Most blogs like this start from the same point, the writer is in debt and documents his or her journey out of it. If I had started this blog two years ago, I’d be starting from the same point. I graduated law school in May 2013 with $87,000 in student loans. My net worth at the time was negative $87,000.
2 weeks ago, I paid off my student loans in full. My net worth today is approximately $50,000. Going from negative $87k to plus $50k seems pretty good in my book.
Paying off my student loans as quickly as I could was one of the best things I could’ve done. It gave me the freedom to leave my job at a large law firm, in which I was really struggling – personally and professionally – and to start a new job with the government that is hopefully more rewarding (but at a much lower pay).
So with my student loan debt paid off, why start this blog now? I have multiple reasons:
- Reading about other people’s journeys getting out of debt and reaching their financial goals has been a true inspiration for me. I hope that I can give back to the personal finance community by sharing my own experiences and dreams.
- I’ve still got a long way to go to reach my financial goals. I have a significant other from whom I will eventually inherit six figures of student loan debt once we are married next year. My hope is to continue to document my (our) journey, and hopefully, to be a resource for you, the reader.
- I’ve learned so much about personal finance in the past year. I first truly became aware of personal finance in 2015. During my personal finance journey, I’ve watched many of the young lawyers who worked around me or graduated with me trapped in student loan debt and having no idea what they are doing with their finances. I hope that this blog can be a resource to teach other young professionals things that I had to learn on my own.
I think those of us interested in personal finance have an innate desire to share our knowledge and experience with others. I know in my own life, I find myself regularly sharing my thoughts and opinions to my friends and family on all sorts of personal finance related topics. So I thought it made sense to blog about it.
I plan to cover a number of topics related to debt, investing, side hustling, really anything personal finance related, from the perspective of a young professional couple. I really hope that this blog can inspire you and help you in some way.
Thanks for following me on my journey.
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Kevin is an attorney and the blogger behind Financial Panther, a blog about personal finance, travel hacking, and side hustling using the sharing economy. He paid off $87,000 worth of student loans in just 2.5 years by choosing not to live like a big shot lawyer.
Kevin is passionate about earning money using the sharing economy and you can see all the ways he makes extra income every month in his side hustle reports.
Kevin is also big on using the latest fintech apps to improve his finances. Some of Kevin's favorite fintech apps include:
- Personal Capital. One of best free apps you can use to monitor your portfolio and track your net worth. This is one of the apps Kevin uses to track his financial accounts.
- SoFi Money. A really good checking account with absolutely no fees. It also reimburses all ATM fees worldwide. Even better, you'll get a $25 welcome bonus if you open an account and fund it with at least $500.
- M1 Finance. This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $10 for opening an account.
- Dobot. This is a great microsaving app that monitors the cash flow in your bank account and saves away small amounts for you each week. It's free and you'll get $5 when you use it.
- Credit Karma. A free credit monitoring app that everyone should use. It'll notify you of any changes to your credit report and is the best credit monitoring app out there.
Feel free to send Kevin a message here.
That is really impressive in two years! Congrats on not being stuck in the golden handcuffs. Definitely looking forward to what you’ll be writing about.
Thanks Zeejay! I’m a newbie in the blogging world but trying to figure things out as I go. Big fan of the PF community and I thank you for stopping by!
FP pretty amazing recovery on your net worth in such a short amount of time, and looking forward to your future posts as well. The site looks great! Simple and easy to read are always a plus.
Thanks Dollar Engineer! Still figuring out the tech side of things, but happy I at least got myself started.
Congrats on achieving so much in such a short amount of time, keeping that attitude for the rest of your life will do you wonders 🙂
Also, congrats on the launch with the blog – good luck, it has a nice layout.
Tristan
Thanks Tristan!
Congrats and great job on getting rid of the student loan so quickly and building positive net worth. I wish I had known how to invest intelligently when I got my first real job, but I had to learn the hard way as we didn’t have any financial blogs. Internet was in it’s primitive days.
87K. Nice work.
I was lucky enough to graduate without any loans. I opted for community college for my first two years. It sucked at the time since all my friends went “away for school” but I am still reaping the benefits of it financially. It definitely didn’t hold my career in healthcare back at all.
I agree, it certainly motivated me reading about people’s financial journeys when I stumbled across personal finance blog back in 2013. Thanks for sharing.
Max
Thanks!