We Paid Off $500K in Debt: Now We’re on Track to Retire (Early) in Our 50s

BiggerPockets Money Podcast

BiggerPockets

Investing, Education, Business

4.6 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 25 April 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Fear that early retirement is out of the question because you have too much debt? It’s not game over. Whether you’re debt-free or still chipping away at your student loans, today’s guests are proof that FIRE is never too far out of reach—even if you’ve got half a million dollars in debt! Welcome back to the BiggerPockets Money podcast! Amirra and Mazi Condelee’s first date was an all-timer. While many consider personal finance a taboo topic, they cut right to the money talk—specifically, debt. And it was a good thing they did because they’ve racked up a combined $500,000 in student debt. Most would assume this spells doom for financial independence, but Amirra and Mazi knew they could pay it off by increasing their income, cutting costs, and staying disciplined. In just five years, they’ve snowballed out of student loan debt and toward their long-term goal—retiring in their 50s. Now that this power couple is nearly debt-free, they’re focused on saving for retirement. Tune in to learn what they still need to do to reach their (high) FIRE number, why they refuse to downsize their dreams, and how they plan to spend their retirement! In This Episode We Cover How Amirra and Mazi crushed $500,000 in student loan debt in just five years Best practices for paying off debt and fast-tracking financial independence How to determine whether your FIRE number is too high (or low!) The money conversations you and your partner NEED to have How to “travel hack” your way to FREE vacations (without spending more) And So Much More! Check out more resources from this show on BiggerPockets.com and https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/money-634 Interested in learning more about today’s sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Imagine being asked on a first date how much student loan debt you have while still trying to make a good impression over dinner.
0:08.3	For our guests, this unexpected question became the catalyst for a complete financial transformation.
0:14.6	What would you do if you suddenly realized you were about to graduate with $275,000 in student loan debt and your future spouse was bringing
0:23.1	an additional $230,000 into the mix.
0:26.7	Most couples might panic or avoid the topic altogether, but our guests took a different approach.
0:32.7	Together they developed a strategy that eliminated over half a million dollars in student
0:36.8	loan debt in just five years.
0:44.7	Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to the Bigger Pockets Money podcast. My name is Mindy Jensen.
0:49.2	And as Scott is out on paternity leave, Amanda Wolf is stepping in and filling his shoes. Amanda,
0:54.7	thanks so much for joining me today. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here. Give Scott a little
0:58.6	rest. Yes. Bigger Pockets has a goal of creating one million millionaires. You are in the right place
1:03.8	if you want to get your financial house in order because we truly believe financial freedom
1:07.6	is attainable for everyone, no matter when or where you're starting. Today,
1:11.6	we're joined by Amira and her husband, Mazi, and I am so excited to hear more about their money
1:15.6	story today. Hello, hello, hello, and thanks for being here. Hi, thank you so much for having us.
1:20.8	We are pumped to do this episode together. So excited. Okay, I want to know which one of you
1:26.6	asked the other one about the student loan debt on the first date.
1:30.3	That was me.
1:31.3	I was the one who brought that conversation up on the first date.
1:35.3	We were having lunch.
1:36.3	On a lunch date.
1:37.3	It wasn't even a dinner date.
	...

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