1. Know Who You Owe

If you have multiple student loans, it may be easy to get confused about who you owe, loan amounts, and payment schedules. Make a list of everyone you owe money to, making note of important loan details. If you have federal loans, you can get a centralized and integrated view of your Title IV loans and grants by visiting the National Student Loan Data System. This list will help you avoid defaulting accidentally and paying any more than you have to.

2. Explore Repayment Options

The amount of principal and interest you’ll pay over time for federal student loans is dependent on the repayment program you select. The five most commonly used repayment programs include the standard loan repayment plan, the extended repayment option, the graduated repayment program, the income-contingent repayment plan, and the income-based repayment plan. You can explore all of these options and the impact they will have on your finances using the free student loan repayment calculators found on Student Aid on the Web.

3. Stick to Your Payment Schedule

You should make every effort to not only make your payments, but pay them on time. If you default or pay late, you may be subject to additional fees and interest. Applying extra money to your student loans whenever you can is also a good idea.

4. Consolidate Your Loans

Consolidating all of your student loans into one loan offers several advantages. First, you will only have one monthly payment, which may make it easier to manage your debt. Second, you can choose a new repayment option and may even qualify for renewed deferment benefit. Finally, there is also a chance of reducing your overall monthly payment.

5. Sign Up for Electronic Debiting

If you sign up for electronic debiting, you may be able to slightly lower the interest rate you pay on your student loans. Your payment will be automatically debited from your designated account each month, ensuring you will never be late again. Not every lender offers this discount, but it is worth inquiring about.

6. Deduct Your Interest

You can deduct up to $2,500 per year in interest on any loans used for higher education if you meet the income requirements set forth by the IRS. The money you save in taxes could be used to pay off a portion of your student loans.

7. Utilize the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program

If you teach for five years in a school that meets certain qualifications, you may be eligible for the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program. This program will forgive up to $17,500 in on FFEL and/or Direct Loan program loans.

8. Utilize the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program

If you are employed full time by certain public service employers, you may be eligible to take advantage of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. This program will wipe away the remaining balance due on your eligible federal student loans if you have made at least 120 payments under the Direct Loan Program.

9. Work for a Government Agency

The government’s Federal Student Loan Repayment Program allows the federal agency that employs you to pay up to $10,000 toward your student loans each calendar year, up to a maximum of $60,000. To take advantage of this program, you must sign an agreement saying that you will remain in the service of the paying agency for at least three years.
10. Find Extra Money for Your Loans

Your student loans will get paid off faster and you will pay less interest if you find extra money to throw at your debts. You could get a second job or take advantage of additional income streams from sites like Upromise or BabyMint.

Guest post from Bailey Harris. Bailey writes for Homeownersinsurance.org and other finance-related sites.

Plutus Awards

First, and most importantly, I want to tell you that I have been honored with probably the coolest thing since I have started blogging.  I was nominated for two Plutus Awards (twice for one award!)

The Plutus Awards were put together by Flexo of Consumerism Commentary and are going to be awarded to the best of the finance world.  There was an entire section and several categories devoted to blogs and bloggers.  A lot of my favorites received several nominations.  Congrats to each of them.  Voting begins today, so take a look below at the categories that I was nominated for along with some really amazing competiton.  I am truly humbled to be associated with these great writers.

Plutus Award Category: Best Multi-Part Series

• Blogger Showdown (Budgets Are Sexy)
• Core Tenets of Get Rich Slowly (Get Rich Slowly)
• Friday Financial Foul Ups (My Next Buck)
• Myths (Financial Highway)
• The Spectrum of Personal Finance (My Next Buck)

Plutus Award Category: Best Kept Secret Personal Finance Blog

• Carrie… On the Cheap
• Eliminate the Muda
• My Next Buck
• Out of Your Rut
• Frugal Zeitgeist

Best of luck to all of those nominated in these categories.  I am super excited to be in such amazing company.

Becoming a One Trick Pony

This past weekend, I quit a job for the first time (delivering  pizzas doesn’t count… my car got totaled).  Effective Monday, I am no longer a concierge at the apartment building.  Its kind of a shame, but I have made some great friends there and surely have some memories.  After 20 months of 7 days a week without a day off, I am happy to try and reclaim some of my mid-twenties back.

Unfortunately, I am reminded of a Henry Rollins spoken word bit where he rants about people saying they want to “catch up” on sleeping or “catch up” on reading.  He went on to say something to the effect of you, “You can’t take each day for granted.  You either sleep or don’t.  You either read or you fuckin’ don’t.  You can’t ‘catch up’.”  Makes me feel a bit like “reclaiming” my mid-twenties is an impossibility. At least I have no debt and a lot of mutual funds to show for it.

Taking That One Trick and Hoping to Improve It

As of this morning, I have given my notice to my actual 9-5 employer that I am no longer going to be working for them after two weeks.  I am moving to a marketing agency to work in their marketing intelligence department!  I am really excited about this opportunity as it will give me a whole new skill set and allow me to use my brain in a way I haven’t since late in college and grad school.

One thing to note is that I will be a contractor for the time being at this position.  Which means I am self employed.  I want to give a big shout out to Cash Money Life and Money Blue Book as I used their information about estimated taxes and self employment taxes when making my decision to take my career in this direction.  You will see a lot more writing about how to truly live as a self employed individual.  I will talk about my quest for health care and dental coverage, filing estimated taxes, writing things off, etc.

As you can see, its been an exciting couple of days.  Forgive this being a week with only this post and a Foul Up on Friday.   Things are just a bit hectic and show no signs of calming down.

• Max out my 401(K) with my employer
• Max out my Roth IRA
• Build enough extra income that I can still survive

Building that income will be things that you hear me blog more about this year.  If i can make extra income, that means you can as well.

Additionally, I will be working on becoming a better blogger, which sounds vague and broad, but i have a map written out on how i plan to achieve this.  If it works, the results will be noticeable and i will write one of those “How to be a successful blogger” articles.

I hope everyone had a happy and safe new year.

401(k), Roth IRA, Emergency Fund, Brokerage Account? There are so many options and all are viable vehicles that could use an influx of cash.

This decision comes down to priorities. Next year I may be able to max out my 401(k) and get my bitchin’ employer match, but if I do this, it’s likely I will not be able to fully fund the Roth. At the same time, my emergency fund is only around $3.7K. I never set a specific goal, but $10K sounds appropriate so I will need a boost to get there within the next year.

When you have excess money, what is it you do?

I think I will be looking at cashing in the bonds to boost my emergency fund. I may have to run the numbers to make sure this is wise though. 2010 is quickly approaching and I have yet to calculate my expected costs. Until that is done, I can only make some assumptions as to what is best.

Of course, my colleagues in the Personal Finance world will be happy that I have finally come around on an emergency fund after so boldly claiming that I didn’t need one several months ago.

Lastly, December looks to be an exciting month as it is a three paycheck month at my day job. It looks like that emergency fund will be getting at least one boost this month.

Today I declare that I am officially joining J. Money’s Million Dollar Club.

I was walking in DC last week, listening to the audio book of The Millionaire Next Door when I spontaneously broke out smiling.  The reason for my emotional display was because I realized in that instant that there will be a day when I have a net worth of over One Million Dollars.

How Am I Going to Do It

I would like to think I could frugal my way into a million dollars.  This, however, isn’t possible.  What I can do is make a decent amount of money over the course of my working years – commensurate to my education and my experience – and over time, build a nest egg that will provide me and my family with financial freedom!

My Proclamation:

I can and I will employ solid personal finance theories in my life.

I will spend less than I earn annually.

I will never buy a car just to keep up with appearances.

I will not buy a house that is more than myself or my family need.

I will not spend money just to spend it.

The Process

It’s hard for me to judge where I will be in 5 years.  Most people don’t settle into a career into their late twenties or early thirties.  However, if this year is to be an example if future income and spending trends for my life, I feel comfortable saying I can save at minimum of $20,000 a year between my own savings, 401(k) matching, etc.

Without knowing my future wages, the estimation process is tricky, especially since I haven’t tapped my earning potential, but without any windfalls and with a conservative annual return in the market I will have a personal net worth of One Million Dollars in 25 years.  When that day comes you are all invited over for some hot dogs and beers.

Now that I am a member of this club, you will see the logo displayed on my site at all times.  It will serve as a reminder to work towards my goal of financial freedom and as motivator for everyone else that has a goal and is willing to put in the effort to achieve it.

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I strongly believe that discussing your goals with others will make you more accountable and work harder than if you kept those goals to yourself. For example, if I hadn’t told any of my friends about my budget I was starting back in January, I could easily have cheated and made excuses to myself internally. However, I made it known to all of my friends and family that I was working within a budget for 2009. While no one would ever have known if I bought something beyond the budget, I would have had to cringe when I told those friends I was staying on target even though it was a lie. This added layer of accountability has had a profound effect on my behavior. That is why I am going to announce my goals for July to my readers, in hopes that you all will keep me on track.

These goals aren’t that complicated. I only have one month to achieve each. However, these are things I want and need to do and just need that extra push to get me going.

So here they are, my July goals:

• Set up my 401(k) at work (I know its blasphemy that I haven’t yet, but I don’t qualify for an employer match until July 2nd. Even though this will be done tomorrow it’s still a goal to achieve.)
• Sell my shot glass collection (I already have a buyer, just need to buy packing materials, pack them and ship them – a lot of active barriers here.)
• Sell at least 10 books on eBay or Amazon (actually sold, not just listed.)
• Donate at least 25 books to Books for America (this requires me to lug books on the metro to work, and stop 1/3rd of my commute home to drop off books. I should mention that books are heavy, this will take several trips.)
• Purge one piece of clothing (sell or donate) for every piece that I buy (I am going to Israel next month and need to pick up some things, but I don’t want to overrun my closet.)
• Figure out what to do with my comics (I buy them to read, not to collect and since I have digital copies of all of them I want to purge these from my closet. Any ideas are welcome: comics for soldiers or something?)

There they are; my goals for July of 09. Obviously, July is a “purge stuff” month, but my primary goal is to accumulate wealth over a long period of time, not accumulate stuff.  I will feel a great relief when I achieve each of these. If you have any suggestions about my goals or have your own goals you want to make known, please leave a comment below.