The new year is finally upon us. Indeed, many law firms are now buzzing with activity as attorneys get back to work after the holiday slowdown. Now that everyone has returned from holiday breaks, numerous legal professionals are setting goals for the year ahead. Indeed, I am sure that many people reading this article have already thought of professional and personal New Year’s resolutions.
While considering your New Year’s resolutions, it might be worthwhile to set some objectives concerning your student debt. Student loans are an important part of one’s life, and with a goal in mind, anyone can make a massive impact on their student debt. This article includes some new year’s resolutions that can help anyone achieve student loan success in 2018.
One of the most important New Year’s resolutions you can make concerning your student loans is to devote more money every month to your debt. It is easy to simply make the minimum payment on your student loans each month, since it is difficult to part with your well-earned money. Indeed, I see many attorneys in my life who, despite making mountains of money in Biglaw and through other pursuits, simply pay the minimum amount to their student loans every month.
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Although there are certain kinds of people who might benefit from paying the smallest amount possible in student loans, most individuals will benefit greatly from devoting additional money each month to student debt. Indeed, paying off student loans early will decrease the amount of interest you pay over the life of the debt, enable you to take on different types of loans, and will otherwise be beneficial to most borrowers.
Although people have vastly different financial situations, everyone can commit to devoting more cash each month toward student debt. If you can pay an additional few hundred dollars or more to your student debt each month, you will have a huge impact on your student loans over the life of the debt. You will also save an unbelievable amount in interest payments. This new year, commit yourself to devoting more cash each month to your student debt, and ensure that you stay true to your objective throughout the year. Like all good New Year’s resolutions, this goal will require sacrifice, but the benefits will be well worth it.
Another worthwhile New Year’s resolution for your student loans is to give up something in your life that wastes money which can be devoted to student debt. The new year is the perfect time to take stock of what is important to spend money on and what can be cut so that more cash can be devoted to student loans. During my own student debt repayment saga, I made cutting costs my New Year’s resolution one year, and I decided that I was spending too much money going out. It is insane how expensive food and drinks can be in the New York City area, and I mostly cut this expense from my life from that point until the end of my student loan repayment saga. I literally saved thousands of dollars by minimizing expenses when going out, and I used all of this saved money to pay down student debt.
I am not suggesting that everyone should be as anti-social as I was, and there are a number of other expenses that can be excised from our lives so that additional money can be devoted to student debt. Many of my friends have “cut the cord” and do not spend money on traditional cable television. There are a number of online streaming services available to fill the entertainment gap, and you can save hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year by cutting this expense. In addition, I know a lot of people who have saved money by ditching cars that they previously owned or leased. If you live in an urban area, you can likely use ride-sharing services to replace a car, and having this “money pit” gone from your life will free up resources that can be used to pay down student loans. All told, there are many unnecessary expenses we all have in our daily lives, and one New Year’s resolution can be to eliminate these costs to devote more money to student debt.
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The new year is also the perfect time to contemplate career decisions. In the new year, you could pursue more lucrative job opportunities, so you can make more money to pay off student loans. Even if you work several side-hustles, your primary job will be the main source of income you have to pay down student loans. If you are not satisfied with the raise or bonus you received from your employer, you could look for more money elsewhere. Indeed, the improving economy means that there are new, potentially more lucrative opportunities available that might not have existed in prior years. This new year, consider whether an employment change is right for you, since any increase in salary can be used to pay down your student loans.
All told, during the season in which many people are making New Year’s resolutions, you can also set personal goals concerning your student loans. Setting such objectives will ensure you are in the best position to achieve student loan success in the new year.
Jordan Rothman is the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a personal finance website discussing how he paid off all $197,890.20 of his college and law school student loans over 46 months of his late 20s. You can reach him at [email protected].