I will be the first admit that paying off student loans isn’t fun. In reality, it actually sucks saying you took $70,000 of your hard-earned dollars just to pay off some college debt. Just think what you could have done with $70,000 in one year.
In total, we made $7,231 in monthly minimums towards our student loan balance. Naturally, not all of this went towards the principal. Our minimums were $615 and $620 this year.
When you should refinance your student loans has more to do with timing, cash flow and loan balance then it does with just saving 2 points and $100 on your payment.
HELOC is very liquefiable. We can pull and paydown funds daily if needed which gives us tons of flexibility when we pay off our student loans. Conventional wisdom typically says just make extra payments.
According to Student Loan Hero, the best example of a cash windfall would actually be your tax return. Many taxpayers get a cash windfall once a year in the form of a tax refund.
The beauty of delaying gratification is the word delaying. Delaying does not mean ending. We will be taking 5-10 vacations per year for the rest of our lives once we are student loan debt free.