No More Harvard Debt

If you're looking for some debt-paying motivation today, this should help you out a little :) Randomly came across this video, and blog, again after finding it last year, and totally remembered why I enjoyed it so much. The power of determination and going full-throttle! Here's the video - hope you enjoy it: And if you'd rather read the sub-titles instead, here's the transcript of it all too... Because apparently I have a ton of time on my hands ;)

No More Harvard Debt.

I graduated from Harvard Business School with my MBA in May 2009 at the age of 26. I had $101,000 of student debt. My monthly student loan payment would be $1,057 for 10 years. By August 2011, over two years after graduating, I had paid $22k on my loans. So on August 29th, I went online to review my loan balance and marvel at my progress-to-date. I was shocked to see that I still owed $90,717. I had forgotten about interest :-/ I felt trapped. It felt like I had no options. So I decided to try to pay the student loans down in ten months. I didn't have a huge stockpile of cash. My 12-month salary tax was less than my loan balance. The ten-month timeline was completely arbitrary. I had a mortgage on my house and two cars and a motorcycle. I had been accustomed to spending $1,300+ per month on entertainment. I didn't know how I was going to pull this off. I immediately put my entire life savings towards the $91k. It barely made a dent. To do any real damage, I decided I needed to do two things: 1. Decrease expenses 2. Increase revenue I took a flask with me every time I went out with friends. I stopped contributing to my 401k. I didn't go home for Christmas. I missed two friends' bachelor parties and weddings. I got good at DIY and figured out things like how to use duct tape to repair my car. And zip-ties and a paint stick to repair my house. In the past seven months, I haven't gone on a single dinner date or been to the movies. I haven't bought a single article of clothing. I haven't bought a single "must-have" gadget or gizmo. I have completely eschewed consumerism. And it surprisingly felt pretty good. I found two roommates on Craigslist: one for the guest room and one for my former office. I sold my second car. I sold my motorcycle. I sold my roadbike. I sold a bunch of random junk on Craigslist. I got rid of things I thought I could never live without. And it surprisingly felt pretty good. I tried pedi-cabbing. I started a landscaping business with my buddy. I had never felt more alive. And on March 29th, 2012, seven months after starting this insane challenge, I paid down the remainder of my $91k of student loans. The future now holds more options.