*This post contains an affiliate link at no extra cost to you. What is the Student Loan Planner? The Student Loan Planner is a website where you can get a personalized student loan debt plan to help you get on the path to debt freedom. It also has a blog that answers basically any question […]
debt help
PAYING OFF SIX FIGURES OF DEBT
If you have six figures of debt, you’re in good company. The population of people who have six figures of student loan debt is exploding– more than 700,000 borrowers in the U.S. owe more than $200k, plus 2 million borrowers who owe between $100k and $200k. It sounds crazy in the abstract, when you AREN’T one […]
REASONS YOU SHOULDN’T USE CASH
Ever since Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover came out (if you haven’t read it, I fully recommend it as a great starting place) it seems like everyone these days is using cash. Dave recommends it as a tool to keep your spending in check and while he makes some obviously valid points (you can’t buy things […]
HOW TO GET YOUR SPOUSE ON BOARD FINANCIALLY
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 […]
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. […]