Student loan payments: get advice and actual numbers here Forum

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Re: Student loan payments: get advice and actual numbers here

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Dec 24, 2018 11:55 am

Debt: 96k (a few years out of T2)
Income: about the same as debt with bonus
Payment: $930/month, 10-11 years to go

Big fan of Earnest - refinanced for the second time this past summer

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Re: Student loan payments: get advice and actual numbers here

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Dec 24, 2018 10:49 pm

Wild Card wrote:Debt: $210,000 (T6, after a $50,000 scholarship)
Payments: $2,300 per month
Income: $190,000 (NYC biglaw)
Plan: 10-year
Important info: My parents cannot help me pay any of my loans because they're in a very bad state right now. I have no savings. I'd like to clerk as soon as I can and make my way to bigfed further down the line. How aggressively should I be paying off my loans? I'm in M&A, so I don't think they'll lay me off in less than 2 years, but I'm still living in constant fear of getting shitcanned before I can make good progress on my payments. I was thinking of paying $4,000, $5,000, or even $6,000 per month. The prospect of oweing $280,000 if I stay on the 10-year plan makes me sick. I'd deeply appreciate advice.
I'm in my stub year, but if I were you I'd be doing 3500 a month to loans for now, and focus on saving aggressively until you get 50-75k in a stock portfolio or something similar. It may be lower than what you wrote (you indicated 4-6k per month to loans) but 3500 a month comes out to 42k a year in loans you are knocking out, which is huge.

$3500 will also allow you to have cash around in the event your parents need help.

Just my thoughts.

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by Stevoman » Thu Dec 27, 2018 1:56 pm

Stevoman wrote:Some of these numbers in here are both scary and leave me bewildered. How is it that many of you are bringing in biglaw pay and have barely made a dent in your loans? Isn't the whole point of biglaw to kill yourself short-term so you can make serious progress on the loans?

I'm graduating in May and have a biglaw job lined up. I've crafted a budget and, based on my loan amortization table, will have my loans ($80k) paid off by May 2017. Am I missing something and being completely unrealistic here?

Anyways, my question here: I have a mix of private (6.8%) and Federal (mostly 5.4%, one 7.9%) loans. I am thinking of refinancing the private loans with Sofi and killing those first, then dumping everything into the Federal loans. My thought is that, while one of the Federal loans is a higher interest rate, I want to keep as many Federal as I can for the repayment options, if needed. Do you think the cost of the interest is worth that, or should I just refinance them all if I think I can pay them off in <2 years?
Checking in 3.5 years after I posted this.

Finally paid off my student loans. Took me about 1.5 years longer than I thought it would, as some of you predicted. In that time frame: I got married, we bought a house, we took a break from my loans to pay down some high-interest loans of hers', and we dealt with some medical issues. I ended up skipping the refinance since I was on such an aggressive repayment timetable.

A few take-aways from this: (1) Buckling down and using your big salary to aggressively pay off your loans is possible. (2) Lifestyle creep is very common on this board/in this profession. The biglaw lawyers here moaning about not making a dent in their loans really are just spending too much. (3) But, as usual, the truth is somewhere in the middle of the two extremes. Life happens, and your plan gets disrupted, but you have to stick with it as best you can, and you have to be thankful for what you have. Could I have buckled down even more and paid off my loans in less than 3.5 years? Probably. Am I thankful I was able to pay off my loans in 3.5 years? Absolutely.

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Re: Student loan payments: get advice and actual numbers here

Post by nevans2366 » Thu Jan 03, 2019 6:56 pm

Anonymous User wrote:2018 Grad
Federal Student Loans: 220K
Salary: 75K
Probably consolidating and going on IBR or another program . . . not sure what else to do. No other debt.
-----------------------------------------------------
Hi! Did you go into a public interest job?

Lurker123

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by Lurker123 » Thu Jan 03, 2019 10:04 pm

Stevoman wrote:
Stevoman wrote:Some of these numbers in here are both scary and leave me bewildered. How is it that many of you are bringing in biglaw pay and have barely made a dent in your loans? Isn't the whole point of biglaw to kill yourself short-term so you can make serious progress on the loans?

I'm graduating in May and have a biglaw job lined up. I've crafted a budget and, based on my loan amortization table, will have my loans ($80k) paid off by May 2017. Am I missing something and being completely unrealistic here?

Anyways, my question here: I have a mix of private (6.8%) and Federal (mostly 5.4%, one 7.9%) loans. I am thinking of refinancing the private loans with Sofi and killing those first, then dumping everything into the Federal loans. My thought is that, while one of the Federal loans is a higher interest rate, I want to keep as many Federal as I can for the repayment options, if needed. Do you think the cost of the interest is worth that, or should I just refinance them all if I think I can pay them off in <2 years?
Checking in 3.5 years after I posted this.

Finally paid off my student loans. Took me about 1.5 years longer than I thought it would, as some of you predicted. In that time frame: I got married, we bought a house, we took a break from my loans to pay down some high-interest loans of hers', and we dealt with some medical issues. I ended up skipping the refinance since I was on such an aggressive repayment timetable.

A few take-aways from this: (1) Buckling down and using your big salary to aggressively pay off your loans is possible. (2) Lifestyle creep is very common on this board/in this profession. The biglaw lawyers here moaning about not making a dent in their loans really are just spending too much. (3) But, as usual, the truth is somewhere in the middle of the two extremes. Life happens, and your plan gets disrupted, but you have to stick with it as best you can, and you have to be thankful for what you have. Could I have buckled down even more and paid off my loans in less than 3.5 years? Probably. Am I thankful I was able to pay off my loans in 3.5 years? Absolutely.
Congrats. This type of post is inspiring to see.

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Re: Student loan payments: get advice and actual numbers here

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jan 07, 2019 12:59 am

After a lot of number crunching my fiancé, scheduled to be married in two months, decided to still have the ceremony, but forego legal marriage because of the REPAYE marriage penalty. I have loans ineligible for PAYE, so if we get married it’s either our joint income on REPAYE, or my married filing separately on IBR.

We’re both really bummed about the situation, but neither of us are willing to pay an additional $3,000/yr extra on my loans. We’ll be putting off getting legally married until PSLF wipes me clean.

abl

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Re: Student loan payments: get advice and actual numbers here

Post by abl » Mon Jan 07, 2019 4:24 am

Anonymous User wrote:After a lot of number crunching my fiancé, scheduled to be married in two months, decided to still have the ceremony, but forego legal marriage because of the REPAYE marriage penalty. I have loans ineligible for PAYE, so if we get married it’s either our joint income on REPAYE, or my married filing separately on IBR.

We’re both really bummed about the situation, but neither of us are willing to pay an additional $3,000/yr extra on my loans. We’ll be putting off getting legally married until PSLF wipes me clean.
Is that $3,000/year net of the (likely) tax advantages of filing married filing jointly?
Last edited by QContinuum on Sun Feb 03, 2019 6:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Outed for anon abuse.

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Re: Student loan payments: get advice and actual numbers here

Post by beepz » Wed Jan 09, 2019 9:35 pm

Sorry if this is a totally stupid question.

I'm planning on refinancing. Are you required to make the minimum payment if you've paid well above it for some time? Say I put 4.5k a month towards loans and the minimum is 2.5k. I lose my big law job a year later and for whatever reason don't have the money for my next payment. Does the amount previously paid above the minimum mean I could pay nothing the month after I lose the job, or is the requirement essentially reset each month?

I also read an article that said that Common Bond is now allowing 3Ls to refinance in the spring once all loans have been disbursed. No payments required until 6 months after graduation. I'll be at ~140k at YHS. No family help in general but could probably borrow up to 10k in an emergency. If I'm confident in my job security for the next year, is there any compelling reason not to refinance now instead of waiting?

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Re: Student loan payments: get advice and actual numbers here

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Jan 10, 2019 10:49 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:After a lot of number crunching my fiancé, scheduled to be married in two months, decided to still have the ceremony, but forego legal marriage because of the REPAYE marriage penalty. I have loans ineligible for PAYE, so if we get married it’s either our joint income on REPAYE, or my married filing separately on IBR.

We’re both really bummed about the situation, but neither of us are willing to pay an additional $3,000/yr extra on my loans. We’ll be putting off getting legally married until PSLF wipes me clean.
Is that $3,000/year net of the (likely) tax advantages of filing married filing jointly?
It’s $3000/yr if we file separately. If we file jointly, the PAYE would be based off $200k joint income, vs my solo $120k income. We’d pay even more. I’ve got $230k in debt. Fiancé has none.

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Re: Student loan payments: get advice and actual numbers here

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Jan 11, 2019 12:01 am

beepz wrote:Sorry if this is a totally stupid question.

I'm planning on refinancing. Are you required to make the minimum payment if you've paid well above it for some time? Say I put 4.5k a month towards loans and the minimum is 2.5k. I lose my big law job a year later and for whatever reason don't have the money for my next payment. Does the amount previously paid above the minimum mean I could pay nothing the month after I lose the job, or is the requirement essentially reset each month?

I also read an article that said that Common Bond is now allowing 3Ls to refinance in the spring once all loans have been disbursed. No payments required until 6 months after graduation. I'll be at ~140k at YHS. No family help in general but could probably borrow up to 10k in an emergency. If I'm confident in my job security for the next year, is there any compelling reason not to refinance now instead of waiting?
If you think you'll stay in a firm and not go to government, refinancing is a good idea, though you lose certain protections.

If you pay more than your required monthly payment, you do not get a cushion for later defaults. You are required to make the monthly payment no matter what. If you pay more than that, great, but it's not going to affect next month's payment. At least that's how mine are.

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Re: Student loan payments: get advice and actual numbers here

Post by QContinuum » Fri Jan 11, 2019 1:24 pm

Anonymous User wrote:After a lot of number crunching my fiancé, scheduled to be married in two months, decided to still have the ceremony, but forego legal marriage because of the REPAYE marriage penalty. I have loans ineligible for PAYE, so if we get married it’s either our joint income on REPAYE, or my married filing separately on IBR.

We’re both really bummed about the situation, but neither of us are willing to pay an additional $3,000/yr extra on my loans. We’ll be putting off getting legally married until PSLF wipes me clean.
I agree that postponing legally getting married makes financial sense. But do get legal docs drawn up by a family law practitioner - otherwise, cohabitants (which is all you'll be in the eyes of state law) have basically zero legal rights vis-à-vis each other. I'm pretty sure that's not the situation you want to be in, especially after the ceremony when you (and all of your family/friends) will effectively consider yourself married. (And of course, don't forget to keep those docs updated, especially when you go through major life changes like buying a house or having kids.)

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Re: Student loan payments: get advice and actual numbers here

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jan 14, 2019 6:02 pm

Class of 2017, working in a 100 attorney firm in New Jersey (I did a state clerkship for the past year, started law firm after clerkship)
Went to Villanova
Debt: 37k (started at 45k).
Income: 85k
Interest Rate: 3.94% over 5 years. I refinanced 4 months ago for aggressive repayment, so my min payment is $850/month but will be increasing to $1500.
Rent is $1000/month. Everything is very doable with a second, high-income earner (highly recommended).

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Re: Student loan payments: get advice and actual numbers here

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jan 21, 2019 12:36 pm

Class: 2018 JD
Debt: 98K
Income: 80K
Interest: 5 ~ 7% (Different based on group)
Plan: 10 Year plan

I have been paying the minimum payments each month while also paying off the 7% groups first as aggressively as I can. Should I continue this way, or refinance and minimize monthly payments while maximizing monthly savings?

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Re: Student loan payments: get advice and actual numbers here

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jan 21, 2019 1:02 pm

2017 Grad
NYC Biglaw (market)
$320,000 debt
$60-70k in savings

Currently on PAYE, and have been trying to save as much as possible for the first couple years. I can't see myself sticking it out in biglaw much longer. Thoughts on whether it's better to Refi or just ride it out on PAYE for 20 years?

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Re: Student loan payments: get advice and actual numbers here

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jan 21, 2019 4:34 pm

2014 graduate here - started off with $265,000 in loans between undergrad and law school (40k undergrad; 225k law school). Did a clerkship immediately after graduation and have been working BL since. I currently owe $74,000 (ref'd rate is 4.25%), with assets worth ~$140,000. (cash: ~25k; investments: ~53k in 401k; ~60k in brokerage account, all in SPY). Here is where I am hoping to get some feedback from the TLS brain trust... I am considering selling ~1/2 of the SPY in my brokerage acc't in the next month and immediately throwing it at the loans. Any thoughts? I'm inclined to stay the course... and keep averaging down if shit hits the fan. FYI, I'm single, so a 50% loss wouldn't hurt me as much as others.

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Re: Student loan payments: get advice and actual numbers here

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Jan 22, 2019 2:26 am

Considering some repayment options for my 190k debt. I'm seeing that instead of paying ~2200 once a month from 10 years, I can do an extended plan for about ~1200 a month. I was thinking of doing that, and taking the extra $1,000 (2200-1200) and putting that towards my high interest loans.

Why don't more people do that? Is there a catch I'm missing?

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Re: Student loan payments: get advice and actual numbers here

Post by boredtodeath » Thu Jan 24, 2019 3:40 pm

Anonymous User wrote:2017 Grad
NYC Biglaw (market)
$320,000 debt
$60-70k in savings

Currently on PAYE, and have been trying to save as much as possible for the first couple years. I can't see myself sticking it out in biglaw much longer. Thoughts on whether it's better to Refi or just ride it out on PAYE for 20 years?
I'm a 2016 grad who had the same debt load and job. I would stick with PAYE until you leave biglaw and decide what you really want to do with your life. The amount your debt will grow while on PAYE is not as significant as the life options you foreclose by refi'ing. Also, you can mitigate the loan growth by taking all the money you would have spent on the loan in a refi and saving it instead. I refi'd after my stub year and somewhat regret it.

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Re: Student loan payments: get advice and actual numbers here

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Jan 27, 2019 4:17 pm

Hi everyone, hoping to get some advice about potentially refinancing my loans with my parents. Currently a 2L, my loan balance is at about 90k (~25k undergrad - mostly subsidized - ~3-6%) (~65k law school - unsubsidized - 6-8%) all federal loans. Expect to take out around 25k for next year (same interest rates).

Right now, I am a little up in the air in regards to future career outcomes. I have focused pretty heavily on a government trajectory while in law school. Will be doing DOJ SLIP this summer, and hoping I can turn that into a funnel offer or enter the DOJ through the honors program after I graduate. Grades/school are pretty good so also will be applying to clerkships for post-grad and if I get one, then the Honors program afterwards. If I end up not getting a position with the DOJ, or a similar agency, I would probably try and work for a firm. Academically, I think I'd be fine, but it may be a little difficult because my resume would be very government-oriented.

Recently, my parents offered to loan me 25k at 1% interest, to either pay off past loans or not take out loans next year. I have a good relationship with my parents so there is no real awkwardness of taking a loan out of this size, and I don't expect to have a real problem paying it off long-term. However, I don't know if it makes sense from a financial perspective.

Since I am trying to pursue a public sector job, I would lose a lot of the benefits of having federal loans (IBR, PSLF, etc.). I don't know if I'd stick around in government for the full 10 years to be eligible for PSLF or if forgiveness even makes sense given my loan balance. I have an okay understanding of how income-based repayment plans work, but don't really know the fine details at this point. In an ideal world, I'd get a job with the DOJ, move up the ranks over 10-15 years, and then maybe exit to the private sector if I'd like, but who knows. If I didn't feel like I was able to advance my career at a government agency, I'd probably try and exit to a firm before I'd get to 10 years. Any advice on whether to accept this offer? Maybe wait till after I have a better idea of what i'll be doing after graduation? Thanks in advance!

TLDR: 2L with 90-110k in loans, Parents offered 25k loan @ 1% interest. Pursuing job in the public sector and don't know if I should accept.

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Re: Student loan payments: get advice and actual numbers here

Post by sparty99 » Sun Feb 03, 2019 5:02 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Wild Card wrote:Debt: $210,000 (T6, after a $50,000 scholarship)
Payments: $2,300 per month
Income: $190,000 (NYC biglaw)
Plan: 10-year
Important info: My parents cannot help me pay any of my loans because they're in a very bad state right now. I have no savings. I'd like to clerk as soon as I can and make my way to bigfed further down the line. How aggressively should I be paying off my loans? I'm in M&A, so I don't think they'll lay me off in less than 2 years, but I'm still living in constant fear of getting shitcanned before I can make good progress on my payments. I was thinking of paying $4,000, $5,000, or even $6,000 per month. The prospect of oweing $280,000 if I stay on the 10-year plan makes me sick. I'd deeply appreciate advice.
Given that you have no parent safety net, and may even have to financially help them at some point in the near future (?), I'd make sure to build some savings as well for yourself. Let's assume you stick around biglaw for two years and then clerk and then do bigfed. I'd much rather be in that position with $104k in debt and $24k saved (assuming ~$4k monthly payments and $1k monthly savings) than ~$80k in debt with no savings (assuming ~$5k monthly payments to debt). The marginal value of ~$20k-30k of savings for your life is almost certainly higher than the marginal value of paying off that amount of debt.

Maybe you know that already. I also think you know this as well: put as much as possible toward these goals. If you can psychologically stomach devoting $6k/m to debt/savings, you'll be significantly better off even after a short stint in biglaw than if you devote $5k/m ... etc. That said, it's NYC and living cheap isn't easy, so that's a personal decision for you. Building a life and career that's sustainable (and the two are related) is also something that has value. You could probably find a $500/m hole in the wall a 3-hour commute away and save an enormous amount of money. But if it results in you being abjectly miserable--and it might!--you're probably likely to either get fired or leave on your own volition more quickly, or even to drop out of the law entirely. Saving $10k or $20k at this stage of the life, if it jeopardizes your 30-40-year career, might not be worth it. But do try to leave as cheaply as you feel comfortable.
You should be able to pay off your loans in 2 to 3 years easily. What are you talking about 10 years?

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Re: Student loan payments: get advice and actual numbers here

Post by sparty99 » Sun Feb 03, 2019 5:08 pm

Anonymous User wrote:Class of 2017, working in a 100 attorney firm in New Jersey (I did a state clerkship for the past year, started law firm after clerkship)
Went to Villanova
Debt: 37k (started at 45k).
Income: 85k
Interest Rate: 3.94% over 5 years. I refinanced 4 months ago for aggressive repayment, so my min payment is $850/month but will be increasing to $1500.
Rent is $1000/month. Everything is very doable with a second, high-income earner (highly recommended).
You can easily pay off your debt in 1.5 years at the most on your salary alone.
Last edited by sparty99 on Sun Feb 03, 2019 5:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

sparty99

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Re: Student loan payments: get advice and actual numbers here

Post by sparty99 » Sun Feb 03, 2019 5:19 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:2014 graduate here - started off with $265,000 in loans between undergrad and law school (40k undergrad; 225k law school). Did a clerkship immediately after graduation and have been working BL since. I currently owe $74,000 (ref'd rate is 4.25%), with assets worth ~$140,000. (cash: ~25k; investments: ~53k in 401k; ~60k in brokerage account, all in SPY). Here is where I am hoping to get some feedback from the TLS brain trust... I am considering selling ~1/2 of the SPY in my brokerage acc't in the next month and immediately throwing it at the loans. Any thoughts? I'm inclined to stay the course... and keep averaging down if shit hits the fan. FYI, I'm single, so a 50% loss wouldn't hurt me as much as others.
Hello? If you have $25,000 in investments and $60,000 in a brokerage account, cash everything out and pay off the $74,000 so you can be debt free. Then you can easily start banking your paycheck, which I assume, is at least $200k at this point. In 12 months you will easily have $85,000 (if not more) saved back up and be debt free. Like, pay that off TODAY dude. Jesus.
Hello? If you have $25,000 in investments and $60,000 in a brokerage account, cash everything out and pay off the $74,000 so you can be debt free. Then you can easily start banking your paycheck, which I assume, is at least $200k at this point. In 12 months you will easily have $85,000 (if not more) saved back up and be debt free. Like, pay that off TODAY dude. Jesus.

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Re: Student loan payments: get advice and actual numbers here

Post by sparty99 » Sun Feb 03, 2019 6:08 pm

Anonymous User wrote:I am a couple years out. Started out making $50k/year in a small firm and now making $230k/year in big law. My wife makes about $45k in government, but isn't sure she'll be doing that long enough to get 10 year PSLF. I have about $275k in debt now (about $210k of which is principal) and she has $115k in debt, all principal. We're both currently on PAYE, shooting for 20 year forgiveness, and understand the tax bomb. Our interest rates are just over 7% (all federal loans), but I'm not sure refinancing makes sense since I have so much accrued interest. In hindsight, I should've been on REPAYE while I wasn't making enough to cover the interest. We are now maxing out 401k and HSA. Not sure how much longer I'll stay in big law and am interested in going in-house or government in a couple years.

Any ideas?
Why would you wait 20 years to pay off yoir loans when you can be debt free in 3 years with your 230k salary. Stop contributing to your 401k . Your student loan is not a pet. Pay it off! You have a big whole, but you have a big shovel.

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Feb 06, 2019 11:12 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Debt at graduation in 2015: 145k (147k capitalized on repayment in Oct 2015)
Interest rates: 6.7% (blended rate)

Debt at DRB refinance in 05/2015: 145k (DRB let me refi while I was still finishing 3L without making payments until Oct)
Payment and VARIABLE interest rate: ~2600/mo at 2.48% that gradually increased to 2.84% - 5yr term
Interest paid in 2015: 2.4k (incl capitalized interest)
Interest paid in 2016: 2.7k (Jan - Sep)

Debt at First Republic refinance in 09/2016: $119k
Payment and FIXED interest rate: ~2080/mo at 1.95% - 5yr term
Interest paid in 2016: $617 (Oct - Dec)

Total Interest Paid in 2016: $3.3k
Current Balance: $111k

Planning to pay off the First Republic refi 13 months early (possibly earlier) to collect the incentive interest rebate. Using Excel IRR function, my effective interest rate from 05/2015 - 08/2020 will be 1.7% (calculation includes the rebate).
An update 13 months on:

NYC @ a bit above market
Debt at graduation (5/2015): $145k
Current balance (2/2018): $86k
Payments (FRB 5yr @ 1.95%): $2080

$70k in 401k (max out + match)
$36k in Roth (backdoor every year)
$50k in checking/savings
$102k in brokerage (contribute $3k-$5k each month, plus bonus)
$145k in 401k (from before law school)

Maybe buy a house soon. Still plan to pay off the FRB balance in Aug 2020 for the interest rebate. Maybe earlier but probably not.
Another update:

NYC @ a bit above market (still)
Debt at graduation (5/2015): $145k
Current balance (2/2019): $65k
Payments (FRB 5yr @ 1.95%): $2080

$98k in 401k (max out + match)
$43k in Roth (backdoor every year)
$46k in checking/savings
$201k in brokerage (contribute $5k-$6k each month, plus bonus)
$145k in 401k (from before law school)
Last edited by Anonymous User on Thu Feb 07, 2019 9:30 am, edited 1 time in total.

sparty99

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by sparty99 » Thu Feb 07, 2019 3:24 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Debt at graduation in 2015: 145k (147k capitalized on repayment in Oct 2015)
Interest rates: 6.7% (blended rate)

Debt at DRB refinance in 05/2015: 145k (DRB let me refi while I was still finishing 3L without making payments until Oct)
Payment and VARIABLE interest rate: ~2600/mo at 2.48% that gradually increased to 2.84% - 5yr term
Interest paid in 2015: 2.4k (incl capitalized interest)
Interest paid in 2016: 2.7k (Jan - Sep)

Debt at First Republic refinance in 09/2016: $119k
Payment and FIXED interest rate: ~2080/mo at 1.95% - 5yr term
Interest paid in 2016: $617 (Oct - Dec)

Total Interest Paid in 2016: $3.3k
Current Balance: $111k

Planning to pay off the First Republic refi 13 months early (possibly earlier) to collect the incentive interest rebate. Using Excel IRR function, my effective interest rate from 05/2015 - 08/2020 will be 1.7% (calculation includes the rebate).
An update 13 months on:

NYC @ a bit above market
Debt at graduation (5/2015): $145k
Current balance (2/2018): $86k
Payments (FRB 5yr @ 1.95%): $2080

$70k in 401k (max out + match)
$36k in Roth (backdoor every year)
$50k in checking/savings
$102k in brokerage (contribute $3k-$5k each month, plus bonus)
$145k in 401k (from before law school)

Maybe buy a house soon. Still plan to pay off the FRB balance in Aug 2020 for the interest rebate. Maybe earlier but probably not.
Another update:

NYC @ a bit above market (still)
Debt at graduation (5/2015): $145k
Current balance (2/2018): $65k
Payments (FRB 5yr @ 1.95%): $2080

$98k in 401k (max out + match)
$43k in Roth (backdoor every year)
$46k in checking/savings
$201k in brokerage (contribute $5k-$6k each month, plus bonus)
$145k in 401k (from before law school)
This is dumb. You could be debt free in 5 minutes if you would simply pay off your loans from your brokerage account. Then you could easily invest that $2,000 and have 0 debt. It will take you over 2.5 years to pay it off at your slow rate. Could easily be saving $7-8k.

mak_

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Re: Student loan payments: get advice and actual numbers here

Post by mak_ » Thu Feb 07, 2019 4:25 am

Why are you shotgun posting the same silly responses throughout this thread? Not only is not immediately paying off your loans always “dumb,” it is often objectively the right move. His/her loans are only at 1.95%. You could be that even by just putting your cash in a high-yield savings account.

Seriously? What are you waiting for?

Now there's a charge.
Just kidding ... it's still FREE!


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