Hello, my name is Matt. I am 36 years old and totally new to this forum. I'm from Colorado Springs, Colorado. I work full-time as a librarian at a college. It's been just a few years that I have taken an interest in personal finance. In fact, it wasn't too long ago that I started an emergency fund and not too long before that I didn't even know what an emergency fund was. So, I have some questions.
--I only have only 400 dollars in an emergency fund. I don't have credit card debt, but a ton of student loan debt ($70,400.00 roughly). I'm on the income based repayment plan where I pay about 100 dollars a month toward the loan. I would really love to get out of debt early, say in ten years or maybe even less than that. At the same time, this would cut back on my ability to build up the EF. What should I do first? Put extra toward the student loan or build up the EF?
--I would also like to be a full-time freelancer eventually, but I'm not sure if that kind of lifestyle would be suitable for me. I don't know if I could deal with the uncertainty of not having a regular paycheck. Does anyone recommend being a freelancer? What are the pros and cons of it?
Thanks.