Is paying $4,000/month in student loans good enough?

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Is that why you were single most of your life?

Single due to my own choosing. I'm very picky. I have had 3 ladies wanting to marry me.

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Update: my plan just got thrown off course big time. Recently got a girlfriend and i'm beginning to realize being in a relationship cost a lot of money. Besides from going out to eat and driving to see her, i'm planning to book a trip to France to propose to her. Then wedding will cost a ton. It's pick your poison: being single, lonely and don't spend money to payoff loans quicker or be in relationship, get married and only able to pay about $3,000/month.

Advice that you are more than welcome to accept or reject.

Go to France and propose. I proposed to my wife in Madrid, in the Plaza Mayor, it was beautiful and lovely.

Weddings don't have to cost a ton. Elope. Spend a couple grand. Book a $1000/nite suite with $200 bottles of Krug and have a night to remember. Do not spend $30,000 on a reception with chicken cordon bleu and beef roast and people you don't even like.

An amazing week in France and an eloped wedding doesn't have to cost more than $5000. It's your choice if you are going to waste the rest on a diamond and buffet reception.

My wife wears a custom pink sapphire engagement/wedding ring and we married in Las Vegas. I wouldn't change a thing.

I still have student debt. 8.5 years after graduation. Almost done. But I'm glad we didn't have $30,000 of wedding debt. The ring, wedding, honeymoon, all paid in cash.
 
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Update: my plan just got thrown off course big time. Recently got a girlfriend and i'm beginning to realize being in a relationship cost a lot of money. Besides from going out to eat and driving to see her, i'm planning to book a trip to France to propose to her. Then wedding will cost a ton. It's pick your poison: being single, lonely and don't spend money to payoff loans quicker or be in relationship, get married and only able to pay about $3,000/month.

Pre-Pharmers.... this is what we call life expenses that one can never easily budget for.

If not a “rushing” proposal followed by divorce with no prenup arrangement: it’s a broken vehicle, getting terminated, getting that best deal on a 20** hybrid model or cruise ship you just gotta have...

You MUST take care of you and your Emergencies....hence, go to cheapest educational route as possible and stop with the idea of prestige.
 
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Update: my plan just got thrown off course big time. Recently got a girlfriend and i'm beginning to realize being in a relationship cost a lot of money. Besides from going out to eat and driving to see her, i'm planning to book a trip to France to propose to her. Then wedding will cost a ton. It's pick your poison: being single, lonely and don't spend money to payoff loans quicker or be in relationship, get married and only able to pay about $3,000/month.

So a month ago you didn't have a GF....now you do.... and you're already planning the proposal and wedding? Rofl.

Good luck man... I don't see that ending well.
 
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So a month ago you didn't have a GF....now you do.... and you're already planning the proposal and wedding? Rofl.

Good luck man... I don't see that ending well.

Why should he wait? He's got game after all.
 
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I hope this "hot chick" has a personality and you guys actually have things in common outside going out and spending money on pointless things.

Life changes as you get older and that's a divorce waiting to happen if not.
 
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I hope this "hot chick" has a personality and you guys actually have things in common outside going out and spending money on pointless things.

Life changes as you get older and that's a divorce waiting to happen if not.

Let’s be optimistic here. She felt in love with him without even knowing what he does for a living. She thought he was some minimum wage earning retail clerk, not some hot shoot pharmacist!


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Let’s be optimistic here. She felt in love with him without even knowing what he does for a living. She thought he was some minimum wage earning retail clerk, not some hot shoot pharmacist!


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Can one really fall in love in just a month?
 
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Let’s be optimistic here. She felt in love with him without even knowing what he does for a living. She thought he was some minimum wage earning retail clerk, not some hot shoot pharmacist!
I mean if you are spending $1k/mo on dates, and gf went to OP house. Any girl worth their salt knows what's up... doesn't have to be a genius...
 
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First of all, she discussed with me about wanting to be my wife. Second, I am really good looking. I've had multiple girls tell me I look better than most guys. Third, she drives a fancier car and own a business.

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The main takeaway are: I regret not attacking my student loans with full force when I graduated 6 years ago. I bought 2 new cars and a house. I started focusing on my loans last year and created a budget to maximize the payment. I asked my self last year what could possibly happen to detour my plan? Well, life happens.

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The main takeaway are: I regret not attacking my student loans with full force when I graduated 6 years ago. I bought 2 new cars and a house. I started focusing on my loans last year and created a budget to maximize the payment. I asked my self last year what could possibly happen to detour my plan? Well, life happens.

This is what I mean by about taking care of your student loans early. Materialistic things mean jack if you don't have a peace of mind.
 
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So he's pretty and spends money on her? Who wouldn't fall in love with that?
 
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Single due to my own choosing. I'm very picky. I have had 3 ladies wanting to marry me.
I hope you drive with your windows up in your 2 cars or the wimmin will be launching themselves into your car like Asian carp into a boat.
 
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The main takeaway are: I regret not attacking my student loans with full force when I graduated 6 years ago. I bought 2 new cars and a house. I started focusing on my loans last year and created a budget to maximize the payment. I asked my self last year what could possibly happen to detour my plan? Well, life happens.

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Life happens but 4 / 5ths of the time you can steer the direction of your debt by excluding “needs” for a short duration of time and build an emergency savings.

Buying 2 new cars and a house on top of 200k+ of high interest loan debt is steering your debt direction on the wrong side of life.

But congrats, your net worth is less than that of a newborn child (At least you admit it though without underlying excuses to some extent).
 
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Do what you feel is right, not what people on a forum tell you to do.

I would never work hard for 3 straight years just to try and pay off my loans quickly. You can NEVER buy back your youth.

This is hilarious! If you didn't want to spend your youth paying down your bills then why did you sign up for them in the first place? I am so sick and tired of people making excuses for their bad choices! Good god I feel like I'm in crazyville
 
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If this thread and the replies are a representation of pharmacy as it stands today... YIKES!
 
How on earth this has 9 likes is beyond my pay grade. Pay your damn bills! Stop acting like a child!

Didn't you know, people want everything for free and clearly have no idea how we would pay for it.
 
Pre-Pharmers.... this is what we call life expenses that one can never easily budget for.

If not a “rushing” proposal followed by divorce with no prenup arrangement: it’s a broken vehicle, getting terminated, getting that best deal on a 20** hybrid model or cruise ship you just gotta have...

You MUST take care of you and your Emergencies....hence, go to cheapest educational route as possible and stop with the idea of prestige.

I am all for building emergency savings and investing for retirement while you pay off your student loans at a reasonable and responsible pace.
I don't know about this idea of prestige. Where you go to school is starting to matter in some states. I've seen postings for Minnesota and Wisconsin hospitals stating that they will take a University of Minnesota PharmD graduate without a residency. Anyone from any other school must have a residency. It's not the general rule yet.
There are a lot of pharmacists in this forum who can't reason their way through a Voltaren gel package insert. True story. So maybe it does matter where you get your education?
 
This is hilarious! If you didn't want to spend your youth paying down your bills then why did you sign up for them in the first place? I am so sick and tired of people making excuses for their bad choices! Good god I feel like I'm in crazyville

You're sick and tired of people making excuses for their bad choices? LoL, by not paying down my loans I saved up money to open up several businesses and now I'm slowly getting out of the pharmacy role and getting into the retail sector and real estate. By real estate that means buying commercial properties and not being a "realtor." Could the housing market crash? Of course.

Putting myself into a retail pharmacist's shoes like yourself, I can see the limitations of NOT paying down loans asap given your guys' job market, job insecurity and inability to become indispensable. It is indeed a "safe" way to live early on by attempting to pay off your loans. How many of you individuals who have spent the maximum allowable figure (yeah I just made up a term, MAF) each month into your loans have built other sources of equity? 401k, IRA and other related brokerage accounts are hardly that. I've also positioned myself with vendors and clients so if my businesses somehow all went south simultaneously, I could network a new job outside or inside pharmacy through them.

Many of my colleagues at managed care positions, teaching hospitals and closed door pharmacies know that they can be replaced at a moment's notice, despite having done PGY1/Y2s, advanced training, etc. Also, you never know when a department you're at may get their funding cut. Non profit, teaching, for-profit hospitals and other 340b systems are so competitive, it's crazy. However crazy this might sound, this is the workforce now. Embrace it.

So you're entitled to your own opinion but I wouldn't be so quick as to belittle those who didn't pay down their loans asap or tell them to stop acting like children.
 
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You're sick and tired of people making excuses for their bad choices? LoL, by not paying down my loans I saved up money to open up several businesses and now I'm slowly getting out of the pharmacy role and getting into the retail sector and real estate. By real estate that means buying commercial properties and not being a "realtor." Could the housing market crash? Of course.

Putting myself into a retail pharmacist's shoes like yourself, I can see the limitations of NOT paying down loans asap given your guys' job market, job insecurity and inability to become indispensable. It is indeed a "safe" way to live early on by attempting to pay off your loans. How many of you individuals who have spent the maximum allowable figure (yeah I just made up a term, MAF) each month into your loans have built other sources of equity? 401k, IRA and other related brokerage accounts are hardly that. I've also positioned myself with vendors and clients so if my businesses somehow all went south simultaneously, I could network a new job outside or inside pharmacy through them.

Many of my colleagues at managed care positions, teaching hospitals and closed door pharmacies know that they can be replaced at a moment's notice, despite having done PGY1/Y2s, advanced training, etc. Also, you never know when a department you're at may get their funding cut. Non profit, teaching, for-profit hospitals and other 340b systems are so competitive, it's crazy. However crazy this might sound, this is the workforce now. Embrace it.

So you're entitled to your own opinion but I wouldn't be so quick as to belittle those who didn't pay down their loans asap or tell them to stop acting like children.

I think you brought up an important point. It's never a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket. By paying off loans ASAP -especially those folks with very high student loan debt, you are putting all your eggs in one basket. It's important to build equity in other areas. Opening a business - even if it is a failing business - will grant you tax deductions and will lower your taxable income. It makes sense to do so.
 
I think you brought up an important point. It's never a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket. By paying off loans ASAP -especially those folks with very high student loan debt, you are putting all your eggs in one basket. It's important to build equity in other areas. Opening a business - even if it is a failing business - will grant you tax deductions and will lower your taxable income. It makes sense to do so.

Only a fool would start a business when he is already up to his neck in debt.


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Only a fool would start a business when he is already up to his neck in debt.


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I've determined it's impossible to get through to these millennials. They want 200k in student loans, 300k in house mortgage, and now another what 300k to start a business? Plus they don't think they should ever have to pay any of it off and just let the government pay for it or just declare bankruptcy.
 
I am all for building emergency savings and investing for retirement while you pay off your student loans at a reasonable and responsible pace.
I don't know about this idea of prestige. Where you go to school is starting to matter in some states. I've seen postings for Minnesota and Wisconsin hospitals stating that they will take a University of Minnesota PharmD graduate without a residency. Anyone from any other school must have a residency. It's not the general rule yet.
There are a lot of pharmacists in this forum who can't reason their way through a Voltaren gel package insert. True story. So maybe it does matter where you get your education?

The idea of attending a top school in order to waive a residency is very very small compared to the job outlook of all 50 states (jobs that still take on a PGY1 even though you went to school across the street at a top 10 or 20). Sacrificing an extra 100k+ of high interest loans for a name brand doesn’t work for a pharmD and is only a small outlier for a low percentage of jobs.

Once I graduate with years working with the VA computer system in the pharmacy, I’m still expected to do a PGY1 at most openings online despite the school I attend. Which explains why many pharmD grads “can’t reason their way through a Voltaren Gel package insert.” It has nothing to do with academia as much as many students never stepping foot in a pharmacy before school, not doing any (or very little) hours as an intern, and only experiencing the factualities of a pharmacists when APPE rotations take place.

Apply to wallet saving institutions and NETWORK will be the saving grace for the go-getter-students in this profession....Although, I notice more Betas graduating than go-getters but to each their own.
 
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The idea of attending a top school in order to waive a residency is very very small compared to the job outlook of all 50 states (jobs that still take on a PGY1 even though you went to school across the street at a top 10 or 20). Sacrificing an extra 100k+ of high interest loans for a name brand doesn’t work for a pharmD and is only a small outlier for a low percentage of jobs.

Once I graduate with years working with the VA computer system in the pharmacy, I’m still expected to do a PGY1 at most openings online despite the school I attend. Which explains why many pharmD grads “can’t reason their way through a Voltaren Gel package insert.” It has nothing to do with academia as much as many students never stepping foot in a pharmacy before school, not doing any (or very little) hours as an intern, and only experiencing the factualities of a pharmacists when APPE rotations take place.

Apply to wallet saving institutions and NETWORK will be the saving grace for the go-getter-students in this profession....Although, I notice more Betas graduating than go-getters but to each their own.

You built your response on words I did not say. However, if that is what you understood, LOL. WOW.
 
I've determined it's impossible to get through to these millennials. They want 200k in student loans, 300k in house mortgage, and now another what 300k to start a business? Plus they don't think they should ever have to pay any of it off and just let the government pay for it or just declare bankruptcy.

It is not just millennials but very few people have good business sense.

Most people don’t understand the power of debt. It is great on the way up but it would destroy you on the way down.


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Where you go to school is starting to matter in some states.

Excluding outliers : Not its not.

I've seen postings for Minnesota and Wisconsin hospitals stating that they will take a University of Minnesota PharmD graduate without a residency. Anyone from any other school must have a residency. It's not the general rule yet.

For every posting you claim that will take a student based on the school he/she attended, I can post 15+ job openings that are the opposite. Thus, its not the general rule nor will it ever be. See my explanation in the previous remarks I made.

There are a lot of pharmacists in this forum who can't reason their way through a Voltaren gel package insert. True story. So maybe it does matter where you get your education?

Or, maybe it doesn't matter.... Once again, refer to my explanation concerning your literal story log of pharmacists that cant "reason" and why I feel it is not correlated with academia.

Im all for disagreements but go ahead. Please explain where I mistakenly built my response on words you did not say. My reasoning by the way is not just based on residency, but ALL jobs pertaining to pharmacy. So, if Im wrong in your statement, clarify why higher student debt may actually be worth "prestige" I was referring too.
 
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Let that ignore list grow, Apotheker2015.

Ive genuinely given you detail for detail of my input. If my assessment is so wrong that you LOL then bring your facts to the table. Or, ignore every person with a different opinion...You do you.
 
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Opening a business - even if it is a failing business - will grant you tax deductions and will lower your taxable income. It makes sense to do so.

That is if you even have any income to begin with. Your income as a pharmacist could disappear at any moment or be cut drastically with the way the job market is going.
 
So back on topic...

OP if you set a standard to pay off your loans quicker rather than later with at least minimal effort to match any 401k and building 4-6 months of emergency savings (even in an aggressive mutual fund that can have the principle liquidated) you cannot go wrong.

If life expectancies happen (ie marriage) id arguably consider diving into a portion of my emergency savings in hopes to establish zero debt earlier in my life rather than later.

If anything at least find a balance in “wants” and “needs” but don’t push back student debt if you can help it.
 
Not the person you asked, but I am because the OP initially seemed reasonable with a sincere question and suddenly it’s a soap opera.

You think asking if 4K per month is enough to pay student loans every month is a sincere and reasonable question?


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OP just created this thread to brag lol
 
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If your rate is 4.5% you are probably better off keeping the loan and just investing the money instead if paying it off early. You will get a higher return in the market.
 
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