I've been reading the constant stream of posts about people paying off their loans crazy quickly on moderate salaries while living at home and thought I'd offer a bit different perspective... maybe something a bit more practical.
I graduated in 2015 from a state school with my Master's of Mechanical Engineering through a 5 year program. During my senior year of undergrad and grad school I worked full time to chip away at my debt early. School and boarding ended up costing around $100k, and by the time I graduated I had about $80k in debt.
I fortunately got a job as an engineer for a large company making high $60k range in a moderate COL area and moved into an apartment with my girlfriend splitting rent. I paid down a few more grand for those first 6 months while my loan interest was deferred, furnished my apartment with cheap or used furniture and got ready to start a 5 year grind.
By January 2015 I had $77k in debt that I consolidated into one giant loan at 4.375% for 5 years, had a car payment for $360/month, rent at $1290 split with my gf.
I won't go into all my expenses for brevity, but my monthly loan payment was $1443, almost half my take home after contributing 6% to my 401k for max match, health insurance, etc.
Since then I've gotten down to $53k remaining, just upped my monthly loan payment to $1500, and continue to budget like I'm in college. I've gotten some underwhelming raises since then, but enough to keep up with inflation and am able to make life work as long as I am frugal and plan purchases long term. I'm still able to maintain my hobbies of racing road bikes, riding mountain bikes, and I even was able to squeeze in an autocross race recently. Oh, and I have a dog now.
The point is, I'm able to enjoy my hobbies while paying down debt quickly (3 years left), living away from home with my girlfriend, paying off my car and enjoying a life of relative moderation. I know I'm fortunate to have a career in engineering, but I believe this lifestyle is very scalable to people with different degrees and living in different areas. Just keep chipping away, but leave some money to keep you sane and enjoy hobbies.
And hold on to an extra emergency fund for those crazy random bills that show up (CT property taxes and inflated medical bills suck)
Submitted September 22, 2017 at 07:45AM by CarsAndBikesAndStuff http://ift.tt/2fFoblX
