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student loans

Debt

4 Quick Strategies For Paying Off Student Loans

Build a Solid Budget

It can be hard to adjust a budget to include a loan payment, especially if you’re not used to making one. A good rule of thumb is to separate your budget by the 50-30-20 rule: 50% of your monthly take home income toward living expenses, 30% to discretionary funds, and 20% to debt repayment and savings. Depending upon how many loans you have and the interest rate, you may need to get aggressive and contribute 30% to debt repayment and 20% to discretionary or “fun money”.

Try and find something that works for you, but that allows for you to make progress on your loans.

Set up a Great Debt Snowball

Repeat after me: Paying off as much as you can now will pay off big time later, to prevent compound interest from accruing.

One great way to accomplish this is by setting up what is called a “debt snowball.” In the debt snowball, you list all of your loan amounts and putting those with the highest interest rates at the top. The idea is to put all of your extra money to paying off the highest rate loans, and then when that one is paid off, on to the next loan, and so on and so forth. The advantage to this is that you could save thousands on interest.

The only downside to paying down loans with the highest interest rate is that it can take a long time for someone to pay them off and feel successful. So, if it makes more sense to you to pay off smaller loans first in order to feel accomplished and empowered, then by all means- do so. Many find this ”reverse snowball” approach essential to keeping motivated with debt payoff and avoiding debt fatigue.

February 26, 2015

Debt

Different Types Of Student Loans Available For College Bound Teens

If you are looking at colleges to attend – filling out applications, writing admission essays and scheduling campus tours – there is a good chance that you are also looking for a loan. You may hear nightmare stories about college loans taking over and destroying people’s lives, but the truth is that if you find the loan that works best for you, you won’t have to worry about it hitting you on the head later. The secret also lies in going to college for something you absolutely love doing. If there is passion and motivation – you will mostly likely find a career with which you can use to pay back your loans. Here are some different types of student loans available for college bound teens.

December 31, 2013

Debt

Pay Off Your Student Loans Ahead Of Schedule With These Money Earning Ideas

When most students finish their college education, they graduate with a hefty amount of student loan debt. Investing in education is a wise investment since many of today’s top jobs require a college level education. However, paying off student loans can be a huge problem in your family’s financial plan.

If you are able to bring in more money, you can make extra student loan payments. However, most people do not have the time to work a second job when they already have a full-time job. If your regular job is already keeping you busy, it is time to think outside the box when it comes to making extra income.

If you want your loan balance to disappear quickly, it is important to apply your extra funds to the principal of the loan. Once you start making extra payments every month, you will be thrilled at how quickly your balance decreases. The following ideas can all help you make extra money that can be applied to student loan payments.

Sell Unwanted Items

We all have things in our homes that we do not need and will never use again. Instead of having those items clutter up your home, start selling them for cash! eBay and Amazon charge a commission from every sale, but there are plenty of ways to sell your items without paying a fee.

Craigslist allows an unlimited number of free listings, and the site allows you to focus on buyers in your area. Pictures are king on Craigslist, so be sure to include attractive pictures of your items with each listing. To avoid scammers, accept only cash for your items.

If yard sales are popular in your area, consider committing one weekend to hosting a yard or garage sale. You can make your sale a family effort by encouraging all of your family members to get rid of unwanted items. At the end of your sale, offer the items for 50 percent off to ensure that you do not have to put them back in your garage.

October 27, 2013

Money Saving Tips

How To Fund Your Graduate School Study Abroad

Graduate school can be exciting and challenging. Why not increase how challenging and exciting it is by moving your graduate studies abroad? As the world becomes more and more connected, employers are looking for candidates with advanced and multi-cultural knowledge. Studying abroad will offer you the unique opportunity to learn new languages and to experience cultural differences, which could give you a huge advantage in the field you are interested in. However, graduate school can be expensive – graduate school abroad can be even more so. Yet, if you look at the risks versus the benefits you will see that it can be potentially well worth it.

Here is how to fund your graduate studies abroad:

Your first step is to look for grants and scholarships. You typically don’t want to take a loan out, because you might be paying it off for a long time. No matter what field you are interested in – from medicine to law – there are a number of programs that are both privately and government funded that can provide partial and full scholarships. With a grant or a scholarship you won’t even have to pay it back. Grants and scholarships are a little bit like free money, but you want to make sure there are no serious strings attached before you apply.

Another way to fund your graduate school studies abroad is to find a position or an internship in the city where you want to study. This can be a great way to help fund part of your tuition, but it can also possibly help pay for your travel and living arrangements. Many of these internship programs might also be helpful in giving you real world experience in the field that you want to find a career in. For instance, if you are interested in science, you could get a position at a laboratory in another country. If you went to the University of Cincinnati it might be hard to get used to a city like Antwerp, but you will undoubtedly learn valuable life lessons.

July 13, 2013

Debt

5 Things To Consider Before Taking Out Student Loans

While taking out a college loan can be a valuable resource to afford a higher education, it is incredibly important to consider a few things before you do. About 60% of people who go to college take out student loans to supplement their tuition and other costs, but it can have serious implications, especially if you have trouble paying it back. Out of all the students that do rely on loans, a staggering percentage is having trouble paying them back. This is not the fault of the lender or even the interest rates, but mainly because of the dismal job market. Basically, new college grads are finding it harder and harder to find work.

Here are 5 things to consider before taking out student loans.

Make sure that you read between the lines. Often there might be hidden fees or changes of interest rates, which can severely affect your chances of ever being able to pay back your loans. A financial aid counselor should be able to guide you through all the terms of your aid package so that you aren’t missing anything. If you are, they will certainly point it out or answer any questions that you might have.

There are different types of financial aid that are available, so it is important to know which one works best for you. There are financial aid programs that offer loans that you will need to pay back or you can apply for a state or federal grant, which is essentially free money to be applied to your higher education that you don’t need to pay back. It’s wise to find out what you are eligible for, before you sign up for anything.

May 18, 2013

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