I am soooo jealous of the Denver girls...!

I normally don't post here, but I wanted to chime in on the student loan questions for P-C.

When you make your payment during the monthly cycle won't really affect the interest you pay over the period of the loan. If you think you are able to pay more regularly, I would highly recommend calling your lender and asking to reduce the overall life of the loan. For example, when I consolidated my loans, they automatically extended my repayment period from 10 to 30 years (which makes your payments much lower, but overall you pay way more interest). I reduced it back to 10 years. Sallie Mae was happy to adjust the time to whatever I wanted and calculate what the monthly payment would be before they switched it officially. If you are on a 10-year plan, consider switching to 5 (see below for tax implications).

7% is a bit high for interest but here are some reasons not to pay off student loans:
1) For the first 5 years you are in repayment, the interest you pay yearly (up to $2500) is tax deductible (that's right off the top, before adjusted gross income--whether you itemize or not has no effect on this deduction).
2) When you are just starting out, having some cash reserves, especially if you keep the bulk of that reserve in something accessible but with a good interest rate (like an ING account!), can be very valuable for all sorts of reasons.
3) Debt payments you make regularly can help significantly to establish your credit rating, and is better than having no debt at all. Your credit rating can be used for all sorts of things, not loan related. I was a bit surprised when I got car insurance and was told that it didn't matter if I had a few tickets because I had such a great credit rating (and I have tons of debt).
4) Also, student loan debt is forgiven upon death. Obviously, not a primary reason to keep the loan, but something to think about if you will be buying a car, house, etc. that might make you incur other non-forgiveable debt.

Also, keep as little as possible in your checking account if it does not earn interest. I've found transfering money back and forth to ING to be fairly smooth if you are worried about sudden expenses that might come up.

IRA issues really vary from person to person, but if your company matches at all, try to contribute as much as you can to their 401K up to the amount of their matching funds, especially if you have a solid savings cushion. At your age, any retirement saving should be primarily in stock (not bond) funds.

Hope this helps!

ETA: to add 401K clarification and because affect is not effect

Also, keep as little as possible in your checking account if it does not earn interest. I've found transfering money back and forth to ING to be fairly smooth if you are worried about sudden expenses that might come up.

Yeah, I've got the bulk of my money in the ING right now, and when I get a little bit more comfortable, I'll figure out how little I need to keep instantly accessible. Because right now I probably have too much that's not earning enough interest.

At your age, any retirement saving should be primarily in stock (not bond) funds.

I'm not entirely sure what that means, but I'll keep it in mind.

Hope this helps!

It really does! Thank you! I think it looks like the best course of action with the loan right now is to increase my monthly payments.

At your age, any retirement saving should be primarily in stock (not bond) funds.

I'm not entirely sure what that means, but I'll keep it in mind.

Well, in a company 401K plan (or certain IRAs), one can usually choose from a variety of mutual funds, which are mostly various kinds of stock or bond funds. Over the very long term, stocks outperform bonds, so, if you are investing with an eye to 30 years down the road, even though year to year the market might fluctuate greatly, you will have a higher average annual return with stocks and end up with more money. Bond returns are more stable, however, so as you move closer to retirement age you should move more money into bond funds.

Hee, Nora. I totally just pimped ING to a friend of mine. How do I get a referral code? She'll have enough money to open an account when she gets paid in three weeks.

megan, that is very helpful information. thanks for sharing.

t pokes thread

t checks for pulse

t sings dirge

I'm awake. Anyone else insomniacking with me? Or awake in another part of the world?

Hiya Kristin. I just woke up. Which, in NC is fine—3:00:52 PDT sounds kind of less fun unless visiting Buffistae and fernet are involved. Sorry.

Appropriately enough given the recent thread topic, I'm thinking I should figure out how I'm going to allocate my 401K investments at my newish job. I don't have to decide until 10/30, but forgetting about it until the HR person comes by with the paperwork and then shoving everything into tech and Far Eastern mid-caps . . . well, served me pretty well last time, but that was probably luck.

Thanks to all that provided the financial advice and information. Very helpful and informative. At this point in time my debt is so significant that my savings and investment is paying off debt. If I can retire debt free I will be on easy street. My investments are my homes and business. If I didn't owe a bajillion secured by those assets I would consider actual savings.

I went to the 8am yoga class a mile from my house with GF. Never been to that one yet. They told us to go away and come back at 10:30 because we were newbees. Well, they were all polite and sweet and stuff, but it was an advanced class where you should be able to stand on your head for 5 minutes and so forth to participate. I could have been sleeping in! Oh well. Gonna do some laundry, watch BSG, and go back later.

I'm up! Unfortunately as the result of a slight hangover from drinking with Jars and Greg and Jars' friends, who were so excited and happy to see her back in Dublin. But I know better than to mix beers, and yet I did it anyway. Also left my card for my tab at the bar. *facepalm* But I'll go get it in a little while. O moron me!

There's apparently a gathering of Dublin browncoats tonight that I've been invited to, so that will be cool.