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I Paid Off $194k in Student Loans in Six Years. It Wasn’t Easy

benjaminlabaschin.com

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Re: I Paid Off $194k in Student Loans in Six Years. It Wasn’t Easy

#61

Post by runako »

somenameforme wrote: post #50
runako wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bingo. This is the counterpoint to the "college is dead" crowd. OP is now 30 and has a career that will let him save/invest $200k every 6 years (before any future raises).

The "college is dead" crowd generally refer to people pursuing majors with no reasonable impact on their earnings, which is the overwhelming majority of people. Somebody who goes to school and decides to major in sociology because they find the classes fun, isn't going to be repaying their $200k of debt anytime soon.

> pursuing majors with no reasonable impact on their earnings, which is the overwhelming majority of people

The data don't bear this out. Over a career, people with college degrees earn more than those without. Until and unless this changes, people are making the right choice going to college.

Caveats: it does need to be more widely communicated that getting into a college that costs $50k/year is a luxury good that not everyone will be able to afford. And the corollary: we need to resume amply funding our public institutions.

Re: I Paid Off $194k in Student Loans in Six Years. It Wasn’t Easy

#62

Post by jqpabc123 »

throw9away6 wrote: post #10
jqpabc123 wrote: post #6

The cost of higher education has been increasing at 3-4x inflation for decades. It has finally nullified any socio-economic advantage it once held as evidenced by the large number of graduates unable to repay their student loans. The solution --- stop steering your kids toward college. AI is working toward eliminating many of these "careers" in the near future anyway. Instead, orient them toward entrepreneurism. A bu…

Business isn’t so easy. Regulations intended for large corporations are constantly killing small businesses, health care costs will cut your take home by 1/3. If you just factor in taxes and healthcare that’s probably 50-60% right off the top.

Regulations intended for large corporations are constantly killing small businesses ...

If you actually ran a small business, you would understand that small businesses are exempted from many of these regulations.

For example, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 doesn't apply until your business has more than 15 employees. Insider trick --- start multiple small companies to avoid many of these sort of regulations.

health care costs will cut your take home by 1/3.

If this is true, you really aren't very successful. Also, health care costs are a deductible business expense.

Re: I Paid Off $194k in Student Loans in Six Years. It Wasn’t Easy

#63

Post by dabluecaboose »

whywhywhywhy wrote: post #39

Should just be able to send the debt back to the institute if the product they sold you doesn't result in enough income to foot the bill within X years. The current system doesn't encourage the institutes to do anything other than spiral costs, burn money and zero responsibility to provide a product focused on making sure that loan is ever paid back. Say this as someone who managed to pay theirs off, just think "forg…

There's an answer beyond nebulous desires for "accountability":

Stop federal guarantees of loans, and allow loans to be discharged in bankruptcy. Make loans a risk and they won't give $200k to a sociology major with no prospects because they know they won't see a return.

Re: I Paid Off $194k in Student Loans in Six Years. It Wasn’t Easy

#64

Post by paxys »

testbjjl wrote: post #53
zeroCalories wrote: post #38

That's pretty good, congratulations. I don't mean to suggest you did the wrong thing, but I want to share a perspective from one of my friends. She has a similar amount of debt, and is simply choosing to make minimum payments for the rest of her life, maybe even default at some point. She says that spending her money on herself while she is young enough to enjoy it is more important than living frugally for decades t…

> But she has also considered marrying, then being a stay at home mom or working under the table jobs so that she can default without getting her wages garnished. This is not what I would be looking for in a partner. If you brazenly break contracts you willingly entered one day what’s to make anyone believe their contract with you is nonnegotiable.

A contract that you were pressured into as minor without even understanding the full consequences should not weigh you down your entire life.

Re: I Paid Off $194k in Student Loans in Six Years. It Wasn’t Easy

#66

Post by EconoBen »

oh_sigh wrote: post #12

Not the first, or second, or third person I've heard about being duped by a farming gig in Hawaii. People will buy fairly cheap, totally undeveloped forest tracts and lure unsuspecting people in who dream of "Hawaii". But, they usually don't dream of being deep in a forest, with no neighbors, an hour from the nearest part of the ocean, which you can't even swim in, nor even get to since you have no car and no access…

Oh my gosh! I didn't know this was a trend. This is somehow very reassuring to hear, all these years later. Thanks for mentioning this.

Re: I Paid Off $194k in Student Loans in Six Years. It Wasn’t Easy

#67

Post by runako »

whywhywhywhy wrote: post #39

Should just be able to send the debt back to the institute if the product they sold you doesn't result in enough income to foot the bill within X years. The current system doesn't encourage the institutes to do anything other than spiral costs, burn money and zero responsibility to provide a product focused on making sure that loan is ever paid back. Say this as someone who managed to pay theirs off, just think "forg…

> the product they sold you doesn't result in enough income to foot the bill within X years.

Honestly this is the issue. Colleges sell education. People think they are buying a future income stream. I don't blame people, because employers have by and large conflated the two. But this misalignment is at the heart of a lot of the cost discourse.

Re: I Paid Off $194k in Student Loans in Six Years. It Wasn’t Easy

#68

Post by jancsika »

zeroCalories wrote: post #38

That's pretty good, congratulations. I don't mean to suggest you did the wrong thing, but I want to share a perspective from one of my friends. She has a similar amount of debt, and is simply choosing to make minimum payments for the rest of her life, maybe even default at some point. She says that spending her money on herself while she is young enough to enjoy it is more important than living frugally for decades t…

> But she has also considered marrying, then being a stay at home mom or working under the table jobs so that she can default without getting her wages garnished.

The denial of emotional toll here is shocking. She has limited her options to decades of a) un-remunerated childcare or (and?) b) being a tax resister.

To drive this home:

* imagine the difficulty of "changing jobs" in either scenario. Especially if you have an abusive boss.

* imagine four years living with your parents, trading chores for ability to work and pay off debt. That's less of an emotional toll because at least there'd be an end-date.

Re: I Paid Off $194k in Student Loans in Six Years. It Wasn’t Easy

#70

Post by D13Fd »

zeroCalories wrote: post #38

That's pretty good, congratulations. I don't mean to suggest you did the wrong thing, but I want to share a perspective from one of my friends. She has a similar amount of debt, and is simply choosing to make minimum payments for the rest of her life, maybe even default at some point. She says that spending her money on herself while she is young enough to enjoy it is more important than living frugally for decades t…

> marrying, then being a stay at home mom or working under the table jobs so that she can default without getting her wages garnished.

~200k in student debt or other debt? My understanding is that most student debt in the US is non-dischargeable in bankruptcy, so defaulting and destroying your credit doesn't do you that much good.

Also if it's student debt, seems like a bad plan to incur it in the first place if the plan is not to work.

If it's not student debt, then I don't see how it is particularly relevant to the conversation here.

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