Although it's more likely that I wanted to know at what point I can free up the close to $500 that is currently going towards my student loan debt, or around 25% of my net income per month, given that I could do so much else with that money. Like buy a fancy dress.
Either way, earlier last month, I sat down and calculated a rough estimate of what my student loan debt repayment journey is going to look like if I made minimum payments on my debt from here on out.
And well... would anyone like to buy a kidney for $30,000?
See how tiny the words are on that line graph? Basically, the timeline for repayment is so long, the table has to be teeny tiny in order to fit in this blog. But for the lazy, here's the underlying theme of that red line in that line graph.
With minimum payments and assuming interest won't go up, I won't pay off that loan until December 2021. SIX years from now.
But wait. What's that blue line next to the red line that hits zero quite a few months before the red line hits zero you ask?
That magic line is for me to track my actual payments made, but to also to illustrate to my sometimes negative-thinking self how only $50 extra dollars a month can shave off a significant amount of time to my repayment journey. How much time you may ask? Try almost a full calendar year. Instead of paying off the balance in December of 2021, it's paid off in January of that year.
It is still not an ideal timeline as far as how far away the final destination seems to look like, but hey, it's all projections at this point and really only accounts for small numbers as far as repayment goes. The goal here is to beat all these projections and be rid of it as soon as I possibly can with whatever means I can afford to lend towards it over time. And who knows, over time, I may suddenly muscle the resolve to simply increase my accelerated monthly payments, something that up until now I've been a touch too chicken to do.
That's what having no real cushion for my finances in my savings or anywhere else does to your ability to confidently set a nice high number to debt regularly.
Anyway, money is fickle and the future is uncertain, nothing in that line graph includes things that I can't confidently account for as far as when and how much extra can be given. For instance, given the interest I pay every month, I should hope to get a pretty solid windfall with my tax return in the form of a credit, not to mention left over education tax credits that I had accumulated over the years. But until I know for certain how much I earn back and the sum of my return, it won't be calculated into the projections, though it would put a pretty solid notch into that line graph. It also doesn't account for money I make freelancing or on holiday, which also adds to nice surprises when I need it.
The point is, there is at least the bare bones of a plan in place to try and pay off the debt that makes sense for me and my money. But six years is a very long time and many things can change in that time. Which I'll take by ear and hope that the news is good.
And well... would anyone like to buy a kidney for $30,000?
See how tiny the words are on that line graph? Basically, the timeline for repayment is so long, the table has to be teeny tiny in order to fit in this blog. But for the lazy, here's the underlying theme of that red line in that line graph.
With minimum payments and assuming interest won't go up, I won't pay off that loan until December 2021. SIX years from now.
But wait. What's that blue line next to the red line that hits zero quite a few months before the red line hits zero you ask?
That magic line is for me to track my actual payments made, but to also to illustrate to my sometimes negative-thinking self how only $50 extra dollars a month can shave off a significant amount of time to my repayment journey. How much time you may ask? Try almost a full calendar year. Instead of paying off the balance in December of 2021, it's paid off in January of that year.
It is still not an ideal timeline as far as how far away the final destination seems to look like, but hey, it's all projections at this point and really only accounts for small numbers as far as repayment goes. The goal here is to beat all these projections and be rid of it as soon as I possibly can with whatever means I can afford to lend towards it over time. And who knows, over time, I may suddenly muscle the resolve to simply increase my accelerated monthly payments, something that up until now I've been a touch too chicken to do.
That's what having no real cushion for my finances in my savings or anywhere else does to your ability to confidently set a nice high number to debt regularly.
Anyway, money is fickle and the future is uncertain, nothing in that line graph includes things that I can't confidently account for as far as when and how much extra can be given. For instance, given the interest I pay every month, I should hope to get a pretty solid windfall with my tax return in the form of a credit, not to mention left over education tax credits that I had accumulated over the years. But until I know for certain how much I earn back and the sum of my return, it won't be calculated into the projections, though it would put a pretty solid notch into that line graph. It also doesn't account for money I make freelancing or on holiday, which also adds to nice surprises when I need it.
The point is, there is at least the bare bones of a plan in place to try and pay off the debt that makes sense for me and my money. But six years is a very long time and many things can change in that time. Which I'll take by ear and hope that the news is good.
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