Quote from @Alexander Diaz:
I don't have a fancy degree (I literally earned my BA by testing out of every class), but I have common sense and a basic understanding of financial discipline. Here's my advice:
1. Student loans - even with low interest - are bad and should be avoided at all costs. Do the had work and pay your way through school.
2. Student loans - even with low interest - should be paid off before you start to invest.
If you are smart with financials and money, do a little exercise with two different scenarios:
1. Graduate, start work, and pay the minimum on your student loans. Put extra income towards investments. After the loans are eventually paid off (20 years? 50 years?), then add that to whatever you are investing. Where do you end up in 30, 50, or 70 years?
2. Pay the debt off like a madman. If you work extra hours, get $20 in your birthday card from Aunt Gertrude, or pick up a nickel off the ground, you put it toward the debt. After you've paid off the debt completely, start using that same hustle to invest. Where do you end up in 30, 50, or 70 years?
Math don't lie. Debt holds you down in a variety of aspects and will hinder your performance as an investor.
Proverbs 22:7 The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.
