web analytics

JerseySmarts.com

Another “Grand” Bites The Dust…

Posted on by

Yesterday, my latest check to the United States Department of Education was cashed by the government. This brings the total of my student loan debt below $99,000 to $98,993; when my next check to the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority hits I’ll be at the $98,700 or so mark. As you can see, another “grand” of my student loan debt bites the dust.

To some degree I have to consider this progress. Yet, when I look at that number it is still staggering. Even if I liquidated some assets and made a large payment to NJHESAA I’d still owe multiple thousands of dollars. Due to the new public service forgiveness program, I don’t plan on overpaying my USDOE student loan payments to any great degree (I think I send in an additional $50 each month).

But it’s that private loan from NJHESAA that keeps me up at night sometimes. I have to get that thing paid down or paid off completely. Right now it sits at a little bit more than $43,000. That’s a big nut to crack in a short period of time, but I’m going to make it one of my financial priorities to completely pay that thing off sooner rather than later.

Some of you may know that I plan out my budget on a yearly basis and then adjust my weekly and monthly budgets on an almost daily basis to figure out where my funds can be best utilized throughout the year in order to meet my financial goals. In the coming year, I’m going to really zero in on that NJHESAA loan and find a way to make a major dent in it.

Anyway, I’m in the $98,000 range now and my student loan debt continues to slowly, but surely, get lower.

Repeat: Take Action for Real Student Loan Forgiveness

Posted on by

You may remember that in June I posted an entry talking about real student loan forgiveness. In that entry, I asked that you contact your Representative in the House to demand that a ridiculous clause in the public loan forgiveness program be fixed. Here is more information from the folks at IBRinfo:

In addition to lowering monthly student loan payments, IBR forgives any remaining debt — including interest — after 25 years of payments. Most borrowers will pay off their debt before then, but under current law, if there’s anything left after 25 years, the amount forgiven would be taxed as income to the borrower.

A bipartisan bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, H.R.2492, would prevent debt forgiven through IBR from being taxed as income. Loan forgiveness is supposed to wipe the slate clean for responsible borrowers, not create a new financial obligation.

Many of you have already taken action, helping to persuade over 20 Members of Congress to sign on in support of the bill. We need your help to bring more on board! If you haven’t already, please take a moment to urge your representative to support H.R. 2492.

If you are interested in taking action (and I really hope that you DO choose to take action), you can click over to the IBR website and use their pre-formatted web page to send a message to your Representative. Please do so and help fix a bogus loophole in this Bill!

Another Major Milestone With My Student Loans

Posted on by

You’ll remember that just a few weeks ago I wrote about my student loan balances were finally at $100,000. Well, I’ve hit the next big milestone in my student loan repayment – combined, my student loans are now less than $100,000. After three years of payments, I’ve finally broken $100,000.

Sure, it’s not the most exciting thing in the world to celebrate – especially considering I still have about $99,984 left to repay – but it’s still an achievement. Plus, I’m pretty proud at my ability to mix frugality into my daily life. There are some people who run up huge student loan bills (or credit card bills or any other type of consumer debt) and they push them off, refuse to deal with them, or make the minimum payments. I choose to do the opposite.

Repaying some $22,000 over the course of three years is pretty impressive for a guy right out of graduate school. It’s all about sticking to a budget, being able to say “no” to unnecessary expenses, and embracing a realistic lifestyle. So there’s the big news – my student loans are now less than $100,000 combined. 🙂

Finding Some Success in the Stock Market

Posted on by

While institutional investors are going bonkers over Wall Street and its constant switching between bull and bear markets, I’ve done pretty well so far. In fact, on Monday I hit a milestone with my investments – I reached over a 100% gain. For those of you who are not mathematically inclined, that means that (for example), I invested $10 into a company and now that investment is worth $20. And I think I’ve put together a decent strategy for this success.
[Read more…]

Student Loan Forgiveness Advocates Need to Do Better…

Posted on by

Some of you might remember two few weeks ago when I posted an entry talking about the major positive effects of canceling all student loan debt. Obviously, with $100,000+ in student loan debt, I would be in favor of such a move by the government! However, I understand that this is my debt which I freely assumed and I have every intention of paying it back, yada, yada, yada.

The purpose of this post, though, is to report back to you all on something I saw when I went over to the petition site earlier today to read some of the brief stories that the signers are posting. I read the blurb below and my jaw hit the floor.

Mr. Obama: I first would like to command you on job well done for past 2 months into your presidency. Most importantly, I would like to urge you to seriously look into this important issue that contributed to greater debt of our nation. Please, consider a relief package for student loan debtors. This will forgive student loan debt and therefore, will enable us to invest in our future and save the economy in the long run.

Seriously? You would like to “command” the President “on job well done for past 2 months into your presidency?” Really? Is that what you want to do? You want the President to seriously look into canceling student loan debt “that contributed to greater debt of our nation?” Yeah?

Are you serious?

If I was President of the United States and a letter like this mess came in (which, by the way, was written in support of an idea!), I’d first laugh out loud and then I’d personally write back to this individual and suggest they engage a lawyer to press charges against their alma mater! How can anyone on the planet take such a disgrace of a letter seriously?

Look, I love the passion that people have regarding student loan cancellation and I agree wholeheartedly with the economic principles behind the concept, but if you can’t write a decent paragraph in favor of the idea, then don’t write anything at all! Sometimes it is okay to shut up!

All I know is that if the student loan cancellation crowd wants to gain any traction, they need to do better than the blurb posted above.