Hi,
I just found mmm this weekend, but the website and the forum have helped crystallize some thoughts I've been having. My goal is to pay off my $125,921.51 of student debt by the end of 2015. I've been paying for a couple of years, including some extra payments, but the principal due has only decreased slightly in that time... I'm getting married in May, and i want the focus of our new life together to be on building wealth, having kids, and reaching financial independence.
My fiancee agrees that paying off these loans should be our focus since the interest rates are much higher than her mortgage debt and much higher than most investment options we have where we live in Singapore. She has a mortgage on a house in a 3rd country that we (An American and 3rd country citizen) will turn our focus to, in addition to building our assets, after the student loans are paid.
Details below (it's painful):
$8,764.24 @ 7.65%
$34,321.56 @ 7.65%
$8,328.24 @ 6.55%
$8,328.24 @ 6.55%
$4,164.08 @ 6.55%
$15,331.67 @ 6.55%
$14,416.78 @ 6.55%
$4,681.27 @ 6.55%
$7,435.03 @ 5.00%
$4,465.42 @ 5.00%
$8,861.14 @ 4.50%
Total: $125,921.51 @ 6.64% Average Rate
I have a couple of separate loans from family members for nearly $15,000 at much lower interest rates, but I have accelerated pay-off schedules in mind for these as well, and am considering paying these this year to remove any potential family friction.
My fiancee has some cash lying around and has agreed to use a substantial portion of it to attack my student debt. We are also planning on paying more than half of our combined income to payoff the debt as soon as possible.
My target for payoff is:
$60,000 by year-end 2014, bringing the principle down to $65,921.51
Complete payoff of $125,921.51 by year-end 2015, 21 months from today.
The payoff schedule is not as ambitious as it could be as we have already gone a long way planning our wedding (in pre-MMM days), and there will be some non-insignificant costs associated (more than 10k...I know, I know, the facepunch is coming...). Depending on some factors, accelerated payoff might be possible, but I think that end-2015 is an attainable goal. Cost-cutting is necessary, but some costs like thousands of dollars to fly home to see our families are off the table.
PS - if anyone is in Singapore it'd be great to talk. Singapore is an extremely anti-mustachian city.