I have a question. I have 80k in student loans. I picked the option knowing I will pay 200-300 every month for 30 years. This amount is totally doable given my salary. Why are people so opposed to this type of arrangement this is much better than paying 1-2k every month for a much shorter period.

likefunny
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Because you’d pay much more interest over the entire life of the loan as compared to paying it off over a shorter period.

likesmarthelpful

D12 is right. Student Loan Cancellation will happen in our lifetime. No sense paying anything more than the minimum. I work overseas so my on-time monthly payments are $0. The moment I go back to the US, ~17k/year in loan payments will be factored into my budget. Unless someone give you a sweetheart 1-2% 30yr private loan, not worth paying off.

So I’m the opposite, I put 2K+ a month to my loans and treat it like another rent - my savings don’t go up but I know after it’s paid off I never have to worry about it again and can save the money and go invest

likesmart

Doing the same, about $70k left in loans, pay between $1000-2000 per month. I want the loans gone (especially w interest paused) so I can start saving and not worry about them. I think it’s the smart move to pay them as fast as possible and what financial advisors have told me.

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Dude. You paid so much money for your education and yet, you don’t seem to understand the math of interest rates? :)

likefunny

SM3 is right, IMHO. I am very conservative financially, and I don’t know any sort of guaranteed return in this market above 5%- if I did that’s what I’d invest in. But for now loans are the best bet. Maybe it’s because I didn’t come from a wealthy family, but having debt, including normal debt like a mortgage, student loan and car debt, makes me very stressed. I am working towards a debt free life. I am ok with investing in retirement funds bc that’s a long timeline.

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Credit card companies love OP.

likefunny

You would know Shell 1.

Omg I can’t imagine paying off my student debt in 30 years. That’s like a mortgage haha. But I guess it depends on the person’s situation and preference!

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Lol what the hell are you so mad about? You clearly cared enough to respond.

My all caps was about education needing to be reformed. Do you genuinely disagree with that statement? Because if so, you do live under a rock.

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You’re essentially throwing money away. To each their own but there’s a reason why most people focus on paying off student loans early.

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Time is the true currency in life.

Makes no sense to sacrifice durable goods purchases (home, car, family, investments, business) by delaying them in order to pay off student loans early, especially if your sum cash outlay will be the same over the 20yr and the early payment period.

If you are earning enough to pay it off without impacting your life, sure go ahead. In my case I just built simple excel sheet showing the different scenarios and picked the one that aligned with my financing/life goals.

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I graduated with 100k in debt from undergrad+masters and have chosen the aggressive payment path. My reasoning is now while I’m young I don’t have many expenses, don’t even pay for health insurance yet. I balance 401k contributions as well as an aggressive monthly payment but don’t feel like I’m compromising fun. I guess it’s a personal choice but I can’t wait to just get rid of the loans and be debt free 🤷🏻‍♀️

likesmart

🥴 can’t even imagine the amount on money you’ll waste on interest.

I got out of law school with about 180k of debt (some of that undergrad, some of that interest that had already started). When I looked at it in the long run, I was looking at an astronomical interest payment. I did a ten year option at ~$1,800 a month. Still a ton of interest owed. I then refinanced to a 5 year plan at ~$2,500. Even at that, was still looking at something like $20k in interest. I came across money that would cover my loan and (gasp) made a $130k lump sum payment and kissed my loans goodbye. Never felt better, and saved a TON of money on interest.

I guess I’ve also just never liked holding debt, something about it looming over your head, so this just made sense. If 30 years of payments and a ton of money wasted on interest doesn’t bother you, then you do you.

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What?

Your choice of 30 years vs 10 years will easily cost you a 4 series BMW, or an upgraded model 3 Tesla:

Just threw some stuff in an amort calculator

$80k @5% over 5 years
Pmt $1,509
$10,581 interest paid

$80k @5% over 10 years
Pmt $848
$21,822 interest paid

$80k @5% over 30 years
Pmt $429
$74,604 interest paid

likehelpful

Balance of Cash flow vs balance sheet. If you can find better low risk returns on 5% cost that would be best

I see you are an attorney and not an accountant or financial planner

likefunny

Personally I think this is better as long as you save the leftovers into retirement savings and investments. Spending that much money to have it paid off in 10 rather than 30 years means you are likely skimping on retirement savings pretty badly. Many overlook this, but obviously it’s highly dependent on interest rates as well. Money you save today, all else equal, is worth a lot more than money you save later.

likehelpful

Retirement funds are also tax free though either at the front or back ends

likefunny

Dave Ramsey would not be happy with your plan . . .

likefunnysmart

I'm 43 and I took the 30 year route. I also consolidated all of mine + my first wife's loans into a single loan with Sallie Mae (now Navient). In the divorce I agreed to pay for hers throughout the 30 years. I pay $263 a month at 1.25%. My cash is far more valuable than 1.25% over the course of 30 years.

likefunny

Acc 6- I refinanced my loans from rates between 4-7% public loans over 10 years to private loans with 1.9% interest over a 5 year repayment. The shorter period of course means my minimum payments per month skyrocketed but I’m aiming to pay within 4 years (currently 2-3 years in).

Depends on the terms but have to put cash up, held in an account at minimum value (or incur monthly charges). I just had to put up 3.5k but I think the standard with my bank now is 10-15% of the total value of your loans.

I think it’s the right move. Time value of money. How much will $200 a month be worth in 30 years compared to today? Also, it really depends on what you’re doing with the money you could be using to pay back your loans. If you save for a house and can buy that sooner, that alone will be worth the deferral because in 30 years the price of the property could double. When choosing how to spend money, I always look at the potential return. If you have a high interest rate, pay off the loan. But if you can get a greater return elsewhere (stocks or real estate) you’ll actually be better off in the long run. This is not a conservative approach so many aren’t comfortable with this and they’re not wrong; being out of debt is a good thing. But if you can stomach the risk, invest in appreciable assets because you will win in time. For your loans, look up first Republic bank. They gave me a 3.95% rate on my law school loans over 15 years (150K balance; rate will increase/decrease depending on the length of the loan).

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Same question I had... I could pay back my loans any time I want to, but I haven't because I have $200K of XOM paying 10% and my loans are at 3% interest... Though, if you took out the private stuff... Then yeah, I get making the highest possible payments.

It's all about the opportunity cost

Consider upping that number in the short term, as the government froze interest on loans therefore all payments hit the principal

likesmart

I was on the 30 year plan for my smallest loan - only $10k. 15 years later, I still owe $10k. A few hundred more, actually.

That's the problem with that plan. I focused on larger, higher interest loans, which I paid off in 10 years, but seeing that the $10k is still $10k is scary.

likehelpful

It comes down to what your interest rate is. If your loans are 7-8% it makes sense to pay them off earlier as you’re not going to find many investments with that return.

However, if your loans are 2-3%, it might make sense to not pay these off as you’ll likely find alternative investments that will give you a higher return (or, you might have other debt you would want to pay down that has a higher rate).

In summary, it typically doesn’t makes sense to pay off low rate debt if you can get a better return elsewhere or it would cause you take out / keep higher rate debt in the near term.

I, like you, have a solid chunk of student loans. My rate is low, so I’m in no hurry to pay these off. It’s basic finance.

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Honestly maybe paying slowly over time is a good idea, despite interest. It’s possible the government may move to wipe out all student loan debt in a few years. If they make college free they may wipe out the debt

likefunny

I would not hedge my bets on the government forgiving my loans. They can barely stay in session to get a budget together, let alone work together to forgive loans. And that’s on both sides.

likefunny

If you pay $300 a month over 30 years, that equates to $130,000 for an $80k loan. Meaning you’re paying $50k or 63% of your principle in interest. If you were to pay it off sooner, you’d be paying far less than $50k in interest and can invest some of those funds which will compound like crazy over a few decades.

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Not sure who is arguing for what here but since GT 1 seems to be claiming M4 doesn’t know about compound interest, consider this:
Student loan payments are amortized so the total interest that would’ve compounded over those 30 years on an 80k loan at 5% is already factored into the $300 monthly payment. It’s like a mortgage.
So 300x12x30=108k is the total amount of principal and interest you pay back.

Side note: $300 payments over 30 years on an 80k loan is more like a little over 2% interest

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So I graduated college with 120k in student debt. Yes, they say “it’s good debt.” “Banks don’t look at it the same as other debt.” That’s a bunch of BS. They look at it as debt they look at it in terms of debt to income ratio. And the way you’re setting up now skews your debt to income ratio away from your favor. It will keep you from buying a house. It will keep you from getting good rates on cars/appliances/credit cards. You’ll be categorized as high risk. It certainly happened to me. It kept me from buying a house in 2008 when they were wayyyy cheaper. And it will prevent you from getting prime rates on everything else.

It’s ok to accept the low payment is to keep you cash flow positive. It’s what you should do. You’ve already taken the loan so take a payment that allows you breathing room in your budget. Especially with today’s economic climate.

Here’s how you get ahead.

DO NOT CONSOLIDATE.

Keep your 9,10,11loans as individual loans.

Pick the lowest one. And attack it with whatever extra money you have at the end of the month. Sooner than you think it will be gone. Then move to the next and so on. You’ll be rolling those payments into each next principal.

When you finally get a place where you have 2-3 left consolidate those. Actually typing this I realize how low rates are now. So you may want to refi the big loans into one bigger loan with a lower interest rate and keep the little loans individual. Like your federal loans. If you can get approved.

I did things this way I have 30k left 9 years later.

Good luck. Keep your finances healthy. It will keep you healthy.

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This is how I handled my loans back in the day. I paid along through the year and then at bonus time I’d look at them and pay off any I could
Or whack at them in order of amount, lowest to highest. I paid the final one at 30. It felt good. I had about 45 total with grad school. Not a ton by today’s standards, but wit starting salaries in my field at like $25k at the time, it was a slog.
Then I married and I did let one of husband’s ride a bit as it was 2% interest. Paid that last year, after fully funding my kids 529. The 529 took precedence bc compounding is everything in a 529. Put it in early, let it grow.

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