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Today, my Itunes interview with Travis Hornsby was released, and it will leave you with much to mull over. Travis Hornsby is the founder of Student Loan Planner, whose goal is to help guide recent grads down the correct repayment path for their lifestyle . In this episode, he dissects my current student loan repayment plan. We discuss optimized strategies, loopholes in the system, as well as pros and cons with paying down debt aggressively or passively. I learned something new during my conversation with Travis which led me to switch my repayment plan in order to save thousands of dollars! Throughout this journey, I have found that it’s amazing that we don’t know what we don’t know. Without conversations such as these, we will never really be making the best choice available. Additionally, it secures my faith in our ability to pursue our path and reinforces the contentment that I have with our decision.
There are a few things that we touched on in the podcast that I wanted to clarify.
- Mr. Debtist and I both have 401ks. We are not paying down the debt and ignoring retirement all together. We contribute to our 401ks every month and currently have more than $100k tucked away.
- We bought our property but not just as a place to live. We knew before we purchased that property ownership is FOR US. Our property is very unique. It is a live work loft that has a commercially zoned business space on the first floor, and the living space on the second floor. We bought it as a means to increase our income. Even though Travis is wary of people buying at more than the 1% rule, especially in California, the conversation we had talks specifically about homes to live in. It does not take into account the money the house brings in on top of its worth. We currently make passive income off of the business space by renting out the room. If ever our roommate leaves, we have a few ideas on what to do with the space. Our hope is to eventually create a business of our own on the lower floor, thus adding to the ways in which the house makes us money.
- As much as I would love to work pro bono in another country, I want to be rid of the loans more. I know that it seems crazy to forever pay $6,500 towards student loans every month for 8 years, but I trust that it will not be equivalent to what we are paying now forever. I believe in the snowball effect. As we alluded to in the podcast, once the loans are at a certain threshhold (less than $400k) there is the possibility of refinancing at 5.5%. Once it’s below $300k, there’s the possibility of refinancing at an even lower rate. Additionally, we hope to increase our income over time, as we are doing a number of side hustles. Lastly, as Travis tried to convince me to get on the forgiveness path, you can see that he did so to no avail. I am certain we are on the correct path for us. Once we are free of debt, we would have already been contributing to both 401ks for 8 years, paid as many years to a mortgage, established at least one consistent stream of passive income in the form of a side gig or business, and most importantly, we would know how to live off of very little. We know how to find happiness in the simple things. We would have created a life of intention. And that is worth more than anything a loan forgiveness program could give me.
This is definitely a podcast to listen to if you graduated with a large student debt. You will likely find some golden nuggets in our conversation, and if you like what you hear, then maybe scheduling a call with Travis would be the next step for you. If you have a smaller student loan amount, maybe getting rid of your debt is closer to your reach than you think. In case you were considering refinancing, below are a few refinance links, to help you get a better rate on your refinance.
Using the links above will reward you with a sign up bonus for choosing to re-finance. But before you do, please think thoroughly about whether or not you can sustain the new rates, because once you refinance, there is no going back to student repayment. Also, don’t forget to shop around and find the lender that will give you the best deal out there!
And in case you missed it, my previous podcast interview on Itunes with ChooseFI can be found here.
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