Thanks, this is exactly what I needed.
Is this the median value for people with a balance at all, or the median value for everyone? I realize that this is supposed to be a suprisingly small number, but I would have guessed that the median value is 0.
First day of kindergarten for my oldest girl, which means $15k/yr raise to rub on my titties.
8 Likes
Don’t get too excited or you’ll end up with another kid.
3 Likes
Sometimes these articles pop up on my Google homepage and they’re all dumb but holy shit at this one.
2 Likes
I literally couldn’t be friends with this person and I’m 100% the kind of person who would research which of my cards didn’t have a foreign transaction fee. No freaking way I’m going to have a minor conflict with a friend about 50 bucks.
That person sounds insufferable.
It’s a foreign trip.
The friend has probably just taken the costs from her online banking in home currency. Which seems more reasonable than going through and splitting them out
If the fees were a separate line item, not so much.
As always. Both parties are probably terrible.
Here’s a dumb question: should I keep maxing 401k if I think the market is going to be shit for a long time? What’s the “actual value” in dollars of the $20.5k you put in in terms of tax reduction, not talking about the potential gains etc. 25k? 30k? The googles is useless.
You should put the money in your 401k even if you don’t buy more stocks. Most 401k allow you to contribute and just park in cash.
The actual value depends on your marginal tax rate and the tax bracket you expect to be in upon retirement.
Didn’t think of that thanks 
Also even if you hate stonks you probably have a short term bond fund option and those are now returning almost 4%, tax free in a 401k
2 Likes
Backdoor Roths should happen in 1 lump sum right?
I don’t think it’s mandatory, but it’s just a heck of a lot easier to fill out the tax forms if you do it that way.
1 Like
I have a friend who’s run up $80k in grad school debt for a degree he’s never going to use, and his plan once he graduates is to leave the country for the next 20 years so as to have no reportable income and avoid making loan repayments.
This doesn’t seem like a great idea.
His wife, by the way, is a veterinarian with $300k in school debt.
I can’t even…
So, where are they going to go where his wife can be a vet? I assume there are some sort of licensure issues and such. Also I’m guessing that vet compensation is way less outside the US. Not 100% sure but it seems like there are several factors which might cause this to be the case.
He’s a fellow former Japan ex-pat who plans to return here. Wife is not, but also plans to come here, avoid loan repayments, and seek another line of work, as she won’t be able to work as a licensed vet in Japan.
I wonder how many other “loan refugees” are in a similar boat who are seeking to do likewise?
I don’t think they’re in terrible shape if they stayed here. Let’s say she works as a vet and makes like 150K/yr (I don’t know how reasonable that assumption is, but it’s a number I have heard thrown around). If your buddy can do something that makes 70-100K a year, they can just live on his salary and use her entire salary to pay of debt. They’ll be out of the hole in about 5 yrs. Not terrible. Not the greatest lifestyle for 5 years, but it’s not anywhere near poverty, and they would likely be putting off home ownership and such even longer than that.
They could also do a bit less aggressive version of this. But the basic idea is to Dave Ramsey their way out of the situation.
They’ve been trying it that way, but with little success. Most of her monthly loan repayment is interest and the balance has barely budged for years. He is (or was until recently) a small biz owner who barely made ends meet.
But the point was that he took on his graduate debt from the outset with the intention of bolting the country and never repaying it.
Just commenting that it doesn’t seem like the smartest life plan, and then also wondering how many others are likewise fleeing to avoid repaying colossal school loan debt.