I’ve slowly been chipping away at my loans these last few years, hoping for that day to come when I’ll be debt free. My net worth is positive, thanks to some RRSPs and the down payment I put into my car, but having debt hanging over your head obviously kind of sucks. I have a little spreadsheet that sort of tracks where I’m at. In April of 2008 I owed around $25,500 in both student loans and car loans. At my peak, I had around $40,000 worth of student loans, a fairly hefty debt load by anyone’s standards.
Back in January I finally paid my car off. The payments on that were $400 per month, so it was nice to have that money back in my pocket each month (and somewhat of a necessity for moving back to Chilliwack). The current value of all my loans today is around $11,500, which means I killed nearly $14,000 of debt this last year.
The good news is that I’m actually only a month or two away from getting rid of that last chunk. I have a bit of a rainy day fund going that I set aside in case we ever ad a few dry months at BraveNewCode. Thankfully that doesn’t seem to be the case, so I’m going to put some of it on my student loan. With any luck I’ll have it completely paid off either at the end of this month, or hopefully no later than next month.
Almost out of that hole! It will feel so good. Soon it will seem like a good idea to dig a much, much deeper hole and buy a home 😉
House debt doesn’t really feel the same to me as in most cases you have a real asset underneath the loan. With a student loan, there’s nothing really there to represent the cost, other than a few more marbles upstairs and a piece of paper. Worse case (typically) with a house loan is you sell the house and pay the mortgage off. With a student loan there’s
nothing to sell.
Woohoo! Congratulations. That is AMAZING news. I too am getting closer and closer to being debt free and I can’t wait!
That is an AMAZING amount of money to chip off in one year… huge huge huge kudos to you.
And yep, I definitely see house debt as different. Well I am very happy for you. Great work!
Congratulations…..end of this month or next… job well done.
Most people try to run away from paying their students loans…at one time you could declare bantrupsty now a days forget it unless you run to another country…but when you come back..guess what…they are still waiting for you.. To the people that accept their responsiblities..congrats…
Val
Good job, Duane! I’m envious – my loans will be with me for many years to come! I know what you mean about the student loans feeling quite different than a mortgage… I have to keep reminding myself that I wouldn’t have my job (which I love) without that education… but it’s still hard to watch that $850 disappear from my account every month!
Yah for sure. I can’t wait to be free of them. I’m thinking about inviting everyone at the bank out for a few drinks after to celebrate. Something fun that I can put on my blog!
Im heading into debt free soon too, feels great! I find it hard to sacrifice immediate pleasures ie beers or nights out, in order to pay down my debt quickly from school (UVIC) but in the long run I think it is worth it. Cheers.
Congratulations! That is a huge amount of progress to make in only a year or two, nice job!
So fantastic brother!!! Congrats on your success!