Don’t Let Student Loans Keep You from Living Your Life

Let’s face it, no one likes student loans. No one likes having them; no one likes talking about them. When people think of their hopes and dreams, heaping student loans are never part of the picture. Yet for millions of Americans, they still have to live with them every day. When I meet people and tell them what I do, they look at me with a mixture of suspicion and pity. They’re even more bewildered when I tell them how much I LOVE my work, and that’s because I get to not only tell people, but show them how much they can still LIVE even though they have student loans. 

Pay My Student Loans or Live My Life?

Talking to new clients can sometimes feel like I’m playing student loan Mad-Libs. The conversation often goes something like this, “I would love to __verb__, but I have __amount__ in student loans.” or “If I didn’t have these student loans, I could afford __noun__.” I hear all kinds of things that people would like to do: buy a house, travel the world, remodel their kitchen, get married, and on and on. In my ears, all of this translates to, “I’d like to live my life, but how can I with all this student debt?” and I tell them that they’ve already done the hardest part, which is picking up the phone—taking that first step—and talking to someone about it. 

Student Loans Don’t Control Your Life, You Do

Eleanor Roosevelt is one of my most beloved role models; she’s a gold mine of livable wisdom and has so many great quotes to live by. Two of my favorites are, “Remember, no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” and “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” I’ve met so many people who feel penned in by their student loans, who feel like they have to put their lives on hold until their student loans are paid off. Sometimes people are just hung up on debt: it’s bad, you have to get rid of it before you can do anything else. For others, they just may not know they can ask for help, or feel like finance is just something they’re supposed to do for themselves. Ironically, these very same people can—at the same time—be incredibly ambitious! You can just tell that they’re like a racehorse in the starting gate: the bell’s already rung, but for some reason the door won’t open.

I love my job because I get to work with all these incredibly bright, ambitious people, and show them how to open that door for themselves and step beyond their student debt. If you’re ready to put your loans behind you and set your sights on life ahead, we’re just an email or phone call away!