Introductory module (video) by Wes Read, CPA, CFP® outlining an educational series for early-career professionals about managing student loans. Covers definitions and key terms, walkthrough of studentaid.gov, differences between government loan programs, sample payment calculations, Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), loan consolidation vs refinancing, tax consequences, and strategies for those entering residency programs.
All right, associates, we're going to talk about what is, I think, one of the most relevant subjects financially for you in your early career, and that is student loans. If you're. Unless you're an incredibly lucky person, you have student loans, and you probably have a lot of them, pretty much all, with a few exceptions of our clients who are five years out of dental school or less, they all have student loans. Many who are 15 years out of dental school still have student loans. This is going to be a financial mountain that we need to climb. The good news is that you can do it and also that we can make this more accomplishable if we follow the right sequence of events. As you work through your financial loans and understand the landscape of all of the elements related to those important decisions around your student loans. It's not easy. So I'm going to spend a lot of time with you talking about student loans specifically. Here's what we're going to cover in our various modules around student loans. Number one is I want to go over the basic definitions and key terms, and there's a lot of them. But it's really important that you understand the building blocks of the language related to those loans that you feel, you know, you feel the weight on, of your shoulder. They are on your shoulders, these student loans. Sometimes I compare it to Andy Dufresne in Shawshank Redemption, one of my favorite movies. Andy Dufresne, he's imprisoned, something he didn't do, and he wants to break out, but he's thinking, how will I ever overcome or break free from this bondage? Well, he did it, but he did it little by little, a pocket full of dirt at a time. And it took a lot of thought and a lot of diligence. Well, you too will get out of your student loans, but it's also going to take some diligence and it's going to take some consistent effort. So number one is let's make sure you understand the basic definitions and key terms related to your student loans. Number two is we're going to do a walkthrough of studentaid.gov the government has done an excellent job actually, in redesigning this year 2020, the online website for students to access all of the details around their student loans. Next, we're going to go through an explanation of the differences between the various government programs and specifically, which might be the best one for you, we're going to talk about the calculation of a sample monthly student loan payment.
How are those numbers calculated? Then we're going to talk about the PSLF or the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. A lot of interesting details on this one. And if you're hoping to get your loans forgiven after 10 years by working for a public company, for the government or for a charity, then it's really critical you understand exactly what it takes to qualify for the pslf. So stay tuned. That's a great module. Then we're going to talk about consolidating your student loans, refinancing your student loans, and what is the difference between those two and when should you do one versus the other? And it's very likely if you're working with practice CFO or if your goal is to get out of student loans, that you're probably going to do both. Consolidation and refinancing. Really important subject. We're going to talk about the tax consequences of student loans and there's a few as well and some surprises even around the tax effects of having student loans. And I'll tell you this, unfortunately they're not very favorable, hence the need to work on getting out of your student loans.
Lastly, we're going to talk about how to address your student loans if you are going into a residency program. I know many of you aren't, but some of you are. And if you do, you're going to have a mountain of student loans already in existence before you start that residency. And typically most of you will just want to defer during your residency years. That may or may not be the better option. So we're going to talk about some strategies you can do to optimize your student loan outcome if you're going into residency.
