Wednesday 20 August 2014

I paid off my student loans!



I'm going to post about my creative goals later this month, for the Do You Have Goals? monthly hop. So I won't go into too much detail today. I will say that while I haven't done nothing in terms of editing this month, I do hope to achieve a bit more before August 29th.

Today, though, I want to talk about another goal I've achieved this month ... a goal that I've been striving for since around about October 2007!

I fiiiiinally paid off my student loans!

In Australia, you can study for "free", but of course you do have to pay for it eventually. You get a discount if you can pay up front, but those who can't possibly afford that will have to pay the full amount, plus indexation each year.

You only have to start paying your loans back after you earn a certain amount of money per annum. In October 2007, I got a promotion at work, and this bumped me into the next tax bracket. A student loan-paying bracket!

I was more than happy to get started on paying off my loans - and I wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. I probably could have done it quicker, if not for various travels and other things I spent money on (like chocolate and wine!). But as it is, I'm quite proud of this achievement.

So now I am student loan free, and I look forward to moving onto achieving my next "life" goal!

25 comments:

  1. That's a fantastic goal to cross off the list! Good for you. More money for wine and chocolate.

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    1. Thanks :) I'm pretty happy and relieved!

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  2. Good going! It's a wonderful feeling to be debt free. Thanks for the link to the goals monthly hop.

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  3. Congratulations! Now it's no longer hanging over your head.

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  4. Congrats!! Being free of student loan debt is so liberating!! Write on! ~Angela

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  5. Congrats on paying off your student loan! I'm sure that's a huge weight of your shoulders.

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  6. Way to go lady!!! My cousin says she will pay off her student loans in time to take them out for her daughter.

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    1. That's depressing for your cousin. ;) I think it's a bit different here in Australia - it's easier for anyone go go to uni. Although our current gov't is trying to make our system more like America's, by deregulating university fees and so on. So I dunno :(

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  7. Congrats Trisha. I well remember the joy when it was no longer deducted from my pay!

    Are you TAKING CHANCES this month?

    Have a great month. I must check out that bloghop.

    Denise

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    1. Umm, I imagine I will be TAKING CHANCES, but I obviously haven't checked your latest post for WEP 'cause that doesn't sound familiar. I'm going to go check it out :)

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  8. Congratulations! That's awesome. I'm over 40 and I'm STILL paying off my student loans.

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    1. Thanks, Christine. I did only start out with a relatively small amount, since here in Australia it's been fairly affordable compared with the USA.

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  9. In Canada--or at least in my parts of Canada our student loan can be deferred if we're in the low income range. But once you cross that threshold you have to start paying whatever you can, and with interest accruing that whatever should be reasonable given how much you owe.

    I'm almost done school (entering my last semester), so I mean it when I say: CONGRATS, Trisha!

    That being said,I'm looking forward to cheering you on your next life goal :D

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    1. Thanks, Hana. I know that here in Aus, our current gov't really does want to make it harder for lower income people to go to uni. They want to deregulate uni fees, and also want to increase the rate of indexation for student loans. So I'm very glad I've paid my loan off and don't have to worry about any of that crap! But if our gov't gets its way, I feel sorry for the current/future generations of loan payers!

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  10. Trisha, sorry I missed this - that is wonderful! What a great feeling.

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  11. What a great achievement!! Congratulations, now go drink some of that wine and eat some of that chocolate and don't feel guilty!! Celebrate!

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    1. Thanks, Lisa :) I've certainly been eating chocolate. But the last thing I drank was a gin & tonic. It'll do. hehe

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