My dad had a saying when he saw someone do something stupid. He would say “Use your head for something besides a hat rack.” (That someone was usually me.) It was his way of saying “Come on. You’ve got a brain. You’ve got a head on your shoulders. Use it to make better decisions.”
In your case, you went to school and sacrificed a portion of your life to get a college education. You are the proud owner of a “higher education”.
You also have student loans that paid for that education.
Now the big question is how are you going to handle your student loans? Another way to look at the question is to ask “How should an educated person handle their student loans”? Or the related question might be “How should a mature person handle their student loans”?
One way I like to look at important questions or challenges is to ask the opposite question. “How would an un-educated person handle their student loans?” Or “How would an immature person handle their student loans?”
Would they sacrifice, keep their expenses and their lifestyle down, and start paying down their loans as quickly as possible? Or would they fall for the old “used car salesmen” pitch that a low monthly payment is smart? That a small monthly payment helps you “afford” your student loans?
Are they going to become a “good little consumer” and start using their new income to “stimulate the economy”? Buy a new car with debt? Get on with becoming a part of the “middle class”? Go on a great vacation? Buy a nice house?
Why not they say, “You only live once”.
I encourage you to engage your brain now that you have an education (a nicer way of saying use your head for something besides a hat rack). Use that knowledge wisely and don’t fall for what appears on the surface as the easy way to “manage” your student loans.
You don’t want to be ten years out of school and have made a combined $300,000 to $750,000 (or more) over the years and still have your student loans hanging around your neck. It will make you throw up.
Just think how proud you will feel inside when you have your college education paid for once and for all. No more student loans. Only the sense of pride and accomplishment of getting your education… and paying for it too.
That’s a super cool feeling. That’s using your head!
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