Ep 002 – An Inside Scoop on Student Loans

Summary: Federal Loans Highest Around 2010 To 2014 At 6.8 Percent [0:03:21] Independent Companies For Refinancing – Link Capital, iCapital, SoFi [0:04:00] Why Not PSLF? [0:06:00] What If There Will Be Changes In The PSLF Down The Road? [0:10:47] Why Do Refinancing? Because Of Compound Interest [0:13:10] If Refinancing Done Right, We Could Achieve 3 Things [0:16:50] Create A Strategy That Works For You [0:21:04] Different People Have Different Financial Plans And There’s No Wrong Or Right Ones [0:22:08] List Of Refinancing Companies Available On FB Group Page [0:27:12] Need Help On Starting? Jon Can Assist You [0:28:15]     Welcome to the Financial MD Show. This is the only podcast designed specifically for residents and young physicians to help you become educated on financial planning for physicians and avoid many of the common financial mistakes doctors make. Your hosts, Jon and Trevor, explore a different topic with each episode. Jon Solitro is a financial planner and certified financial education instructor. He’s been working with young physicians for the better part of the decade and lectures to graduate medical programs around the country. Dr. Trevor Smith is a board certified ophthalmologist with a full time practice and he has learned the ins and outs first-hand what it takes to make smart financial decisions as a young physician. And now here’s your hosts, Jon and Trevor.   Jon: Hello everyone and welcome to the Financial MD Show. I’m super excited about today’s show. Trevor and I talked about student loans which is the most requested topic by far. You’re going to get to hear some interesting perspectives, mainly a lot of Trevor talking because he’s the one with the largest student loan balance. He’s still working on paying that down but he tells you how he got around to choosing the option that he did, what other options he looked at, and how he is handling it now that he’s an attending, and of course, what he would have done differently when he was a resident. So be sure to stick around and listen all the way to the end. There’s some great tips here. Takes notes and here we go.     Jon: Welcome to the Financial MD Show. We are your hosts. I’m Jon Solitro. With me is Dr. Trevor Smith, and Trevor, how you doing today?   Trevor: I’m doing good, just finished, have a great day at clinic.   Jon: Good. I did not. I was in my home office again. We’re still technically in a pandemic, but it’s okay. I’ve tinted2.08 out pretty good and I’m kind of enjoying working from home. But it makes podcasting doable and if you missed the first episode, I encourage you to go back and listen to that. I gave some background on Financial MD and who we are and why and what and how and we thought we would start jumping in today’s episode with the topics that we’ve got lined up that the residents and young physicians want to hear and we’ve kind of grouped them in order of priority or demand based on the fact that I myself have done probably 300 workshops and residency programs around the Midwest, and resoundingly, the most popular topic or question is on student loans, and so that’s we’re going to cover today, and yup, actually it’s clickbait, but it is important stuff and we’re going to have some good info for you. Everybody likes to start with a story so Trevor, would you just give us your experience with student loans a little bit? How it started? Where they came from? Where they’re at now? Anything your willing to share.   Federal Loans Highest Around 2010 To 2014 At 6.8 Percent [0:03:21]   Trevor: Absolutely. Yes, I was in med school from 2010 to 2014 and I was unfortunate enough to have those highest rates I think ever from federal loans, and so it was 6.8 percent directly – is that right? I think it’s right, 6.8 directly from the government, and then friends, I didn’t have private loans but I’ve friends that did and that it was 8-plus percentage range usu...