10k - pay off student debt or save in some way?

20SmthngSver wrote: »

because no kind of debt is good.

.

Absolute rubbish. Ive got a fair amount of credit card debt. All of it is 0% and the money i owe is sitting in various accounts earning me about 3%

Ditto with mortgages, its a very cheap loan that if you're clever about it can be better off not overpaying & investing instead.

Voyager2002 wrote: »

You are entitled to your opinions, but most people would choose not to repay a debt that is going to be cancelled anyway. And in terms of self-interested financial advice, your comment is extremely unhelpful.

Depends on how you define that. If you can't afford to pay something back, then you shouldn't take it out in the first place. It's not unreasonable to ask why the general public should have to foot the bill out of their taxation for the 35% of student loans that is never repaid back to the Government, when that money could be put to other resources which we say need urgent help. University is a choice. In my opinion, if you choose to enrol in something then you should pay for it. No one is made to go to uni, it's not compulsory.

I was lucky enough to be able to do two degrees without a penny of loans. Had I been less fortunate, I wouldn't have gone. I wouldn't have wanted the debt of £50k around my neck (the idea of oh well it gets wiped and you don't pay back under a certain threshold is IMO a bad mentaility). I'm not even in a career path or job which uses the subject of my two degrees, and I've ended up doing an in work apprenticeship in a completely different field. I wish I'd gone to work at 18, not 23. My friends from school who went straight to work are in much better positions than me (working longer, better pay, have houses etc.) I feel further behind from going to uni than my friends who didn't go.

The whole point of going to uni is to increase your career and job finding prospectus, A.K.A to earn more money. The idea of going, and keeping yourself in a lower paid job, in order to not pay it back is self-defeatist as you're keeping yourself on a lower income so you're not better off. It's also a question of moraility, paying back the system (essentially taxpayer) who enabled you to get to uni, have that experience and get the qualification you wanted without whom you couldn't have gone is to me the right thing to do.

On the mortgage point, it's still not a 'good debt,' miss a few months and your house can be reposssed and most people will pay tens, if not into the hundreds, of thousands in interest over a term. Debt is debt, most people need it, but it doesn't make it good. It's a liability from the customer point of view. I can't be criticised for taking a sensible viewpoint of debt and loans, and thinking it's good to clear them ASAP.

This is a general response to the comments as I'm not replying to each one separately to say essentially the same thing. I don't expect everyone to agree with me, it's a democracy, but I expect people to recognise what I say as valid points just as much as I recognise the validity of the comments above and I see what people are saying. I just don't agree with it morally. Happy to talk in PM if anyone wishes to discuss but I'm not going to keep replying here as it's going off topic.

20SmthngSver wrote: »

The whole point of going to uni is to increase your career and job finding prospectus, A.K.A to earn more money.

Absolute nonsense! You have just demonstrated that not one word you say is worth anyone's attention.


The whole point of going to university is to become an educated person, and thus a better citizen and able to lead a more enriching life and contribute more to the lives of others. In many cases that leads to lower life-time earnings.

I'd definitely clear the debt if it was me which would then free me up to save as much money as possible without the thought of a debt needing repaying.

20SmthngSver wrote: »

If your credit card is 0% and you have debt, and you're saving at 3% to pay it off, then that's not really relatable here as you're not paying any interest and it's not costing you. What about the people who have cards soaring up to 70% interest (credit card debt is at an all time high) and have no savings. I repay my credit cards in full every month, it's the best way (if you can).

I personally wouldn't invest while having a mortgage, provided you even have spare money to invest when paying a mortgage on low income. I'd want that liability repaid and then have money spare to do as I like. But each to their own. You're clearly in a more privileged position. It's not rubbish to those who aren't, who are the majority.

You said that no kind of debt is good, and now you've just back tracked & admitted im correct. You've also kind of missed my point with credit cards also in that im not 'saving' to pay it off. Ive got the money to pay it off because ive only spent money i had in the 1st place but instead of giving it back to credit card company i give it to someone else who will pay me. Ill then give it back to credit card company when they start charging for it.

Its nothing to do with being privileged, its just managing what you have to maximum efficiency. And anyone can do it.