199: Is It Worth $500,000+ In Student Debt for Higher Paying Careers?

BiggerPockets Money Podcast

BiggerPockets

Education, Investing, Business

4.5 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 24 May 2021

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The average American takes a long time to pay off debt, especially student loan debt. These amounts can vary, some people have a few thousand in student loan debt, others have tens of thousands, but what about $521,741 in student debt? Would you be able to pay off over half a million dollars in student loans, all while trying to buy a house and regularly invest? This is exactly what Ty from Debt Ascent did, and he did it quite successfully. Ty is an engineer and his wife is a dentist, so they both are in high-income careers with advanced degrees. Ty makes the argument that their degrees are a good investment, as they’ve been able to make $400,000+ as a couple, years after finishing school. This is a very high income, and with smart money management (as you’ll hear in the show), the high debt can be easily argued as being worth it. You’ll also hear from Ty on the importance of tracking your spending (something both Mindy and Scott have been fans of for a long, long time). Tracking the spending for Ty and his wife made it simple and easy for them to live off of one income alone, while dedicating the other income completely towards paying off debt and setting up other income streams. As of now, they are debt-free, with another $500,000+ in assets! Talk about financial efficiency! In This Episode We Cover When student debt is (and isn’t) worth it for a future career Why it’s harder for lower-income households to pay off debt The importance of tracking your spending (via YNAB or manual tracking) Paying for your future self, your current self, and your past self Staying away from the “two-income trap” And So Much More! Links from the Show BiggerPockets Money Facebook Group BiggerPockets Forums Finance Review Guest Onboarding Scott's Instagram Mindy's Twitter Mr. Money Mustache YNAB BiggerPockets Money Podcast 106 with Megan Gorman BiggerPockets Money Podcast 20 with JL Collins Debt Ascent Net Worth Check the full show notes here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/moneyshow199 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, today's episode was recorded in February of 2020 and originally scheduled for
0:05.9	release at the end of March 2020. The story we share today is of massive but purposeful,
0:12.4	debt accumulation and the subsequent debt payoff after graduation.
0:17.4	Scott and I didn't feel that last March was the right time to share this story,
0:21.2	but we do still really like the lessons the debt essence story can teach and feel that there are
0:26.3	some great takeaways. So without further ado, here is the rise and fall of a mountain of student
0:32.4	loan debt as told by debt ascent. Welcome to the Bigger Pockets Money Podcast, show number
0:37.9	199 where we interview debt ascent and hear his story of massive debt payoff.
0:44.4	I don't want to minimize the impact of having a lot of debt, whether that in our cases over half
0:49.8	a million or for someone else, it's 40,000. You know, you really should do everything,
0:54.6	you can to minimize it, but the counterpoint to that is if you do find yourself in this situation,
1:01.9	maybe kind of block out all the people that tell you all the reasons why you can't make progress
1:06.8	and why it is such a problem and just figure out voices out there that are going to be helpful
1:11.6	for you and then maybe give you some guidance and or encouragement like, hey, you can do this.
1:18.6	This isn't the end of the world, you are going to be okay.
1:20.7	Hello, hello, hello, my name is Mindy Jensen and with me as always is my intrepid cohost, Scott
1:26.0	Trunch. I love how you're always exploring new ways to describe your Mindy. Thank you.
1:32.2	Scott and I are here to make financial independence less scary, less just for somebody else.
1:36.9	To introduce you to every money story because we truly believe that financial freedom is
1:41.1	attainable for everyone, no matter when or where you're starting. That's right, whether you
1:45.4	want to retire early and travel the world, go on to make big-time investments in assets like
1:48.9	real estate or simply sail around the world for a year or two. We'll help you get money
	...

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