Thank you Navient for sponsoring this post.
Last year I had lunch with a friend of mine whose daughter was beginning her freshman year of college. My friend was so excited, telling me all about the activities and classes her daughter is enrolled in. But as she spoke, she expressed some concern about the accruing student loans. We spent time talking about how to manage and effectively pay off student loans. My friend was relieved to learn what I’d experienced and I was happy to be able to ease her worries.
I know firsthand what it is like to deal with student loans. Not only to take student loans out, but to work hard to stay on top of paying them back. My husband took out loans to go to law school, and it was the best decision he could have made.
In the beginning it was tough to make the decision to take out a loan for a large sum of money. But it made sense for us because we knew how important higher education was to our future and our family. He was able to not only put himself through school, but also to start his own law firm. That firm has now been successful for over 15 years, allowing our family many different opportunities that most likely would not have happened without the loan and the higher education.
In fact, the loan that my husband used for law school indirectly helped me start my own business as well. We have the ability to do what we want now, thanks to his career, so I ended up starting my own small business. I’ve now been successful with my small business for over 7 years and love being my own boss. Starting my business would not have been possible without the freedom that his education and career gave us. Together we were able to pay the balance down with extra payments as often as we could to get the loan paid off early.
Looking back I see now that repaying his loans also taught us great habits for budgeting and prioritizing our bills. We challenged ourselves to see how quickly we could pay the loans down simply by making small budget changes. It almost became a game in those early years to see who could save more. Simple changes like choosing to cook at home instead of going out allowed us to put the difference toward loans. Now that the loans are paid off, we use those great habits to pay more fun expenses like family vacations!
How to Pay Off Student Loans – Free Tools and Tips
Navient wants to help take the fear away from student loans by offering free tools and money saving tips to help you repay your student loans. You’ll learn important tips about how to pay off the higher interest loans first to save money in the long run. Navient also advises that you stay in contact with your loan servicer to learn additional strategies based on specific needs.
I was glad I was able to give some peace of mind to my friend whose daughter was making some big choices about her future. She was excited that there are resources like Navient to help people manage and pay off student loan debt. My husband and I believe that higher education can lead to a more successful life. Student loans are often part of that success and it’s important to manage them in the best way possible.
Learn more about how to pay off student loans from Navient.
Thank you again to Navient for sponsoring this post. All content and opinions expressed here are all my own.