How do you budget for student loans without sacrificing your quality of life?

If you've been so busy working to pay your bills, you should be aware that Pres. Joe Biden, in an executive order, essentially forgave up to $10,000 ($20,000 for low-income borrowers) in Federal student loan balances. Several states sued to stop this order from taking into effect, and the Federal government has suspended its efforts to register borrowers. Bookmark this link to stay current on developments. We should get a decision from SCOTUS this summer. https://studentaid.gov/manage-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/debt-relief-info

Many of my clients wonder how to pay down debt while still living their lives and planning for tomorrow. I find it helpful to use financial planning software to show the tradeoffs between paying down debt and investing. Many clients prefer to do a combination of the two. The more successful clients stick to a debt paydown strategy (throwing in extra money when possible) while still planning for the future but not sacrificing their happiness in the present.

In my experience, student loan can be a source of stress debt for you. It also may impact other borrowing that you want to have to enhance your financial position, home loan for example. It's important to know your numbers, I know how much are you willing to pay and what is the interest rate in the recent changing interest rate environment the student loans have evolved and changed and impacted a lot of people financially position it is important to understand what really fits you in terms of repayment.

Know your numbers then know your options. New IDR plans allow of all new ways to make student loan payments manageable and may adjust if you income increases but at least if the student loan payments are known you can create a budget around them and adjust as your life changes as you'd do with anything.

Choose a repayment planned fits your circumstances and alliance with the budget. This gets us to the point of how important as solid budget is and how important the transparency of your budget to know where your money is going can be helpful to direct your money in different Avenues and one of the most important avenues is repaying your debts.

Yes, at times, you should live like a miser if you can't afford otherwise. Are you at university to get an education and get started in life, or party? Work multiple part time jobs if needed. Don't start out life in debt, else you'll be living like a miser with all that debt when you graduate.

It’s not necessary to eat “rice and beans” to be able to budget effectively. The key to budgeting is spending intentionally, within your means.

If you find that you spending habits are not really helping, inpaying off your debt, perhaps that is a realization moment that you have to redo the budget, reallocate the income and change your savings habits and to be able to pay your debts.

Setting realistic and reasonable goals for paying your debts is crucial- specially when it comes to timeline, you don't have to over stress yourself because of debt, because it's part of your overall health and well-being. It's not worth it to be depressed or stressed just for the sake of paying. Don't underestimate the impact of financial stress over the mental health.

I’ve found it extremely useful to budget weekly. - Account for weekly expenses - Pay off credit cards - Plan for the coming week In this way you can adjust your budget during the month rather than getting to the end of the month hoping you didn’t spend too much.

If you viewing your budget on regular basis is very important to understand where your money is being spent and what are the sources of income, this would give you the clarity of how to save and what are the items that you can save on and which items are you overspending? As sorted budget is the foundation of for your financial success. Regardless of how big or small your goal is.