What should I do with my gap year money

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artist27

artist27

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I'm in a gap year and work full time and make about $1800 a month. I have $30,000 in undergrad loans and the minimum payment is around $300 a month. I am beginning medical school the coming year and will be living at home so I thankfully do not have to worry about bills/housing/food costs.
Should I:
a) pay more than the minimum for my undergrad loans until July to pay as much off as possible before med school
b) continue paying the minimum and save the money for expenses I might need in med school (gas money, leisure activities, etc) I don't need much to get by, but was going to take out a bit extra money in med school loans anyways for miscellaneous things, so that I'm not asking my parents for spending and gas money while in med school.

Im not sure if this made any sense, but any insight is appreciated
 
How much do you think you could realistically pay off before school starts? May be worth to pay off a little more than the minimum but focus more on saving for an emergency fund. That's what I'm trying to do for the next 7 months, though I have bills to pay so it won't add up to much.
 
Use some of the money to take a fun trip (or 2) to somewhere that you have always wanted to go.
 
Dantes said:
How much do you think you could realistically pay off before school starts? May be worth to pay off a little more than the minimum but focus more on saving for an emergency fund. That's what I'm trying to do for the next 7 months, though I have bills to pay so it won't add up to much.
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Probably around $6000 if I'm being optimistic. I do hope to take a trip which a small portion of the money.
 
Just remember, undergrad loans usually have way less interests rates than grad loans. Personally, i am saving the money I wouldve put towards undergrad loans so I can take out less grad loans.
 
Borrow less for med school. Grad loans have a higher interest rate.

Are some of those undergrad loans subsidized??? If so, certainly do not pay those off.
 
bioboy23 said:
*litecoin 😉
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PashaOdesit said:
it should be like that:

Don't pay off your debt. Instead you should waste it all in bitcoin
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My friend and I invested in LTC together Jan 2017. She pulled out at the all time high and paid off all her student debt. Just saying 😉

For me, I do think investing in general is a viable way to pay off med school debt and make passive income beyond that. The best and the happiest physicians are the ones who have the luxury to treat medicine as a hobby. Not a waste of money at all, putting your $ in the bank is a waste of money. But as always, invest smartly. The stock market is the transfer of wealth from the impatient to the patient
 
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Pay off the current debts. Your current debt is accruing interest. The smart thing to do would be to pay it down now and if you need more loans in the future, take those loans out in the future. Otherwise, your money is going to be sitting in the bank making almost no interest whereas your loans will continue accruing interest. Pay down your loans now and take more out in the future if you need it.
 
fourandtwo said:
My friend and I invested in LTC together Jan 2017. She pulled out at the all time high and paid off all her student debt. Just saying 😉

For me, I do think investing in general is a viable way to pay off med school debt and make passive income beyond that. The best and the happiest physicians are the ones who have the luxury to treat medicine as a hobby. Not a waste of money at all, putting your $ in the bank is a waste of money. But as always, invest smartly. The stock market is the transfer of wealth from the impatient to the patient
Click to expand...
it is like 15K now. You got to invest a lot to make some profit even if it doubles.

It was the best when it was lot less.
 
PashaOdesit said:
it is like 15K now. You got to invest a lot to make some profit even if it doubles.

It was the best when it was lot less.
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You're confusing BTC with LTC. LTC is only at 2 to 3 hundred right now.
 
fourandtwo said:
My friend and I invested in LTC together Jan 2017. She pulled out at the all time high and paid off all her student debt. Just saying 😉

For me, I do think investing in general is a viable way to pay off med school debt and make passive income beyond that. The best and the happiest physicians are the ones who have the luxury to treat medicine as a hobby. Not a waste of money at all, putting your $ in the bank is a waste of money. But as always, invest smartly. The stock market is the transfer of wealth from the impatient to the patient
Click to expand...
so, she made a buck, what about you?
 
aldol16 said:
Pay off the current debts. Your current debt is accruing interest. The smart thing to do would be to pay it down now and if you need more loans in the future, take those loans out in the future. Otherwise, your money is going to be sitting in the bank making almost no interest whereas your loans will continue accruing interest. Pay down your loans now and take more out in the future if you need it.
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Will my undergrad loans accrue interest while in med school if they are subsidized? I have paid off all my unsubsidized loans.
 
artist27 said:
Will my undergrad loans accrue interest while in med school if they are subsidized? I have paid off all my unsubsidized loans.
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You're going to have to check with whether they accrue interest. It's been a long time since I was in undergrad. But if you have no loans that are accruing interest during school, then you should definitely save the money for expenses during medical school. This is because there is no such thing as federal subsidized loans for graduate school and all federal loans you take out will start accruing interest at disbursement. If your school has a lot of money, they might offer you subsidized packages themselves, but this is school-dependent. So if your undergrad loans are not accruing interest, the smart thing to do would be to keep the money and apply it towards med school expenses because any federal loans you take out at that point will start accruing interest immediately.
 
fourandtwo said:
If you must know, more than 7 figures in profit.
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😱😱😱

(if you ever feel like you have too much money to know what to do with know that I'm here for you... edit: my future med school bills will be here for you😛 )
 
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if the loans don't accrue interest while you are in med school, don't pay them off yet. Either save the money or invest it imo
 
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