Student loan repayment

[donwinder]

i am coming up on contract negotiations. Most likely I plan on staying. I have been here for 5 years and really like it, mainly because of who I work for/with. Something that would help me progress financially would be paying down student loans. I am already at a high salary and get some bonuses. The only thing I could think of that would improve the money situation would be some sort of loan repayment. Ideally, tax free for me and clinic, money goes directly to loan, lowers principle and overall cost of loan, and I still write off loan interest. I do understand there are some tax codes against this but it is changing. (https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/108/text)

I have run into another option through https://studentloangenius.com/. Does anyone have experience with them?

Any other creative options to minimize tax implications but still drive money to loans? I would even accept slight decrease in salary for larger amount to loans IF there were also tax benefits.

[scott079]

Hello,

I paid off 100k in loans already and I can say that there are numerous ways to approach it. Employer loan repayment, military reserve, 10 years of nonprofit work, higher salaried positions, 2nd job, lowering lifestyle choices, etc. 

 

Basically it all boils down to the same question, what are you most comfortable with? You want the fastest solution- work 60-70 hours per week and reduce spending to the basics for two years. Even its not 100% paid off you, you'll address the feeling of burden. Also, you might learn something about your self along he way.

[Boatswain2PA]

You're already at "high salary with bonuses"....start living like you were a student again and I'll bet your Stu Loans go away quick.

[dmdpac]

11 hours ago, Boatswain2PA said:

You're already at "high salary with bonuses"....start living like you were a student again and I'll bet your Stu Loans go away quick.

This. 

My loans were completely paid off four years to the day that I started repayment.  How?  A couple ways.  I lived like I was still a student.  I created a reasonable savings/safety account equivalent to about six months of living expenses.  I took my monthly student loan payment, divided by two, then rounded up to the nearest $100.   With every paycheck (paid every other week) I took that rounded up amount and paid that.  With 26 pay periods a year that equates to more than 13 monthly payments a year.  Then I dumped every available extra cent and all my bonus checks into paying off my loans. 

If you can still write off your student loan interest on your taxes I suspect our definitions of "high salary with bonuses" may be different.  However, that's not to say it can't be done.  You've had five years of loan repayment so far.  You should have a reasonable dent in what you owe.  Ideally you already have a reasonable savings account established.  Live below your means.    Start dumping everything you have available into your loans.  They really will go away pretty quickly.

 

 

[greenmood]

At some point, you will realize you need to stop picking around at taxes and math and just start throwing hunks of money at the loan companies. As my pal Dave says, if you were clever at math you wouldn't be in this mess to start. ;) If you had enough money for the tax implications of student loan repayment to really affect you, you would just pay off the loans and be done with it.

[donwinder]

I appreciate the responses but I was not asking about a visit with Dave Ramsey. I understand budgeting needs and actions. I am not going to go into greater details but several life events have diverted a large amount of funds, including several major surgeries and lengthy hospitalizations for my son. I am grateful for my higher than average salary that has allowed us to get through all of that.

So, my real question was to see about creative options to continue to chip away at loans in addition to what I already pay. I feel it would be a creative way to negotiate my upcoming contract renewal. Has anyone been able to set something up similar to what my post suggested?

[PAssMe]

Hey Don, if this comes off as Dave Ramsey-ish, I apologize.  If I were you, I would take a higher salary rather than trying to get them pay down your debt.  This is for 2 reasons, you've already been working 5 years(and presumably paying down debt) you probably don't have a huge amount of debt left.  Second, you said you like where you work, so that may mean you will be there a while.  So if that's the case, I would think that a rise in salary over the long term would benefit you more than the employer paying your debt for you.  

If you aren't sure, plug your existing student loan info into this student loan repayment calculator and see what throwing a few hundred extra bucks per month will do to paying off your loans faster.  Then after you are done paying it off, you'll continue getting those extra few bucks from your higher salary.  Hope this helps.