rice. Scorched earth. Don't want to see you inside of a restaurant unless you're working in it. If you make $130K and live off $30K, the other $100K going to student loans, you'll be done in 3 years. - What Dave Ramsey would say if you called him today

You're welcome.

Except you only take home around $91k after taxes. But still, it should be doable in 6 years with no spouse or kids.

 

[mentos]

I paid off 168k in 2 years and 4 months. You can too!
1. Set your student loans on a 10 years mark
2. Use you first paycheck of the month to pay for your monthly payments
3. Save your second pay check
4. Every 3-4 months, put all of your saving into the loan that accrued the most interest rate.

My husband made 35k a year and we were living off of just that. We drove old cars with no payments. We cooked most of our meals and packed lunch.

Make friend with your scheduler. I picked up a lot of extra shifts to use towards vacation, but anything extra did go towards student loans.

Good luck!

Congrats to your husband for marrying up!

 

[samven582]

live off rice and beans

 

[ElevenphoenixPharm.D.]

Why would anyone pay 300k for pharmacy school? Good god..

 

[Momus]

Why would anyone pay 300k for pharmacy school? Good god..

Don't judge. 200k tuition and 30k/yr "living expenses!". I need $1500/mo apt. Who can live without UE/DD, manipedi, organic food and twice daily dose of Starbucks?

I'll be rich after I don a white coat anyway.

 

[pharmacystudent1011]

Rice and beans. Beans and rice. Scorched earth. Don't want to see you inside of a restaurant unless you're working in it. If you make $130K and live off $30K, the other $100K going to student loans, you'll be done in 3 years. - What Dave Ramsey would say if you called him today

You're welcome.

You forgot taxes, health insurance, 401k, roth IRA, ESPP. At the end you don’t have much left toward that student loans.

 

[Pharmacy is a Scam]

Why would anyone pay 300k for pharmacy school? Good god..

Because they are passionate about the profession and want to "help people." Not all of us went into this profession for the money, you know.

 

[Farmgurl20]

Why would anyone pay 300k for pharmacy school? Good god..

It included my undergrad and pharmacy school together.

 

[smilePRN]

For those of you that aggressively paid off your loans, how much did you keep in your personal accounts as 'emergency funds'?

 

[mentos]

For those of you that aggressively paid off your loans, how much did you keep in your personal accounts as 'emergency funds'?

$15k. I still keep that amount now.

 

[Momus]

For those of you that aggressively paid off your loans, how much did you keep in your personal accounts as 'emergency funds'?

6 mo at least, at the current condition up it to 1 yr. Jobs are scarce. This could be your last pharmacist job.

 

[nonizondi]

For those of you that aggressively paid off your loans, how much did you keep in your personal accounts as 'emergency funds'?

One year worth of rent/ mortgage plus utilities. But with that amount of debt I will suggest that you do PAYE or REPAYE. The government needs to be blamed as well for allowing schools to hike up tuition.

 

[mentos]

You forgot taxes, health insurance, 401k, roth IRA, ESPP. At the end you don’t have much left toward that student loans.

If you have 300k debt then your priority is to get out of debt. Contribute to 401k up to the company match for the free money then put the rest towards paying off the debt. There's no point in putting money into 401k after the match or Roth IRA if you're paying 6.8% interest on student loans. You'll never be able to retire until the debt is gone. ESPP is high risk and should be the last thing you do.

 

[Wickett]

Did you live with your parents? This would be possible only if you spend no money on car, housing and going out lol

I paid 169k in 32 months. I had a car payment, rent, did 401k to company match and still went out, but nothing crazy and no elaborate vacations. It is definitely doable. I just acted like I made $15/hr and dumped the rest into my loans.

 

[researchpharma]

I got floater position and seems like hours are not guaranteed so will wait around to refinance until I am confident about working situations.

Since you’re staying on federal loans for the time being, my tip is to pay your loans manually. You probably have 10 or so different loan types bundled together. $50,000 here at 6.5%, another $30,000 there at 5%, etc. You can focus on selectively paying off the ones that accrue the highest interest. And this doesn’t just mean pay the loan with the highest interest rate, but calculate which of those suckers is yielding the most interest. For example if you have a $10,000 loan at 8% vs a $100,000 loan at 5%, which one should you slam your payments down towards? It’s going to be the $100,000 at 5% because while the first loan will accrue $800 in interest/year, the second loan is growing at $5000 in interest/year. As you pay off your loans, these numbers will change, so with each month, or with each paycheck you want to slam down your loans, calculate the highest/fastest grower and target that one. Good luck!