When Danny and I were engaged, I remember hearing a lot of people (including in a marriage class that I took) talk about “being one” with your spouse. I’d heard this concept throughout my life and never given it much thought. How could I be “one” with someone else? Doesn’t the presence of someone else […]
debt help
I MAKE GOOD MONEY SO WHY AM I ALWAYS BROKE?
A couple of years ago I was talking to a dear friend who had recently started working after being a stay at home mom for several years. She more than doubled her family’s income when she started working. She asked me something one day that blew my mind. She said, “Now that I’m working we […]
HOW TO AVOID HOLIDAY DEBT
Have you ever stayed up really late on a night where you had to wake up early the next day? Did you totally regret it? Maybe it was fun in the moment (sometimes it’s not even that fun in the moment!) but didn’t you fully regret it the next day when you had to wake […]
PSLF AND MATERNITY LEAVE
There’s so much uncertainty surrounding pregnancy. Will you have a boy or a girl? How will pregnancy impact your health? Will you be able to work while you are pregnant? When will that baby *actually* come? One thing should be certain though, and that’s how your student loans will be impacted if you are banking […]
THANKFUL FOR DEBT
When my husband and I graduated from dental school and law school (respectively), we sat down and assessed our finances, including all of the student loan debt that had accrued while we were in school. I knew we would graduate with a lot of debt but seeing the actual numbers paralyzed me with fear. How […]
CHOOSING A STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT PLAN
A few weeks before I graduated from law school, someone in our financial aid office spoke to our class about choosing a student loan repayment plan. To be perfectly honest, I don’t recall what was said in that meeting. But I do recall exactly how I felt afterwards– completely lost, confused, and stressed out about my student […]
HOW TO NOT GET SCREWED BY PUBLIC SERVICE LOAN FORGIVENESS
Imagine that you are entering a contract. Let’s say for purposes of this example, you are going to paint the interior of someone’s home. The contract basically says you, the painter, have to perform your end of the contract. You have to paint the house. You have to buy the paint. All that good stuff. […]
HOW THIS NEW GRADUATE PAID OFF $300K OF STUDENT LOANS IN 1 YEAR
Are you paying off student loans? Do you ever feel totally alone when it comes to paying off debt? For me that is one of the hardest parts about our journey paying off $650k of student loan debt. Sometimes it feels like we are the only ones. But the truth is, there are plenty of […]
SHOULD YOU BUY A HOUSE IF YOU HAVE STUDENT LOANS?
Sometimes people are surprised that we bought a house even though we have student loans. And that makes sense. Student loan debt can completely cripple your finances, including (maybe especially?) crushing your chances of buying a house. In fact, CNBC recently reported that 83% of people ages 22-35 with student loan debt who haven’t bought a […]
SHOULD I SAVE FOR RETIREMENT OR PAY OFF DEBT?
Have you ever imagined yourself as an 80 year old? I don’t think many of us sit around pondering what life will be like at 80. I am forever struck by an experience I had working as a law clerk to a judge right after law school. I was sitting in on a garnishment hearing. The […]