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5 Lessons I Learned From Paying Off Student Loan Debt

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Do you have student loan debt? If so, you are not alone. According to ValuePenguin, the average debt among student loan borrowers in the United States is over $32,000. Ouch.

When I graduated college, I was near that average with $30,000 in student loan debt. And then, I got married and joined my finances with my husband. Combined, we had over $70,000 of student loan debt. We paid this off in 5 years as recent college grads. And while I can look back and rather have not spent over $70,000 in paying off debt, I’m eternally grateful for our student loans. Here are the biggest lessons I learned from paying off student loan debt.



 

1) My Financial Situation Doesn’t Define Me

Student loan debt is just a number. I learned my financial situation doesn’t define me.

I can have debt and still say yes to things. I can say no to other things. Debt isn’t good or bad….it just is. Money is important, but it certainly isn’t everything. Now that I’m debt-free, my life isn’t drastically different.

When I was in debt, I spent a lot of time making it mean something about me. I thought it meant that I was irresponsible, and that I didn’t deserve to spend money. I beat myself up over even buying something off the dollar menu at a fast-food restaurant.

Looking back, I wish I cut myself some more slack. We had a solid plan to pay off our student loan debt early. I wish I trusted in my plan a little more, and allowed myself to live a little. After all, isn’t that what life is all about?  There are resources out there if you need help with your student loan debt.

 

2) My Student Loan Debt Was Not a Mistake

Again, student loan debt isn’t good or bad. It just is. It certainly wasn’t a mistake.

I spent a lot of time regretting my student loan debt. How could I have let myself borrow so much? Why didn’t I work more throughout college, or go to a community college first in order to avoid taking out so much in loans?

As I did more mind work, I realized my student loan debt certainly wasn’t a mistake. It provided me with so many opportunities. Without it, I wouldn’t have launched my career, met my now-husband, or be the person I am today. My student loan debt launched my personal finance journey, and has given me so many opportunities. Sure, it was not the easiest lesson to learn, but I’m so grateful I did!

 

3) Making More Money is Fun than Being Cheap

When I first graduated, I had a bare-bones budget. It was all I could do to scrape together enough to pay the minimum required payment to my student loan debt each month!

Frugality works, but it requires a lot of work and can only get you so far. I found myself living with roommates, couponing, eating rice and beans, and even going on a shopping ban for three years!

Then, I started freelance writing and earning extra money on the side. At first, I started writing simply because it gave me a creative outlet after my day-job. Although at first, I was only earning a few hundred extra bucks a month, it was enough to pay my minimum student loan payment. I could then free up a little bit of my budget. I allowed myself to spend a little on my day-to-day spending to be less frugal, but then I put the rest towards my debt, making nearly double the minimum payment at first.

Once I started freelancing, the opportunities really began to take off in both my day job and side gig. I job-hopped and worked hard in order to quadruple my income at work. I also started charging more for my freelancing services, and found more clients. During busy months, I started bringing in an extra $5,000 in freelancing cash!

Most of this went to our student loan debt. While extreme frugality maybe could have worked, it was so much more fun to spend my time growing my freelance business than it was clipping coupons. Plus, now that my debt is paid off, I still get to enjoy the extra income and put it towards our savings goals!

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4) I Love Being In-Tune With My Money

When paying off my student loan debt, I checked in with my money daily. And guess what? I still do this.

I actually love checking my bank and investment accounts. It’s so fun. No matter what financial goal I’m working on, I love being in-tune with my money.

Learning to love my money has been a game changer. And when my mindset shifted, I started thinking of my debt repayment journey as a game. It was so liberating to see just how far I would get in meeting my debt repayment goals!

 

5) I’m Grateful for My Debt

After graduation, I resented my debt. I was so mad at everything. How could I let myself get into debt? Why did my parents let me take out so many loans? Why does public schooling still cost so much? Why don’t we get more financial support?

Once I stopped blaming other people for my debt and owned it, it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I was able to push aside all of the negative thoughts I had about debt and about myself, and truly learned to love the journey.

While I wasn’t grateful for my debt at first, I learned to love it, even when I was still paying off my loans. And looking back, I see how many opportunities my debt provided me. It allowed me to take leaps into higher paying roles at work. It motivated me to start my freelance writing business. It gave me the means to attend University. It takes a lot of work to become truly appreciative of debt, but once you start the journey, your life will change for the better.

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Things I Learned About Money From My Grandparents

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Things I Learned About Money from my Grandparents
There are many people that look upon their grandparents as secondary parental figures. Growing up, I was one of those kids who spent a ton of time with their grandparents (and still do when we can make time).

The majority of my grandparents were born in the 30s and early 40s, two of them vividly remember the end of WWII. Their viewpoints on things were often radically different than my mother and father and they also viewed money very differently than my parents did.

My parents oftentimes viewed money as an endless resource while my grandparents were constantly planning ahead for the future (something that happens as you get older, my mother would say). It is true that as many people get older they also get tighter where their money is concerned. It is because they know how long it takes to save and hard it can be. My grandparents spoke with my sister and I about money, saving and financial planning often. Through these talks, I learned some extremely valuable information.

  1. Always have your own bank account. Even if you get married, you should have some separate funds. If the entirety of your money and credit is tied up in a joint account, it can cause some issues if you and your partner split. My grandmother went from living a fairly privileged and easy life to having little-to-no credit when she got a divorce. If she’d been building her own finances up, the financial process of the divorce may have been a bit easier (yes, Nana, every time you spoke to me about saving and credit I was listening).
  2. Plan ahead. Planning has always been one of my favorite things to do and that was instilled in me by my grandparents. When it comes to your finances, you have to plan ahead for just about everything. Plan ahead for vacation. Have a savings account for unexpected emergencies. Plan ahead for retirement. You have money, make plans with it.
  3. Investing can be fun. My grandfather pointed my attention to the stock market at a young age. He had a diversified portfolio with some focus on companies like Apple and Disney. He taught me at a young age to research companies, see what their plans are and trust my gut when making an investment.
  4. Tax planning is important. Until my grandfather passed away, he did the family’s taxes and he did my taxes when I began to work as well. One year that we went to visit, he taught me how to file my taxes and plan my my finances based on withholdings, etc. Without planning, you may find yourself owing the IRS a significant amount of money or paying too much into taxes.
  5. Own things. If there is anything my grandparents taught me it is that it is important to own things. My grandmother worked hard to own her home and my grandfather always bought his car outright. They each grew up in families that lived in apartments and never owned much of anything growing up, so owning anything was a pretty big deal. Each of them worked hard to maintain what they had and they were proud of that.
  6. Teaching young people about money is important. Although my grandparents may have never noticed I was taking these life lessons away from them, I learned a lot of important lessons about money at a young age. I learned that opening a savings account at the credit union at the age of eight would be one of the smartest things I did with $25 (it took me almost six months to save $25 at $1 a week allowance). When I have the chance, I will teach my children the value of saving like they taught me.
  7. How your family approaches money can affect your entire life. By taking notes from my grandparents, my entire financial life has differed. How has your family impacted the way you think about finances? Is there anything you’d like to pass along to your children? Are there any habits you’d like to get rid of/keep?

Photo: Flickr: Laurence Simon