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How many graduates are: 1. From Harvard 2. Making over 100k 3. Have a house 4. And a retirement account 5. Have 1300 a month in disposable income. T

by debacle 14y ago

How many graduates are: 1. From Harvard 2. Making over 100k 3. Have a house 4. And a retirement account 5. Have 1300 a month in disposable income. This is pretty much a non-story.

codegeek 14y ago
I don't agree with you .Except point 1 and 3, I was in the same category when I graduated but with 70K plus of student loans to pay, it took some effort. This is definitely a story to share and read.
- debacle 14y ago
  If you have 1300 in disposable income each month and a salary of 100k+, you should have no trouble with your student loans. But that's not the situation for most new college graduates, who are making, on average, about 50k (the median is probably lower). That's the core problem with the tuition bubble, and the student loan time bomb. The undergraduate ecosystem of the last 20 years is going to stifle the economy for the next 20-30 years.
  - tzs 14y ago
    Note that this guy was an MBA graduate. I believe that there is much less non-loan based financial aid available for MBA students than for undergraduates and so they tend to have much higher debt than undergraduates. (It's similar for law students, too). So yes, a new graduate with a bachelor's degree on average will be making much less than this guy--but also should have a lot less debt, even if they went to Harvard.
genwin 14y ago
1. Cash out a $99K retirement account. 2. Don't eat out for a few weeks. 3. Pay off student loan.
maxerickson 14y ago
Harvard MBA discovers personal budget! The part where he cashed out the IRA at a 40% penalty to do it does suggest that much of the debt problem that gets so much attention is personal in nature. I would think it might occur to an MBA to apply a little bit of that business training to their personal finances.
- genwin 14y ago
  It's a 10% penalty. The rest is presumably taxes that were just deferred anyway. If the guaranteed rate of return for the IRA was 1% and the student loan was 5% interest, he'd easily come out ahead by retirement. Especially since tax rates will almost certainly be a lot higher in the future.
  - maxerickson 14y ago
    You comment elsewhere about a $99k IRA. It was a $12k IRA. He netted ~$8k from selling it. That adds a few months of whatever he was doing to come up with the part that wasn't covered by the IRA and bike.
mikeswiss 14y ago
As a recent college grad... 1. obviously helps 2. if you read through his blog he makes 103k a year, which after taxes over the amount of time it took him to pay off the loan is 40 something k. 3. He has mortgage payments, also that may be cheaper than renting it depends on where you live, but it is why i am looking at buying. 4. you don't? he was 27 and had 40k saved up, not a huge amount. Why you wouldn't have a retirement account to take advantage of compound interest for as long as you can is beyond me. 5.depends where they are working but I just graduated from college and i have that much, granted i live cheaply and throw most of it towards student loans. what he's saying is that being frugal you can pay off your debts quicker and save money on interest. Its nothing groundbreaking but in America a lot of people make stupid decisions about how they buy things (on credit) and end up paying a lot of money in interest and retiring wayyyy later than they need to.

by debacle 14y ago

How many graduates are: 1. From Harvard 2. Making over 100k 3. Have a house 4. And a retirement account 5. Have 1300 a month in disposable income. This is pretty much a non-story.

codegeek 14y ago

I don't agree with you .Except point 1 and 3, I was in the same category when I graduated but with 70K plus of student loans to pay, it took some effort. This is definitely a story to share and read.

debacle 14y ago
If you have 1300 in disposable income each month and a salary of 100k+, you should have no trouble with your student loans. But that's not the situation for most new college graduates, who are making, on average, about 50k (the median is probably lower). That's the core problem with the tuition bubble, and the student loan time bomb. The undergraduate ecosystem of the last 20 years is going to stifle the economy for the next 20-30 years.
- tzs 14y ago
  Note that this guy was an MBA graduate. I believe that there is much less non-loan based financial aid available for MBA students than for undergraduates and so they tend to have much higher debt than undergraduates. (It's similar for law students, too). So yes, a new graduate with a bachelor's degree on average will be making much less than this guy--but also should have a lot less debt, even if they went to Harvard.

genwin 14y ago

1. Cash out a $99K retirement account. 2. Don't eat out for a few weeks. 3. Pay off student loan.

maxerickson 14y ago

Harvard MBA discovers personal budget! The part where he cashed out the IRA at a 40% penalty to do it does suggest that much of the debt problem that gets so much attention is personal in nature. I would think it might occur to an MBA to apply a little bit of that business training to their personal finances.

genwin 14y ago
It's a 10% penalty. The rest is presumably taxes that were just deferred anyway. If the guaranteed rate of return for the IRA was 1% and the student loan was 5% interest, he'd easily come out ahead by retirement. Especially since tax rates will almost certainly be a lot higher in the future.
- maxerickson 14y ago
  You comment elsewhere about a $99k IRA. It was a $12k IRA. He netted ~$8k from selling it. That adds a few months of whatever he was doing to come up with the part that wasn't covered by the IRA and bike.

mikeswiss 14y ago

As a recent college grad... 1. obviously helps 2. if you read through his blog he makes 103k a year, which after taxes over the amount of time it took him to pay off the loan is 40 something k. 3. He has mortgage payments, also that may be cheaper than renting it depends on where you live, but it is why i am looking at buying. 4. you don't? he was 27 and had 40k saved up, not a huge amount. Why you wouldn't have a retirement account to take advantage of compound interest for as long as you can is beyond me. 5.depends where they are working but I just graduated from college and i have that much, granted i live cheaply and throw most of it towards student loans. what he's saying is that being frugal you can pay off your debts quicker and save money on interest. Its nothing groundbreaking but in America a lot of people make stupid decisions about how they buy things (on credit) and end up paying a lot of money in interest and retiring wayyyy later than they need to.