Student Loan Challenge (2019 Edition)

[marblejane]

I'm killing the student loans this year....who's with me?

Current balance: $19,885.67 (variable rate, 4.68% and rising)

Background:
Graduated MBA program in 2013 with ~$160k in student loan debt (plus an underwater mortgage, and some credit card debt)
Found MMM a few months later, buckled down, maxed out the 401k, sold the house, paid off the credit cards, refi'd the student loans

Plan:
Make regular $865/mo payment, put 100% of any annual bonus (due to be paid in March) to loan balance, and cash flow the remaining amount.

[zeli2033]

I'm in! Bringing over my stats from the 2018 thread.

2/28/18: $63,221 [Starting Balance]
3/8/18: $62,846
3/20/18: $60,722
4/2/18: $59,399
4/18/18: $58,372
6/30/18: $ 58,175
7/13/18: $ 55,929
8/12/18: $54,868
8/15/18: $53,821
9/5/18: $52,622
9/18/18: $50,941
10/2/18: $46,212
10/17/18: $42,804
11/6/18: $40,746
12/4/18: $38,695
12/31/18: $36,419

We just made some adjustments to our 2019 retirement contributions to kill these a little sooner - if things go according to plan, hoping to have them paid off in April 2019.

[haypug16]

I'm in! Thanks for starting the 2019 thread.

Beginning Balance:
January 1st 2019 - $46,919.36

Goal for the end of the year is to pay off $17,000 and finish around ~$30,000. Depending on how much my bonus is this year I may be able to pay off a few grand more which would be great.

[mckaylabaloney]

I'm starting at:

1/1/2019: $146,280.17

If that sounds terrifying, just know that I started at more than $213K in 2018, so $146K is nothing! Just kidding it's a horrifying garbage fire BUT I am feeling good about the progress I've made. I'm not sure whether I'll do as well this year -- (1) I need to spend the next couple of months building up my emergency fund rather than paying down debt, and (2) most of last year's debt paydown came from my year-end bonus, and assuming I get a similar bonus this year, I may need to use it for other goals. (I might switch jobs and/or leave my current city in 2020, so I may need that cash for something like a down payment -- long story but given certain elements of my law school's loan repayment assistance program and other life and housing market details, buying a house in the location I'm most likely to settle in would probably be the wisest financial choice even if my loans are still in six-figure territory.) So! I'm going to set a goal of paying off $20K without considering my bonus, and then hopefully I will also have some funds to spare from my bonus.

I've been considering eliminating my 401k contributions this year (we don't have a match, just profit sharing that occurs whether or not I contribute) and devoting that money to my loans, but it's tough to think of sacrificing like $6000 more to taxes (plus missing out on additional gains over the years, etc.). The reason I'm thinking about it anyway is that it's a very very high priority for me to have the freedom to leave my current job in the next year or two, and in all likelihood my next job will pay less. So obviously the less debt I have, the more freedom I have to switch careers.

Another option is to eliminate my monthly contributions and then see what kind of bonus I get and what my 2020 cash needs might be, and potentially just max it out for the year out of my bonus.

Where have you all landed on investing vs. paying down debt?

[Jim Fiction]

Hi all. I graduated from the 2018 thread back in September, but I wanted to pop in and wish you all the very best of luck in the challenge this year!

[zeli2033]

Where have you all landed on investing vs. paying down debt?

Last year when we were looking at the math to determine what to do, the math definitely said for us to decrease 401K savings and increase debt payoff but it was simply more emotionally and psychologically appealing to max out retirement while still doing damage on the loans.

This year, we just decided to decrease our 401K contributions to the employer-match levels so that we could accelerate the payoff of these loans. We have some other life stuff to plan for that the eventual and additional cash flow for 2019 will help with once we've paid these off in Spring. Still hard to swallow given the stock market being on sale but it's the right move for us...and if all goes to plan, it will be the last time we have to make that decision :)

[Metalcat]

.

[Cool Friend]

I'm in!

As of Monday, I'll have $7,000 remaining at 5.125%, coming from $20,000 in January 2018.

To slay it, I'll need to put in $583 a month, which I think I can do!  I'll be debt-free if I do, to boot.

[appleseed]

Copying over from the 2018 thread:

DB1 - $1,467 @ 3.25%
DB2 - $1,569 @ 3.25%
N1 - $3698 @2.625%
N2 - $3231 @2.625%

Total as of 12/30/2018 - $9,965!! These are my husband's graduate loans from *ugh* 2005 (I took over finances once we got married in 2010, so I'm not positive about total to start but probably $80k ish).

As of today -  Goal was to have them paid off by July 2019, which is doable at the rate I paid them this year. Unfortunately we do also have $27k in a personal loan from my mom that is next in line for paying off that may be prioritized for the overpayment above the two navient loans. I'm still planning on snowballing the payments from d1 and d2 to n1 and n2 though. The goal of getting rid of the student loan debt in 2019 continues though hopefullyby the end of the year unless we get a windfall. The first 2 I'll pay off by my husband's birthday in April (that's his present lol).   

We are doing uber frugal January and meal planning, etc. more than usual to squeak anything extra to throw at our debt.

Happy New Year! Let's destroy debt in 2019.

[outdoorsyfreedom]

I’m joining this challenge! I was hopinng to do this anyways and I think the accountability will help.

Current balance: $58,245 at 3.15%. I have refinanced my loans twice to get to this rate

This is down from about 190k when I graduated from pharmacy school in 2015. I have always paid extra over the minimum payments, although how much extra has slowly increased overtime. At my current rate of payments, I will have these paid off by the end of November. Ideally, I will get this paid off sooner.

I noticed some thoughts about investing vs. paying off debt and I just thought I’d share mine. Both my husband and I max out out 401ks, but other investments have been minimal. To us, the mental stress of this debt, especially when it was such a high amount to start, has been a motivator to pay off  the debt over investing beyond 401k. Of course, after it is gone, most of what we put towards the payments will be put in investment accounts, some as extra towards our mortgage, and some put aside for house improvements we would like to do.

Good luck to you all!

[mckaylabaloney]

When it comes to the pay-off-debt vs invest debate, go with whatever motivates you most. For some people, tackling the debt motivates them to throw every spare $5 they have towards it. Examine what motivates you most and plan from there.

Thanks to you and everyone else who's weighed in; this is helpful.

My strategy for the past year+ has been to max out my tax-advantaged accounts, then throw everything else at my loans, and I think I'm going to stick with that for now. I know I would look back and regret having passed up the opportunity to contribute to my 401k (especially since I wasn't able to start a 401k until I was nearly 30). Ultimately, I'm willing to hang onto my debt a touch longer if it means retiring a little sooner; hopefully that choice won't have a material impact on my near-term options.

[UnexpectedExpenseExpector]

I'm in!  Bringing over progress tracking from the 2018 thread.

2018
Jul: 34,235.29
Aug: 31,126.76
Sep: 30,670.30
Oct: 29,554.17
Nov: 26,987.46
Dec: 25,869.79

2019
Jan: 23,886.93
...

2019 Jul: 0.00 (GOAL)

The goal is to knock these out by end of July.  We are also aiming to max all tax advantaged accounts for the first time in 2019 so this goal may slip a bit to make sure the tax advantaged accounts get topped off. 

Good luck to all!

[TyGuy]

Hello,

Thanks for starting this thread, I will be sharing my progress, hopefully paying off my loans by the middle of 2020 (depending on if I land a new job that I am currently interviewing for). Additionally, I will be making a minimum payment of $1000 a month (self-enforced minimum, actual is ~$350), adding whatever additional funds I have to the principle.

1/12/19:
NGA $3,751.61 @ 3.86%
NGB $811.80    @ 3.86%
NGC $4,779.69 @ 4.66%
NGD $2,397.55 @ 4.66%
NGE $5,814.59 @ 4.29%
NGF $2,271.61 @ 4.29%
NGI $5,520.77 @ 4.45%

H1&2 $18,415 @ 5.00%

Total: $43,762.76


I am excited to knock these loans down significantly this year and look forward to tracking my progress with you all!

[bbates728]

Hi everyone! Finally a thread that makes sense for me to contribute to :). Let's get these suckers paid off!

A little background: I am a 25yo CPA that moved to a HCOL last year and found MMM in July. Since then I have read the blog and made WAY too many spreadsheets. I am just now starting to make a foray into the forums. My wife and I have been frugal by nature throughout our marriage and have thrown money at these loans which started at $110-$120k but we didn't keep as good of track of them as we are now. These loans are entirely mine but my wife has no issue with working together to take them out. Her schooling was thankfully paid for by her parents. I have been out of school for a little over 2.5 years. Together we bring home roughly 97k after tax and 401k. We budget to put $4k to loans each month and put any surplus from our budgeting towards them as well (this month an extra $500!).

July '18: $70,870.81
Aug '18: $67,102.62
Sep '18: $63,319.24
Oct '18: $59,834.55

Goals:
Dec '18: $51,674
Dec '19: $4,712
Jan '20: $0

TLDR: Loans are stupid and we will get rid of them.

Let's keep the good times rolling. I moved across town in December so had less capital to use for loans to end the year. You will see that I recouped a large portion of those expenses in January and was able to right the ship plus a little extra.

 Note: I am changing my reporting method to show balance after each month's payments instead of the balance at the beginning of each month.

Nov '18: $55,479.02
Dec '18: $54,781.60
Jan '19: $43,620.29

New goal Nov '19: $0

PS: How do I end a bolded section?

[haypug16]

@bbates728
[/b] - ends the bold section


I'm changing my goal this year from $17,000 to $10,800. I will be putting more money towards maxing out my 401K. If I happen to do that and then have a bunch of money leftover (not too likely) then I'll put it towards paying more of the SL but the plan for now it to just pay the minimum which is about a little over $900 a month.

[zeli2033]

Solid plan, @haypug16 - I really enjoyed reading up on your Ask A Mustachian thread about coming to this decision!

[zeli2033]

2/28/18: $63,221 [Starting Balance]
...
12/31/18: $36,419
1/15/19: $32,900 (-3519)

Hoping to make another similarly-sized payment at the end of this month. Currently on track for payoff in April.

[haypug16]

Solid plan, @haypug16 - I really enjoyed reading up on your Ask A Mustachian thread about coming to this decision!

Thanks, I always forget about that section of the forums. I'm glad I remembered and decided to ask. I think it's going to make a big difference with my overall financial plan.

[Money Beets]

Total Paid in January= $2,549.00
End January targeted loan balance = $3,921.21
End January total balance = $27,506.50

[appleseed]

Copying over from the 2018 thread:

DB1 - $1,467 @ 3.25%
DB2 - $1,569 @ 3.25%
N1 - $3698 @2.625%
N2 - $3231 @2.625%

Total as of 12/30/2018 - $9,965!! These are my husband's graduate loans from *ugh* 2005 (I took over finances once we got married in 2010, so I'm not positive about total to start but probably $80k ish).

As of today -  Goal was to have them paid off by July 2019, which is doable at the rate I paid them this year. Unfortunately we do also have $27k in a personal loan from my mom that is next in line for paying off that may be prioritized for the overpayment above the two navient loans. I'm still planning on snowballing the payments from d1 and d2 to n1 and n2 though. The goal of getting rid of the student loan debt in 2019 continues though hopefullyby the end of the year unless we get a windfall. The first 2 I'll pay off by my husband's birthday in April (that's his present lol).   

We are doing uber frugal January and meal planning, etc. more than usual to squeak anything extra to throw at our debt.

Happy New Year! Let's destroy debt in 2019.

DB1 - $1,260.31
DB2 - $841.82
N1 - $3,616.39
N2 - $3,159.32

Total - $8,877.84

I wanted to send more and get the lowest one to a point I could pay it off next month, but we had too many end of year bills (planned like glasses, but higher than a typical month). Any extra income in February I'm throwing at the loans. Still on track for the first 2 done by April and the rest by the end of the year.

I went back and looked to see where we were a year ago. This forum helped motivate an over $16k pay off, which I wouldn't have thought possible, so thanks, everyone!

[haypug16]

January Update:
January 1st 2019 - $46,919.36
January 31st 2019 - $46,137.25 (782.11) decrease

2019 Goal 
$782.11/$10,800

A little behind target for the month but I'm OK with that. I've increased my 401K contribution and just paying the min on these loans.

[outdoorsyfreedom]

January Starting Balance: 58245.53
Min. Payment: 1178.77
Extra payment: 4821.79

January Ending Balance: 52244.97

Had some extra shifts and holiday that allowed me to pay a little more extra than planned. Also received a promotion with a good raise so I am hoping I will be able to pay off a couple months earlier than planned!

[TyGuy]

Hello,

Thanks for starting this thread, I will be sharing my progress, hopefully paying off my loans by the middle of 2020 (depending on if I land a new job that I am currently interviewing for). Additionally, I will be making a minimum payment of $1000 a month (self-enforced minimum, actual is ~$350), adding whatever additional funds I have to the principle.

1/12/19:
NGA $3,751.61 @ 3.86%
NGB $811.80    @ 3.86%
NGC $4,779.69 @ 4.66%
NGD $2,397.55 @ 4.66%
NGE $5,814.59 @ 4.29%
NGF $2,271.61 @ 4.29%
NGI $5,520.77 @ 4.45%

H1&2 $18,415 @ 5.00%

Total: $43,762.76


I am excited to knock these loans down significantly this year and look forward to tracking my progress with you all!

2/1/19:
NG Total: 25,145.92 @~4.20% (-$201.70)

H1&2 $17,415.14 @ 5.00% (-$1,000)

Total: $42.561.06 (-$1,201.70)


I am happy with my start to the year, I am still hopeful to be starting a new job with a significantly higher salary in the coming months! Nice job to everyone else, seems the year is off to a good start.

[zeli2033]

End of January Update

2/28/18: $63,221 [Starting Balance]
...
12/31/18: $36,419
1/15/19: $32,900
2/3/19: $30,351 (-2549)

Woohoo! Under the halfway point!

Unfortunately we owe quite a bit in taxes, which is a first for us. So instead of being able to pay these off in April, it looks like it will be the first half of May. It was a bummer to have to push the date out but that doesn't compare to how awesome it is to be able to cashflow significant and unexpected expenses when they come up. Would never have been in that position a couple of years ago.

[bbates728]

Hi everyone! Finally a thread that makes sense for me to contribute to :). Let's get these suckers paid off!

A little background: I am a 25yo CPA that moved to a HCOL last year and found MMM in July. Since then I have read the blog and made WAY too many spreadsheets. I am just now starting to make a foray into the forums. My wife and I have been frugal by nature throughout our marriage and have thrown money at these loans which started at $110-$120k but we didn't keep as good of track of them as we are now. These loans are entirely mine but my wife has no issue with working together to take them out. Her schooling was thankfully paid for by her parents. I have been out of school for a little over 2.5 years. Together we bring home roughly 97k after tax and 401k. We budget to put $4k to loans each month and put any surplus from our budgeting towards them as well (this month an extra $500!).

July '18: $70,870.81
Aug '18: $67,102.62
Sep '18: $63,319.24
Oct '18: $59,834.55

Goals:
Dec '18: $51,674
Dec '19: $4,712
Jan '20: $0

TLDR: Loans are stupid and we will get rid of them.

Let's keep the good times rolling. I moved across town in December so had less capital to use for loans to end the year. You will see that I recouped a large portion of those expenses in January and was able to right the ship plus a little extra.

 Note: I am changing my reporting method to show balance after each month's payments instead of the balance at the beginning of each month.

Nov '18: $55,479.02
Dec '18: $54,781.60
Jan '19: $43,620.29
Feb '19: $39,314.82

New goal Nov '19: $0

[brandon1827]

$130,000 in student loan debt between myself and my wife. Been making auto-draft minimum payments for a few years and plan to continue that most likely for all of this year and possibly into next year while we focus on paying off more high interest debt obligations. I think we can knock most of those out by the end of 2019; which would then allow us to begin making double, triple, or greater payments starting in 2020. Looking forward to watching everyone's progress...and dreaming about joining you in debt-free land sometime in the future.

[zeli2033]

Mid-February Update

End of January Update

2/28/18: $63,221 [Starting Balance]
...
12/31/18: $36,419
1/15/19: $32,900
2/3/19: $30,351
2/16/19: $27,889 (-2462)

This payment gets me down to 4 individual loans (originally was 14). Now I can just focus on throwing money at those - exciting!

[eightyeighttoone]

I'm in!

Starting Balance: $2,277

Goal: Paid off SOON!

I've been in a holding pattern since August while I focus on lowering our mortgage enough to eliminate our PMI. Kind of a strange order, but once I did the math, it made sense to focus on that before finishing off this lower interest, Perkins loan.

I've been posting to these threads since 2017, when my balance was around 70k. This community has been a great encouragement!

[catorbe]

I'm currently at $13,847.52. I graduated May 2015 with $29M on MGL, $1,800 on Perkins, and another ~$5M private loan. Total of ~36M. I knocked the Perkins loan out right away with what I had in savings and the first paycheck or two. After that I tackled the private loan due to interest rate. I'm working on the MGL loans and have them down to the 4.10% with just $628 to go on that. Then all that is left is 3.61% and 3.15% loans.

I'm currently paying $300 a month despite a graduated monthly requirement of just $168. I'm putting a few extra payments here and there, but want to get a little more serious about allocating the leftovers of each month towards it. Any bonus coming from work and any other extra cash inflows will be put towards student loans this year. I believe I have the cash flow to fully fund my Roth IRA as it is so this will become the priority. My plan is to do at least $6000 over the course of the year to get it below $7,500. Then 2020 I will be student loan free! Here we go!

[Lady SA]

I can join this thread! Yay! DH and I started in early 2014 with $150k SLs combined. We are now down to just under $7k! Not a typo :D Our loans will be vanquished in April 2019.

Starting in 2016, we started maxing our 401ks, HSA, and IRAs, and got our living expenses down to the point where we had an extra $900 per month left over on top of our min SL payments of $2300 per month. So we've been doing the avalanche debt method with $3200 total in payments per month for what seems like forever. This month we paid off the second-to-last loan, and just today I switched the monthly auto-payment for the very last small loan (at 4.6%) to the full $3200.

After the loans are done, that $38k per year is going directly to our brokerage account and the beginnings of a house downpayment.

[swearwolf]

Hey everyone, first time posting here, and I'm stoked about this challenge! I started reading MMM in November and the first thing I said to my hubby was, "We can burn this mother****ing student debt into the ground by the end of 2019." :)

We've been good about paying more than the minimum every month since 2015, but now it's time to get serious. If my math is right, we'll have saved about $17k over the life of the loans by paying them off this year, vs. if we had only made the minimum payment for 10 years!

Current balance: total of $30,476 for 8 loans at rates between 3.15% and 6.55%.

Payoff goal: December 2019.

The plan: $3300 a month (prioritizing the highest-interest loans first) and more when we can spare it.

We're both fairly recent high-salary tech workers, so the last couple of years have been a horrifying volcano of wasteful spending on things like meals and drinks out and impulse buys online with justifications like, "We can afford it now! It's only $50 and I make more than that in an hour. Plus, I deserve a treat!"

Now we're punching ourselves in the face for being pampered sissies and killing the debt once and for all!

[Money Beets]

Total Paid in January= $2,549.00
End January targeted loan balance = $3,921.21
End January total balance = $27,506.50

Total Paid in February = $1,740.51
End February targeted loan balance = $2,332.19
End February total balance = $25,862.64

Did not pay as much as I wanted towards the loans this month due to some upcoming medical and travel expenses.  However, I should be able to make up for this next month and finish off my last loan at over 6% interest!

[outdoorsyfreedom]

January Starting Balance: 58245.53
Min. Payment: 1178.77
Extra payment: 4821.79

January Ending Balance: 52244

February Payments:

Min. Payment: 1178.77
Extra Payment: 4276.39

February Ending balance: 46940.55

[Slow&Steady]

I did not join this thread at the beginning of the year because I started 2019 with a SL balance of less than $1500 and it would be paid off naturally by just the minimum payments around Sept/Oct BUT I got my bonus in and decided that I was tired of dragging that extra monthly payment around.  Come Monday I will be STUDENT LOAN DEBT FREE!!!

I graduated in 2006 with only $38k in student loans.  I paid off a $9k private loan quickly, I think around 2007 or 2008.  I then hung on to the federal portion for forever, paying off the unsubsidized loan in 2015 or 2016 and I just scheduled a payment from my bank to the SL company for Friday that will pay off the remaining balance on the subsidized portion!!  I had a horrendous interest rate, I do not suggest following my VERY slow path of paying these things off.

[catorbe]

As I'm fully contributing to an HSA, I decided to start drawing out my old HSA from previous employer (with saved receipts) as their investment plan wasn't very accommodating and my new HSA plan is essentially no fee ETFs for Vanguard funds and  comparable funds. With that said, I was able to put over $1500 towards my student loans this month. Some of that was already reported in my last post, but now we're down to $13,194.10

March 1st will start with my standard $300 dollar payment. And I should be getting a bonus or two in the next few weeks to supplement that payment!

[Metalcat]

My balance is 70-something K.

I literally don't even check it any more or think about it very much. Thanks to choosing the slow pay-off plan, we're able to make a significant property investment this year.

[Slow&Steady]

As I'm fully contributing to an HSA, I decided to start drawing out my old HSA from previous employer (with saved receipts) as their investment plan wasn't very accommodating and my new HSA plan is essentially no fee ETFs for Vanguard funds and  comparable funds. With that said, I was able to put over $1500 towards my student loans this month. Some of that was already reported in my last post, but now we're down to $13,194.10

March 1st will start with my standard $300 dollar payment. And I should be getting a bonus or two in the next few weeks to supplement that payment!

There is usually a fee, but you can rollover an old HSA to the new HSA company if you didn't want to continue drawing it down.

[catorbe]

There is usually a fee, but you can rollover an old HSA to the new HSA company if you didn't want to continue drawing it down.

The first account's balance is pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things so it will only take a few more dental/medical visits / purchases of glasses to take care of it.

[UnexpectedExpenseExpector]

2018
Jul: 34,235.29
Aug: 31,126.76
Sep: 30,670.30
Oct: 29,554.17
Nov: 26,987.46
Dec: 25,869.79

2019
Jan: 23,886.93
Feb: 21,695.55
...

2019 Jul: 0.00 (GOAL)[/b]

[haypug16]

February Update:
January 1st 2019 - $46,919.36
January 31st 2019 - $46,137.25
February 27th 2019 - $45,339.55 ($797.70 decrease)

2019 Goal 
$1,579.81/$10,800

chipping away :)

[appleseed]

I just paid off the first loan! 3 more to go, but I'm doing a happy dance and celebrating (quietly because everyone else is sleeping lol).

2nd loan - $1,194 - to be paid off in April

These last two are a lower interest (2.625), so I'll add the minimum I was paying to the other two loans to those payments, but diverting the extra payments to other higher interest debt and savings. We're still on track for paying off by the end of the year!!

$3,532
$3,086

Thanks for the motivation everyone!

[eightyeighttoone]

Well folks, I am happy to announce I no longer have student loans! It has been a great encouragement to check in here regularly over the past few years. Not really sure what's next economically-speaking for me. But it sure is nice to have these loans finished off.

Best wishes to everyone with their goals this year!

[zeli2033]

Well folks, I am happy to announce I no longer have student loans! It has been a great encouragement to check in here regularly over the past few years. Not really sure what's next economically-speaking for me. But it sure is nice to have these loans finished off.

Best wishes to everyone with their goals this year!

That is awesome. CONGRATULATIONS on accomplishing your goal!

[TyGuy]

Hello,

Thanks for starting this thread, I will be sharing my progress, hopefully paying off my loans by the middle of 2020 (depending on if I land a new job that I am currently interviewing for). Additionally, I will be making a minimum payment of $1000 a month (self-enforced minimum, actual is ~$350), adding whatever additional funds I have to the principle.

1/12/19:
NGA $3,751.61 @ 3.86%
NGB $811.80    @ 3.86%
NGC $4,779.69 @ 4.66%
NGD $2,397.55 @ 4.66%
NGE $5,814.59 @ 4.29%
NGF $2,271.61 @ 4.29%
NGI $5,520.77 @ 4.45%

H1&2 $18,415 @ 5.00%

Total: $43,762.76


I am excited to knock these loans down significantly this year and look forward to tracking my progress with you all!

2/1/19:
NG Total: 25,145.92 @~4.20% (-$201.70)

H1&2 $17,415.14 @ 5.00% (-$1,000)

Total: $42,561.06 (-$1,201.70)


I am happy with my start to the year, I am still hopeful to be starting a new job with a significantly higher salary in the coming months! Nice job to everyone else, seems the year is off to a good start.

3/4/19
NG Total: $24,956.86 (-$189.06)
H1&2: $16,464.79 (-$950.35)

Total: $41,418.69  (-$1,139.41)

[TyGuy]

Well folks, I am happy to announce I no longer have student loans! It has been a great encouragement to check in here regularly over the past few years. Not really sure what's next economically-speaking for me. But it sure is nice to have these loans finished off.

Best wishes to everyone with their goals this year!

Time to start building your stache! Exciting to see another person defeat their student loans, best of luck to you!

[zeli2033]

End of Feb update

2/28/18: $63,221 [Starting Balance]
...
12/31/18: $36,419
1/15/19: $32,900
2/3/19: $30,351
2/16/19: $27,889
3/5/19 $25,209 (-2680)

I'm feeling so motivated to crush these in the next couple of months. DH and I are both expecting a bonus, which should crush these by end of next month or early May at absolute latest. So excited to almost be debt free (despite still owing the amount of a new car...it feels so close!)

[imadandylion]

I was a participant in the 2018 thread. Here's my final update - I made my last payment the other day ($3015), so now I don't owe a cent to anyone. ;) So happy, and it's a month ahead of schedule!

[zeli2033]

I was a participant in the 2018 thread. Here's my final update - I made my last payment the other day ($3015), so now I don't owe a cent to anyone. ;) So happy, and it's a month ahead of schedule!

That’s awesome!!! Congratulations on being completely debt free, and earlier than anticipated to boot!

[bbates728]

July '18: $70,870.81
Aug '18: $67,102.62
Sep '18: $63,319.24
Oct '18: $59,834.55
Nov '18: $55,479.02
Dec '18: $54,781.60
Jan '19: $43,620.29
Feb '19: $39,314.82
Mar '19: $34,975.38

New goal Nov '19: $0

[marblejane]

Update- I received my annual bonus and paid off my remaining student loan balance. It felt very anti-climatic - hasn't really hit me that I'm done. I won't miss those payments though.

I'm killing the student loans this year....who's with me?

Current balance: $19,885.67 (variable rate, 4.68% and rising)

Background:
Graduated MBA program in 2013 with ~$160k in student loan debt (plus an underwater mortgage, and some credit card debt)
Found MMM a few months later, buckled down, maxed out the 401k, sold the house, paid off the credit cards, refi'd the student loans

Plan:
Make regular $865/mo payment, put 100% of any annual bonus (due to be paid in March) to loan balance, and cash flow the remaining amount.