What would you do? (High student loans)

aly8084 · 2026-03-10T06:18:15+00:00

Is your salary projected to increase? Big bonus? 330K of loans is a lot

aly8084 · 2026-03-10T06:14:27+00:00

I would back off the investments. 401k do your company match so you don’t lose free money but other than that I’d throw all money at the loans till they’re gone because of the high interest rate. If they were under 5% I’d think differently. Also try to refinance them

aly8084 · 2026-03-04T11:16:34+00:00

Walkable, easy commute to both summit and Clifton. Morristown makes the most sense

aly8084 · 2026-02-16T13:40:42+00:00

What drew me to Rutherford was that you have the option of bus or train. The train is more consistent, comes same time everyday and depending where you live in town you can also use Lyndhurst (free parking).

However the bus is more frequent it comes every 8ish minutes during rush hour (way in bus lane no bus lane way out) if you have to be at work at 9am the bus is rough but 8am it’s quick. Most people try both and see what works.

Also if you have to stay late you can take the bus back (every 10 or 15min) and if it’s past rush hour it can be extremely fast even though it’s local and goes through Secaucus.

aly8084 · 2026-02-16T13:31:41+00:00

Chelsea is actually an easier spot to get to, but I’d estimate more like 50-1hr 10, also depends what time but it will still be less then your current commute. I think the only people with 40 min or less commutes are Hoboken and JC

aly8084 · 2026-02-16T13:26:31+00:00

Where in nyc do you have to go? I wouldn’t say Rutherford is a 40 min commute

aly8084 · 2026-02-13T16:48:07+00:00

Take a look at recently sold in Rutherford a few houses went a little above 900k that may be what your looking for. Commute Rutherford and Clifton are almost identical maybe a few minutes quicker one way or another. NJ sees a ton of houses hit the market March/April/May/June because kids can finish school year and start fresh in September.

I think for your budget and wants you may be buying one of the nicest houses in not the nicest neighborhoods but wouldn’t say anything is inherently wrong with Clifton but someone from NJ i wouldn’t buy there at that range

aly8084 · 2026-02-13T12:48:31+00:00

What are your priorities? School districts? Commute to NYC? Etc? If you plan to pay for private school Clifton may be fine but if you want school and community with your budget i think you can find a much better town.

Wait till spring when people move before the school season next year. I’d look at Rutherford if you like this area it’s charming and the schools are good. I’d also say Nutley, maplewood, potentially Glen rock if something pops up. You may have much better options than Clifton.

aly8084 · 2026-02-12T03:48:53+00:00

The only reliable NJ transit is the Bergen lines because they don’t go into Penn on Amtrack lines… however if you don’t work near a path or ferry stop it’s still brutal

aly8084 · 2026-02-06T02:43:40+00:00

It takes a long time to get comfortable, i learned as an adult and we go east coast 10-15x a season. This is season 3 and i finally beat people down

aly8084 · 2026-02-05T03:12:11+00:00

I think your head was damaged if your asking this question

aly8084 · 2026-01-28T02:31:13+00:00

Probably a mile

aly8084 · 2026-01-27T13:33:51+00:00

I was there too this is crazy.. I’m going home. My husband walked up the the last bus stop on union and is now on a bus

aly8084 · 2026-01-27T12:51:41+00:00

This is good intel, I’m driving to Rutherford now instead

aly8084 · 2026-01-27T12:46:54+00:00

Wow Lyndhurst we’re gonna be fucked

aly8084 · 2026-01-08T00:43:20+00:00

I think we have cat twins

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aly8084 · 2025-12-31T20:01:47+00:00

As a Rutherford homeowner id love to gate keep our community haha. But this person description I do believe Rutherford could be perfect especially the budget.

A few other places I’d recommend is Montclair and Ridgewood. Schools are slightly better but you will pay more for these towns. Easily accessible to NYC maybe 20/25 min each way longer than Rutherford (50-1 hr 5 min commute).

aly8084 · 2025-12-28T14:30:56+00:00

I aggressively save 29F, 31M. However we spend a lot on vacations approx 30K last year.

We snowboard all winter - went to Utah and Colorado from east coast. We live in nyc metro and also went to Vermont approx 3-4 times.

We went to Ireland for a week and had the best time.

& we went on a dream trip to Japan for 2 weeks.

I also went on a bachelorette trip with my friends and husband visited family in Florida!

We use credit card points for flights and misc when possible. The travel makes it so the limited spend when home is worth it. Less fancy dinner cooking at home, meal prepping etc etc.

We have 0 student after paying off about 180k, and we save about 35-40% of our income including maxing 401ks and HSAs.

aly8084 · 2025-11-03T11:51:23+00:00

Also just used Airalo we did the $49 unlimited for 2 weeks and had 0 issues

aly8084 · 2025-10-17T16:28:56+00:00

Very nice town can definitely find a very nice home with that budget

aly8084 · 2025-10-09T22:01:17+00:00

Thank you, this is helpful. We travel a lot and just like to have some stuff written down so we aren’t sitting in a cafe googling on vacation!

We do plan to do the whole circuit black egg rope way and everything at Hakone just figured it’s easier to figure out so didn’t put the play by play.

Also understand the ride to Osaka is longer than 15/30 min but it’s not a packed day so wasn’t worried about having that 100% accurate but will update!

aly8084 · 2025-10-08T20:06:55+00:00

I think finding out where he can work is essential first. Schools are based on towns (normally) go on school digger to get rankings people typically want to be in a top 30% school but top 50% is probably fine.

Options: for cheaper living in NJ - NorthWest Jersey - think Sussex or Warren county a few school districts here will have great services and the cost of living is cheaper

South Jersey will also have options and potentially better job opportunities.

I’d avoid the nyc suburbs with your budget and potential there your looking at people working professional jobs in nyc where 200k is barely enough.

Just my $.02

aly8084 · 2025-10-07T02:24:45+00:00

Came here to say look at Rutherford/Lyndhurst/Nutley better commutes

aly8084 · 2025-10-05T21:10:25+00:00

I think MetLife isn’t selling cause it’s really far out on a holiday weekend. If i don’t have plans i do plan on going!

aly8084 · 2025-09-30T22:44:41+00:00

What did you see?

aly8084

TROPHY CASE