Paying off student loan during residency

[jpro]

Has anyone paid off >100k of student loans during residency? I was thinking about attempting this by throwing everything I can earn moonlighting into paying off student loans. I personally have ~130k between my wife and myself. Her loans will have to be repaid sooner (non-medical). She is a stay at home mom btw. That does not mean that she won't get a job in a year or two though. I think it would be awesome to be absolutely debt free after residency.

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[Doctor Bagel]

Hopefully someone who has been there can chime in and share their experiences. My one thought as as person who has paid some student debt off early is to be sure and assess whether paying off the debt is the most fiscally sound decision. Certainly living cheaply and putting the money toward debt repayment is better than spending it on frivolities, but sometimes putting money into savings (especially tax preferred savings like retirement) is a better move than paying off the debt. So be sure to look on the interest on the debt and the interest you can expect to earn from investments and factor it into your plan.

Another thing to note since you're probably concerned about providing for your family is that federal loans are discharged upon your death or permanent disability. However, money that you've saved is still there for your family.

 

[CorpusERdoc]

Has anyone paid off >100k of student loans during residency? I was thinking about attempting this by throwing everything I can earn moonlighting into paying off student loans. I personally have ~130k between my wife and myself. Her loans will have to be repaid sooner (non-medical). She is a stay at home mom btw. That does not mean that she won't get a job in a year or two though. I think it would be awesome to be absolutely debt free after residency.

It wouldn't make any sense to pay off the lower interest loans. You may have a car or mortgage that has a higher interest rate. It also doesn't make any sense to pay off the loans that can wait until later. If your wife's loans need to paid off---take care of them first. Also, take care of the higher interest loans first. If you have any loans where you don't pay interest (i.e. Perkins), there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to pay these off while they are in deferment.