![]() ![]() He's in a stable enough financial situation that he felt confident taking a substantial pay cut about six years ago when he left a big law firm to work at a tech startup. ![]() In addition to paying down his debt, he's built an emergency fund, made room in his budget to cover major expenses like the home he and his wife bought in Florida in 2021, is saving for his two kids' college educations, and is investing for his own future so that he and his wife can retire comfortably. Group tackled his loans by negotiating his interest rate, creating a budget, and increasing his income. He could afford to pay off his balance today, but since his interest rates are so low he chooses to continue making monthly payments and keep the money he'd use to make the lump sum payment invested in the stock market. Group, 38, expects to be completely debt-free by the end of 2023. His remaining balance is $20,000, which Insider verified by looking at copies of his student-loan balances. He's continued chipping away and, as of August 2023, has paid down $190,000. To get his debt under control, he took various steps: He refinanced his loans at a lower interest rate, created a budget, and made a plan to increase his income.īy December 2021, when Insider first spoke with Group, he'd paid down $150,000 of his student loans. I needed to figure out a way to pay the loans back." And it set him back even more: Thanks to high interest rates, his principal balance grew from $190,000 to $210,000. He did two forbearances, which is when you temporarily stop making payments (but you still accrue interest, which gets added to your principal balance at the end of your forbearance period). ![]() Instead, Group, who graduated in 2011 when the job market was still challenging in the wake of the 2008 recession, landed a clerkship that paid $53,000 a year, he said: "I remember having this conversation where I was crying to my parents saying, 'I really regret having done this because I'm not making enough money to pay this off.'"įeeling overwhelmed, he moved back home with his parents to save money and initially ignored his loans. "I had this idea that I would come out of law school and start making a lot of money and wouldn't have a problem paying my loans off," he told Insider. He shared screenshots of the budget template he created and explained how it works.Īfter wrapping up law school with $190,000 worth of student loans, things didn't exactly play out as Ian Group imagined they would.Budgeting has been a key component of his debt-management strategy.Ian Group has paid down $190,000 in student loans.Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. ![]()
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