Sorry to rant about something so goddamned depressing, but something has been weighing on my mind the past few days. On Saturday we had a little get-together at our house. At about 2:00 am when almost everyone had gone, the conversation turned deep and philosophical (as it usually does, which I HATE- why can't late night conversation ever be light and drunkenly cheerful?). Somehow the subject of student loans came up.
This was especially depressing for me because I recently sat down and figured out how long it was going to take me to pay off my loans at their current rates. I won't say how long it was, but lets just say that my hair should be entirely gray and I will be menopausal by the time that happens. Then I decided to see how much I would have to pay each month to pay it off the entire loan in three years. If I didn't have to pay anything for food or rent, I suppose it would be feasible. The really deeply pathetic thing is that I had pretty much decided (before I sat down and planned it out) that I wanted to pay off my loans before the husband and I could think about starting a family. Due to the aforementioned menopausal state I will find myself in when that happens, it doesn't seem like that's really a possibility. And that makes me incredibly depressed, seeing as how if I ever have a child I would like to be able to pay for its food.
This entire discussion leads me to my newest cross road: do I stay at my current job (which I enjoy), or go back to temping? Although the job is obviously a good career move with the future possibility of a higher paycheck/career track, temping pays more. A lot more. Which is pathetic. It's sad to think that we live in a society where working as a temp pays significantly more than what you can make at a permanent position. Anyways, if I was temping it is feasible to pay off what I would need to pay to get the loan out of the way in 3 years.
So what do I do? Work my ass off as a temp and get paid bank and pay off my loans/responsibilities to enable my future with a family? Or toil away at a job that will eventually lead to raises/promotions where I could, in several years, earn as much as I could as a temp (or more)?
I needed to share the thoughts that keep me up at night. 2 roads emerged in a wood and I, I chose the one less traveled by...BUT WHICH ONE IS THAT, ROBERT FROST? HUH?! NOT SO SMART NOW ARE YOU?!!?
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Your brother, the undergraduate economist, checking in.
Student loan debt is one of the few "good" debts, along with mortgages, in that the interest you pay is tax deductible. So it's not necessarily bad to keep paying it ad nauseum because it ends up costing you less than the stated interest rate, which I'm guessing is fairly low anyways.
In fact, if you could take a chunk of money and either completely pay off your student loans, or invest the chunk and earn a return greater than the (tax deductible) interest rate you pay on the loan, you're better off investing than paying the loan off. As interest rates have been going up since you graduated, that seems like a reasonable assumption.
As far as temping... I think lawyering is probably one of the few fields where temping could potentially be more lucrative than having a full-time job.
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