I love to hear stories of people dealing with student loans and deciding to pay them off quickly. And I really love it when they go so far as to start saving for their own children’s college… even grandchildren’s college.
Roger wrote this on a LinkedIn article I published about student loans and how they are marketed as something every student has to have:
“I absolutely have a problem with it! As a student, I was fortunate to have both scholarships and a part-time job to help. I graduated, married, with #2 child on the way and three job offers to begin my career, AND NO DEBT. However, all of my five children incurred some debt to complete their college and I incurred too much debt to help them have less. Ouch! Living under the debtor is SLAVE to the lender truth, our family waged the war to get out of that debt.
I now encourage my children to save for college for my grandchildren and I am now saving some for the grandchildren to hopefully change our family tree to have our grandchildren graduate debt free. Any method that makes it EASIER to borrow and EASIER to not get paid back quickly is a disservice to the next generation.
As a taxpayer, YUCK, I want the government out of my life and my children and grandchildren’s life. I DON’T want them depending on government for anything, especially being in DEBT to them. The erroneous belief that someone else should pay for it, IE forgive the debt after 20 years, is no way to build up financial independence of our Professionals and Entrepreneurs of the future!”
You’ve got to love his spirit and determination.
Here’s my response to Roger’s comment:
“I agree Roger. You made the case perfectly. Nobody considers the implications of the government encouraging all this debt, and under the new Pay As You Earn plan, encouraging super low monthly payments and staying in debt for 20+ years. Staying in debt and teaching young people to spend more of their income kills their ability to save for their own children.
The government is teaching young people the opposite of financial intelligence. They are teaching financial illiteracy. They are teaching government dependence in the name of education.
It’s already hard enough to save money. Encouraging a person to stay in debt for 20+ years makes it next to impossible. This is one of the best reasons to go “gazelle intense” as Dave Ramsey says and sacrifice after school so a person gets the loans out of their life.
“Education” and the word “debt” don’t really go together. If a person does mix them, they are wise to get rid of the debt quickly. That way their educations can be used to build a better life for themselves and their family. That way they can become strong financially.
I have a huge amount of respect for the approach you are taking Roger. You rock!”
Great story that I hope you will consider making a part of how you deal with, and payoff, your student loans. Family trees are changed one person at a time.
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