Well I have one semester left of school and then I get to start staring down my archnemesis the student loans:

My goal for this thread is to map out my finances for myself and for anyone who might want to check it out and/or give some advice.

Current Situation:

Credit Card: $0 Balance(finally)
Checking: $180
E*Trade Savings: $330
Prosper: $52

Private Student Loans(the painful problem): $51,000
--Parents are being generous enough to pay for my interest payments until I start my job Sept 2009.

Federal Loans: not exactly sure yet

Monthly Expenses:
Cable: $21
Electricity: $30ish
Heat: $30ish
Food: $150
Gas: $40
Total: $271

Income:
Work part-time: approx. 180/wk...720/mo

Finally Starting to be able to contribute to some savings, as small as the amounts may be. Expenses obviously do not include other college "lifestyle" expenses. My goal is to update this monthly and when any major financial changes arise.

Thanks in advances for any comments!!

This reminds me so much of myself back in the day.... I wish you the best.

January Update:

December was a rough month financially, didn't get to work as much as usual because I went home for a large part of break, also got a ticket for not stopping long enough at a stop sign(bs) and of course Christmas presentss

Anyway here are the numbers...

Credit Card Balance: $0
Checking: $408
E*Trade: $200 (going to Nicaragua for a class, took some money out for expenses)
Prosper: $53

Private Loans: 51,000 still
Goverment Loans: 20,000

This month goal is to get my E*Trade back to $300 by the end of the month. Not a huge goal, but with going on the trip for 9 days and not working until I get back on the 14th, these goals seem like all that is manageable. February should be a much more productive month.

2009 Goals:

1) Get student loans to under $60,000
2) Get Emergency Fund to $2000
3) Get off to a good start at my job starting in September
4) Fund 401(k) up to employer match.
5) Fully fund Roth IRA

Do these seem reasonable with a starting salary of 54K, but only working Sept-Dec of 2009 (about $18,000 gross)

you want to:
pay off loans (11000)
save for emergency fund (2000)
fully fund roth IRA (6000)
expenses for sept - dec (1084)
Total expenses fro sept - dec = 20084

gross income estimated = 18,000 (this number is misleading because it doesn't include money taken for taxes or 401k)
so you are in the red by 2084 (but more likely 4000- 5000 or so due to taxes and 401k)

If you were to include your part time job from jan - aug, you could add 3592 (pt job income - 8 months worth of expenses) to your income... this might cover the taxes and the 401k so you would barely break even.

what about rent, car payments, any other expenses you did not include?

Your goal is attainable, but may require significant sacrifice on your part.

rent i will only have to pay for from august to december for 2009, i own my car outright, and i will still have all the normal bills or electricity, cable, gas...

i guess I am also looking at a little windfall of money for graduation (i got a little more than 3k after high school graduation) which i didnt mention


like you said, it will be tight, but attainable, any grad money received will be going straight to the loans

March Update:

It's been two months since the last update, but things have been good with school and interning during tax season is always fun.

Here are the latest updates...couple sidenotes, im going on spring break and put the a good amount on my CC which is at 0% for a year, ill probably pay it off in the next couple months and I opened a Roth IRA with TRowe Price which felt to get that whole retirement thing rolling....


Credit Card Balance: $900
Checking: $496
E*Trade: $101
Prosper: $54
Roth IRA: $50

Not a necessarily financially positive update but I still feel good about it

Spending a lot again as the end of college is approaching and I am going out a lot more, so as usual for right now, no new improvements. Although I dont want schooll to end I am looking forward to living at home this summer and getting the chance to get ahead on some finances before starting "real life"

CC: $900 @ 0% still
Checking: $188
E*Trade Svgs: $301
Prosper: $56
TRowe Roth IRA: $119(realllyyy wish i had money to max out for the year at the beginning of March)

long time since the last update...graduated college and moved back in with the family for the summer. I am studying for the CPA exam trying to get it out of the way before busy season comes next year at the job. Not so much fun but hopefully will pay its dividends later. Not much financially has happened since I have not worked since school ended and won't until I start full time in September. Although a few changes to note:

Assets:

Checking: $400
ING Savings (newly opened): $165
E*trade Savings: $51.90
Prosper: $45
TrowePrice RothIRA: $280
EE Bonds: $3,000

Total: $3,942

Liabilities: (now that school is over got a better idea of the student loan situation...its depressing but I know what I have to do to pay them off now)
CC: $800 still @ 0%

Private Loans:
$51,292 @ 5.5% fixed

Federal:
$11,625 @ 5% fixed

Total: ($63,717)

Net Worth: ($59,775)...woof

next update will probably be after the first paycheck! should be an exciting one!!

Did you pay off some of your govt student loans already, or are they just lower than you thought?

less than I thought which is always night, about 8k less the federals are subsidized and in grace until december which is also great so i can kill some of the private loans right from the get go

When you pay back your student loans, I sincerely hope you will be contributing more than the minimum.

That being said, even if you aren't, I would practice budgeting for the total minimum payment after the grace period on the other student loans in December to begin paying off the private loans. It's sort of like the Debt Snowball thing, but in reverse.

For example, I'm going to pick random numbers here for easy math, let's say your private loan minimum is $500/month, and your federal loan minimum is $200/month. Then, from September through December, you should be contributing $700/month to your private loan so as to practice budgeting for when that federal loan comes due! You will put extra money towards the private loans, and you will not have to cut anything you've "gotten used to" when you have to start paying the federal loan.

I am planning on putting 1000 a month toward the loans when I start work, I tried to map out a budget and I think it will work, I wont be able to save much but I'll be able to live fairly comfortably. Just got an apartment and I'm looking at 875 for rent, including everything but internet and cable.

As far as distribution of the payment toward the loans...I'll obviously work on knocking down the highest interest rates first.

I'm not sure what the EE bonds are,but I think you should make sure that you have some liquid savings available before being too aggressive on the loans (I'm assuming that $1k is more than your minimum).

EE bonds are just the issuing series, they are earning 4% right now and all of them are held past 5 years so they can be redeemed anytime for cash at almost any local bank. the 1k toward loans is more than the minimum, but even with paying that much in my preliminary budget, that still leaves me able to save 500 a month into the EF til its built up a little, then i will save in other directions...although i will see how the budget works out when I finally get to the real situation. I just want to get a jump start on the loans so I'm not paying such depressing amounts toward interest (something like 300ish a month)