A Lawyer Side Hustling Towards Financial Independence
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One of the interesting things I find when people share their debt free stories with the mainstream media are the comments that result. Some commenters praise these articles and talk about how they’ve been inspired.
But more often, you notice the negative comments. These are the people who say that the story being shared isn’t possible or that what they’re reading isn’t helpful because most people can’t do the same thing…
I usually get praise for the fact that I was able to pay off $87,000 in student loans in 2.5 years. It’s definitely one of my proudest money moves and, importantly, it opened up a lot of doors for me. Not being forced to stay in any particular job because I “needed” the income greatly improved my quality of life.
But sometimes when I share my story, rather than praise, I’m met with scoffs.
Of course you were able to pay off your student loans quickly! You’re a big shot lawyer making six figures a year!
But these scoffs got me thinking. The assumption appeared to be that anyone in my position could do what I did.
So, if I was able to pay off my student loans off as fast as I did, why weren’t others in my position doing the same?
Yours truly got out of debt in June 2016. This month, I didn’t have to pay a student loan bill for the first time in over 2 years and I’ll tell you, it felt weird. But it’s such an amazing feeling.
So here’s what’s crazy. I just got out of debt. And I’m going to be going right back into debt again. You see, Ms. Financial Panther and I are getting married next year and she has $130k in student loan debt. Ouch! What’s yours is mine though, right?
I’m not worried however. We’re both pretty smart (I think), work in high earning professions, and expect to make a very good household income…
By almost any measure, I had hit the jackpot. I graduated from law school in 2013, with honors, and landed a job at one of the largest law firms in the midwest. In an era when law students were – and still are – frequently finding themselves unemployed or underemployed, I was one of the “lucky” ones. My starting salary in my first ever real job was $110,000 per year. Here I was, a 26 year old kid making a salary that my middle class parents had never earned in their entire lives. The most I had ever earned in a year before was about $20,000.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary for 25-34 year olds in the United States is $38,324 a year. I was making nearly 3 times that amount. By 2016, my salary rose to $125,000 per year. I was a baller!
But, like almost all new lawyers (or almost anyone entering a high paying professional field), I also had sizable student loan debt: about $87,000 worth.
