School loans

[gambler2075]

I finally bit the bullet and made a payment for 100,000$ to my friend Sallie (as in, Mae) to pay off some of my med school loans. I was debating for a long time whether I really had to do this, but since my loans were 4% and 5% I decided it would be best to just bite the bullet and make that payment. It is a good feeling.

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[littleroc02us]

It may seem painful now, but when you have paid off all of your debt, you have freed up more income and you will sleep better at night.

[disneysteve]

Good job. Although the rates were fairly low, getting a guaranteed 5% return in today's market isn't such a bad idea. And now there is no risk of you putting that money into some investment that loses money.

I paid off my student loans a few years ago and it is great not having that weight on my shoulders any more. It has made it possible for me to give more, invest more and spend more that we could when the debt was active.

[gambler2075]

Good job. Although the rates were fairly low, getting a guaranteed 5% return in today's market isn't such a bad idea. And now there is no risk of you putting that money into some investment that loses money.

I paid off my student loans a few years ago and it is great not having that weight on my shoulders any more. It has made it possible for me to give more, invest more and spend more that we could when the debt was active.

Thanks. Honestly, after reading "Black Swan" by Taleb I realized that absolutely nothing is guaranteed, and even if you have an excellent track record, a disaster could come out of nowhere and destroy you. So as hard as it was to take that money out, I had to do it.

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[gambler2075]

Thanks. Honestly, after reading "Black Swan" by Taleb I realized that absolutely nothing is guaranteed, and even if you have an excellent track record, a disaster could come out of nowhere and destroy you. So as hard as it was to take that money out, I had to do it.

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Bit the bullet again and made a 53,000$ payment to SallieMae towards my med school loans. Now down to 50,000$ left from my expensive med school loans (started at 220K$+). There is nothing guaranteed in the stock market and I wanted remove the chance that I would lose that money back. Of course it is painful to take away capital that could potentially be used to make more money with, but, with stocks and my trading style, past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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[Frugal]

Congratulations. I too have student loan debt to pay off. Must be a good feeling to have most of it GONE! Whew! Think of all the money you can put towards other things now, and actually save for things you would like to have...

[Hector]

Congratulations!

[gambler2075]

Thanks, guys. It does make me feel good that I could take some of that money out of ETrade fantasy-land, as my brother calls it (lol) and use it to something that the stock market can never take away from me.

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[clintdavis]

Well done Gambler!

[gambler2075]

Thanks, guys... now let's see if I can stick with the courage of my contrarian stock convictions and hold my fundamental plays until they make me some money...

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[facebookdigg123]

dang 220k+ med school loans. not looking forward to that, assuming i can get into med school

[gambler2075]

dang 220k+ med school loans. not looking forward to that, assuming i can get into med school

You know, if every time I got smashed at a frat party in college (instead of studying), someone would have said "3 years from now, this beer will be why you are going to have to go to an expensive private med school instead of a much cheaper state school... do you really want to drink this 500$ beer?" then I might have studied a bit more, and I wouldn't have 220K$ worth of loans to start with.

Oh well. Water under the bridge now.

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[khosta]

That is awesome!!!! Good for you!!! It will all pay off in the end!! The sooner the better!!!

[prosperity1]

student loans can be overwhelming over time

[gambler2075]

Paid off another 25K$ of my loans, now down to 25K$. Hoping to pay off the rest this year.

I looked at a couple of homes in SoCal and wow, have home prices gone up since I grew up there... Looking at 700K$ for the 4BR/2.5Ba/2600SF, new homes that I was looking at.

I've never bought a house before so all the terms were completely foreign to me. Looking at putting 300K$ down, max, which would apparently put the monthly payment at 3.5K$ for a 30year fixed at ~4.something percent.

Ugh, I need to read Home Mortgages for dummies or something

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