Community Stories

Bye bye college debt, bye bye 2021 watches

Shabbaz
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So I decided to renovate my house for the second time in two years. Two years ago I put a new floor on top of the house. This time I'm going for the full monty. New kitchen, new floor, new bathroom, a new extension of the house, solar panels, heat pump, new dog, new kids, new wife, last three are a joke, you name it. Terrible.

Anyway, to get a mortgage the bank said I needed to pay my college debt at once. I was paying already for 12 years. College was fantastic. The debt was worth it. I lived like a king. Although I could have bought a nice Patek with that debt. Hmmm.

But here's the problem, now my watch budget is gone for 2021. So you wont be seeing anything from me this year. Luckily I bought some great watches in the beginning of the year.

Anyone else still paying their college debt?

I wish you all the best!
 
Redwes25
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Recently paid off law school debt. Number of great watches that equaled is kind of mind-blowing. Good luck with the renovation!
 
Shabbaz
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Redwes25 Redwes25
Recently paid off law school debt. Number of great watches that equaled is kind of mind-blowing. Good luck with the renovation!
Thnx. I must say it feels kind of liberating not having a college debt anymore.
 
MtV
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Congrats, sounds awesome! Next year, you’ll be living in a nicely renovated house, still have some watches to wear and you won’t remember the half year you didn’t purchase any new ones. Sounds like it’s a no-brainer.

I went through college working my ass off full time to come out debt-free. My parents paid of their debts for the house etc for their full working life, from age 22 or so till the year of retirement. The thought always kinda scared me, but in exchange I skipped on some fantastically fun and relaxed years in university. In hindsight, your approach doesn’t sound half bad! 😀
 
gbesq
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Remind me again of what great investments houses are . . .😲 I paid off my college and law school loans long ago. Now I just have to make sure that the kids pay theirs. 😀
 
M'Bob
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Good luck.

The difference between home renovations and buying a watch is this: when you buy a new watch, your wife wants to kill you; when you do home renovations, you want to kill each other…
 
MtV
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M'Bob M'Bob
Good luck.

The difference between home renovations and buying a watch is this: when you buy a new watch, your wife wants to kill you; when you do home renovations, you want to kill each other…

mmh, so you’re saying it’d be self-defense if I actually did it then? Interesting…
 
Shabbaz
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MtV MtV
I went through college working my ass off full time to come out debt-free.
My approach was that I needed to work the rest of my life so it seemed better to enjoy now and work later. But I have respect for people who worked their way through college without debt. I hope my kids will do the same. I was lucky to find a job that paid well so I could pay of the debt. But it could have gone differently.
 
MTROIS
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Completed all my education in France so it was essentially free for me (although my parents paid for it through lots of taxes, obviously!).
Every now and then I am kinda baffled to find out that some of my colleagues or acquaintances are still paying off college debt 10 years after having started their career.

Reminds me of how lucky I was to grow up in a society that cares (mostly) about all people and how ridiculous the price of education can be in the USA. It REALLY is a business here. As Good Will Hunting would say: “You wasted $150,000 on an education you coulda got for $1.50 in late fees at the public library.” 😗

Anyhow. Joking aside. You can count on me to entice my kids to go study abroad… or pay on their own. 😁

Congrats to you @Shabbaz for shedding that burden. Good luck with the new ones. 😉
 
Kik_Kat_Kish
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In the UK the student loan gets written of after so many years. There's a threshold you have to earn over before you're eligible to for repayments. I have to wait until 2040 before my debt is written off but it looks like I will have paid the debt of by then 🙁
 
Widows Son
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Sir, I applaud you for doing the right thing and paying your debt, rather than expecting the govt to do it!!! I'm embarrassed to say that I know someone who's son had no intention of paying his debt off. He moved all his assets into his wife's name to protect his several businesses, and 5,000 sq foot house complete with a recently installed in ground pool.
 
Jonathan40
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Widows Son Widows Son
Sir, I applaud you for doing the right thing and paying your debt, rather than expecting the govt to do it!!! I'm embarrassed to say that I know someone who's son had no intention of paying his debt off. He moved all his assets into his wife's name to protect his several businesses, and 5,000 sq foot house complete with a recently installed in ground pool.
Let’s hope for his sake they stay happily married or even just married or it could be a spectacular back fire
 
Jonathan40
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Shabbaz Shabbaz
So I decided to renovate my house for the second time in two years. Two years ago I put a new floor on top of the house. This time I'm going for the full monty. New kitchen, new floor, new bathroom, a new extension of the house, solar panels, heat pump, new dog, new kids, new wife, last three are a joke, you name it. Terrible.

Anyway, to get a mortgage the bank said I needed to pay my college debt at once. I was paying already for 12 years. College was fantastic. The debt was worth it. I lived like a king. Although I could have bought a nice Patek with that debt. Hmmm.

But here's the problem, now my watch budget is gone for 2021. So you wont be seeing anything from me this year. Luckily I bought some great watches in the beginning of the year.

Anyone else still paying their college debt?

I wish you all the best!
Good luck with all you and yours are about to undertake. Look forward to seeing your light at the end of the tunnel watch purchase.
 
khanmu
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When I grew up and went to University, in the UK it was free tuition for all - it was seen as necessary for the good of the nation. I left without debt and was able to buy a house, back when houses were affordable on a graduate starting salary. When I tell this to some of the graduates in our company, they look at me as if I'm describing Oz....How times have changed!

Good luck with your renovations, and hopefully you'll have some money left over for a watch related treat purchase!
 
P
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I was fortunate enough not to have any college debt, thanks a lot HOPE Scholarship! It really gave me a leg up early and allowed me to purchase my first home at 22 and get ahead of the game. College debt can be helpful but also detrimental if not used appropriately. Congrats on paying it off and on the upcoming renovations. Best of luck.
 
Walrus
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No college debt but a rental property is killing me recently put a planet ocean underground. Doesn’t look like much but we estimated it was 4 foot underground it was little over 5 feet and the amount of roots to cut was amazing. So that’s done but now on to interior repairs that blockage in this line did. Me being able to participate greatly changed the initial estimate but yeah all this was unexpected and I’m getting into Rolex territory. I was bitching until I saw the scenes from Haiti, things could be a lot worse. The lease is up for these renters I really was going to ask them to try to find another place but I stop over and get to spend time and talk with them I just don’t have it in my heart to ask them to leave. Basically I gotta idiot proof the place as much as I can and hope for the best
upload_2021-8-19_11-25-51.jpeg
 
Shabbaz
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For those in other countries like the US. I would like to say I came from poor and worked my way up. And for this I needed the loan. But sorry, it's not a romantic story. I did'nt really need to pay a lot for college. It was really spending money. I lived in Barcelona with my loan, I did a lot of nice things. It was really meant to live a good life. So a lot of respect for those who needed to pay a lot to go to college. But with me that was not the case. It was just hedonism.
 
vbrad26
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Shabbaz Shabbaz
Two years ago I put a new floor on top of the house. !

Well here is your first problem.
Typically the floor goes on the ground, not the roof.
::rimshot::::facepalm1::🤮

Also, good luck on your renovations. We are going into week 10 on our 4 week bathroom reno lol.
 
JPE.88305
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Army paid for undergrad, but a solid $200k for medical school, which has since been paid off but my watch budget is equally nil while saving for a similar kitchen, bathroom, addition, etc, so cheers.
 
BlackTalon
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Paid off my wife's students loans from her grad school a year or so after we were married. Neither of us had debt from undergrad. I went to a relatively inexpensive in-state school (much more expensive these days). This past December I paid off the last chunk of the home equity loan we took out 10 or so years back when we built an addition. Down to 12 more months of mortgage payments on the house and then we will be fully debt-free. But part of what would have otherwise gone to mortgage payments will be added to the savings we have been building for when our son goes to college (assuming college is still a thing in 10 years -- he may just make some stupid video clips on Tik Tok and become a millionaire overnight).
 
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