Current Balance: $29,800                                              

A few months ago I had two friends share their struggle with student loans. In both instances, their student loan principal had essentially stayed the same even though they graduated over six years ago and were making payments each month. One’s loan balance had actually gone up! This blew my mind. How does this happen? These two individuals are not working at public interest jobs with the hope that their student loans will be forgiven after 10 years of service, and yet, they had’t made a dent in their outstanding balance.

I’ve worked hard in the last six years to pay off almost $170,000 toward my law school loans alone. It didn’t come easy, but I can’t imagine sitting here right now and seeing a balance of $152,000 rather than $18,450. I don’t think what I’ve done is some crazy scheme you’ve probably read online where a couple sold everything they had, moved in with their parents and ate ramen noodles for 3 years to pay off their debt. I used a simple financial approach of budgeting, living below my means and applying any additional cash towards my loans. It’s that simple.

Now I understand that each person’s situation is different. Not everyone will have an $85,000 starting salary or get married to a person without any debt who can help absorb some of your monthly expenses, but having a solid financial strategy will help you pay off your loans while navigating the changes life throws at you.

My goal of this blog is to provide various tips, tools and strategies to help you pay off your student loans, as well as provide insight into how others have paid off their loans and/or used sound financial strategies to increase their wealth.