… I thought: “I can’t afford to put more money toward the loan this month because what if next month is slow? I won’t be able to cover my expenses!” But that was because I was just winging it with my money…

When I was growing up I was told three things about my future pretty consistently. If you follow your passions, go to college, and save up your money you’ll be successful. I think we all know how that advice has aged.

When I got my first job at Jenkinson’s Boardwalk in point pleasant NJ I spent my summer standing inside a giant ceramic lemon making 5.45/hr. And I spent that hard earned money the way most 14 year olds did. Comic books and going to the movies with my friends. Had I actually started seriously saving that money at the time with the help of parent, each hour of my labor would actually be worth approximately $638.78 at retirement. But I try not to think about that… 

By the time I moved on from standing inside giant ceramic fruit I was in high school and had moved on to the world of flipping burgers at The Windmill. I was in the big leagues now! $6.75 an hour! ($792.39). This was an opportunity to save! And save I did! I saved $2,000! It only took me four months. 296 hours of my life. And I spent it in 30 minutes at the Apple store in the Freehold Raceway Mall on a MacBook and a copy of Final Cut Pro. Now when my friends and I made our short movies I could edit them at home instead of needing to use the computers at school. The free computers at school… But it felt amazing. I had the ability to work and “save up” for things. But I wasn’t learning discipline with my money. The SECOND that 2,000th dollar hit my bank account I was asking for a ride to the mall to go spend it. 

I won’t even get into how quickly and stupidly I spend every last cash tip I made delivering pizzas through the end of high school and community college… but just for fun! …$1,457.81/hour…oh dear god. It hurts. 

Next it was time to sign up for $80,000 of student loan debt for film school at 19 years old! What’s that? I said $120,000? That’s right! The same magic of compounding growth that could have turned my $5.45/hour into $638.78 had magically turned my $80,000 into, roughly, $120,000 over the 13 years it took me to pay it off. Fun, right? No, it's not. 

But here’s the really crazy part. Because I had no idea this was happening (or at least had no idea how rapidly it was happening) in the background I didn’t do too much to address it. I continued to pay the minimum on my loans and did my thing. Money came in and money went out. I didn’t really know where. I didn’t really care. I had accepted that this debt would be with me for the rest of my life. 

I thought: “I can’t afford to put more money toward the loan this month because what if next month is slow? I won’t be able to cover my expenses!” But that was because I was just winging it with my money. I had no system in place. I wasn’t organized. But once I put that system in place it clicked. I came up with a number that I could safely throw at my loans every month that reduced the life of my loan by YEARS. And I still got to go do fun things with friends. I even started saving for my wedding and a honeymoon while I was paying down these loans extremely aggressively!

If this story doesn’t sound at all familiar to you, congratulations! If it does sound familiar then I want to help you avoid years of struggle. I want to show you what I wish I knew the day I graduated.