How I Paid off $97,000 in Student Loans in 4 Years

Key Takeaways

let's talk about how to get out of debt I graduated college with 97 thousand dollars in student loan debt and did the smartest thing I could think of at the time I bought a brand-new car I was living with my parents literally in their basement struggling to make it as a filmmaker I was young but I had reached my breaking point I thought about how my life would play out if I continued to pay the minimum on my student loans if I continued to just ignore my finances completely I'd probably be approaching 50 years old looking back on a lifetime of being crippled by this debt I probably still be living in my parents basement it was during one of those nights at home in New Jersey that I really decided to turn things around I began by organizing all my finances and for the first time taking a deep look at what I'd gotten myself into I've plugged my banking information into a wealth calculator online and was a little bit surprised to say the least I didn't just have no money I had less than no money I was in debt now obviously I knew this before that night but for some reason it just didn't register it was that moment that I realized all the money I was making then and would make for the foreseeable future it wasn't even mine that's important so I'm gonna say that again I didn't see that money that I was making as mine it wasn't my money it was the bank's money I was in the hole that mindset carried me through the next few years as I started to earn more money and pay down my debt I didn't realize it at the time but there were a few steps that I followed early on and still to this day that helped me get out number one I organized all of my finances you can do it either on a spreadsheet or you can use an online service like mint.com but really that the idea is to get a bird's-eye view of your earnings your savings and your debt and it's a complete game-changer and it woke me up to the problem that I had number two was I picked up a book on personal finance now this is incredibly important I started with this book called the total money makeover it's super straightforward oftentimes incredibly corny but it's that simple approach that's helped millions of people because before you take that first step you really need to understand the strategy and the direction that you need to be heading number three very obvious but spend less money I spent less money and it's a no brainer it's so straightforward but it was really more so the principles behind it that helped me it was minimalism and simple living it was prioritizing my life figuring out what was important and stopped spending money on useless [ __ ] that didn't add value to my life number four was I started to earn more money now this is easier said than done but most of us do tend to earn more money as we develop our skills as we are in a career for a longer period of time for you it might mean charging your clients more money or leveraging another job to get a raise you know you're always gonna be taking a risk when you try to bump up your salary or your income but it's worth it in order to grow number five was I was patient you know I was really anxious in the beginning I just wanted to get to the finish line before putting in at any of the work but getting out of debt is a process and short bursts of inspiration and motivation aren't gonna carry you through the entire way so just had to cool it had to relax and let myself be patient number six was I continued to read one personal finance book per year so this is really important because these days I know pretty much everything there is to know about personal finance reading one book a year it just keeps my priorities straight it keeps me on course when maybe my spending dishes decisions have gone a little bit out of line within four years four and a half years I completely paid off all my debt all my student loans even the car payment and you know like today to this day I can't really tell you what that allows me to do it just gives me the freedom to take on projects that only excite the hell out of me I'm able to travel across the country on a whim move to a different city there are so many different opportunities now that I can take and also there's an element of stress that's gone when you don't have these massive bills piling up at the end of the month but it really all started with one decision and it was the decision to take a look inside it was the take a look at some of my wallet but also inside myself to recognize the problem to recognize that being in debt shouldn't be the status quo and that I was just fed up with it so if you yourself are in debt if you're looking to move forward I hope that you got a couple steps in here that you can take into practice pick up a book but really number one start to ask yourself the really important questions the tough questions you know what do what do I want out of life do I really want to be in debt when I'm 50 living at home in my parents basement thanks for watching subscribe to this channel for new videos every week do you want to see behind the scenes content from this video as well as others that I make on the channel well then head over to my Instagram it's at Matt dia Bella and lastly do you like podcasts mine is called the ground up show I interview reporters comedians rappers and entrepreneurs about their journeys and how they got things started go to grant up show calm for the podcast you