@Olivia Umoren I also graduated in 2016 with ~$42K in student debt. I was given advice and a plan of action that I am currently working to getting my first multifamily that I will house hack within the next 2 years by my 26th birthday. That is my personal goal that I plan to accomplish. This is definitely a delayed gratification plan, but it can work.
I have been living on the bare minimum for the past 22 months paying down my student loans to where now I am writing my last check this month! I'm pretty excited to get this off my back.
Before anyone comes at me with how this is not a wise decision given the time value of money and potential compound growth, just know I am completely aware that I could have invested this money at a higher interest rate and "put it to work" rather than paying down my 4.5% loans, but it was more of a freedom from this non asset-based debt that I was wanting to get rid of.
Now that I am debt free in my personal finances I will be working to get a decent lump some of 6 months of my current expenses built up by the end of this year so I will have the pockets to stomach a water heater going out or a leaking roof in my first home.
Then I can move on to saving a small down payment (I'm going the 3.5% FHA route) to get a multifamily home or home with a converted basement here in the Atlanta market for myself to live in one of the units and begin my investing career.
I hate that I haven't yet been actively investing but I'm also extremely proud of myself for clearing the debt and being able to move forward and be in a financial situation to leverage my money wisely in real estate before I begin.
So all in all within 4 years of graduating college I will be house hacking with no personal student loan debt.
There are a lot of smarter people than I on this site who have much more experience who may give different advice, but this was the plan that I really latched onto when I was reaching out about my first property 2 years ago. Now I'm almost to the finish line! Take this how you want.
Best of luck in all your endeavors,
Keaton