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Are you in debt? Have you gotten out of debt? Share your stories!
Now that we're married, we're combining finances, and between my husband and I, we're around $78K in debt. (This includes everything except the house: so credit cards, cars, and student loans. Mostly student loans.) If we REALLY REALLY buckle down, we can be out of debt in about 3 years. We want a baby soon, so I think maybe 5 years is a more doable, but we'll TRY to do it in 3-4.
I have about $500 worth of credit card debt but that is all. I didn't finish college because of a health condition so I'm also making less than $12k a year. $500 is a hell of a lot of money for someone like me.
FI has no debt but is a freelance worker so his income is not steady.
just student loans and our house. no credit card debt, no car payments, etc. we pay for as much as possible with cash. that is how we stay out of debt. if you dont have the cash for it dont buy it...especially with cars. it amazes me how people are living pay check to pay check but have a nice car. seriously? We have a $2000 car and a LOT of money in the bank. I would much rather have all that money than a nice new car + steep monthly payments and the stress of financial problems.
with that said, before DH, I was in credit card debt because I spent money that I did not have. no other way around it. that is how you get debt...spending money you dont have. dont do that and you wont get into debt. oh, i got out of debt by not spending money I dont have and also by making the highest payment possible on my debt each month.
Good luck to you! I have a lot of student loans to pay off too :(
He has like $1700 in debt which is his car. I have about $19000 in debt between my student loans, my car and a credit card. We are hoping to knock out combined debt down to $18000 by the end of the summer but my SO may go back to being unemployed due to a government shut down so I'm not really positive that will happen. It's seriously getting rough around here.
@bestbuddies: Well I'm so sorry that I was unable to purchase a car completely with cash. Sometimes it is the choice between constantly putting money into a crappy car or purchasing a newer reliable car. I understand that is your opinion but there is no need make another feel poorly for having a nicer car. I drive a G6 which is by no means fancy but I needed it instead of my $500 car which wasn't even getting me to work.
Between the two of us we have about $65,000 of debt. All but $6000 from student loans. However, we have a plan to be out of debt or down to under $10,000 of debt in 5 years. And then debt free by 7 years at the latest. Much faster than many other people with that much. Lucky for us, I will have constistant income for the next 5 years and he will be working as well.
before my husband i had about $30K credit card debt - i was single and living a great life! i flew to the US (from australia) for 3 days to attend a wedding, i would fly to asia for the weekend and i would buy anything i wanted but when i met hubby and knowing how responsible he was i wanted that debt to be gone before we married - and it was (he lives a debt free life and can retire tomorrow). i threw every cent i had at it, no more going out at a drop of a hat, i packed my lunches, i even sold stuff that i no longer cared for/used (bonsai tools, clothing etc) and thankfully i received a good bonus that year and now i pay off my CC bill every month - i found it was quite addictive seeing the balances go down each month
@MsBrooklynA: I think she was more talking about people who buy the spankin' new model and go in debt just for status... I don't think it was meant as a swipe at anyone.
We are about $2000 in debt for my car payment, but I don't have much left. I have a deal with the state where I teach that if I teach for four more years, my student loans will be completely forgiven. If for whatever reason I cannot fulfill my contract, I'll be $15,000 in debt, which would totally suck!
I have about 18-20k in debt. That's car and student loans. I also have about 500 left in medical bills.
@MsBrooklynA - That is the boat we are in too. We didn't buy new cars or fancy cars, but we needed something reliable. Ours cars from college were on their last leg and we were putting more money into them than they were worth, so we got reasonably priced used cars, but couldn't pay cash at the time. (He got his car 4 years ago, I got mine 3 years ago, so they are almost paid off now and we plan to drive them until we can't any longer, we really don't care about fancy cares.)
I had about 20 thousand credit card debt pre marriage, and also loans for school of about 14 thousand.
I no longer have a credit card, have consolidated, and the balance is set to be paid off in under 2 years. I have learned to be much more financially responsible, as mu husband is a saver not a spender!
@eloping: I think I lived my life very, very much like you, and I won't pretend I did not enjoy it- but there is real pleasure in financial freedom hey!
I wish we didn't have debt, but we unfortunately have student loans.... mine will be right around $200K when I graduate in May :( Thankfully his degree was a lot less expensive. I'm not looking forward to the $2,000/month payments.
We plan on living off just my husband's income for about 2-3 years and hopefully pay it off during that time. We likely will delay buying our first home as well as having our first child until the majority of the loans are paid off (good incentives to pay them off quickly!)
Edit: Oh, and I'd like to point out that I had 2 years of college for free and scholarships for bascially the rest of undergrad. All of this was from professional school, and basically everyone I know has that much debt. There really aren't scholarships/GA positions, etc for the program I'm in :(
Student loans and my car. I wouldn't say we have any really bad debt. We have very few credit cards and carry 0 balances. We pay more than the minimum, but we'll be paying for a while since I had to finance my own way through undergrad and my master's. Our plan is to live off his income and funnel all my money onto the loans and into savings. We hope to have a down payment for a house in about 5 years.
@abbyful: We have student loans (mostly mine) that are substantial but could be worse, and I need to get a new car at the end of August...ugh. It's not ideal, but it doesn't feel unmanageable.
@Amaryllis: That's our plan as well in reverse. I'll work for one year and pay for everything and his entire salary will pay our student loans off. At least that's our goal.
I am completely ANTI-DEBT! I lived my whole life debt free. That meant going to a community college and paying-out-of-pocket because I was so hard-set on no debt. I am sooo happy I did! I have no students loans, credit debt, etc.
But my husband has nearly 60k in student loans, 13k in car loan, and had almost 10k in debt before we got married. We paid off almost all the credit debt, it's down to like $500 I think. But the student loans and car will take awhile. I justified the car because we needed something reliable.
So even thouh my hubby makes more than the average income in my town, it's paycheck to paychek living until we get all this debt cleared out. It really really sucks.
I am not in debt now but will have to take furnishure for our new unfurnished apartment on hire purchase...fridge, stove, dining room table, bed, washing mashine....so I guess we will have to commit to paying it off.
Combined we have less than $10,000 in debt and that includes our car (about $6500 left on the loan) and credit cards. I paid off my (very small) student loans a few years ago and FI never had any. We don't yet own our home.
The only debt we have is my student loans, and we are working on paying them off now. We don't owe on anything else, not our cars or our house. We don't buy anything we can't pay cash for. Our goal is to be completely debt free by June next year or earlier. At that point, we will start saving and investing money...
No debt between the two of us other than the mortgage which will likely be paid off before the end of the year!
Kudos to those debt free!
(Once we are out of debt, we will stay there!)
I wish I wouldn't have had so many student loans. I got scholarships, but I know I could have got more if I would have tried/applied for more. My college was funded entirely by scholarships and student loans, my parents didn't have the money to pay for my college.
After 7 years of school no student loans (bartending and missing out on a bunch of awesome university nights out!) we have zero debt aside from our mortgage . SO has a paid for company car and my SUV is paid for but 10 years old ! cant wait for a new one (or new to me) car :)
the US student loans sound scary - down here (australia) we have a thing called HECS so you get your degree and after you get a job and after you start earning $45K or more the employer begins to deduct a higher rate of tax to pay off your university bill.
starts at 4% of your gross income with the max being 8%. of course you can pay for uni as you go (works out cheaper actually) but not everyone has access to $30-$100K for this
He has about $9K in student loans and CC debt (all but about $900 is student loans) and I have about $500 in CC debt, so I'd say around $10K total, not including our mortgage. It's too scary to add that number into the mix! And SO drives an SUV, which we will be trading in for something more fuel efficient soon since he is commuting to work, so that will add to that a little bit.
I'm with @abbyful: on the car situation, too. Although I'd love to just drive the car I have till it dies, it gives me much more piece of mind to have a RELIABLE car and know I won't break down on the side of the road or something, so I'm okay with paying a little bit for something slightly newer.
We have no debt, but we do have a mortgage. No student loans, no credit cards, car was paid in cash and FI has a company truck that can be used for personal use also. We never buy stuff we can't afford and luckily FI is really good with budgeting and handling money. I on the other hand am not so good, but I'm learning!
@eloping: Our university tuition is soaring. My Fiance and I are currently attending. It's outrageous. It's going up 3-4x the cost of inflation YEARLY! Federal student loans don't cover all of it either. It's tripled in my state since 2004 when my FSIL who is 30 graduated (she has a very misguided notion of what college costs today, let alone in the future). It's something that bothers me and with no help from parents, I realize I can't do that to my (future) children.
P.S. @ Abbyful: I love Dave Ramsey. I don't necessarily agree with some of his personal beliefs but I do love how he's helped many people get debt free. People would be smart to check out one of his books from the library ;)
Debt, hmmmm........... well i think we have around 15 grand in debt, most of which are credit cards. We just bought our house last year, and didn't have credit cards, as soon as we bought the house they were knocking down the door to give us them. Also we needed furniture, etc....
So 29 years of debt in our home and around 15,000 in credit cards and a student loan.
Hoping after the BIG EVENT is over, we can pay some of this down. I am planning on any money we get from our wedding to sock onto the highest interest credit card.
A little bit at a time...........
We've been really lucky to have been debt free since the beginning of our relationship. We're huge savers and frugal by nature and we don't believe that anything is worth going into debt for. Good luck to the 2 of you! Sounds like you're determined to make it happen! :)
We have a little, but not much. Counting my car, loans, etc. we are at about $5,000?
We don't own a home yet, and are getting a new car in September, but mine will likely be paid off by then. So that number will climb. Sigh.
Between our two financed cars (ugh...), my student loans (bigger ugh) and a small amount of leftover credit card debt we're at about $46k. FI bought his sports car brand new before we started dating and has a quite a bit left on that. My previously reliable clunker just died a few months ago and I was caught needing something reliable for work. I ended up with a new-to-me-used-car with a loan attached. I don't have a ton of student loans compared to some, but they're still a large chunk too.
the only debt i have are my student loans [both undergrad and grad]. my car's paid off and i pay my credit cards off in full every month. the bf doesn't have any debt though we're planning on buying him a new car when he moves so he'll have that. and if he decides to go to grad school we'll have to add that. but so far, all the debt is mine.
I have around $19k in student loans. At the end of this year will probably be around $25k. NZD of course. Student loans are interest free at the moment as long as we stay in the country and the compulsory repayments are peanuts because it's just based on my income. We haven't bought a house and he bought his car with cash. So total couple debt is purely my student loan, which to be honest with his income wouldn't be too hard to have it paid off in a year or so.
I guess I've got it pretty good...
When we get married we will have about $450K in debt (student loans). I'm scared.
hmmm... we have 3000 in student loans left, a 5000 personal loan (wedding), 3000 in cc debt, 3000 left on my car, dh's car was paid in cash... and 48000 left on our house!! :) im hoping to pay off my car in a year and the cc, personal, and student loans within 2 years... and then in baby making time!!! :)
@socalmeli: Do you mind if I ask where you went to school? And I'm assuming you went to medical or law school?
Yeah, what's even more surprising is that I went to a CC for two years, worked my way through undergrad (state school) and came out with only about $15K in loans at graduation. FI had his undergrad paid for by his parents (thank god, he went to a private school!)
We are both in medical school, I have a half-tuition scholarship for all four years (!) and he worked during his year off and was able to pay for his first year with the money he saved. We're actually lucky - if we had both taken out full loans, it would be closer to $700K. We go to a private school in Cali for med school, but tuition is about the same as it would be at any school (aside from in-state tuition at a public school). The cost of med school is RIDICULOUS.
I don't consider student debt (in general) debt. It is usually at such a low rate that its almost doesnt register. At least mine is. I could pay it off, but why? I pay 1.25% on interest and I can earn more than that on conservative investing of the same cash. Makes no financial sense
I do have some loans (most of undergrad was paid through scholarships, grants etc) but what I earn with my degree is way more than with out my school name. I wanted an MBA, so I worked at the school I wanted it at and got that for free. Those degrees allow me to make a good income and I feel lucky, but I also planned for it.
Not including student loans, we have one car loan (out of two cars) for about 14K we bought last year. We pay over the amt to pay it off in about 3 years instead of the 5 to save the interest.
I guess technically we have about 1K on an interest free card we got to buy a new matress, but again, its free money to borrow, we could have bought the mattress, but that cash could be invested instead of spent. So we did and are paying off the CC interest free and still earning savings interest. We make money on that deal
Debt is not always bad. Too much debt and ill-thought debt is bad.
@lefeymw: My Fiance and I pay 6.8% on our federal student loans. The rates on those went up too :(
@beekiss: I am guessing that is a newer loan? I don't know anyone with a rate like that, even my younger sister, but she is now 26.
I know laws changed, but can you consolidate? That is how mine ended up so low. It started at about 8%
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