4 ms·

I spent the summer following college (also Canadian, btw) doing a lot of nothing, just generally failing to find a job. I moved to Halifax (from Kingston, ON) f

I spent the summer following college (also Canadian, btw) doing a lot of nothing, just generally failing to find a job. I moved to Halifax (from Kingston, ON) for a job in October of that year and when the dust from the move settled I owed about $22k ($6k OSAP, $10 CIBC Line of Credit, $6k Visa). That job lasted just shy of three years, and when it ended I only owed $4,349.16 (taken directly from the NSLSC website), so I paid off about $18k in 2y10m, for an average of about $530/mo. As for the particulars: * I went to college, not university, so you'll likely get a better job than I did, faster than I did. * Starting salary: $38k * Starting rent: $840/mo * I flew home around 3x a year, for between $6-800/trip Advice: * With each pay, I'd pay minimum payments for my line of credit (smaller interest), and throw everything else I had (except rent) at my credit card. This is important; if you owe > 1 creditor, pay down the highest interest debt first, and pay minimums to everything else. This way, you minimize the amount of interest you end up paying overall. * If you're used to having roommates, you might want to consider keeping that arrangement for a while. Take advantage of "living like a student" while you're still used to it, even if only for a little while. You'll save a lot on rent, and you won't miss the luxuries you've never known. This is pretty much how Alexis and Steve started reddit, incidentally. They just kept on living like students to minimize expenses.

wcarss 16y ago
Thanks for the high volume of info - this is exactly the kind of data I was hoping to see. The thread seems split between "<4 years" and "7-10 years", or close to. I am curious whether it's primarily lifestyle choices, income mismatches, or what that's causing the gap.
- AgentConundrum 16y ago
  You're quite welcome. I didn't think a generic "I did it in x years" post was what you were looking for, since it doesn't really mean anything. At least with some details you'll have a bit of context to compare with your own situation.
UrLicht 16y ago
I'd like to offer an alternative perspective on the order of paying off accounts. While it's true that you will save on interest payments if you pay off the higher-interest accounts first, if you really are hell-bent on paying off as much debt as you can as fast as possible, it won't amount to much of a savings. Couple that with the fact that large amounts of debt can be extremely daunting (and downright disheartening) I'd recommend paying off the accounts with the smallest balance first. The psychological reward you'll get from that is (at least it was in my case) enough to keep you going until you've paid all the accounts off. With the way the economy is going, I believe that those of us with debt will be the ones who suffer most, so make hay while the sun shines, so they say.
- AgentConundrum 16y ago
  I cheated on it a little bit. I sort of bounced between types of credit for a while. When I was in college, my grandfather cosigned for my line of credit, so when I was making enough money to allow it, I converted it into a standard loan to get his name off my debt. Not long after that - a few months, maybe - the bank called and said that I was such a good customer that they'd love to give me a brand new line of credit (with a $5k limit increase over the old one), and that they could consolidate my visa and loan debt onto the line of credit, which sounded like a great deal. So I did it, but I guess I missed out on the psychological reward you mentioned. My student loans (the 'OSAP' in my top post - Ontario Student Assistance Program) were just this thing I never paid attention to. They just draw $96 from me every month, and I don't care that they do. When I have the money to pay it off entirely, I will, but for now just getting them to accept > $96/mo is such a massive hassle that I don't bother. When my line of credit was paid off, the only "reward" I got from that was, "that's it?" I knew I still had that damn student loan, but there was little I could do about it for the reasons listed above. So I guess I just started living my life. Oh, and "paying off the highest interest first" and "paying off the smallest debt first" were the exact same thing for me, since my smallest debt was the credit card.

wcarss 16y ago

Thanks for the high volume of info - this is exactly the kind of data I was hoping to see. The thread seems split between "<4 years" and "7-10 years", or close to. I am curious whether it's primarily lifestyle choices, income mismatches, or what that's causing the gap.

AgentConundrum 16y ago
You're quite welcome. I didn't think a generic "I did it in x years" post was what you were looking for, since it doesn't really mean anything. At least with some details you'll have a bit of context to compare with your own situation.

UrLicht 16y ago

I'd like to offer an alternative perspective on the order of paying off accounts. While it's true that you will save on interest payments if you pay off the higher-interest accounts first, if you really are hell-bent on paying off as much debt as you can as fast as possible, it won't amount to much of a savings. Couple that with the fact that large amounts of debt can be extremely daunting (and downright disheartening) I'd recommend paying off the accounts with the smallest balance first. The psychological reward you'll get from that is (at least it was in my case) enough to keep you going until you've paid all the accounts off. With the way the economy is going, I believe that those of us with debt will be the ones who suffer most, so make hay while the sun shines, so they say.

AgentConundrum 16y ago
I cheated on it a little bit. I sort of bounced between types of credit for a while. When I was in college, my grandfather cosigned for my line of credit, so when I was making enough money to allow it, I converted it into a standard loan to get his name off my debt. Not long after that - a few months, maybe - the bank called and said that I was such a good customer that they'd love to give me a brand new line of credit (with a $5k limit increase over the old one), and that they could consolidate my visa and loan debt onto the line of credit, which sounded like a great deal. So I did it, but I guess I missed out on the psychological reward you mentioned. My student loans (the 'OSAP' in my top post - Ontario Student Assistance Program) were just this thing I never paid attention to. They just draw $96 from me every month, and I don't care that they do. When I have the money to pay it off entirely, I will, but for now just getting them to accept > $96/mo is such a massive hassle that I don't bother. When my line of credit was paid off, the only "reward" I got from that was, "that's it?" I knew I still had that damn student loan, but there was little I could do about it for the reasons listed above. So I guess I just started living my life. Oh, and "paying off the highest interest first" and "paying off the smallest debt first" were the exact same thing for me, since my smallest debt was the credit card.