Well, aside from about $150 on a credit card (residual from christmas that I will get off in the next month), I have no other debt but from student loans.
Now that is pretty hefty. I had about $15K from undergrad and my masters, so when I graduate from pharmacy school (which has been financed all from loans) I will be at $75K.
Professional school is expensive, but at least I'll be in a field where I won't be hurting for salary or finding a job.
I picked up to $5000....all because of college loans. Thankfully, I only have a couple more years of those to go before that should be paid off too! I just recently paid off my car, pay off my car insurance within the first couple of months in the insurance year, use my credit card sparingly and immediately pay off my bill when I do use it, and have a nice amount set aside in my savings.
I'm in the 5-20k too because of my car payment. Minus that and I'd be probably right at 5k. I also have a reasonable amount in savings (15k) but I won't allow myself to touch it because I have hopes of going back to college, and I've already had to use 8k of it due to...well, life.
Yea....$150,000 in student loans.
Plus about 5 other random expenses.
I worked for 6 years before stopping work for 1 year to finish my master's. Still haven't found a new job....darn economy!
The only golden light in my financial life is how strict I was about putting away to my 401(k).
But to anyone who might listen...make sure you save cash you can touch!!
The only debt DH and I have is our house and RV lot, but I actually count those as assets as we owe far less on them than they are worth. We want to downsize in a few years, but there is no way that I'll sell this house for less than I feel it is worth--which means the economy has to change. I believe we've lost tens of thousands in equity due to the economy, but I won't sell at a lower price than what we were originally thinking this house would be worth when we built it.
I use charge cards all the time--and with a daughter in college, she uses them and we get the bills. I pay off the balances each and every month, so I haven't actually had any finance charges for several years.
And I have a pretty good amount in savings. It feels good. There was a time when DH and I were barely making it paycheck to paycheck. I had to charge groceries. We had thousands in debt. We'd use the charge card convenience checks to pay off one card so we didn't have to dip into cash. We call those days "back when we were poor." We worked hard and got out of debt and it really feels good. I hope to never go back.
I'd have to go with none, but I don't have much savings either. I pay my credit card off in full every month. I have never had a balance carry over. I put a reasonable amount into my RRSP(similar to a 401k, but it's not employer sponsored) each month. My car was paid in full. I do have a heafty mortage, but most of that is coming out of a "trust fund" type account that my parents and grandparents set up for that particular purpose.
I think I lucked out better than most college students. I went to school for 5 years on amassed just under 16k in loan debt, with 98% being in the last 2 years. No credit card debt, and no car debt.
Well, with DH's advanced degree and my BS (all self-financed), those poll numbers are.. cute
BUT the cars are paid off and we have very little credit card debt and we save.
ETA: I'm going to vote, but I'm not going to count school debt. To me that's just like a mortgage.
I agree! DH's student loans are more than the highest number on their own. Plus we've got 3 more credit cards to pay off, my student loan and my car. The total non-mortgage debt is about $84,000, but we'll have everything but DH's student loan paid off on 12/01/09 and the last student loan payment will be on 02/01/13, bearing any big disasters. (We do have substantial savings to cover emergencies, though.)
One of my goals for 2009 is to save up three months worth of living expenses. I've managed to pay off my debt, including medical debt, and I'm pretty pleased with that. But I still have the car payment.
I've been trying to think of weight loss as paying off my calorie debt, but somehow the motivation hasn't exactly translated.
I marked between 5,000 and 2,000, but the majority of mine is student loans. Counting the car payment and my credit card (the only thing on my credit card is bills from a major dental surgery, I only have about 2,000 - and that should be paid off in 2-3 months.
pft with my husband's and my degree we each owe $30+ grand that we are paying off as fast as we can. Then my car is almost paid off and his is only like 2 years into payments . We owe almost 100 grand and that's WITHOUT a house! *cry*
We hope to have my car paid off by the end of April (we are doing huge payments right now) and that'll bring us down to $85. We want to buy a house in 2010 so what we are planning on doing is just having our two student loans to pay when we go look for a home loan- we've been told student loans aren't so bad- but don't have any CC debt or car debt.
Including my house, 2 cars , boat and a Mastercard (which we owe $500.00 on ) we're in debt about $120,000. We have 1 other car and an RV that are paid off. I don't feel badly cause with the equity in our home, it is worth more than the total debt that we owe. We are contributing heavily to DH's 401K.
I would like to suggest to everyone that's in debt to check out Dave Ramsey's book "The Total Money Makeover" or "Financial Peace".
They should be at your local library. He lays out a plan to become debt free.
Especially in this economy, it's great to be debt free!!!
I would like to suggest to everyone that's in debt to check out Dave Ramsey's book "The Total Money Makeover" or "Financial Peace".
They should be at your local library. He lays out a plan to become debt free.
Especially in this economy, it's great to be debt free!!!
DH and I attended a Financial Peace University that was held at our church. It was by far the BEST investment into our future we've ever made. We were the typical, pay the minimum due young couple, until we found Dave Ramsey. I know his biblical basis scares off a lot of people, but it really is a good, easy-to-follow plan for turning your financial future around. We are in much better financial shape than a lot of our friends who make much more money in similar cost-of-living towns to us.
I know that there are several other financial "gurus" that have similar plans without the biblical emphasis. I believe Suze Orman (sp?) is one of them.
DH's student loans are more than the highest number on their own. Plus we've got 3 more credit cards to pay off, my student loan and my car. The total non-mortgage debt is about $84,000, but we'll have everything but DH's student loan paid off on 12/01/09 and the last student loan payment will be on 02/01/13, bearing any big disasters. (We do have substantial savings to cover emergencies, though.)
. We owe almost 100 grand and that's WITHOUT a house! *cry*
