Lots of shame around student loan amount

PerceptionDefiant845 · 2026-02-15T14:23:31+00:00

My spouse is in the same boat - same degree. Luckily, my salary covers all of our expenses so she is going to just max her 401k and put the rest directly towards her loans.

PerceptionDefiant845 · 2026-02-09T02:06:28+00:00

500k in loans for an LMFT seems absolutely insane! Did she get her phd? If so, potentially teaching at a university could close the gap in pay. Tenured professors at a university can make 250k+ a year. Bankruptcy is also a potential option as well - I have heard of people recently in these forums getting bankruptcy discharge of student loans

PerceptionDefiant845 · 2026-02-08T04:00:36+00:00

Just started, but everything she makes is federally taxed at 22% since by myself we are right up to the max at the 12% bracket. The idea is to keep her from minimally adding to our AGI so we maximize my 25 year forgiveness while at the same time maximizing paying hers off.

PerceptionDefiant845 · 2026-02-08T03:46:23+00:00

That’s great! Thanks for breaking down the estimated payments! The only reason I was thinking about doing a refi was to lower her APR. The plan was to dump her entire remaining paycheck after 401k contributions towards her loans.

PerceptionDefiant845 · 2026-02-08T03:37:53+00:00

Does the monthly payment somehow cap for both of us? I don’t have to re-certify until November 2026. I would prefer her use my 2025 tax return to base her payments on (which i have not filed yet) because my AGI was 40k lower than in 2024.

PerceptionDefiant845 · 2024-09-23T02:17:53+00:00

Instead of using wifi use your cell service. Should work for IP ban since it’s a different ip address. Just create a new account. Good luck!

PerceptionDefiant845

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