Paid off my student loans today

No longer in debt. The payment hurt but it'll be nice to have that extra money each month.

What's my next step? If you had loans what was your next step after they were paid off?

Sounds like the next step should be hookers and blow. Congrats.

Take every dime you still have to the casino and win that loan money back

Invest. Don't be a poor.

Stoops21 wrote:No longer in debt. The payment hurt but it'll be nice to have that extra money each month.

What's my next step? If you had loans what was your next step after they were paid off?

Pay this creditor as much or more per month. Stoops. Add 50 bucks too.

Thank me in 25 years from now when I'm dead.

Stoops21 wrote:No longer in debt. The payment hurt but it'll be nice to have that extra money each month.

What's my next step? If you had loans what was your next step after they were paid off?

Keep making the payment to yourself. Forget about having that "extra" money. Stick it into an index fund.

Congrats man! That's an awesome accomplishment.

While I paid mine off 2 years ago, we will never pay off my husbands student loans. So I can't respond with what to do. Husband owes 250k and we've been paying on it for 5/6 years and have never touched the principal. We are on income based payments and will get the rest "forgived" in 20 years. Except that amount is taxable income so we're forever fucked.

Thanks for the input everyone. Would you all suggest contributing more the my employers 401k? Or starting my own personal account? Any good companies to look into?

Make yourself a creditor. Invest in a index fund. Dollar cost average. Profit.

Stoops21 wrote:Thanks for the input everyone. Would you all suggest contributing more the my employers 401k? Or starting my own personal account? Any good companies to look into?

401k is a no brainer, especially if they match. Even if they don't you'll still be able to take it with to your next job.

[quote="Stoops21"]

What's my next step? /quote]

Get another degree

You can pay mine ?

Floyd Robertson wrote:Sounds like the next step should be hookers and blow. Congrats.

Damn it. I was just going to post this.

Lost touch with a college roommate years ago. Got a letter from him about 10 years ago...he had sent one to all addresses he found. Lives in Northern CA and we've been talking a couple times a week ever since.

Interesting dude. Very smart and determined despite not having a great GPA when he graduated. After we caught up on the different directions our lives had taken he said something I'll never forget..."I always wanted to be the bank of [insert name]".

Didn't get married until his early 40's. No kids. Worth 10 figures. He made most of it happen buying and renovating properties and then renting them.

The Pantry wrote:Lost touch with a college roommate years ago. Got a letter from him about 10 years ago...he had sent one to all addresses he found. Lives in Northern CA and we've been talking a couple times a week ever since.

Interesting dude. Very smart and determined despite not having a great GPA when he graduated. After we caught up on the different directions our lives had taken he said something I'll never forget..."I always wanted to be the bank of [insert name]".

Didn't get married until his early 40's. No kids. Worth 10 figures. He made most of it happen buying and renovating properties and then renting them.

Does he have a show on HGTV?

Stoops21 wrote:Thanks for the input everyone. Would you all suggest contributing more the my employers 401k? Or starting my own personal account? Any good companies to look into?

As Floyd Robertson said, if you have a 401K employer match that you are not taking advantage of, do that first.

I would definitely max out Roth IRA contributions before contributing unmatched to a 401K though.  Especially if you 401K investment options suck, and most do.

Stoops21 wrote:Thanks for the input everyone. Would you all suggest contributing more the my employers 401k? Or starting my own personal account? Any good companies to look into?

Depends on your goals (retirement planning should be a main goal and the sooner the better). Too many questions that need to be answered before someone can give you investment advice. My advice, get a financial planner, someone that is not tied to a specific bank or funds and go see them. I would not invest yourself unless you know what you are doing.  I'm sure there are some brainiacs out there that know the market, but not I.

pulling69 wrote:

The Pantry wrote:Lost touch with a college roommate years ago. Got a letter from him about 10 years ago...he had sent one to all addresses he found. Lives in Northern CA and we've been talking a couple times a week ever since.

Interesting dude. Very smart and determined despite not having a great GPA when he graduated. After we caught up on the different directions our lives had taken he said something I'll never forget..."I always wanted to be the bank of [insert name]".

Didn't get married until his early 40's. No kids. Worth 10 figures. He made most of it happen buying and renovating properties and then renting them.

Does he have a show on HGTV?

No, but he married a radiologist.

Man, you guys are depressing me. I guess I'm lucky that I didn't have any college debt, and I made it a priority that my kids wouldn't either.

Nordic wrote:

Stoops21 wrote:Thanks for the input everyone. Would you all suggest contributing more the my employers 401k? Or starting my own personal account? Any good companies to look into?

Depends on your goals (retirement planning should be a main goal and the sooner the better). Too many questions that need to be answered before someone can give you investment advice. My advice, get a financial planner, someone that is not tied to a specific bank or funds and go see them. I would not invest yourself unless you know what you are doing.  I'm sure there are some brainiacs out there that know the market, but not I.  

Get a job that offers a matching 401k. At the bare minimum put in enough of your own money to max out the company match. Diversify your portfolio. You want a healthy amount of what you invest in the international market, like 20%-40%.

Stay away from loaded funds. Those are commissioned funds. They take out a percentage just for buying the funds. That doesn't include management fees and expense ratios. Do some investigation on these fees. They can really be an anchor on your account.

Some companies offer retirement age targeted funds. These are an option if you want to keep things simple. They typically start out aggressive and start changing over to bonds the closer you get to retirement age.