Hey all, this is my first post but I’ve been lurking around for quite a while. Great advice here, so thanks for that already.
My specific question has to do with how to go about making the most of a small amount of savings after college. I’m totally infatuated with Real Estate investing, and have been for some time, even before I bought Carlton Sheet’s course about 4 years ago, so I’d like to get involved with it, but I am wondering if this is the right time.
I started with enough savings to pay for my first two years of school, but for my last two I borrowed on school loans at 6.8%. By the time I graduate in December, I will have about $10k in savings, and I will own free and clear my '03 Monte Carlo, however I’ll be $33k in debt due to the student loans, and I’ll need to start repaying them by May-June of 2009.
I’ve got good credit, and my current girlfriend does too, and she is completely debt free. Right now we live in an apartment paying about $760/mo (she does the bulk of the heavy lifting there while I finish school), and anyway, that’s the situation.
I was looking for some advice on maybe what angle you veterans would take here. I figure paying down the $33k loan to $23k with my savings is saving me $115.09 per month, and over a year that’s like a 13.8% return on that initial $10,000. However, we would like to get out of paying rent, and it got me thinking of weather we could do even better if we purchased a house, and treated our first home as a first investment.
We live in Michigan right now, and our plan is to move out of state in 3-5 years, and I’m just looking to get the most bang for my buck over that time period as possible. I can pay down my debt, throw the money into savings, or purchase a house. What do you guys think?
Again thanks for making this such a comfortable place for newbs like me to come and ask questions.
-Jason