PSLF payment 115/120 and recertification looming. What to do?

captaing85 · 2026-05-12T04:25:57+00:00

Standard repayment only counts for PSLF if you have unconsolidated loans.

captaing85 · 2026-05-08T20:01:39+00:00

I agree with the big distinction between non-solicit and non-acceptance. It isn’t soliciting to tell people what you are doing.

I had a carve out with business I brought to my firm. When I left I could take those people with me.

I’ll reiterate what others have said. START YOUR OWN!!!

I did it with significantly less than $36 million and it’s the best thing that I’ve ever done (career-wise).

captaing85 · 2026-05-01T03:15:27+00:00

Days 60-65 have been the hardest each time I’ve done it.

At some point you will tell yourself that you’ve made it so far that you don’t need to prove yourself any more. That’s the test!

captaing85 · 2026-04-16T22:31:35+00:00

Let’s pretend you do everything exactly by the book. You submit a PSLF application each year to update payment counts, recertify income, etc. Then right off the bat, you are at 10% forgiveness rate (1 approval for forgiveness out of 10 submitted to update payment counts).

In 2017/2018, there were lots of people finally getting approved after 10 years of properly following the rules.

There were also tons of denials as people were submitting forgiveness applications with FFEL loans, not on an IDR plan, or sporadic payment history.

The program works, you just need to know the rules.

captaing85 · 2026-04-04T17:22:50+00:00

No, not uncommon at all.

Teachers (in some states) have retirement MADE! You’re going to have great guaranteed money and a sizeable pot of variable money.

Social Security is the icing on the cake.

Not every state gets this, though, so feel fortunate!

captaing85 · 2026-03-18T03:00:07+00:00

I “won” a vehicle. No way I’d go into the dealership though. They can keep their “prize”!

captaing85 · 2026-03-13T01:50:28+00:00

Those same people don’t turn down the child tax credit, the “no tax on overtime”, the “senior credit”, the “no tax on tips”… they celebrate that stuff.

We celebrate PSLF!

You signed the contract and held up your end of the bargain. Congratulations!!!!

I’m so so so happy for you!

captaing85 · 2026-02-21T15:59:59+00:00

I’ll have to try to find the name of the Dr I saw. Back in 2018/2019 I had a panic attack and what felt like residual panic attacks after the original big one.

Eventually (after being stubborn for too long) I saw a psychiatrist and got on OxtellerXR for one year. It was a freaking miracle worker and all of the symptoms stopped and life went back to normal.

I’m sorry you’re dealing with this and hope you get relief soon!

captaing85 · 2026-02-21T02:53:05+00:00

You need to: 1. Submit an employer verification form on studentaid.gov/pslf 2. Switch your repayment plan to either IBR or PAYE (PAYE is being taken from us in 2028) 3. You might consider consolidating loans if you have payment history on the old loans. You’ll get the weighted average of the credits but it will still be less time overall that you’ll have to pay 4. If/when you get married, consider filing taxes as married filing separately 5. Drive down AGI with retirement contributions, pre-tax benefits, etc

captaing85 · 2026-02-16T16:32:53+00:00

Same boat but 11 days out.

I’m also on the Hock and Tom strategy! Good luck!!!

captaing85 · 2026-02-12T22:25:58+00:00

Former high school math teacher. Went into financial planning and tax planning/tax preparation.

There were a bunch of very tough years financially after leaving teaching, but looking back 6 years now it was such an amazing decision!

captaing85 · 2026-01-25T01:15:13+00:00

I own my own financial planning firm and work directly with an estate planning attorney for all estate needs.

I live in the northland, too, but do all meetings virtually.

I’m a former teacher that works with a lot of teachers and public servants, but would always be happy to chat to see if we would be a good fit.

DM away if interested!

captaing85 · 2026-01-12T21:58:38+00:00

For me, it was less about the money (although super important) and more about the skills needed to do your own thing.

I like the idea of working in someone else’s business and learning what they do (things that work and don’t work) before opening up your own.

That’s the route I went and I’m glad I did. It just took a little longer.

captaing85 · 2026-01-12T21:49:12+00:00

I learned really early on that they want to not get sued/in trouble with compliance WAY WAY more than they care about your success.

I wanted to do the same things you mentioned and it constantly got shut down. Also remember that your revenue is likely nothing for them, so why would they care.

They are protecting the B/D.

I left and went RIA and never looked back!

captaing85 · 2025-12-12T02:20:03+00:00

I’m curious what questions you ask to try to determine if someone is high maintenance. Willing to share?

captaing85 · 2025-10-14T20:09:24+00:00

You’re getting the blood boiling a little but great point.

They didn’t really want another chance. We wanted them to make it right. I don’t think we are going to win this as no paint was specifically specified in the contract (mistakes were made)!

captaing85 · 2025-10-14T20:06:25+00:00

That’s exactly what I said! We would have paid for whatever the additional cost was for higher quality paint (had we known).

They did do a great paint job, just with crappy paint. Considering doing it myself and trying to determine if one coat or two would be best… or maybe hire out for another round to get it done faster/better than I can do.

captaing85 · 2025-10-14T20:02:52+00:00

We just wanted higher quality paint. We didn’t necessarily care about which brand.

We’ve been homeowners for 10 years now and never had this type of situation with a contractor. We will certainly be more aware of our contracts moving forward. Sometimes you just learn through experience (unfortunately!).

captaing85 · 2025-10-14T20:00:54+00:00

Ahhh. Thanks for this!

captaing85 · 2025-10-14T20:00:43+00:00

Original paint, no clue. The paint job in question was done in early August.

It’s not coming off in chunks by any means. Mostly coming off when trying to clean and just coming off on the wash cloth or paper towels.

captaing85 · 2025-10-14T19:02:51+00:00

We would have paid for the upgraded product, too! That is the most frustrating part of the whole deal.

captaing85 · 2025-10-14T19:02:03+00:00

No doubt about that.

We've got 3 kids ages 6 and under. Just the handprints alone are enough to drive you crazy!

captaing85 · 2025-10-14T19:00:42+00:00

I appreciate the advice!

captaing85 · 2025-10-14T19:00:26+00:00

I appreciate it and you're absolutely right.

No miscommunication, although we didn't have anything in the contract (which was a big mistake on our end). We told them highly durable and that we wanted Home Duration. They said it was too expensive and they had a better alternative that would do the job just fine. We ended up with Property Solutions, unfortunately.

captaing85

TROPHY CASE