In 2009 I made the
decision to pursue my education at my dream school. Of course, the school I adored couldn’t be an
in-state public school. That would have
been too easy. Instead, I had to fall in
love with one of the most expensive private schools in the country. Even though I received a scholarship that
covered a good portion of the cost and my parents were so generous and paid for
most my schooling, I still came out with loans totaling almost $30,000.
This is somewhere around
the average for new graduates, but it doesn’t feel any less daunting.
Because of this debt
(which I hate), I decided to accept a job offer in my hometown and move back in
with my parents. About three times a
day, I think about moving out and getting my own place, but I start to break
down the finances and I really like the idea of contributing $1000+ to my loans
every month, something that almost certainly would go away if I lived on my
own.
To give a breakdown of my
progress thus far:
·
June:
o
Assets: $5,000.00
o
Liabilities: $(29,885.20)
o
Net Worth: $(24,885.20)
You can see why this was
such a bummer. Who wants to have a
negative net worth? Nobody!
·
July:
o
Assets: $5,000.00
o
Liabilities: $(29,715.54)
o
Net Worth: $(24,715.54)
o
Bottom
line: + $169.66
While it doesn’t really
appear that my financial situation has changed, it totally has! I started my first full-time job in June and
was able to finally make a payment on my loans!
It’s such a great feeling to see the amount of debt I have go down!
·
August:
o
Assets: $5,300.00
o
Liabilities: $(29,244.96)
o
Net Worth: $(23,944.96)
o
Bottom
Line: + $940.24
This was the first month
I was able to contribute to my emergency fund and the first month I made a
reasonable impact on my debt. I went up
almost a thousand dollars – a great feeling!
·
September:
o
Assets: $5,923.02
o
Liabilities: $(28,771.81)
o
Net Worth: $(22,848.79)
o
Bottom
line: + $1,096.17
September was an awesome
month! I built up my net worth by more
than a thousand dollars. This was the
result of four things: 1) Paying off
student loan debt ($600 – almost double the minimum payment once I’m required
to start paying back!), 2) Contributing to my emergency savings fund, 3)
Opening and contributing to my Roth IRA, and 4) Contributing to my work’s 401k
plan.
I really like saving,
but, for me, it doesn’t feel quite as good as paying down my debt. I decided to really buckle down and get
really frugal to start paying down my loans even faster!
·
October:
o
Assets: $6,870.76
o
Liabilities: $(27,627.16)
o
Net Worth: $(20,756.40)
o
Bottom
line: + $2,092.39
Wow! I gained more than two thousand dollars! October was a great month. I put a ton of money toward my loan ($1,299.45)
and added a bunch more to my various savings accounts (emergency, Roth IRA and
401k). All of these finances are getting
me pretty excited for the end of November’s net worth. November is an extra paycheck month for me,
so I bet I’ll really see the savings come through! I’m hoping to match (and even exceed!)
October’s gain! Do you think I can get
my net worth to be more than -$20,000 and contribute $2,000 to my loans? I definitely think it’s a possibility.
·
November GOALS:
o
Contribute $2,000 to my loans
o
Achieve a net worth of $(20,000.00)
