Negotiating your pay may seem scary and uncomfortable, especially when it’s your first job in your career field after graduating college. However, it is essential you learn to negotiate your pay from early in your career, to avoid leaving heaps of money on the table over time that instead could have been in your pocket. Below are four tips to help navigate the art of salary negotiation and get you well on your way to earning a few more extra bucks. 1. Never
Paying for college can be daunting and stressful, but sometimes parents step in to ease the burden and help with costs. If you are a parent thinking of taking out a loan to help fund your dependent child’s education, or if you have already taken out a PLUS Loan, below is some useful information to help you better understand the PLUS Loan and what it entails. A Direct PLUS Loan is a federal student loan available to the parents of dependent
Emergencies: from a broken bone, to your car breaking down, to losing your job. They are simply a part of life and happen to all of us. Instead of panicking each time one of these unexpected events pops up, wouldn’t it feel great to have a safety net in place? That’s exactly what an emergency fund is. It is simply a certain amount of money set aside for those oh-so-inconvenient emergencies that are bound to pop up from time to time. You never know what
Retirement may seem like it’s lightyears away, especially if you recently graduated and are attempting to settle into your first job and getting used to doing things on your own. A June 2018 survey conducted by Bankrate found that 61 percent of Americans have no idea how much they need to save to fund their retirement. Another study conducted by The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College found that 50% of households are “at risk” of not having enough
Everyone knows that student loans in the U.S. have reached astronomical levels. It’s talked about on the news, on the Internet, and among those who themselves are burdened by high levels of student loan debt. But, just how bad is it? Recent statistics show that there are more than 44 million student loan borrowers with a collective $1.5 trillion in student loan debt in the United States. The average monthly student loan payment is $393 per month. Over 11 percent of these borrowers have
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (“PSLF”) program originated in 2007 when Congress passed the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. This means borrowers only began becoming eligible for loan forgiveness under the program beginning in October 2017. An attractive option for those wishing to work in a public service job or 501(c)(3) non-profit job, the PSLF program forgives the remaining balance on your federal Direct student loans after you make 120 qualifying monthly payments while working for an eligible employer. Enrollment into the
Student loan forgiveness through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (“PSLF”) is an ultimate goal for many individuals enrolled in the federal program. To be eligible, the borrower must be employed more than 30 hours per week in an eligible federal, state or local public service job or 501(c)(3) non-profit job. Borrowers with qualifying employment must make a total of 120 on-time payments (10 years if done consecutively) prior to the remaining balance on their student loans being forgiven. However, it’s not quite