Student Loans
We are just a few weeks away from some of the most significant changes to federal student loan programs in a generation. On July 1, 2026, major new laws and regulations take effect that will impact nearly every part of the borrower experience, from loan origination to repayment and even...
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Published on: 2026-06-12
Source:
Student Loan Planner
I’m still doing some catching up with sharing budget updates. Thankfully, I keep our budget pretty well up-to-date in YNAB even if I’m slow to post the updates on my website. We’ve had some financial challenges recently (with more on the horizon) that have had me feeling stressed. Still, the...
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Published on: 2026-06-10
Source:
Six Figures Under
Student loan changes are pushing more borrowers away from forgiveness and toward refinancing. That shift matters for more than your monthly payment: when you refinance student loans, you trade federal loan protections for private debt — and that changes how much disability and life insurance you actually need. If your...
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Published on: 2026-06-09
Source:
Student Loan Planner
Lender and Bonus disclosure SoFi®: Fixed rates range from 3.99% APR to 9.99% APR with 0.25% autopay discount and 0.125% SoFi Plus discount. Variable rates range from 5.74% APR to 9.99% APR with 0.25% autopay discount and 0.125% SoFi Plus discount. Unless required to be lower to comply with...
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Published on: 2026-06-05
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Student Loan Planner
Lender and Bonus disclosure SoFi®: Fixed rates range from 3.99% APR to 9.99% APR with 0.25% autopay discount and 0.125% SoFi Plus discount. Variable rates range from 5.74% APR to 9.99% APR with 0.25% autopay discount and 0.125% SoFi Plus discount. Unless required to be lower to comply with...
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Published on: 2026-06-05
Source:
Student Loan Planner
Insurers are tightening how they underwrite mental health. If you're a high earner or you work in medicine, that should get your attention, because this shift can weaken the disability policy you're counting on. Disability insurance has a component called mental nervous coverage. As more people get diagnosed with mental...
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Published on: 2026-06-05
Source:
Student Loan Planner
A coalition of major professional nursing associations filed a legal challenge against the Education Department last week over new regulations that would impose strict limits on federal student loan borrowing for nursing students. The new rules, which are set to go into effect on July 1, 2026, would classify advanced...
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Published on: 2026-06-04
Source:
Student Loan Planner
Federal student loans offer extended repayment plans, letting you repay your loans over 20 to 25 years — and, in some cases, 30 years. Considering that many borrowers carry huge six-figure student loan debt balances equal to a mortgage, you might wonder whether you can get a 30-year student loan refinance, too. Unfortunately, you...
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Published on: 2026-06-02
Source:
Student Loan Planner
Pursuing a career as a social worker is an excellent option and is a high-need profession. The field of social work is growing with a projected 6% growth in employment between 2024 and 2034, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This is faster than the average for all...
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Published on: 2026-06-02
Source:
Student Loan Planner
Editor's note: The Department of Education recently clarified that PSLF buyback calculations will not use SAVE plan payment amounts. Borrowers should generally estimate buyback costs using the income-driven repayment plan currently applicable to their loans, such as IBR, PAYE, or ICR. The PSLF buyback program is one of the many...
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Published on: 2026-06-02
Source:
Student Loan Planner
Editor's note: In 2022, Aidvantage took over for Navient for federal student loans. Navient announced on January 13, 2022, that they had reached a settlement with 39 state Attorneys General, providing $1.7 billion in forgiveness to some borrowers with private student loans held by the company (most of these loans were...
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Published on: 2026-06-02
Source:
Student Loan Planner
Is student loan forgiveness dead? In the short term and even the intermediate term, the answer is a clear no. Most borrowers with a lot of debt relative to their income still come out ahead by going for forgiveness, either through Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) or income-driven repayment (IDR)...
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Published on: 2026-05-28
Source:
Student Loan Planner
Military servicemember borrowers account for nearly $3 billion in student loan debt, according to the most recent data from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. These borrowers aren’t the only ones dealing with student loan repayment while making sacrifices for our country as part of the Department of Defense (DoD). Military spouses...
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Published on: 2026-05-27
Source:
Student Loan Planner
I used to think that the purpose of budgeting was to get your spending as close as possible to what you predicted you would spend when you set your budget amounts at some earlier point, maybe a month, or even a year, in advance. No wonder so many people hate...
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Published on: 2026-05-13
Source:
Six Figures Under
I’ve been sharing our personal finances online since 2013. For those who haven’t been along for that whole ride, I will let you know that there have been very few times that we have used our emergency fund for anything. Using the emergency fund is the last option. Usually we...
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Published on: 2026-05-06
Source:
Six Figures Under
I’m always eager to wrap up the month’s budget and move on to budgeting for the next month. The eagerness most often comes because we have a financial goal that we’re working on. Having a goal brings greater purpose to things that might feel mundane or tedious (apparently not everyone...
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Published on: 2026-03-18
Source:
Six Figures Under
Last year I shared how my husband and I planned our budget for our first trip to Cuba. We followed up with our actual spending and how it compared with what we had planned. Here’s the next chapter: we’re planning to bring the whole family (including all six kids) for...
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Published on: 2026-03-10
Source:
Six Figures Under
Curious to see what a family of 8 in California spends on groceries for a whole year? I’m pretty sure we’re not your average family, but I’m happy to share our family’s annual spending on groceries last year. One of the side benefits of keeping meticulous financial records is all...
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Published on: 2026-03-03
Source:
Six Figures Under
Here’s to another year of sharing our family’s budget details with the world in hopes of helping as you work on getting a handle on your own family finances. I had planned on making changes to the way we share our budget with you, but when it came down to...
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Published on: 2026-02-27
Source:
Six Figures Under
Some people are shocked to hear that, even after paying off six figures of debt, we still use credit cards. For us, credit cards were never the problem. Our debt was law school student loans. But credit cards are so often misused, causing debt problems or making them worse, that...
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Published on: 2026-02-18
Source:
Six Figures Under
For over thirteen years I have shared our family finances with you. That’s a long time to be transparent and consistent with budgeting! So much has changed since I first started sharing our income and spending publicly. We have twice as many kids as we did back then. Our income...
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Published on: 2026-01-26
Source:
Six Figures Under