Next Goal…

Next goal: Use my tuition reimbursement and next year’s bonus and tax return to pay off my home equity line of credit. This will free up an additional $200 in monthly cash flow.

Shortly after that, I should graduate from law school with just my first mortgage and student loan debt. Then my hope is to pay off the student loans in chunks, starting with the private loans. My federal loans have a very low interest rate so I won’t worry much about those in the near future. The interest rates on the private loans are much higher so I will pay those off with any extra money coming into the house such as bonuses and any tax returns that I receive. I plan to use the snowball method to pay them off from the smallest loan amount (~ $5,000) to the highest loan amount (~ $21,000). I do not plan to reduce my retirement contribution just because the student loans come due but this method will free up additional cash flow along the way.