Trip Apology

[Lasolimu]

When I graduated college I had about $10k in student loans and easily had them paid off within 2 years. The only other thing I would allow myself to really go into debt for is a home and I would plan ahead to pay it off quickly as well.

[shilohmm]

I believe in your example that love made him stupid. Is he still with her?

Yah, he is, but OTOH when he made that choice, their relationship was long-distance and always had been -- they'd met, but never spent more than a few days together, and never alone. They married their first year of college and I shudder to think of their college debt load.

When I graduated college I had about $10k in student loans and easily had them paid off within 2 years.

I never got a degree and figured I wouldn't, so I paid as I went. The average student loan debt last time I checked (for seniors graduating college in 2011) was $25,000, although of course it varies from state to state or school to school. I know people who've gone to Notre Dame and borrowed just about the whole thing; their debt is astronomical!

It does seem like a lot of people who run up the biggest debt are the least interested in paying it off and the most interested in living high (both as college students and after). There are ways to keep college costs down, many of them the same methods I used back in the day, while still getting your parchment from a pricier university. Had I gone another year, my degree would have been from CU, although I didn't spend half as much as my friends who were at the Boulder campus.

[GaTechGal]

You can get little booklets with amortization charts in them pretty easily -- we got one before buying our house at a mall book store back in the day, then made sure we got a loan we can pay off early (where anything you pay above the monthly payment goes directly to the principle). I am no fan of debt but don't regret getting a house on a mortgage... so far.

I think an amortization chart is a template in Excel. So really, most everyone has one and doesn't know it. But then most don't know what the word amortization means... :twisted:

[CycloneMan]

First world problems

[hobie16]

I think an amortization chart is a template in Excel. So really, most everyone has one and doesn't know it. But then most don't know what the word amortization means... :twisted:

I like the loan calculator at http://www.ameriprise.com/budgeting-inv ... edLoan.asp It gives you flexibility in setting different variables.

[WEDFan]

Back in the day, I had a HP41C Programmable calculator and I created an amortization program for it, so when we went shopping for our first house, I was pulling up the payment and total debt information as we looked at places. :D:

[TiggerHappy]

When I graduated college I had about $10k in student loans and easily had them paid off within 2 years.

When I graduated college, I had about $15k in loans and managed to whittle it down to $10k with part-time work. Now that I'm full-time, I'm hoping to finish paying it off sooner. :) I knew what I was getting into by taking loans and I was prepared to pay the price.

[delsdad]

Anymore, my response is, "How did you pay for it? Cash or credit?"

On that second one... Holy cow. I don't even want to know. If they do the less intelligent thing, make the minimal payments let compound interest apply... After a couple years I bet the number would make you dizzy. So I probably have thought through the answer to THAT question much better than anyone who would be the type to ask it.

Happens when you're studying for your real estate license, start reading about how financing works, and realize just how much people wind up ACTUALLY paying for their house over that 30 year mortgage.

Just be glad that you folks in the US get some sort of tax deduction for the interest on the mortgage. Up in the Great White North, interest on a principal residence is not tax deductible.

[hobie16]

Is the offset the free medical in Canada?

[WEDFan]

Just be glad that you folks in the US get some sort of tax deduction for the interest on the mortgage. Up in the Great White North, interest on a principal residence is not tax deductible.

Much as I relish my own mortgage interest deduction, I'm not sure it's that good a thing overall. Maybe such a high level of home ownership, especially among people who are borderline affording it, isn't best, and that's what the deduction was all about.