<p>To be brief:</p>
<p>I graduated from undergraduate study last year.
I obtained employment in a finance related position making a salary to repay student loans.
I have around $40,000 in student loans - $24,000 of which I owe Sallie Mae.
I am trying to develop a long term plan to increase my earnings/enjoyment of life.</p>
<p>Currently:</p>
<p>I work for around 45 hours per week.
I want to go to graduate school in the future so I am signing up for one class per semester at night to complete the pre-requisites.
I live at home, I would like to move out ASAP however living at home allows me to pay off student loan debt faster.</p>
<p>I plan to:</p>
<p>Work full time unless I am going to school full time.
Go to graduate school and get a MS degree in a specific field(Not listing everything on this site because I don't know who is reading it).
Buy a house
Sell my car and buy a new car.
Try to find happiness even though I will most likely become a workaholic.</p>
<p>Does anyone have advice for someone my age? It seems all I can think about right now is how to repay the student loan debt which is rather depressing since I was a very serious student in school and I want to continue with school.</p>
<p>“Buy a house
Sell my car and buy a new car.”</p>
<p>DON’T do this. If you have $40K in loans to repay plus graduate school that you plan to attend, then there won’t be room for this in your budget. Unless you landed a really, really, really well-paying job. But even then…</p>
<p>It’s not going to kill you to keep renting small apartments or even staying with your parents for awhile. Buying a house isn’t just a simple all-inclusive price tag. There will be so many bills to pay, and with buying a house comes decorating and possibly fixing up the place. These are expenses you’ll have to continue to pay for years and years. Just stick with apartments unless you find a cheap house to rent. </p>
<p>There’s also no use in buying a new car. Do you mean new as in brand new or new as in a used car that will be new for you? As long as the car you own runs and can get you to work and back, that should be fine until you can actually afford to put that in your budget. </p>
<p>I know it must be really exciting to have a full-time job and all this money coming in from it, but you have to take a step back and looking at the reality of all this. $40K in loans is no joke, neither is paying for grad school. Take care of the essentials first, then you’ll be able to look at things like cars and houses.</p>
<p>Focus on paying your loans off first. Companies like Sallie Mae have extremely high interest rates when it comes to loans. You do not want to default on those loans or any loans in general, otherwise it will have an adverse effect on credit rating. Buying a house will happen over time. As a consumer, the worst thing you can do is rent an apartment. You’re basically throwing away money at something you will never own, which means no equity. Since you’re in the finance field why don’t you go for you’re MBA? Also I’m not sure if you majored in Finance, but if you did, why not go for your CFA? But many young kids such as yourself(I’m 25 myself, but have a long list of experience) see all of this money, but have no idea how to utilize it and end up spending it extremely quick. You need to create a list of top priorities first, of which the loans as of right now is on top, and purchasing a brand new car is on bottom. Besides there’s always public transportation to get to work. Its cheaper, and less stressful at times.</p>
<p>You will be spending many, many years working. It is important for you to do the kind of work you love. You say you have a job in finance and are planning on going to graduate school. If I were you I would put a priority of looking at various different career options that your graduate work will prepare you for - it may seem obvious, but I meet people in my line of work who have a lot of different types of degrees. There are lots of options. Talk to people in the different areas, find out what they do all day, and what they love about their jobs, and what they don’t like. Pay attention to how you feel when they talk about the kind of work they do, and spend more time finding out about the ones that draw you in and fascinate you. </p>
<p>I am in a career that still interests me after 30 years, and I am very lucky, but I see lots of people who are burnt out because they are in the wrong jobs. If you do the homework, find work that you love, then (hopefully) you will have money to do all the things you want.</p>