I graduated college when I was 22, in 2021. I launched a marketing business right after, freelancing full-time.
My $70,000 debt total didn’t scare me that much. In the first year after graduating, I put roughly $15,000 towards paying off these loans. I was left with $50,000 worth of debt.
Both of my private student loans had variable interest rates, and my federal student loans all had fixed interest rates. The interest on my private student loans was initially very low—2.3 percent and 3.2 percent. Over time, they increased to 7.8-8 percent before I paid them off. The interest on my federal student loans range in rate from around 2.5 to 5.5 percent.
I worked 70 hours a week, in the beginning, to get my business up and running, then scaled back to 50-60 hours a week for some time. As a business owner, I could scale my work quickly …