Would you rather have a higher income but lots of debt or lower income but no debt at all? (old, national)
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I am a single parent to a 7 yr old who recently paid off all my student loans. I started this in 2016 and paid a total of 20,000 on a low income. I currently make only 36,000 a year and recieve very little C.S., maybe 200 dollars a month. The only debt I have now is my car which I owe about 4,000 dollars. While I don't discuss my financial details with a lot of people, I have a friend who is in her 40s and she makes about 60 K a year is married and has one child, but tells me how I am lucky because I don't have student loan debt and that she would probably be paying hers well until her 60's. I could not quite understand the correlation because if I made what she made and had the luxury of a 2 income household I would take my money and
kill off all of my debt. I always thought people who made 60 or 70k did very well and had tons of money left over. How is it possible for a high earner to live paycheck to paycheck and not pay off their debt?
I always thought people who made 60 or 70k did very well and had tons of money left over. How is it possible for a high earner to live paycheck to paycheck and not pay off their debt?
because you think debt is bad...?
why "should" they have no debt if they have no problem paying it off? having the debt has no negative impact on their lives
for most people. debt is a form of leverage, it is a good thing
only people who does poorly with debt are the ones who over leveraged themselves, either thinking college would give them a job more than they learned to do, or buying too high of a price think I their jobs are going to give promotions and raises
Her student loans could easily be triple yours, her husband could have them as well, a mortgage, car loans (possibly multiple), credit card debt, medical bills, utilities, etc. Many things, both good and bad debt, could come into play.
But big kudos to you for paying off that debt so quickly. That's impressive and must have taken a lot of sacrifice, so good job.
Glad you met your goal to lessen the financial burden that comes with borrowing. Sounds reasonable to now look forward to an improvement in saving . Glad your child will learn good saving habits. A penny saved.
for most people. debt is a form of leverage, it is a good thing
if I recall, didn't seem that way during the recession and people were losing their jobs, homes, cars.....better have an extremely secure job if you live a life of being debt-ridden, imo.
Personally speaking, the latter. If I have more money and accumulated more debt, then I personally would accumulate more and more debt. I would personally be drowing in debt. However, since I have made more money, i got rid of my debt, except for my mortgage.
Personally speaking, the latter. If I have more money and accumulated more debt, then I personally would accumulate more and more debt. I would personally be drowing in debt. However, since I have made more money, i got rid of my debt, except for my mortgage.
oddly sounds like our gov'ts budget plan, doesn't it?
As to the question posed in the thread title, If it's really that binary a hypothetical choice, lower income/no debt (assuming, of course, that "lower income" still entails "being able to meet basic needs").
Reason being that I started out professionally making pretty little (very "dues-paying" culture in the field), and I know how to make that work. Debt hanging over my head causes me more stress than frugal living does.
As to the actual content of the OP, her not having her student loan paid off is continent upon a lot of other big financial picture info.
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