Who has married into debt

DON'T PAY OFF THE LOANS.

Sorry to use all caps, in that opening sentence; but I wanted to get your attention.

The divorce lawyers and accountants, well most of them, probably not all; will tell you that she will just get new loans if you bail her out.

I've seen this time and time again; with my friends. Don't do the bailout.

 

they are out there...but a hard find.

most settle for half of the equation.

 

YIKES! By beating it I guess you mean a higher amount. I've had way more debt not related to my house or student loans for that matter.

I had to check out the bls.gov site to see the earnings of a pharmacist.

http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Healthcare/Pharmacists.htm

Seems they provide a "median" which is not the same as an average. It's pretty good take.

 

This.

 

I actually dated a gal when she was in southern california going for her under grad school. Then she moved to UOP. I didn't follow her

 

Is a BSN a nursing degree? If it is, you've got nothing to worry about. As long as she finishes school, she'll have no problem finding a job. Five years into the job, her loans will be history. My mom has been a nurse for 35 years, she's always made as much money as she wants, when she wants it. Her employer uses travel nurses to fully staff the hospital, there's not enough local nurses, huge shortage. The travel nurses make as much as the regular nursing staff, plus housing paid for. There's an endless supply of aging people in this country right now, I don't see the nursing profession slowing down.

 

When we met 10 years ago, my wife had completed her Masters degree. She is VERY financially responsible..had her own place, a car loan for her 96 Tacoma, very little debt (school loan and maybe 1 credit card that wasn't used much).

I lived at home, never saved money in the first place, had about $2000 in credit card debt at 22% interest and $10000 in student loans, and had recently lost my license for an OUI arrest which would end up costing me about $12000.

She stuck with me fortunately. I moved in with her and she took care of the household bills with the condition I stick to an aggressive plan to pay off my credit card debt as soon as I got my license back (taking public transportation was costing me an extra $300 a month). We got rid of that and paid double payments on my loan to get rid of that, which she was doing on hers.

The OUI conviction set me back a little more financially but the main costs were the increased insurance $$, Highball High (the 24d program which you pay $40 a week for versus all at once), and 45 more days of the train.

We were able to buy a house the next year and got engaged. We married 7 yrs ago in Las Vegas (just us 2 so it was very affordable and didn't cause more debt). Long ago the student loans were gone..we paid off my old truck, her Rav4 (bought mainly with the buyback from her 96 Tacoma), just paid off the pool we bought and I picked up my '10 Tacoma yesterday.

Point is, she helped me structure a way to get rid of my initial debt, but didn't pay it for me. I'll agree she subsidized it paying the bills for 3 months, which didn't change from me moving in, but otherwise that was it. Since buying the house she handles the bills..I deposit most of my check from my day job in the joint account, get the rest as my allowance. I have a second job on the board of directors of 2 dart leagues..that check goes right to the house account as well, it enables us to do the little extras like a car payment or maybe a trip to Foxwoods now and then. If I need money other than the allowance, I ask first.

Mind you with 2 jobs she still makes more than I do, and it doesn't bother me a bit. We're a unit.

To the OP, try that system..if you're better with handling money than she is, offer to draw up a plan for her. A car payment and student loans aren't terrible, I'd rather have that debt versus a backbreaker of a credit card bill for non-essential items like people I know have.

 

Oh I forgot..if you must choose, be more aggressive in paying off the car. Student loans do have one thing going for them versus a car loan in that the interest is tax deductible.