Tell me a story about your debt

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I am 28 years old, working as a Software Developer.

I have $50k in college loans. ~14,000 is at 4.5% interest and is actually a loan my mother took out for me, that i am taking responsibility for, the rest is at 3% interest. ~$400 a month in payments Payments total . I also have $5000 in credit card debt, paying ~$300/month...but it never seems to go away lol

My college debt has really kept me from taking on any other major debt, such as a home or even a car loan. I feel like this large student loan hanging over my head needs to be paid before i can take on more debt! $50k in debt makes me feel like i already bought a really nice car...or a really cheap house.

The loans also limit my mobility and limit my flexibility. I was trying to start my own business, but the loan payments increase my cost of living artificially by $400/month. I also have to keep it in mind when looking to relocate for work.

The credit card debt bothers me less, as that can go away...yes i may have a stain on my credit for time, but the debt is gone. The 50k loan cannot be removed by bankruptcy...cant make deals to pay less (like i have done in the past with credit card companies) or anything...though it can be deferred for a limited time if you meet the deferment requirements.

I have a mortgage on my house, about 2/3rds of it's value. I have a joint mortgage on two other investment properties with some partners. I have line of credit and margin debt near $75K that is invested mostly in the stock market.

I have zero consumer debt. No car payment or credit cards at all.

I am excited about my debt because it makes me feel like I'm running a business. I obtain capital and try to get a return on it that is higher than its cost. I have developed a feeling about how much debt I can handle. By doing lots of analysis over the years I get a feeling when the ship becomes a little too tipsy. For example, I feel moderately comfortable leveraging real estate and less comfort leveraging the stocks. At some point it becomes too risky: like if a few bad things happened then I would start to lose money. If I can't handle the downside I don't do it.

I hope to get into larger ventures in the future.

I am graduating this week with an undergraduate degree in finance. Of course, to get it I had to take on a good bit of debt. I currently have $20k in student loans, $1,500 in credit card debt, and a $12k car loan. Overall, I think my debt situation isn't too awful. I'm handling the monthly payments well, and don't feel too much strain as I prepare my budgets.

One major point: my church has provided many useful tools to help individuals and families deal with financial issues. You can look it all up at http://providentliving.org. In particular, I like the manual called "One for the Money". It provides some excellent guidance on getting out of debt without bankruptcy or other extreme means. Of course, not all programs work for all people, but it's a nice place to start.

I used to have quite a bit of debt when I was out of college. Lets just say I was young and stupid: I made quite a bit of money through some internships and also got a lot of student loans. While I squandered my "fortune" away (mostly on eating out and being very careless on where I spend).

- When I graduated, I had almost $21000 USD in debt.

- In addition to that, I had almost ~$600 debt in a credit card. Not much, but my foolishness that was to follow made it twice as much.

- After graduating (2002) the market was at an all time low, so finding a job was almost impossible. I found a job in India and decided to take it since I thought its better to have some relevant work experience as opposed to working odd jobs (the best option ie. highest paying, that I had, was working at a cheese factory outside of Calgary, AB).

- The money for the minimum credit card payments ran out and it stressed me so much, that, like an idiot, I ignored it. It went into default and I had to borrow to pay (~$1000).

- If that was not the end, I neglected to find out how many student loans I had (3 in all) and setup auto-pay for only 2. Naturally, the third went delinquent and I had no clue.

- Then one day, I got a call from a lady with a North American accent. I thought it was for a job offer (this makes me laugh at myself now). She was from a collections agency. My "third" student loan that I never knew about was now due. Great! $4000 was now ~$6000 due and raking up $100 everyday. This was going to be fun!

- I had to beg/borrow from family to pay this off. (this was Jan 2003, six months out of college and 1 month into being married). Obviously, my credit score was in the dump.

- This episode served as a wake up call. I was married, in debt, and had no idea about my finances. Something that just seemed unacceptable.

- Instead of shirking these responsibilities I decided that before I fix anything, I want a clear picture where I stand and make sure I do not ruin anything further. Then I'll sit and formulate a strategy on how to fix this self-inflicted mess for good.

- I started with a very simple excel sheet, writing down all the money I owed in detail. I called each and every financial agency I must have dealt with and asked them if my account had any negative balances. This way I could make sure I did not overlook anyone. Next, I wrote down how much cash I have in my India+canada+USA accounts. This gave me a rough net-worth. (Negative of course)

- I made sure that there was enough cash in my Canadian accounts to pay my loans and enough in my India accounts for emergencies.

- After coming back to Canada, I started working crazy hours at odd jobs (not the cheese factory, since I still could not find a regular job) to rack up as much money as I could to pay off my debt. It was simply an obsession for my wife and I to end this feeling of being in debt.

- We were frugal, but happy. Its not like we did not go out or have a good time. We were just very careful and made sure we met our monthly saving and bill payment targets.

- Soon I got a job in the US and things improved financially. For the first 8 months into my US-job we saved every single penny we could (for example: for those eight months we had a 11 inch black and white TV in our house that my cousin bought for me for $2. The upside was we did not get addicted to TV and hence did other productive things).

- I paid off my debt in Canada seven months into my job in the US.

- Since then, my accounting for personal finances has gone from a simple excel sheet to a complex combination of microsoft money and excel. My wife thinks its an obsession. For me, its just avoiding silly mistakes I made when I was young, and trying to make sure we're never high n' dry again.

- My credit in the US is near stellar. I have no idea about my Canadian credit score. I tried to find out through the equifax.ca site a couple of times, but the site is less than stellar.

I am only very recently debt free as of 2 months ago.

I graduated from college in December of 2004 and had $10,000 in student loans. (My parents helped pay for some of school, and then i worked part time and paid for most of my living expenses).

When I first graduated, I received a credit card that had 1 year of interest free use. I knew in my head that I should pay off the card in full every month. But with the mental "safety net" providing me false reassurance, there were a few months where it didn't get paid off in full which kept rolling over each month thereafter. Towards the end of the first year I almost wasn't able to pay off the balance in full.

It wasn't because I had racked up a huge amount of credit card debt (it was less than $2000 that month total, I use it for everything in order to keep track of expenses/ease of use), it was just a sudden realization that "oh crud, I need to be able to pay all of that off next month" I had forgotten about the interest free portion until it was almost too late. I was only able to salvage the situation by going -incredibly- frugal that month.

Upon graduation I also bought a used car on a $12,000 loan. I focused on paying this off as quickly as possible. Applying most of my commissions check towards this loan (I'm in sales, 66% base salary, 33% commissions). This took about a year and a half to pay off.

So having learned that lesson about how to manage a credit card, and paying off my car note. I then went about focusing on eliminating my student loan.

My motivation for doing all of this was becuse I met a wonderful girl who agreed to marry me. Her other wonderful qualities aside, she is a wonderful spendthrift, and had 0 debts, and great financial habits. I didn't want to bring any of my debt burden into our marriage so I vowed to pay off my student loan before we got married. (I also made sure to pay for the ring in cash).

I only accomplished this feat by not raising my standard of living much higher than it was in college.

I'm pretty good about spending, but I was initially a poor planner. And it requires planning and forethought to remain in good financial standing.

My situation is far better off than most and I still almost got mired in debt.

I had 10k of student loans (parents paid for the rest, I am very fortunate there)

I had a 12k car loan

I narrowly avoided credit card perils. I paid off 22k of debt in just over two years. It was hard. Very Hard. I figure that I have made about 95k since graduation, which is more than alot of people.

So if I make more than most, and had less debt than most, and it was this difficult to pay everything off... I can't imagine the dire straights other people are in. My generation needs help. Spread the word.

My husband and I together have $30k in student loans (my half is a government loan @ 3% interest, his half is a loan through his parents at no interest). We're both of the opinion that our college educations were entirely worth the debt that we're in, and the monthly payments ($200/month for both) are quite manageable. We were lucky to have help from family, scholarships, and jobs to pay for most of it. I feel fortunate to have escaped the burden that I see so many students going through now.

As for consumer debt, we have $6k on our used car (6% interest), and a $1000 helper loan through my parents for this year's expenses (no interest). We have no credit card debt, of which I am very proud, but we do struggle at times to pay off what we've put on the card at the end of every month--cash flow can be an issue.

I think we have as much debt as we can handle at the moment. We're looking into what it takes to buy a house, but are despairing because of the exorbitant prices around us, even for a modest 2-bedroom cottage ($300k in our neighborhood) or rowhouse/townhouse ($250+). The prospect of paying off something as enormous and binding as a mortgage is frightening, despite the benefits of owning property and the supposed-guarantee of a return on your investment.

My husband and I have told ourselves that want to craft a lifestyle where we work to live, not live to work, and biting off more debt than we can chew would prevent that. I'm working on starting a wedding/portrait photography business, and he's building up clients as a piano technician (currently my business is in a little bit of debt, but he's sitting pretty). We both want to avoid the 9 to 5 and be creative in how we provide for our future family (there's a baby on board, did I mention that?).

We've resigned ourselves to not being superstars making 6-figure salaries, and if that means a smaller home, renting for longer, or doing without a few things, we're completely okay with that. In many ways, growing up with less than what we were accustomed to growing up with has given us a sense of humility, and hopefully worn down the sense of entitlement that gets build up in all the media around us.

Overall, debt scares me. I don't want to owe anything to anyone, and the fact that my net worth is in the negatives right now is concerning. It seems strange that most people live this way, without having a heck of a lot in savings, or any way of dealing with an emergency. If anything catastrophic happened to us, we'd be in trouble, and I don't like htat.

I have about 15k in credit card debt. Some of it is from college and the rest is from trying to keep myself "afloat" during a lengthly unemployment.

I pay as much as I can every month but it never seems to go away.

It has been a huge burden on me and has probably cost me a couple of great relationships.

I am considering taking a second job and cutting my expenses to bare minimums until it is gone.

It seems every time I think I am getting things under control something else pops up like a car repair or another unexpected expense.

One thing I have learned is having this "bad" debt is the absolute worst feeling I have ever had I won't let myself fall into this trap again, once I get out.

I am 23 years old and work as an HIV/AIDS Case Manager for the govt. After taxes, withholdings, heath insurance, etc., I make $1000 biweekly.

I graduated from college in June 2006. I went to community college for two years, my dad paid for my junior year of University (UCSB), and I paid for my senior year. I graduated with $5500 in loans which are at 6.89% for the next year.

I've paid off around $1800 so far, so now I have $3990 left to pay off. I'm trying to put around $600 a month to them, but I'm also wondering if that money would be better used in a retirement account.

I haven't opened up an IRA yet, but I'm looking into a T. Rowe Price Roth IRA.

I currently have no credit card debt. When I was in my post-graduation job search I lived on my credit card for a couple months, so it was well over $1000 but I finished paying that off last month.

I have 17 payments left on my car ($244 each).

That's it! If you have any questions, feel free to email me!

Allison

I am 29 years old, have a BA & 1 year of grad school which contributed to student loan debt of $38k. I am not terribly worried about it, as I can't imagine where I'd be without it. My consolidated interest rate is 5%. I have $18k in retirement and try to save at least 10% of my income in retirement. Overall, I like to save.

Yet, I can't seem to keep a liquid savings account for emergencies or save for a down payment on a house. I would have to use a credit card if something major hit. There always seem to be more variable expenses creeping up. I make $52k/yr. I recognize that part of my problem is that I like to treat myself to the typical consumer bs that I don't really need which really annoys me. How much food & clothing does a girl really need? I spent $20/wk on food in college and luckily vintage clothing was in style. It amazes me how much more I spend on this crap now.

I don't have credit card debt, although I did for a time and learned my lesson. I don't have a car payment and don't want one and drive my paid for used car very little & ride my bike. I hope to have a house in the future. I like money and hope to get better at taming my demons and reaching my financial goals.

thanks for the blog!

I have about $16K of student debt. Three years ago it was $26K but my husband and I (really it was him) have made valiant strides to pay it down, though we're going to ease up a bit. We're both 25. We don't have any other debt right now, including car payments, mortgages, or any unsecured debt.

My only problem with the debt is that it was theoretically supposed to make me be fruitful and bring home a big salary, but that hasn't really been the case so far. Then again, that's one of the pitfalls of marrying someone in the military. It's not insane debt, and we have another 17 years to pay it off, so really, it's not a concern of mine at all.

I am 25 years old and have been working to pay off all my debt for the past 3 years. I started with $40k in Student Loans and a $20K SUV. After getting serious about owning a home and being wealthy later in life, my wife and I have nearly paid down both debts. We will be completely debt free by the end of July '07. People said we are completely nuts for paying off debt with such low interest rates, but they are all poor so we tend not to put much stock in their opinion. Together, my wife and I, make appx. $70k a year and rent an apartment. By saving the money we would have normally put toward debt, over the next twenty years, we will be millionaires by our early 40's.

I am in law school. By the time I graduate, I will have approximately $140k of undergraduate and law school loans at about 5% interest. While my soul hurts from such ridiculously high loans, I am still comfortable enough with my debts that I always max out my Roth IRA and I carry an investment portfolio worth about 10k isntead of paying down my loans. I am assuming that I will meet my minimum payments in the future and that the good ol stock market will return higher than 5% so that my investing will be more profitable than repaying my loans for the time being.

My big decision was whether to go to graduate school in my (small) home town for free, or to attend law school in a big city at a total cost of over $40,000 (in loans) per year. Already $20,000 in undergrad debt, a full ride to grad school seemed like a much more reasonable choice. However, as a lawyer in a big city, I could be making $55,000 MORE per year than I would be making working back at home with a graduate degree.

In the end, I decided to go with law school and take the initial $100,000 slap in the face in hopes of prospering in a few years. If law doesn't work out, I will simply stand outside of various buildings in the financial district solving rubik's cubes all day until someone hires me as a stock broker.

I am $32,000 CDN in debt and I feel great about it!

$24,500is from student loans and $7500 is from my parents.

I am 25 and graduated in 2005 with a Computer Science degree. I spent 16 months in Europe volunteering after graduating and have returned to Canada where I have just landed a well-paying Software developer job (for a recent graduate).

I recently re-read "The Richest Man in Babylon" and will follow the plan to put 20% of my income towards debt-repayment. At that rate, I figure I can be completely debt-free in 2-3 years.

I have no car or house and am single.

I feel great about having this debt because I know it is good debt that has allowed me to learn and earn more. Also, I feel great because I have a plan that allows me to become completely responsible for my finances.

Although I don't know my credit rating, I believe it is quite good. I pay off my credit cards every month and the credit card I use the most has just reduced my interest rate to 6.99%.

Hi,

Well my situation may be a little different but I guess it's all the same...debt.

I am now 28 but when I was 19 I had my first experience with debt from yours truly (my mother). In the beginning I guess I was either too young to understand the consequences or too scared to do anything about it.

It happened when I went out of state for college and my mother forced me to send all of cc homes because she thought I would just spend them on random things and friends.

Long story short, I followed directions and when I came back I had all of these bills.

Still at 19-20 this didn't phase. Trouble started coming when I realized that I couldn't do anything (get a car, apartment, or nothing).

It took me about 4 years to get it right. In the end I had to sue my the companies that I sent letters to disputing charges and I won...Some accts. she opened on her own.

I guess the great lesson to learn is to watch your credit and don't be afraid ( I was) to stand up to parents that use your ss to obtain credit cards in your name.

It has affected me so bad that now at 28 I am scared to have debt.

I currently have students loans at about $36,000 and my big screen that sits on 0% and that's about it.

I was so happy to get a credit card at 27...I never experienced and its great! Right now I am looking to buy a car (used) because I am too afraid to pay monthly....

I feel confident in the debt that I have because I pay it on time and most of the time before it's even due.

I am the type that will go broke before having a past due bills.

I'm sure what happened to me in my younger years has a part in this.

I graduated college and had nearly 27,000 dollars in debt. The payments on that debt were killing me. I decided that I was sick of having it and made it my goal to get rid of it. I have worked two jobs (occasionally 3!) shifts of 18-26 hours, most weekends and I budget every cent that comes to me. I live very frugally and I will have the 27,000 paid off in full next month. Total time? 19 months. I make less than 50k, have an apartment and do not borrow or leech off of anyone. Anyone can get out of debt if you are willing to cut your lifestyle to nothing and work your tail off! The pot of gold at the end of that rainbow is sweet indeed.

28 years old

married

combined income: ~$150k

live in NYC

credit cards: $35,000

car loan: $26,000

personal bank loans: $15,000

Our debt is my single most frequent concern.

My wife and I are finally starting to tackle our debt, but it has taken us quite a while to get started. The first step was making some extra $$ (we make about double now what we did a year ago). The second step was acknowledging that we actually had a problem with spending.

Now, we're trying to restructure our debt and plan a reasonable monthly budget to pay it off.

All so that we can hopefully save up some $$ for a down payment on a house, and be in way bigger debt!

I am almost 38. I think we've had dumb debt and smart debt. When my husband and I were in college the first time, we got a free t-shirt or something and got credit cards with reasonable limits ($500.00). Sure, I had no income, but that didn't seem important at the time. Wouldn't you know it, I was responsible enough to have my limit raised to $2,000 after a very short period of time! Except that I wasn't, and I paid thousands of dollars in interest and late fees and wrecked my credit rating for several years.

It took many years for us to clear up this debt. I can't name one purchase that was truly necessary either.

After we worked and saved and got rid of most credit card debt, we went back to school. I went to law school and incurred about $30,000 in loans. My husband finished his undergrad and borrowed about $12,000. We've been paying on the student loans for almost seven years and the balance is coming down nicely. We bought a home for far less than the amount that we 'qualified' to buy and we try to live reasonably. We are doing this on one income because it is important to us to have a parent home with the kids.

Because the student loan and mortgage rates are low, I am not really trying to pay those off in a hurry, but instead trying to save money for retirement, for emergencies, and for my children's education. Although a plasma TV would be very nice, we have made some sacrifices. We are not interested in trying to keep up with the Joneses in their McMansions.

The only advice I give to friends/relatives going to college is NOT to open a credit card account just because you can. It takes a very disciplined college kid to handle that.

I am 23. I have over 300K in unsecured debt. Crazy right?

I got into some really bad investing habit (ie, forex trading), and over three years I made some huge mistakes. I have a small business that I used to get more funding for my trading addiction.

I finally started to come to grips with everything a few months ago. It's been pretty hard, to say the least. My business brings in around 7K a month, but my expenses are still around 9K a month at the moment with all the debt payments.

I have a house that I am short selling, hopefully that will be going through soon. You can read my journal at: http://www.debtkid.com

my debt scares me. primarily b/c it is not under control. all of my payments are on time, & i am working on reducing credit card debt, but it seems like i'm plugging holes in a poorly built dam. unexpected costs have depleted the savings i spent 2 years building & despite attempts to build it back up, the depletion continues. my debt-to-income ratio is well above what it should be (~60-70%). i've paid off two cards in the last year only to have emergencies fill them back up.

the worst part of my debt is the mental weight that it brings with it. it isolates me. it makes me unhappy. it occupies my time. it forces me to react instead of anticipate. it saps my motivation. it stands as a constant barrier to everything i undertake.

it keeps me from doing what i love & seeking the one to love.

it makes me tired....all the time.

I am 28 years old and have been debt free for about 5 months. I got married at 24 and went into the marriage with about $5000 in college loans. We foolishly put about $3000 of wedding-related expenses on our credit cards.

Although we are both college graduates, my husband and I both had a difficult time finding a decent job. He worked odd jobs and I worked in retail. I quit my job about 6 months into our marriage and started my own business. It was slow starting and before we knew it our debt (mostly credit card) had grown to almost $30,000. Although we lived fairly frugally, we were having to use our credit cards for groceries.

It took about two years for my business to pick up and we were still in the red during that time, but we were aggressively working down our debt. My business has been doing well for the past almost 2 years and we were able to pay our last debt in Dec. '06. What a great feeling!!

Now we're saving the money that would have gone to credit card payments.

I am 24 years old and two Sundays away from graduation with a BA. I have $11K in student loans, 8K in auto loans, and 1500 in credit card debt.

Student loans: I went to community college for 4 years, got 2 associate's degrees, and finally figured out what bachelor's to get. I have worked throughout my college career and paid everything myself.

Community college - used the college's installment plan and paid everything off. State college - loans for all tuition. Paid room/board for my junior year and books for both with cash/credit - a total of about $8500. This kept my credit around $3K for about 18 months, which was stressful on my income. I had to continually scrimp to pay it down - just to make room for more bills.

Auto loan: Commuting finally killed my car that I had since high school, and I was without a car for 6 weeks in the winter (in NJ, not a good thing). My mechanic dad talked me into a Buick. Not a sexy car at first, but it drives nice and looks mature. 19mpg city, though, so I may sell it.

With my student loan refund I was able to get my CC debt down to $500 in late Feb. It's about $1500 right now due to new tires and taxes owed.

I'm feeling pretty good about my debt. My goals once my job (regulatory consulting) adopts me full-time at $40K are to kill the CC debt, double car payments to reduce the length of the loan from 6 to 3 years, max out a 401K, and move out.

I'll try to keep it short and sweet since I don't have a lot of time. Feel free to contact me if you need additional information.

Starting college in 2001 I was 18 with no debt, but I did have one single credit card I seldom used.

Fast forward two years, I graduated from county college with an AS and zero debt. No debt on my single credit card.

Summer before being admitted into school for a BS, my breaks and tires need to be replaced (used car). I didn't have the money, so I charged the $1K repair. Shortly thereafter, I got in a car accident and I was out ~$2.5K. I'm now sitting with $3.5K in debt and school is around the corner.

Started school and I was hired for an internship. I figured I'd have the money to pay-off my debt, but I also decided to buy new skis and take a vacation skiing. Now my debt was up to around $5K.

Over the three years getting my debt under control was tough. I'd pay it down and then rack it back up. Typically these were costs I didn't anticipate ... car repair, maintenance, new clothes for a new job, and items that I "wanted" like a ski trip every winter.

Now I'm 23, it's 2007. I'm down to $3K in debt from $5K just in credit cards. I have a auto loan (finally replaced my car) for $13K @ 7.9% interest. My student loans are around ~$70K, but to my parents I'm appreciative as they've agreed to pay 1/2.

I live alone, but on my own. My monthly expenses, plus paying off my debt, and contributing 6% to my 401k ... leaves me with $400 for extra gas, groceries, or that 1 night out.

To help reduce my debt, I do computer consulting work and I've just been hired by a boutique consulting firm with a substantial increase in base salary.

The road is tough, but my credit cards will be paid by July and my auto loan should be paid-off by next year.

Next goal, save 15% to my 401k and start an emergency fund.

It's slow, but progress is being made, it isn't easy.

At 22 and a year out of college I had over 15K of credit card debt - my job and second job didn't pay enough to meet my expenses so it just kept going up. Paying off cards with other cards, opening new cards to transfer balances, leaving statements unopened. Thank God a friend helped me get it together to figure out what I owed and to whom, and to consolidate and get it together. I paid the last card off five years later but it's done, and I have well above average credit at 31. Learned that lesson the hard way and hopefully will never be there again!

I'm 29, got a $280,000 +/- mortgage (with my spouse) and as of lunchtime about 18 bucks on my credit card. Paying down the mortgage at a fair clip gives me a good kick.

College loans keep coming up in the comments here, so you might find this interesting. I'm from Ireland, where your first crack at 3rd level education is taxpayer funded (if you want a second degree, you pay). Never ceases to amaze and upset me to see young people starting out in life with thousands in college debt. I've probably said it before here, but I won the birth lottery for sure.

I'm a 20-year-old college student. Thanks to a lot of scholarship money I don't have any student loans. My only debt is about $300 that I allowed my boyfriend to charge on my credit card (which is 0% APR for quite a while)

I normally pay off my credit card at the end of each month, but this past Christmas I didn't do that. I had 0% APR so it wasn't a big deal. I hadn't saved up enough for Christmas and I knew I'd be able to pay it all off after working over winter break.

I am 27, and up until last year I had $135,000 in debt. $71k is mortgage, $15k is credit card debt, $14k is a car loan, $10k personal loan from the bank (at 10% over the 3 year loan) and $25k is a student loan.

I recently had twin boys born, so I ended up using my credit cards to get things that the boys needed, plus I had a Sears card to get new windows put into my new house to get rid of the draft and noise for the kids.

Luckily, my job put me in a position to get extra money by going on assignment in another state. Currently I have paid off all of my credit cards and I have set up an IRA. I am getting rid of all but one credit card for emergencies. I have been saving money in an emergency fund, but I am still keeping a card just in case.

All I have now is a student loan, mortgage, car payment, and my personal loan (which is almost paid off too).

@#19 - I feel for you. I'm 26 with ~40k in student loans and CC debt, just starting to manage to chip away it. It's awful, having that weight. I feel like i have no freedom; with that $500 due every month, I can't afford to be without income for a second.

I live alone, but have no independence; I'd like to have the freedom to move to another town, or another state; to switch careers if I get bored. The college education, as much as it does for my resume, wasn't worth it - I'd gladly take a 10-20% pay cut to be even. People whose parents can afford to pay for a moderately-priced (ha!) school - I want you to understand how lucky you are.

I am 23, and I am debt free. I own a car, it's paid off. I worked my butt off and paid my own tuition and other living costs. I worked 3 jobs at times, and took my time to graduate (5 yrs). I don't own a house, because I don't need one, my apt is freaking beautiful, a bed is all I need to get by.

Age:24

Education:BFA (Studio Art)

Debt:$0

Credit Cards:4 personal 2 business

Savings:8k roth ira, 5k savings, 2-3k at a time in checking

Income:~$3K/month

Living situation:Renting Apartment

Work situation:Contract IT work (work 9 months, vacation 3, work 9 and so on) Small import business just started this year.

Cars:2 (89 civic, 03 mustang) both paid for.

I've been working since I was a little kid. I've mowed yards, collected glass/paper/cans to recycle for dough, IT work in high school, IT work through college (had to work full time and attend college full time in order to pay it all myself), IT work post college. Working contracts does enable me to vacation and enjoy life quite a bit. It does limit me from being able to own a home (and subsequently more and much nicer vehicles). On the one hand it's nice to have accomplished everything myself financially, on the other hand I realize I missed out a lot on life because I've always worked so much.

I'm 25. I have ~$165,000 in student loan debt. ~$20,000 from undergrad and the rest from law school. My student loan payments are about $1,800 a month.

Yeah, it stresses me out, big time. They loan you the money like it’s growing on trees, they don’t warn you about paying it back. It's also inconvenient because I can't get a home loan. I find that ridiculous because I pay $800/month rent and I've heard of some people having house payments in that range. So I have a place to live, but that money isn’t being invested into anything.

My interest rates on my debt range from about 4.5 - 9.1%.

I haven’t consolidated my federal loans because I’m hopeful the rate will go down in the future. My understanding is that once you consolidate you can’t consolidate again…so I’d like to get the best possible rate available, even if it means waiting a couple of years. (I’ll be paying for that long anyways.)

Besides paying it down from highest to lowest interest rates I'm just paying everything I can on it. Anyone have any great tips for student loans?

I am 35, my husband is 38. We live in the Phoenix metro area.

I make $72k/year

He makes $55k/year

We owe $3500 total on two credit cards and $2k on our first new furniture ever.

We have two car loans: 1. balance 4k @ 200/mo and 2. balance 7k @260/mo

We own a house with a mortgage of $340k

We own a rental property with a mortgage of 218k.

And we owe 130k in student loans. We worked all throughout our 3 degrees, didn't use CC's, never got help from our parents, and lived like paupers - yet with interest over the years, here we are at $130k.

Oh yeah, and we are expecting our first child in July.

This amount of debt absolutely staggers us to think about. But, between our 401k's, my 457k, my state retirement plan, and cash we put away every month, we save between 25-30% of our income. I will be eligible to retire with a full pension when I am 55, him at 57, although we will still be paying on our student loans well into retirement. Doesn't it suck that I have to plan my retirement to include student loan payments?

The positives of our scenario is that we are saving and we are frugal, we follow a workable budget, and we are getting great tax benefits from owning a rental property, and our incomes will keep going up with our very stable jobs. Both properties we own are in ahigh-demand area college town, and even with the slump, have appreciated nicely. We have about $80k (conservatively) in equity between both.

The bad news is that our cash flow right now is tight. We are expecting a baby soon and are hardly prepared for this monumental expense. We don't live much differently now than we did in college. We have never taken a "real" vacation. We got married for under a thousand bucks in Vegas 10 years ago. We've never had cable. I cook dinner every night and pack my lunch every day.

But you know what? I don't regret any of it. I'm sure we've made some stupid decisions, just as I know we've made good ones. Our situation is going to be different this year because of having a baby. So, we'll just stick with our long term goals, plug away as we can, and not beat ourselves up for carrying some CC debt this year.

Happy budgeting!

I am 29 years old. I am a third year attorney in the field of Mergers and Acquisitions. I make $60,000.00 per year. I am over $100,000 in debt ALL in student loans. I pay over 1,100 per month in student debt payments. I am unable to put any money in my retirement account. I have an insufficient emergency fund. I fail to feel even the slightest satisfaction from my work as nearly all of my money goes to paying off debts instead of creating wealth. While few in this country will shed a tear for whom society deems overpriced dilettantes, I remain nevertheless a real person with real feelings. I look into my future and I see that I will be paying these debts for the balance of my lifetime. I am exceedingly depressed by this. I have wild lottery fantasies (where I win just enough to pay off my debts in one lump sum, big dreams eh?). My debts affect my marriage as well; we are limited in the places on this earth we can live and move to. Every decision I make, every decision, is governed by the looming question of "what will this mean regarding my ability to pay my loans back?" I am incapable of feeling relaxed when I think of my finances. I do not foresee my future children's lives improving beyond my own (as I will be incapable of providing to them the things I had as a child due to my debts). In essence, I have lost any joy, choice, freedom, liberty, happiness, that have been so lustily promised me in the Declaration of Independence. In fact, I am extremely dependent.

I have no debt. I am a grinch. I sometimes regret not going out with friends to dinners and movies because of the costs. I am scared of paying money. This fear has kept me debt-free, but it has also yoked my life.

I wish everyone with debt good luck in paying it off (especially the credit card debt - the interest rates are so high!).

I'm in my second year out of law school and am working at a large firm. I currently have $105K in student loans. Approximately $60K are federal loans which I have consolidated at a 3% interest rate; the remainder are private loans that have interest rates from 9-11%. The government loans are not oppressive - the total payment on them is about $300 per month. The private loans are staggering, and the minimum payment on them is aabout $600 per month. I received a half-scholarship to attend law school, so my debts are not as big as some of my former classmate's.

I currently have just under $3K in credit card debt (much of which was accumulated in law school on things like groceries, interview suits, text books, etc.). I have been paying this off agressively - I had over $15K 18 months ago. Once this debt is gone, which should be bby July, I will divert the money I was using to pay off the cc debt to go towards my private student loan debt.

I was able to purchase a house, and so have a mortgage as well. This debt does not bother me, as my mortgage payments are roughly equal to what I was paying in rent, and because of the tax incentives that come with owning vs. renting.

I think about my debt all the time. I currently allow myself $200 per month of money for personal expenses - the rest goes towards debt repayment and establishing an emergency fund. I do not enjoy the work I do, but at this point cannot see taking a lower paying job. I wonder how I will be able to afford to have kids - not just the expense of a child, but whether it will be feasible for me to take any time off or to work part-time.

One other thing I worry about is that this debt can make anything seem like an emergency. If I were to lose my job, it would be catastrophic because I would not be able to lower many of the bills I pay every month. That is, I can't lower my student loan payment or my mortgage payment.

Overall, I am pretty sad about this whole situation. Law school was insanely expensive, and to pay it off I am doing work that I do not find satisfying.

I am finishing my undergrad degree this may from a top private university. I have 23K in student loans, my parents paid the rest. Luckily my parents also helped with my living expenses. However, I have almost 4K in credit card debt. I'm unsure whether my parents will be paying it off, or if I will be. I'm learning to take control of my money after being taken care of for so many years. The debt doesn't really bother me yet, but I'm sure that's because I have not yet entered the "real world" and haven't had to start paying these things off yet. I am attending a graduate program next year, completely on my own loans. These loans will come to about 35K. I have a feeling the debt will start to stress me out pretty soon.

I started in-between my first real job and college. I got a $20,000 car, then a computer or two ($4,000+) and stereo stuff ($1,500+). After that I was eating out a lot in college, buying stuff I didn't need for my apartments. Then I didn't pay anything for a few months (4+) and all my debt was charged off, which ruined my credit. Well I left college and got a good job, paid off all my debt (at about 70% instead of all of it) and bought a house for $120,000 with an FHA loan that ignored my credit. My car has been paid for a few years, I have only 1 credit card (my credit still sucks) and I'm selling my house for a $20,000 loss to move 3,000 miles away and start the best job of my life. I'm selling almost everything I own. Good stuff and I feel awesome. Being debt free is a super great feeling after all that bullshit.

I'm 25. Two years ago I was debt free. Scholarships paid for college. Parents paid living expenses. My car was a graduation present from high school.

At 23, one year after graduating in business, I was given a diagnosis of possible Multiple Sclerosis. In the last two years I've built up more than $20,000 in credit card and medical debt.

But most of it was travel related. Might as well travel while I feel good. Why the hell not, right?

My fiance and I have 5000 dollars in credit card debt, at ridiculous interest rates (18%), and I also have a student loans for 2750 and 1500, the 2750 one is sitting in the bank building interest until it needs to be repaid, its a form of an emergency fund.

We make approximately 30,000 year together, both of us in college. I work for tips, he works for an hourly rate at a hardware store.

He has a 401k set up (courtesy of me, the financial manager of the relationship).

We pay off our bills each month, and whatever money we have left usually gets split to adding to our savings or going towards our credit card debt, which never goes anywhere. I hate making the minimum payment because I know its mostly paying off the finance charge for that month.

I'm 20 and my fiance is 21, we both have decent credit. I'd like to lower our interest rates, but our banks won't let us.

Debt sucks. But a credit card has definitely saved us in some situations, ie, one of our cars is broken down or we've had to make emergency trips for family passings and such.

After a BS and an MA, I found myself in a remarkable amount of student loan debt: $98,000. I had never been educated in financial matters, and I regret that--I had no idea I had accumulated that much debt over my college years; when I went to consolidate my loans (got a pretty good rate, 4.75%) and the woman I was talking to gave me the amount, I could feel my heart drop to my feet. I could have almost bought a house for that amount of money!

Thankfully, I got a good job and I'm starting to make payments, but I strive every day to put just a bit more aside, so by the time it's paid off, I

a. Won't be 57 and

b. Will not have paid $70,000 in interest alone

My warning now to every college student I can reach is don't take the student loans if you don't have to--take a lesser amount, get a job, and pay your interest as you go if you can--though I have my debt 'under-control' and make monthly payments, I'd certainly rather be saving towards a house right now than speculating what on earth the previous tenants did to the carpet.

Ramit, I have sort of an anti-debt story. For a number of reasons, I went to a public university for two years and a private university for two years, saving a lot of money. I didn 't have a lot of money to buy anything, but I avoided accumulating much credit card debt by not buiying stuff. I don't think I even owned a computer until after graduation. I lived at home for four years before finally moving to New York City, even though I wanted to get out of the house immediately. When I finally moved here, I was able to buy a co-op apartment with the savings. Because of all this, I have always been pretty much debt free aside from the mortgage. This was a sacrifice but it paid off in allowing me to be independent and start two businesses without worrying about college debt.

Well, I'm 29 now and currently have a total of around $50K in debt.

$16K right now is in student loans (I was able to consolidate last year, so the rates are low and will remain such)

~$12K is on a car loan to get me a car some years back furnished by the 'rents.

The rest is in credit card debt (~$22K)...the crazy part is I never got a card until age 24. I got stupid on a couple of bad investments/scams, and also have some money tied up in trading on the futures market...which is going OK so far as I'm actually learning about it and not just trading wildly like some may and blow everything up.

Couple of nice car repairs over the years also didn't help matters that much either...overall the interest rates on these cards are low (

I'm 22 years old and graduating from college next month. I got a letter today notifying me that I've been accepted into graduate school. I want to earn a master's degree in social work and help improve the lives of people in my community, but I just can't stand the idea of accumulating more debt, so I'm looking for a job instead.

I already have over 12K in debt from my undergraduate degree--and my state has a program that covers my tuition. Despite working 20-30 hours per week all through college, I still needed student loans to help cover my living expenses. I got a credit card to help me make it from paycheck to paycheck, which added another 2K in debt. I cut up the card, but soon started having a lot of trouble with overdraft fees from my bank, so I opened up a line of credit that offered overdraft protection. Little by little, it's added up to about $1500.

I've had a job since I was fifteen, I never had to pay tuition, and I've been living below the poverty line since I left my parents' house at 18. I have not had an extravagant life by any means, and yet, at 22, I owe more than $15,000. As a social worker, it's unlikely I'll ever make enough money to justify the debt I'll accumulate in grad school. I'm starting to wonder if I would have been better off if I'd skipped college altogether and gone straight into the workforce.

I'm 22, and I'm going to graduate in August most likely.

Current debt: $15,000

Five thousand is in government loans and the rest is a loan at the same rate from my bank. I also got some grant money.

I was very lucky because my great-grand parents had invested in savings bonds when I was a baby and that helped me pay for most of college. However, they couldn't see how much costs would eventually rise.

I also participated in a study abroad program in the UK. In case you don't know, the exchange rate right now is 2 pounds to the dollar. So I ended up spending more of my 10,000 than I had originally planned.

I'm worried about it because I'm coming back in June, and I don't have a job, my parents are moving to Indiana (I'm from TX), and so I need an apartment almost immediately. Because my dad has decided to join seminary, my parents won't be availiable to help me out. I'm going to have to rely on my boyfriend when I get back for finances, and I hate that. I like relying on myself. Also, the job market hasn't been so good, and I don't want to have to work retail again. Mostly because of the poor pay vs amount of work.

I don't have any credit card debt because my parents have had problems with that. Occasionally I use it, but only in amounts I know I can pay off by the end of the month.

I know I'm not going to have any insurance, and this frightens me, because I won't be able to afford health care without it. I have no savings at all. Last year, I got in a car accident, and it completely wiped me out, even with my parents helping.

If I could change something, I wouldn't have gotten into the apartment complex I did. It was way to expensive for me. If I had gone cheaper I could have saved some money. And had a social life because I wouldn't had to have been working so much just to eat and pay rent. I think I may have lost some friends because of this and because of my stress level at the time.

My Ozzie friend gets a freaken check from her government every two weeks for going to school. 0_0 She was all like "wow, you guys work and go to school? Being a student is your job." Ha, I wish my government thought that.

I consider myself very lucky - I didn't have to pay for all of college by myself, and my parents were able to provide insurance, cel phone, and car insurance - without which I wouldn't have been able to have a job. My grandmother bought me a new used car when my old Honda '86 (no AC, in TX. Imagine.) died at the ripe old age of 20 (it could legally smoke, and it did). Now I have a Honda '96, which was $4000. Drives great. Has an AC. I'm not picky. If I can I want to try and pay my grandmother back somehow. I feel bad owing people money - and borrowing money.

Hopefully by living cheaply I can get rid of debt and live normally.

I'm 27 now and graduated 4 years ago with a bachelor's degree in engineering. When I graduated I had a few thousand in CC debt and about $21k in student loans.

The CC debt has fluctuated but I am CC debt free now and down to about $11k in student loans. I own my car outright.

I bought a house two years ago and have $275k remaining on the mortgage at 5.5%. Conservatively, I have 75k of equity in the house.

I started saving for retirement last year and am putting away at least 10% of my taxable gross. I'm planning to hit $1M in savings by the time I am 49. The original goal was to be financially independent without having to rely on a company pension as my current employer does not offer one. I'm now reconsidering the $1M figure as I think it is too low to consider myself financially independent in the year 2029.

Well I am 20 and have about 105k in debt. The majority of my debt is in my mortgage, (about 98k.) I purchased a house near campus for when I am going to school. After a few years out of school I plan on moving out of it and then renting it out entirely.

The rest of my debt was in the form of loans from my parents to help pay for college. This is 5-7k, since I don't have an online account tracking this I would have to pull up my documentation.. Since your not the IRS that wont happen ;)

Then on top of that I owe about 1k for stuff relating to my business. That will probably just get paid off at the end of the month though.

Now this debt is kind of scary and at the same time kind of good. Since most of my debt is on a property that I believe will be a good long term asset for me it makes me feel good about it. However, I am not going to lie, the payments are pretty much over my head and I rely on the rents that it generates to make the payments. Of course I have a couple month buffer, but that scares me.

The monthly payments on my loan and everything on escrow is around $720..

Wow, I can hardly write this. I have a bit more than $130,000 in student loan debt, from a master's degree at Cal and a JD from an Ivy league law school. Most of it is consolidated federal loans, so the interest rate is quite low. About $15,000 is private loans, at something like 8%.

Obviously I don't really like to think about the details!

In a way, I'm lucky, since I got two cracks at federal loans, instead of having to fund an equivalent amount with half private loans, like most of my law school class. At the exit session for our loans, the total amount borrowed (just from the 500 or so JDs) was announced - $40 million. Law school is shockingly expensive. I can't remember the average indebtedness, but it was well into the six figures.

I've also got around $4,000 currently on a zero percent credit card, which I'll pay when I start working for real (I'm a low paid judicial clerk at the moment). I'm hoping to pay the entire private loan back by the end of the year, then take as long as possible for the consolidated loans. On a 30 year repayment plan, the payments aren't overwhelming (something like $450), and it's the cheapest money I'll ever be able to borrow. So, conceptually that debt doesn't bother me too much, but the sum is high enough that it sometimes freaks me out.

I'm 19 years old and I am $148,000 in debt. I go to a private school that costs me $47,000 per year. My parents were kind enough to pay the first year of tuition for me, but I am on my own after that.

The only reason I am staying in this university is that I have an unbelievable job doing research at a nearby ivy-league material school. My only option to remove this debt is to transfer to a state school, which I can't bring myself to do.

My solution for solving this debt: 80-hour work weeks for startup companies in exchange for equity only. I'll give myself three months at a new startup to see if it will make it; if not I'll move on. I will likely start my own company in a few years, once I learn from the mistakes of the others.

If anyone that is reading this is interested in a smart, enthusiastic undergrad to join their startup, please don't hesitate to contact me. I'd be more than willing to drop out if the opportunity strikes.

I am married combined income 48k. 3 kids 15, 11, 7.

Mortgage 110k, Mortgage 2 35k, Credit card 35 k. We are a mess. I can't find a job after staying home with kids. Help!

hi Ramit,

I'm 25, getting married next year, and my fiance and I just bought our own condo last month. I have about $35k in student loan debt, but I think it is entirely worth it since I wouldn't have gotten my job without it. It would have been higher but I was fortunate to have a tuition scholarship for 4 years, so the debt was for books and room and board and misc fees.

I've gotten my credit card debt down to approx $650 after I started my own PF blog. When I first got out of college I had about $1400 total CC debt, and a federal Perkins loan debt of $890.00. I got it down to $80 after some aggressive payment planning.

I have a small emergency fund established that I'm trying to grow, and my fiance and I are also paying for most of our wedding ourselves. He took care of the condo downpayment and I'm taking care of the wedding. A twist to this is that last year I was diagnosed with arthritis and after countless blood tests, rheumatologist visits and even a visit to a orthopedic surgeon for another test (they thought it was carpal tunnel), I spent approximately $2300 + prescription medicine cost (generic, so it's cheap) in after tax money since i didn't open a health care spending account at work, even though it was available. the $2300 is already after the insurance's payments and deductibles too. This is why I am fortunate to have the job that I have that has benefits, and also that I had the cash on hand to pay the medical bills. The cash came actually from our wedding fund which is currently at $10k (we are aiming for a $15k Illinois suburban wedding and pay for it in cash), but my fiance said my health is more important and that it was better we pay it off all in full now...rather than let it all add up and put us in even more debt. We are sure anyway that we can easily put the $2300 back via more savings in time for our wedding.

After all the arthritis drama I had to go through, I understand now that money is nothing when you are not in top health I am ok now, my pain is under control w/ medication and monitoring and I can last thru the work day ok. But I want other young people to understand that without health, they have nothing...because they won't be able to work, and pay the bills, and save, and plan the rest of your life. Take care of your health and you will be worth millions.

i just want to add that my Sallie Mae (the 35k) debt payment is $227, and I still have $35k on it. The federal Perkins is what I got down to $80 from $890, and I expect it to clear by Memorial Day.

I'm 21, I've got roughly $15,000 in education loans (which I don't yet have to pay back) and I'll probably be adding on to that to get money for studying abroad for the next academic year.

I've got $3045.82 debt between two credit cards, which I accumulated from paying for a vacation for myself and my exgf last summer, buying plane tickets to go home and visit the current gf and/or my family, and I needed a cash advance to pay off my student account because it came due earlier than I was told it would and I didn't have the money.

This credit card debt stresses me a lot out a little, and it definitely makes me feel more cautious about spending with my credit. I've got a plan which should pay off all my cards by the end of the summer. As for my school debts, I try not to think of those right now because I just want to graduate and I'll take whatever money or loans I can to do it. I do plan on consolidating my loans once I graduate, but to do so before means I lose my 6 month grace period and as nice as a lower interest rate may be I'd much rather have the 6 month grace period to get started before having to pay.

The last credit bill I got had my minimum payment doubled, which I just heard is some new law that was put in place, and I really don't understand it. This is stressful for me as a student because I've been making the minimum payments ech month, but barely so. I get paid once every 2 or 3 months from a research study I take part in, about $300 usually. This is money I spend on bills and food, and it tends to go fast. I've lately been considering calling a debt relief company, but I'm not sure if that would be right for my situation but I'll be doing some research into this topic as well.

$23,000 in student loans at a higher-than-I-would-like-to-admit interest rate. $1000 in CC debt. Graduated grad school in 2006. Before that, was working low paying jobs, so couldn't save very much. It's a shame so many young people in the U.S. start their adult lives off with heavy financial burdens. Like others have written, debt is a psychological burden that effects self-esteem and relationships with others.

I used to think freedom was a highway. Now I know freedom is a bill laying on the kitchen table that says "paid in full".

I have quite a story to tell as well. I came to this country at the age of 20 to pursue my bachelor's degree. I did 2 years communit college back home, so only had 2 years left. Fortunately, I come from a society where it is the responsibility of the parents to pay for the childs education. [I value this tremendously now]

I had no clue about finances and started applying for credit cards so that I can get the free T-Shirts on campus. Ended up getting over 10 credit cards and racked up around $6000 in debts spread over the cards. I could not afford to pay this as a student so i said fuck it! I was hounded for like 6 years by credit card companies and third party credit agencies to pay up...but I never did. Fast forward 11 years.

My credit score is now at 719, I have about $350K in savings with no debts (apart from the severely late debts accumulated long time back. I have the capability to pay now, but credit companies that I defaulted dont even know what im talking about when i talk to them and besides a financial guru once said that its no use paying them back if u have gone into serious collections unless it makes u feel good to do so.)

Im 31. So those people out there who fucked up....dont worry, there is still time to salvage the situation. [ONLY if you realise the problem and never repeat it]

I guess I might as well chime in with a story somewhat different than the rest.

I'm 23, have a bachelor's in engineering and about to get a master's in the same field. I go to a public university that is ranked better in engineering and my specific field than most private schools so there was no reason to go private.

I have absolutely no debt related to my education. I received a 4 year scholarship (state schools DO give away money), worked throughout undergrad, and have a paid research position now.

I have ~$3,000 debt for a car loan. When my first car died (a 1991 ford escort), I decided I wanted/needed a truck to transport things...and it has come in handy many times since it's purchase. I put a lot down and have paid down ~half the loan.

I have ~$4,000 in savings/checking and another $14-15k invested between a roth and non-retirement accounts. I could pay off the car loan but I am making more with the money invested.

I have no credit card debt, though I use it extensively as I am typically too lazy to carry cash. I have never carried a balance on my card.

I have an excellent credit score and debt does not scare me. I am completely comfortable with leveraging low-interest debt on higher interest investments. I plan to be a millionaire by 40, with 45 being a slightly more realistic goal based on my calculations.

So...there it is. I guess after seeing all these comments I should be especially grateful for the scholarship I received and lack of debt.

Worst year for me financially was 2003. Got married and my wife had a preemie baby all in the same year. My son spent his first few days in the hospital ICU until he was strong enough to come home. By year's end, we had racked up about $15,000 in credit card debt.

Decided all along that my wife would be a stay-at-home mom, and my gov't salary was barely getting us by paycheck to paycheck. Fortunately, I invested in the gov't TSP plan from day-1, so it continued to pull pre-tax money since I started working for them in 2000.

In 2005, I accepted a transfer to Japan, which came with a lot of benefits... many financial ones (rent and utilities paid, tax free allowances for cost of living, etc). I also got a 3-month salary advance that helped us get over here from the USA. Part of that I used to pay down debt, the rest we used to get settled in Japan.

By early 2006, we were completely out of debt. I maxed out my TSP and put additional money into a money market acct each paycheck so we can save for our future first home down payment.

Now, we've got about $100K in my TSP retirement account, another $10K in my son's 529 college savings account, and nearly $15K saved up for our future home down-payment.

Best thing is that in the next 3 years, we plan to see much of Japan, and also visit China, Thailand, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

I am 27 years old and finishing my PhD before heading back to medical school to finish the last years of my medical degree.

I am in £4500 (~$9000US) credit card debt with an overdraft of about £2000 (~$4000US). I also have £10000 ($20000US) of student loans which will increase when I go back to finish medical school.

I am lucky enough to have incredibly supportive parents, but sponging from them any more is not realistic at their age.

Thanks for all the positive stories, they really help. On to creating a zero based budget!

I feel very lucky, reading all these stories of six-figure school loans and so on. I have no debt. I had a GBP5K student loan which I paid off within a year or so of finishing my MSc (I worked full-time whilst completing that). I paid cash for my car, and I was lucky enough to find a wonderful high earning SO who also has an additional private income so we have no mortgage or rent payments. I make GBP30K a year, she makes GBP43K, and has an income of another GBP30K or so. I'm saving as hard as I can for retirement and an emergency fund because I don't want to waste the opportunity we have to save now since we might have a family or other problems in the future (sick parents etc). Good luck to all those trying to get themselves debt-free. It certainly inspires me to plan for the future.

I just graduated in December. I've got 15K in student loans at 3.25% and 2,500 at 6.89%. I have no credit card debt.

I'll be doing Teach for America over the next two years which means my loans are deferred and the gov't pays the interest. I plan on saving up to pay the 2,500 as soon as I have to start paying loans again. The 3.25% I'll pay the minimum amount until the loans are done. I can make more just having that $$ in a savings accn't.

I can't help but to read all the posts about people with $1,000 to $3,000 that finally get there balance to $0 only to have an emergencies come up and they need to charge it. After struggling for 3 yrs with the same situation I found a solution that I recommend to all. First you have to stop the bleeding! Next month when your credit card statement arrives with a total balance ignore it! PAY THE MINIMUM and put the difference between that and the amount you really would like to pay in a ing direct savings account or equivalent. WE are all young do this for 6 to 9 months you should be able to save more than you did in cash in a long time. Do this without charging more in the mean time and it will lead to no need for credit cards again. I know this is very unconventional and outside the box thinking. I may even get ripped dearly for this but I'm sure it will prove beneficial to at least one of you.

Age: 33

Mortgage: $150k

No car debt, school loan or any other debts at all. I do owe the cable company 150bux, but i'll pay that when I get annoyed by them enough.

I racked up a quite large credit card balance when I was an undergrad. Here are a few things I wish I had learned a little earlier:

1) Credit cards are not for Amazon.com

2) Credit cards are not for fast food

3) Credit cards are not for internet porn (or so I hear...)

4) Credit cards are not for gasoline

I am still paying off my original balance for all this garbage.

I am 32, make $28,000/yr and I have $33,000 in student loans to pay back and I've been going through a divorce over the past 4 years and have $180,000 in lawyer fees that won't stop growing until the appeals are done.

It becomes overwhelming to think about so I usually put it on the back burner... denial! But they are there and always on my mind. I want to do things like... eat, have electricity, take a hot shower, take my kids out for ice cream... etc, and feel guilty about it because that is all money that should be going towards bills. I have only 1 credit card and $800 on it which really shouldn't be overly hard on me, but I cannot seem to get out from under it either... It's all psychological, right?

Lately, I've been of the "scr...w it" nature and have been much happier with life, but it really doesn't change the debt, just my attitude towards it.

A little late in the game but my story has been outlined and is being outlined on an LJ community I made. I figure I'm as open as I can be about my debt without risk of ID theft.

http://community.livejournal.com/goingdebtfree/?skip=20

As of this point in time, I've been airing my financial situation for 16 weeks. All of the steps up and down are there including the latest crash.

Right now, I have about $85k in debt, $75k of which is a mortgage, and $10k is credit cards. I own a car that is paid off.

I bought a house in 1999 on a 30 year mortgage. When interest rates dropped in 2003, I refied to a 15 and have 11 years left to pay on it.

I'm working with a singleminded intensity at this point to pay off the credit card debt, at which point I plan to begin paying additional principal on the mortgage.

I've been saving 7% per paycheck automatically into a 401k (with 6% match) and recently bumped that up to 10%. I plan to up that to about 19% once the credit cards are paid off, and plan at that point to begin regular contributions to a planned expense account and to an investment account.

The house has been a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it's perhaps my biggest asset, but on the other, it's my biggest reason for not relocating, and I think I'd really like to relocate.

I've made so much progress on paying it off, that I don't want to reset the clock.

I'm 33 years old, and while I don't feel overwhelmed by debt, I don't feel like I'm doing nearly as well as I ought to.

Something clicked in my head back in January. I feel like I'm wasting my life working to pay off debt, and working to save enough money so that I can retire without worry.

I know that I'm doing better than many people in terms of finances (at least I'm less underwater), but sure feel like I'm letting life live me, rather than the other way round.

I graduated with BFA in animation and film last year.

At the moment I have 132 K in loans for my education. The APR on it is 9.25 %, making the monthly payment at least $1 100 . I had to put in on forbearance last month because I could not afford paying it and all of my bills.

At the moment I work as a VFX Supervisor making $42 K a year. I live in LA which makes the living expenses pretty high.

I own a paid off car. I've paid off a $2000 balance on one of my credit cards last month, leaving me with $500 worth of debt.

Just today I opened a Roth IRA with a plan to put $50 every month.

I try to conserve on everything and be smart about my finances, but with such ridiculous interest rates on my student loan I can barely survive.

I know how the system works and that student loans are not just free money, and I do want to pay them off promptly, but I don't know how I am expected to pay a house-mortgage sized loan with an entry level income.

[...] Here’s the article I was reading from about young people’s debt and their feelings towar.... The 65+ comments are stunning. [...]

I went to a state school for undergrad and had no debt after finishing that. I'm 22 years old pursuing a MA in Economics and have about 50k in debt and might take on about 10k more for my last semester if I don't get any scholarships. I know that I'll have a lot to pay off, but I follow economics enough to have heard of something called the Permanent Income Hypothesis. I think I'm going to make a lot of money from my investment in education and therefore it will be worth it to take this much debt. I feel no sympathy for anyone paying 100k for an MBA or JD. They should all be making at least 100k after three years on the job and should easily be able to comfortably meet any payments.

However, I have sympathy for the people getting MAs in Art or other subjects that are less marketable. But then again, how much did you learn that you couldn't have read in a library?

[...] I Will Teach You To Be Rich » Tell me a story about your debt Ramit asks his readers: “How much debt do you have (and what kind)? How old are you? How did you get into debt? How does it make you feel?” THIS IS WHY I WRITE THIS BLOG! (tags: stories debt pfblogs) [...]

My husband and I are both 23 and haven't been out of college (or married) for a full year yet. We have ~$13K in school debt. We refuse to ever have a car payment, or carry a credit card balance, so right now we're working to pay off the school loans as well as save about a third of our income toward a first house, which we hope to move into in the next 6-12 months. Only I have a 401K opportunity at work, and we're funding that to the employer's match.

We figured, if we start right, it'll be easier to continue in the right financial path. Pretty early on we went on a 'cash system' for day-to-day budget things, and that has probably helped a lot. Another thing that has helped is my discovery of a love of cooking :)

I am 23 and will be graduating from the U of MN in three weeks. The one thing that has been consistently weighing on my mind is finances. I have been obsessing, reading every blog about money I can, but it simply has not taken much of the worry away.

I am graduating with approximately $43,000 in student loans, both public and private (with varying interest rates) and I am currently carrying a balance of about $4500 in credit card debt.

Even worse, I worry about my boyfriends debt (over $60,000 in loans and credit cards). I often wonder how I will even make minimum payments and begin to think about if I will ever be out of debt.

I know that it will take a lot of hard work and dedication, but with those sorts of numbers in front of me, it makes it difficult to imagine being debt free. Hopefully I am on the right track thanks to many suggestions I have found on websites such as these.

I'm 30 years old. My wife and I exited college with 42k in student loans between us. We added a few thousand more from graduate school later on.

Last year, we were in a car accident. We had an emergency fund but didn't use it to pay the insurance deductible for the accident repairs. I put it on my credit card instead. I figured I'd make interest on the float, and then pay it off. Other expenses came up, the emergency fund went untouched, and I didn't pay the CC balance in full. I got the next bill, saw the interest charge and thought, "This is crazy! What are you doing!"

I decided that was the last time I would pay a fee I could have easily avoided but didn't due to a dumb decision. I also decided that holding low interest debt and working the spread on investments wasn't working for me; the numbers came out, but it caused too much stress. And that stress provoked some silly mistakes.

My wife and I agreed to take a KISS approach.

So we made our informal budget more clear cut, stuck to it, grew our income, and paid off our remaining debt (32k) over the next 8 months. Now we're able to save and invest about 40% of our gross income, with other money set aside for personal spending and interesting projects.

The truth is, we pay more attention to the flow of our money now than we did before, but spend less time and energy on it.

I will be graduating from college in about one year. Thanks to my two years of being a slacker, by the time I graduate I will have had to take out $55k in student loans, and thanks to the current administration, the interest rate is very high.

I recently founded a Roth IRA account and am funding it regularly. I have met the girl of my dreams and she and I together have sat down and attempted to figure out how we are going to pay for life together. She has additional student loans. Neither of us has Credit Card debt. We both have successfully paid off car loans of 2-10k each. We think our educations are worth it, and she is going back for her doctorate in a year, and I will be getting a Masters when she is done.

We manage our money via online banking, and once we are married will be consolidating our loans into one payment.

40YO single male

~$25k left on consolidated school loan for BFA in graphic design. Currently working as a web developer for a Fortune 500 and running a little web design side business

~$100k left on mortgage, but probably getting another $20k this year in an equity loan to remodel

$2k Home Depot card at 0% interest for hardwood flooring (I'll probably move that to the equity loan before the 0% expires)

$6900 left on last credit card - mostly motorcycle-related expenses

4 cars are paid for. 1 truck paid for.

Bike is paid for except for the "accessories bill" mentioned above.

No other debt.

My side business doesn't make me much money right now so I'm pouring my salary into bills and relying on the business income for "extras."

23 years old - after a BM in Voice Performance (yeah, singing....useful?) and one year of graduate school living expenses (tuition and fees were covered by an assistantship and scholarship) I have about 30K in consolidated student loans. My father is paying the remainder of my debt from undergrad.

I have 13k outstanding on a car loan. Had I known then what I know now, I may not have bought this car. However, it's a great car that I can drive for another 140,000 miles. And I intend to.

No credit card debt.

I've begun to aggressively attack my debt with the 'snowball method.' In my plans to be debt free by 30, I have given myself 3 years to pay off the car completely (while I build my business as a self-employed classical musician and voice teacher) and another 3-4 years to kill the student loans.

I'm currently saving 10% of my primary income for retirement and have taken a second job specifically for savings (emergency fund first then debt reduction and IRA contributions.)

I live frugally and work a lot but I love seeing financial freedom in the future.

I am 23 years old and will finish my MA in Sociology next month. I owe 17k at 3.25% and 8,600 at 6.89%, all from undergraduate loans.

Since I graduated from a liberal arts school without knowing what I wanted to do in life, I decided to continue going to school in a field that interested me but not to pay for it. Fortunately I have been able to do this by taking a full-time union job at my university's library for about 27k/year. Since I live in NYC, that amount is not as comfortable as it might be elsewhere.

Though I have had to pay taxes on my graduate tuition as if it were income I have managed to do so (partially due to deferring my loan repayment) and still save a bit of money for a trip to Europe to visit relatives this summer without resorting to credit cards. I have also received a small promotion recently that should help to cover the impending loan payments for the time being.

My debt is not nearly as overwhelming as that of some of the commenters above, but it remains a source of strain and fear. I am still not sure what career path I should choose, and know that my student loans will likely be a presence in my life for a long, long time no matter which of the available choices I make. I am trying to educate myself to make good financial decisions, and at the same time remember that my eventual goal is happiness.

[...] Bookmarks: del.icio.us, digg, reddit Over at I Will Teach You To Be Rich, Ramit is collecting stories about debt, and as the first anniversary of my financial armageddon approaches, it feels like the right time [...]

I'm 27. My only debt is my mortgage, which is currently about $120,000 USD @ 6.25%. Otherwise, I pay off my (2) credit cards monthly, my car is paid for, and I was fortunate enough to have state school tuition paid for by my parents.

As for how it makes me feel...I don't like owing $120,000 USD, but I keep telling myself it is better than paying rent. I'm sure I'll feel better once I get a little deeper into my mortgage and see the interest payments level out.

I am 29 years old female. I am currently in $51,900.00 in debt.

I decided that instead of going to college full time, i decided that i could also work. Which lead me to believe that i would have money all the time for anything that i wanted. Well as i found out - that is not the case.

So finally my living expenses started to out weigh my income and I compensated by using the old credit card.

I, being young, thought - well i can pay this off - so i kept charging more.

Now my minimum payments are 460.00 to the creidt card

230.00 to a car loan and 178.00 to a student loan

This has made for a very stressful situation..

Finally i have learned to budget and just recently started to dig myself out - but this was a very hard lesson to learn and has brought me much depression but at the same time - i know there is light at the end of this tunnel.. there is no easy way out :(

I would suggest to anyone young - Be responsible with your money - it will help you -years from now!!!

I rent - and hopefully after i get out of this debt - i will be able to buy a house.

I am a 27 years old single male graduate from college. I went to a private college and accrued $45k in student loans. I have $800 at 5% interest, $3000 at ~10% and the rest at 3%. I owe $600 in store cc, and $1800 on a line of credit for taxes.

Since I am self-employed I am shooting towards paying off all but my 3% student loan by the end of the year and the rest of the student loans paid off before I'm 30.

Although I hae my student loan debt, I am grateful to go to the private college I did. I am putting off buying a house until my student loans are paid off.

I wish there was a better system to fund college that would help college students with a leg up on life. Unfortunately I don't think that will happen any time soon.

27 year old female, single

$9,600 in credit card debt - which is actually good for me, as I was in over $18k of cc debt just 2 years ago. The interest rates are: 0%, 6%, 7%, and 9%. I plan to have all of my credit card debt paid off by the end of this year. I am extremely anxious to get them paid off!

Other: No student loan debt. I lease my car (2004 VW Jetta) for $323/mo. I plan to buy and pay off my car next year. I rent a decent apartment with cheap rent ($575/mo.). I put 3% of my salary into a 401k.

Marriend 5 months

Me: 27

Husband:24

Debts:

-Credit Card $6,700

- My student loans: $68,000

-His student loans: $4,200

-His Parents: $3,200

Income: 72K/yr

When I got married five months ago, I had a finacial breakdown when I looked at the debt we we're going to be carrying. It's also when I felt like I could start doing something about it because of the double in income.

I made a lot of stupid mistakes. I was raised poor and I was told to expect credit card debt and other debt the rest of your life. I didn't have the awareness to look into things myself. My first mistake was to go to a private collage, my second was to go to grad school without a real consideration to how much it would cost me. And my third, I used grad school loan money to pay off the credit card without changing my spending habits and ended up with more CC debt than before.

The good news is that my husband and I have finanally got on the right track. When we got married we stayed in the same little apartment and actually went down to one car. We've read and learned alot about personal finance.

The results are astounding to us. In the past 5 months we've paid off 6K in credit card debt. My husband has decided to return to school and we have been paying for it in cash. We've been able to pay for our formal wedding in cash. We are currenlty on schedule to have paid off the credit card in octobter of this year, and the parents and his student loan by February 07. Plus we've upped contributions to retirment and personal savings.

My debt freaked me out 5 months ago. But since I've focused my energies on being finacial free the payoffs have been enormous. we currenlty pay 52% of our takehome towards this debt & my husbands school and our modest wedding savings. However, the end is only 8 months away and I've learned that if need be we can live well on 50% of our income which takes a way a lot stress and fear of lossing a job or taking a gamble on a life dream of business.

I am uncomfortable with my student loan debt. Had this debt not been here I could be moving more towards recogoning my dreams, but I've learned alot in the process.

Our goal for financial freedom is to be able to move out of the country to a developing one and spend our lives doing good works. After the debt is paid (sans my student loans) we'll be able to sock about about 45% of our takehome pay for our dreams, and that's what is exciting!

I just turned 23 a couple weeks ago and I also just went through a period of life changing events. So here's my current situation:

-18k in personal student loans @ 4.75%

-18k in parents student loans for me @ 5.75% (I'm assuming payments soon)

-16k in car loan @ 6.75%

-3k in credit cards @ 11%

-145k in home mortgage @ 5.75%

-0 in the bank

-1k in investments

-9k in equity from paid off life insurance

Overall, I'm about at -250k net worth. I don't think it's such a bad position though, because the house was a good value, I love my car, and I all my interest rates are pretty low.

The only things I regret are not saving more from when I was working in high school, and also going to college.

Yes I regret getting a B.Sc. in Computer Science, because it didn't really get me anywhere I couldn't have gone on my own. I didn't learn anything thats not already on the internet. And I don't plan to go to grad school (as of now, maybe IP at law school, we'll see).

The good parts about college were more environmental and personal experience things. I've met some of the best people I know at MSU and I definitely increased my professional and personal network. I just wish I didn't pay 40k for it ... maybe 15 would be ok ;-)

I am 27, engaged, a grad student with no debt. I got my first credit card at age 22 because I had no credit history and I wanted to buy a car. (I ended up paying cash for it, although I am still using the credit cards to build up a credit history.)

My fiance is the same age and racked up several thousand dollars of credit card debt by the time *he* was 22. Since he quit the credit cards cold turkey, years before I met him, I helped him pay it off. He still has about $60,000 of student loans from his bachelor's and MFA programs (both private schools), and is working at a coffeeshop. With my encouragement he now has over $2000 in a savings account, but is still only making payments on the interest of his student loans. We haven't come to an agreement on how those are going to get paid off, but I suspect that he will come around to the idea of getting a better-paying job when he realizes that the house and kids he is so eager for aren't going to happen without it.

I was blessed to graduate from a fantastic college with no student loans, but I must say that taking on law school debt has been the best thing for me in terms of teaching me financial responsibility. Before I applied to schools, my husband's and my income -- about $60,000 in all-- covered our living expenses and credit card charges, but we never seemed to save anything. Last year, however, we began saving with gusto and managed to squirrel away $20k for my education. This year, we've taken out the full amount of loans for which I qualify, $53,000, but only because my school will help me pay them back, guaranteed, if I take a job after I graduate that pays less than $100k a year (and it lets me keep assets, which was the point of taking it out). This year, we've managed to live on about $25k in a major metropolitan area, including rent, gas and groceries -- let's just say it takes a whole lot of cheap pasta and virtually no dining out -- buy a car for $9k and we still have $13k in a CD to either a. keep as assets, if I take a lower paying job, or b. pay off my loans, if I take a firm job with a salary of $150k a year. We have no credit card debt but put all of our expenses on our Blue Cash card, which we pay off in full each month. The cash back, about $500 a year, is awarded in December and covers our Christmas gifts plus a few much-deserved nights on the town.

This year, we plan to funnel the extra money we save -- perhaps $15k -- into our retirement accounts. I think taking on debt has helped me recognize the sheer power of saving.

I'm a first year student in grad school, getting my MBA and have an undergrad degree in biotech...I currently have around $50,000 in student debt and I have forecasted a total net present value of my debt to be around $75,000 when I finish...I also was foolish enough to take out an $10,000 loan to get a motorcycle because apparently my 'debt' counts as 'good credit' and since i've been dying to get a bike, they allowed me too...so now I pay off my motorcycle interest payments with student loans...interesting huh? but I took that financial debt leverage risk because I am confident in my future and career goals and know that I'll easily be able to pay this off within 3-4 years after I graduate, mainly because of my excellent networking skills and connections in the industry...not to mention my investment skills and ability to analyze market opportunities.

I am 27 years old. I graduated with my undergrad degree with no student loan debt and a tiny amount of credit card debt that was paid off as a graduation present. That was 5 years ago.

I spent a year volunteering for a pittance of a stipend ($850 a month GROSS) and using my credit cards to buy food and other necessitites. Then I went back to college to get my Masters in Teaching - another year of no money, living off my credit cards AND adding almost $30,000 in student loans. I now have roughly $25,000 in student loans and another $15,000 in credit card debt and a loan from my mom when I bought my house. Oh yeah - that pesky $210,000 intrest only mortgage. And my family wonders why I have trouble sleeping. I make really really good money for someone my age (incidently, not teaching, managing an office because it pays so much better), but it all goes to pay down debt and the debt never seems to get any smaller. I've cut up the credit cards, and I'm seeing a little bit of progress, but it feels like two steps forward, one step back. I've pared my budget to the bone, and other than living on peanut butter sandwitches and top ramen, I"m not sure how to divert more money to my debt. I have a 4 year plan which so far I've been sticking to. I hope to buy another house before I'm thirty, but that's not looking like it's going to happen unless I get a drastic raise or something radical happens.

I am 28 and have zero debt. My wife is the same age and is also debtless.

We don't own a home yet.

We don't owe anything on our credit cards (we pay them off every month.)

We don't have any car payments, both of our cars are paid for.

We don't have any student loans.

While I was fortunate to have my parents help pay my tuition (I supported all my other expenses including housing/food) she had to take out loans for her last 2 years of school. These loans were paid off within 3 years of graduating.

Neither of us are MBAs (though my wife is getting hers...free courtesy of her work), PhDs, or anything fancy; we do however work at 2 companies in Fortunes Top 100 Companies To Work For list though neither of us make 6 figure incomes or anything.

We both fund our 401ks aggressively (we'll each max them out this year) and save a considerable amount of money each month and invest it in some stocks, mutual funds, and tax free interest municipal bonds.

We live in a small but nice 1 bedroom apartment in an expensive area (Burlingame, CA - SF Bay Area.)

So how does this make us feel to be debt free and really on top of our finances? It feels great honestly! You don't feel overwhelmed by money at all and it allows us to live well within our means. Spend less than you make is the best rule we have and we honestly never have to go without anything. We make sure that if we buy something (last year we bought a plasma TV) that we can either pay cash for it, or put it on a credit card and pay it off at the end of the month. Don't buy things you don't need on credit, ever.

Being successful financially isn't rocket science, there is no trick to it....just pay off all your debt and spend less than you make.

My husband and I are 30, we have one small child and another on the way in a few weeks.

Income: $48K (I currently work part-time, partially because we can't afford daycare, and partially because I'm back in school going for another degree.)

Mortgage: $138K @ 5.875%

Student loans: $40K combined for both of our degrees

Car loan: $8K

Credit cards: $7,300

We had a plan when we had our first child so we wouldn't fall into debt, but we didn't count on my job going through layoffs and me having to find other work (I was a telecommuter, so we had no daycare costs even though I worked full-time). We burned through our emergency fund pretty quickly and then resorted to credit cards when we couldn't afford things. Since then, we've never been able to fully recover.

For babysitting we rely on friends and family, although we just lost one of our caregivers unexpectedly, so it's possible I may not be able to go back to work after maternity leave because we can't even afford part-time daycare for two.

We're at the point right now where the credit card amounts are going down instead of up, but it seems like we'll never get them paid off. We know it's going to be tight for at least another 2 years, until I finish school and can have a career that pays more than anything I could get now.

I am 24 with $25k debt. $15k left on my car loan (5.39%), $10k left on my student loans (5%). I have two bachelor's and a master's from a top engineering school.

I would like my debt paid off, but it does not bother me much. Instead of paying it down faster, I am maxing my retirement accounts and saving the rest in a 5% savings account. I have enough in the savings account now to pay off the car completely, but I read that it's better for your credit score if you don't pay your loans off entirely less than a year after getting them. I am aggressively trying to build my credit so I can buy a house (and take on more debt... hmm).

Here's a story of someone with just a little bit of debt.

I'm 22, and graduating from college in a month. I have no student loans because I was lucky enough to have free tuition. I have about $1000 in credit card debt, which I racked up after my summer job ended and when Christmas came around. I'm not really worried about this debt. I can work a few odd jobs (like petsitting) over the summer to pay it off. Cheers (and reading the comments makes me realize how lucky I am.)

I am 26, I graduated from law school nine months ago.

My grandmother, God rest her soul, left me a $100K life insurance policy when she died my second year of law school. I used that to pay down all my undergrad debt and about 5K in 0% credit card debt. Without that money, I don't know what I would have done.

I graduated from law school with $95K in student loan debt, and I took out $25K to buy a car (neccessity). I make over 100K and have paid down the higher-interest student loan debt to $50K, but I have barely touched the principal on the car loan. I also seem to have accrued 8K in 0% credit card debt moving and starting a new job and such.

I think about this debt all the time. I check the websites once or twice a day. I feel guilty buying clothes for work. I feel guilty eating out at lunch. And I make a ton of money! I don't see how I can possibly ever buy a home with my huge tax bracket and no cash for a down payment.

I'm 31 and my husband's 29. We have about $25K in credit card debt and $60K in student loans. We've paid off about $12K over the last year.

We've set up a good payment plan, but it's going to take a few years. In the meantime, we can't buy a house, or really do much of anything. Our standard of living is way below our peers.

The worst part is that we feel like we're ready for a second child, but can't afford it. This really stinks because I'm not getting any younger. The longer I wait, the more dangerous it is for me and the baby.

I'd actually prefer to adopt, but I don't ever see us being in a position to do that.

It's really painful to have our family plans crippled by this debt.

We made big mistakes with our money early on, of course. The problem now is that we're paying this off much more slowly than we could because we've chosen fulfilling careers that pay next to nothing. It's easy to say we should just switch, but we have advanced degrees in our chosen fields, and no education or experience in anything else.

We plan to encourage our daughter to study math, science, and business. We'll be very disappointed if she follows in our footsteps.

I graduated college with NO debt - worked my way through school (it was even a Private Institution!) However, when I graduated I was socked with $15k in credit card debt due to massive dental work I had to have. You cant plan for that! As I am drudging myself out (only a little bit left) I am realizing the importance of an emergency fund - regardless of where you are in your life. Stuff happens!

I'm young, so I'll start with my parents. I didn't realize it growing up, but my dad was pretty out of touch with the reality of "yes, you have to pay off what you put on a credit card."

When I was in middle school and early high school, my parents were convinced to join Amway (not a good choice, especially for their personalities). They were very open about it having caused them to run up $6K on the credit card(s?).

Neither of my parents finished college (though my mom is working on it right now), so they borrowed against their retirement to cover what I couldn't cover with scholarships and jobs. Thankfully, I was too afraid/dependent to get credit cards from any of the campus offers.

I got my BA in English because I liked the program, but didn't have any plan for what I wanted to do after that. Oops. So after graduation, I worked my old PT campus job, took enrichment classes, lived in subsidized housing (with a church friend who needed another warm body there to keep her subsidy), and barely scraped by. When my old car broke down, my mom gave me a few $500 interest-free loans, knowing I'd pay her back but couldn't cover it then. The 2 old cars I owned (not at once :) at that point in my life I contributed only $500 toward; the rest they covered.

A year out of undergrad, I was accepted into a MA program (digital rhetoric and professional writing, not that you'll know what that is). My assistantship paid a bit more than I needed to live on (for the first time), but because of my desire to match my then-boyfriend's tendency for eating out and expensive gifts, I saved very little and still tended to live at the bottom of my checking account.

Anyway, ended up at an editing/writing/misc. gig at a small business that went from a part-time job my last semester to a full-time job. (Also broke up with boy and ended up with someone more mature and frugally minded -- but that's another story.) Joined the local credit union, got a savings account and a credit card, keeping the latter paid in full, for fear of total parent-esque meltdown.

Last fall, I started following personal finance blogs and started investing (and having money to do it with). Yay Sharebuilder promos. I just paid off the first car I've ever bought for myself (a '98 Camry, bought last August) and started a Roth IRA ... and I'm finally salaried ($40K, in a mid-sized Midwestern city).

I don't have a lot in savings ... especially since I think marriage may be in my near future ... but I feel like I'm making good progress. I'm scared, though, that I'll get seduced by the desire to have nice things at the expense of my future, or that of others (my family, groups to whom I value giving). I'm encouraged by how far I've come in such a short span of years (I'm 26), but still tend to worry that I'm going to blow it somehow. I also recognize how much my parents have sacrificed to help me get to where I am today. I would never have called myself spoiled, when I was in college -- I certainly wasn't living like it! -- but I was blessed, for sure.

Wow. These comments are really interesting, and it blows me away to see what kind of debt people have to deal with. But to be honest, I'm perplexed. I see people pursuing graduate degrees that might not help their future earning potential, or continuing to live a consumer-driven lifestyle, while still carrying massive credit card debt (the worst kind!)

I graduated college debt free due to the kindness of my parents. I went to a liberal arts institution, but when it came time to decide what to major in I added what I perceived to be a "useful" field in addition my my passion, thus double majoring. After graduating I got a job at a great company with a good salary, but I have tried not to change my lifestyle too much. i still drive the same old car I drove in college. I max out my 401k. I save a lot of what I earn.

I know that I was lucky, in that my parents paid for college. But I'm in a position right now where if they hadn't, i could easily pay them back. And I got to this position by working really hard in school. It bewilders me to see people making choices that increase their debt so heavily. There are really good, cheap state schools. Buying a house or a new car is probably not the best idea when you're carrying credit card debt. There are cheaper cities, and there are more expensive cities.

I understand that a lot of people did everything right and still ended up with debt, and it's a heavy weight to have around your neck. But there are also different kinds of debt -- it's reasonable to carry student loans for a while, especially if your interest rate is

Very interesting stories to read.

Seeing a couple of good debt stories, figured I'd add my two cents. We have a $215k mortgage in California, on a $600k house. I love this debt, as it has locked in a low price of housing in a VERY expensive area. The purchase price was closer to $300k in 2002. But anyway, in our younger years we paid down a lot on our mortgage and these days we really don't see the point with such a low fixed interest rates and having such low housing costs in general, for the area. We have been using the money for retirement and investing instead, which has paid off far more. We are 30 today - owned our first home at 23. We made it a general rule never to take on debt - with the exception of the mortgage. We would