Student loans.....

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somedumbDO

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Just paid them off in full. 7 yrs post grad including fellowship. Glad I did anesthesia and not FP or I would die with them. Opening up some xo cognac I deserve it!
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Damn... Does anyone else wish their parents spent the money towards state school tuition instead of buying my an admission to USC?!?!!?

#LoriLoughlin
 
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Nice. It’s a great feeling. I paid off about 300k in just over 3 years after my anesthesia residency. My last 60k was at 2.4% interest and I contemplated just paying minimums, but I couldn’t stand thinking about them anymore.

My celebratory drink was a 21 year old Glengoyne bottled by Cadenhead that I bought in Scotland.
 
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400-500k loans are easy to pay back WITHOUT KIDS and wives. 5-7 years easy

200-300k loans are easy to pay back without Kids. 5-7 years
 
somedumbDO said:
Just paid them off in full. 7 yrs post grad including fellowship. Glad I did anesthesia and not FP or I would die with them. Opening up some xo cognac I deserve it!
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Hell yeah! Right on brother! The only debt I have is a low rate mortgage on my primary home. It’s a great feeling.
Congrats on making the hard choices and setting yourself up for early retirement, passive income streams, financial security, etc.
Now that you’ve made it, drop the cognac and make the leap to single malt. You’re worth it! ;)
 
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anbuitachi said:
depends on where you live and how much you make
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I lived in top 5 expensive housing plus top 5 population area not even making 300k and was single and saved $$$. Cause I was single and no kids.

Anyone who doesn’t have kids who can’t save roughly $40-50k a year is simply mis managing their money.

Let’s see 300k. After taxes 200k.

High end downtown apartment $3000-4000/month. That’s $36-48k in housing. Personal spending $10k a month. That’s a whole lot of personal spending. Guys trips/going out. Etc.

That’s $120k a year plus $40-50k in high end housing for single person.

I’m taking extreme end of spending here as single person.
 
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aneftp said:
I lived in top 5 expensive housing plus top 5 population area not even making 300k and was single and saved $$$. Cause I was single and no kids.

Anyone who doesn’t have kids who can’t save roughly $40-50k a year is simply mis managing their money.

Let’s see 300k. After taxes 200k.

High end downtown apartment $3000-4000/month. That’s $36-48k in housing. Personal spending $10k a month. That’s a whole lot of personal spending. Guys trips/going out. Etc.

That’s $120k a year plus $40-50k in high end housing for single person.

I’m taking extreme end of spending here as single person.
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I generally agree with you however being a doc you have sacrificed your retirement monies while going to school/residency. So when I started maxing out ira/hsa/profit sharing 401k x2 for me and the wife that’s saving 70k first before even think of touching any loans every year. Add a modest house in high COL area it can put a strain. All my k1 bonus money I have never seen goes straight to loans.... just 400k left on a house and I’ll NEVER EVER be in debt again.
 
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aneftp said:
I lived in top 5 expensive housing plus top 5 population area not even making 300k and was single and saved $$$. Cause I was single and no kids.

Anyone who doesn’t have kids who can’t save roughly $40-50k a year is simply mis managing their money.

Let’s see 300k. After taxes 200k.

High end downtown apartment $3000-4000/month. That’s $36-48k in housing. Personal spending $10k a month. That’s a whole lot of personal spending. Guys trips/going out. Etc.

That’s $120k a year plus $40-50k in high end housing for single person.

I’m taking extreme end of spending here as single person.
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oh thats pretty similar to my situation

300k - 19k in 401k = 281 -> take home pay 170k for single filer. housing, cheap apartment ~3k = 134k left to spend on loans, food, vacation, car, bills/utilities. i guess paying off 200k in 7 years shouldn't be a problem
 
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Congrats. I'm at 133k from 156k these past two years. Trying to get them <100k before graduating residency. Then paid off within 3 years of graduation.
 
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MirrorTodd said:
Congrats. I'm at 133k from 156k these past two years. Trying to get them <100k before graduating residency. Then paid off within 3 years of graduation.
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Mind me asking what your budget looks like as a resident? I’m impressed with your chipping away at your debt.
 
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SpartanGuy said:
Mind me asking what your budget looks like as a resident? I’m impressed with your chipping away at your debt.
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Oh I'm military with prior service so my pay is a lot better than my "civilian counterparts." Basically, I'm paying 2k/month for loans, 2k/month for house, with food and cell phone/internet all that jazz mixed it.
 
I've been filling up our tax advantaged retirement savings (401k profit sharing for wife and I, cash balance plan for me, backdoor Roth for each of us, maxing HSA which we invest, 529 up to tax deduction limit) preferentially over putting that extra money to student loans (rates are 1.9% and 2.6% on our loans after refinancing with First Republic). Psychologically, I'd love to have them paid off, but we are building our net worth faster this way. Not sure if it is right or wrong.
 
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MirrorTodd said:
Oh I'm military with prior service so my pay is a lot better than my "civilian counterparts." Basically, I'm paying 2k/month for loans, 2k/month for house, with food and cell phone/internet all that jazz mixed it.
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Why do you have any loans?
 
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okayplayer said:
I've been filling up our tax advantaged retirement savings (401k profit sharing for wife and I, cash balance plan for me, backdoor Roth for each of us, maxing HSA which we invest, 529 up to tax deduction limit) preferentially over putting that extra money to student loans (rates are 1.9% and 2.6% on our loans after refinancing with First Republic). Psychologically, I'd love to have them paid off, but we are building our net worth faster this way. Not sure if it is right or wrong.
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I think you’re doing things the right way. I’ll be refi’ing with FRB later this year.
 
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SpartanGuy said:
Mind me asking what your budget looks like as a resident? I’m impressed with your chipping away at your debt.
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still last year resident, but paid off about 80k in loans in residency so far... but i basically have minimal savings and no retirement account for most of residency. opened an retirement account a couple months ago..

Make 75-80k a year including moonlighting, take home about 50k after tax, 30k after rent and utilities. ~20+k after food. i dont take vacations. dump it all in loans.

biggest mistake ive made was not refinancing to first republic . i didn't know about it. tried Sofi but the rates were about the same 6% or so, so didn't bother. did not realize FR bank offers <3% interest on loans.



also im a big fan of instant noodles, mcdonalds, burger king.. fast food in general

i think the key is vacations. they are very expensive and will set you back thousands of dollars. but hey if you have to take vacations then that wont change i guess
 
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anbuitachi said:
still last year resident, but paid off about 80k in loans in residency so far... but i basically have minimal savings and no retirement account for most of residency. opened an retirement account a couple months ago..

Make 75-80k a year including moonlighting, take home about 50k after tax, 30k after rent and utilities. ~20+k after food. i dont take vacations. dump it all in loans.

biggest mistake ive made was not refinancing to first republic . i didn't know about it. tried Sofi but the rates were about the same 6% or so, so didn't bother. did not realize FR bank offers <3% interest on loans.



also im a big fan of instant noodles, mcdonalds, burger king.. fast food in general

i think the key is vacations. they are very expensive and will set you back thousands of dollars. but hey if you have to take vacations then that wont change i guess
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When do you recommend an incoming resident refinance?
 
okayplayer said:
I've been filling up our tax advantaged retirement savings (401k profit sharing for wife and I, cash balance plan for me, backdoor Roth for each of us, maxing HSA which we invest, 529 up to tax deduction limit) preferentially over putting that extra money to student loans (rates are 1.9% and 2.6% on our loans after refinancing with First Republic). Psychologically, I'd love to have them paid off, but we are building our net worth faster this way. Not sure if it is right or wrong.
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That’s what I’d do if I were in your shoes and could fill up that much tax advantaged space.
 
Why are First Republic’s rates so low? Do they have special requirements?
 
going to live with my parents for intern year, 210k debt. should i aggressively pay off during that year or just save?
 
I looked at First Republic because they were offering rates around 1.8% and there was some promotion where they refund some of the interest if you pay off in under 4 years. The only requirement is you have to open a checking account and keep $3,000 in it (I think). They offer low rates because you have to have excellent credit and they are looking to attract high earner customers who may use them for other services. Definitely a good option and much better rates than what I was quoted from SoFi. I was applying for a mortgage at the time, so I didn’t want any hard credit checks and just decided to power through the loans instead.

The math probably makes more sense to pay minimums and invest the extra money instead if you have rates <2.5%, but the psychological aspect of being student debt free is worth it. My plan was to max out tax advantaged accounts and then pour the rest into my loans. I’m glad I did it that way...it gave me an excuse to drink some Scotch.
 
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ERRES2288 said:
Why are First Republic’s rates so low? Do they have special requirements?
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Minimum in their checking account $3500. Not much, but that’s at least $3500 of your money is tied up for the duration of the loan. They shave off anther .25% (?0.5%) if you have 10% of your loans in the account. You do the math, I couldn’t keep that much liquid money in the account and earn checking account interest. The rest is just like others have posted: Direct deposits, need to have a physical bank near where you live, 2% rebate if you pay off in less than 4 years....

Oh and if you f up during the term of the loan, miss a payment or don’t have the money to pay up for whatever discount, all the “special discount” goes away.

I liked their cookies, hated their “relationship” manager at the branch. After everything was set up, part of my paycheck direct deposit into the account, so I don’t have to deal with them, unless my payroll f up, which had happened.
 
GravelRider said:
I looked at First Republic because they were offering rates around 1.8% and there was some promotion where they refund some of the interest if you pay off in under 4 years. The only requirement is you have to open a checking account and keep $3,000 in it (I think). They offer low rates because you have to have excellent credit and they are looking to attract high earner customers who may use them for other services. Definitely a good option and much better rates than what I was quoted from SoFi. I was applying for a mortgage at the time, so I didn’t want any hard credit checks and just decided to power through the loans instead.

The math probably makes more sense to pay minimums and invest the extra money instead if you have rates <2.5%, but the psychological aspect of being student debt free is worth it. My plan was to max out tax advantaged accounts and then pour the rest into my loans. I’m glad I did it that way...it gave me an excuse to drink some Scotch.
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Which are basically unheard of nowadays. It's so sad, straight up highway robbery.
 
Problem with First Republic is you have to be within a half hour distance or something to NYC, even if you are. NJ resident and more than that distance, no dice...
 
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2Fast2Des said:
Problem with First Republic is you have to be within a half hour distance or something to NYC, even if you are. NJ resident and more than that distance, no dice...
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Well, I’m about 3000 miles from NYC, so that part isn’t exactly right. I think you mean 30 mins from one of their branches - of which there aren’t too many.
 
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aneftp said:
400-500k loans are easy to pay back WITHOUT KIDS and wives. 5-7 years easy

200-300k loans are easy to pay back without Kids. 5-7 years
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If your loans are this high then you need to serve in the military and even then it may not be enough to pay them off


Edit: I guess I take this back. I depends on what interest rates are currently. But for those who aren't living in a cave and eating noodles/McDonalds during the best years of their lives just think of loans in these amounts as having a 2 mortgages when you finish residency. I highly recommend you work in a low COL area (hell, i recommend that anyway)
 
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I currently have my loans under SoFi for 4% fixed interest (7 year term), and I could realistically pay it off in about 5 years. I tried seeing what rates I would currently get if I were to refinance again through SoFi, and they offer a 2.4% variable 5 year term (which has a 8.95% cap if interest rates go up). Would it be better to stick with the 4% fixed or go with the 2.4% variable? I'm leaning towards keeping my current plan..
 
Twiggidy said:
If your loans are this high then you need to serve in the military and even then it may not be enough to pay them off
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I dunno man, let’s not get too dramatic. If you have 500k at 6% that’s about an 860k total payback amount (20 year term). So either give the military 4 years of your life, or work 3 extra years at your 400k/year PP gig before retiring. Not too far from a wash depending on your personal perspective.

Also keep in mind that $3500/mo, while certainly inconvenient, isn’t gonna put you in the bread lines when your take home is north of 20k/mo.
 
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txhorn said:
I currently have my loans under SoFi for 4% fixed interest (7 year term), and I could realistically pay it off in about 5 years. I tried seeing what rates I would currently get if I were to refinance again through SoFi, and they offer a 2.4% variable 5 year term (which has a 8.95% cap if interest rates go up). Would it be better to stick with the 4% fixed or go with the 2.4% variable? I'm leaning towards keeping my current plan..
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Depends how much and how frequently the interest rate can increase. If it's limited to only increasing once a year with a Max increase of 1% at a time, then it could very well be worth it!
 
SpartanGuy said:
When do you recommend an incoming resident refinance?
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first republic bank is a bit picky. you have to live in one of the areas with their branches, which is only in a few locations, but luckily, those locations are also heavily populated so maybe you are in one of them. If you are id recommend trying them out as soon as possible, see what they are willing to offer you in terms of rates, and make an decision of whether to refinance or not based on your decision.

Also theres the repaye program like people mentioned about that halves your interest payments essentially. For some reason i guess my med school didn't really offer much guidance in terms of loan repayment, ive never even heard of repaye program until like 4 years into residency. awful. lot of money wasted
 
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abolt18 said:
Depends how much and how frequently the interest rate can increase. If it's limited to only increasing once a year with a Max increase of 1% at a time, then it could very well be worth it!
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It sounds like it can increase monthly :/
 
Txhorn I refinanced through Sofi and have a variable rate loan over 5 years. I think mine started at like 2.75%, it has gone up most months but only 0.05% per month. I figure even if it continues to do this, it'll take a couple years to get to the fixed rate they quoted me earlier. If I get above that I'll just refinance again, though I'm paying the loans pretty aggressively just to be done with it.
 
SaltyDog said:
Well, I’m about 3000 miles from NYC, so that part isn’t exactly right. I think you mean 30 mins from one of their branches - of which there aren’t too many.
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Yeah that's what I meant lol. I'm assuming you were near the branch when you refinanced?
 
2Fast2Des said:
Yeah that's what I meant lol. I'm assuming you were near the branch when you refinanced?
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I haven’t refi’d yet. Going to later this year. I do live within 30 mins of a branch though and already have my personal accounts with them.
 
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