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Originally posted by Capitalizt What interest rate are you paying on the student loans? If you use that money to buy stock, even if you don't lose money, don't forget that taxes are going to take a another 20% chunk from your return. You need to weigh what you realistically think you can make after taxes/commissions in stocks against the guaranteed 6%+ return you get for paying down debt. The dollar amount of those student loans may seem insurmountable now, but every penny you reduce them by has a huge impact over the long run. The power of compound interest works in reverse too.

My methodology is...always pay yourself first even if you have debt.

It will take me years to pay my student loans. I can't wait years and not take advantage of the time value of money. I'm waiting until I get my degree to start paying the student loans down.

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Originally posted by Krypton My methodology is...always pay yourself first even if you have debt. It will take me years to pay my student loans. I can't wait years and not take advantage of the time value of money. I'm waiting until I get my degree to start paying the student loans down.

Yes, true, pay yourself first!

It's a balancing game as to how much though and that will depend on your budgeting.

Student debt is a bitch and fortunately I haven't had to endure it.
Even if you can afford to put an extra $50-100 down on a payment you'd be surprised (or not) how many payments it kills at the end of the payment schedule.

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"...End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path...one that we all must take.
The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all change to silver glass...and then you see it...
...white shores...and beyond...the far green country under a swift sunrise."

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Originally posted by Krypton My methodology is...always pay yourself first even if you have debt. It will take me years to pay my student loans. I can't wait years and not take advantage of the time value of money. I'm waiting until I get my degree to start paying the student loans down.

the time value of money is simply the interest you can earn on your money. if the interest you earn is less than the interest you pay, you lose. simple as that.

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Originally posted by jerZ07002 the only way that would work is if the blood was sold as insurance prior to its actual need. then you would need some sort of rapid deployment system. it all seems too expensive for too small potential market.

Yeah, it would be like an insurance policy - you'd sent over a liter of your blood to a central location in whatever country you're headed to and it would be there for safekeeping for the duration of your trip. It's hypothetical, but I think the kinks could be worked out.

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Originally posted by Fir3start3r Student debt is a bitch and fortunately I haven't had to endure it.

You lucky bastad!

My debt interest will never be higher than my investment returns. Not saying I will always be this good, but my investments so far have made an average 40-50% return in 1 year. My debt interest is below 10% except for my credit cards which I will soon pay 100% off. I fully expect my net interest to be positive.

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Krypt...If you paid off all of your debts tomorrow and owed $0.00, would you walk into a bank and take out another student loan to buy stocks?

That is essentially what you are doing.

And don't forget..with stocks, past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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Originally posted by Capitalizt Krypt...If you paid off all of your debts tomorrow and owed $0.00, would you walk into a bank and take out another student loan to buy stocks? That is essentially what you are doing. And don't forget..with stocks, past performance is no guarantee of future results.

leverage can be your best friend. while i certainly wouldn't do what krypton is doing, if he can sustain a ROI > student loan interest, then it's not a bad move. obviously, there's no guarantee, and that's why i wouldn't do it myself - I'm pretty risk adverse when it comes to financing my life with 200K of student debt.

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Originally posted by jerZ07002 leverage can be your best friend.

And it can also be your worst enemy.

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Originally posted by Shakka And it can also be your worst enemy.

absolutely. knowing how to use it makes people fabulously wealthy