Dear Med Student, Resident, or Fellow…

Dear early career Attending:

I know you are stressed about your student loans. You express dread, fear, and worry about them in online groups and forums. As a society, we talk about the student debt crisis everywhere from our local hospital hallways to the national news.  

I remember how terrifying it was to see my own student loan balance grow, term after term. Driven by the knowledge I’d be a doctor one day, I never questioned the decision to pursue medicine. But the abstract, large figures accumulating on my balance sheet were intimidating to me, as a student and trainee.  

You can get here too.

This is a note from the other side, from someone who has paid off her loans. The student debt you’ve taken on may be hundreds of thousands of dollars. You made the decision to invest in your mind, and over time, the gravity of the commitment can loom large.  

The good news?

Going through what you’ve been through will allow you to have a career of helping people, a six figure salary, and great job security, relative to many other professions. Please don’t lose sight of the positive aspects of your chosen path, as you contemplate your current challenges. You can surmount your debt. Know that right now, the student loan landscape is fragmented, and confusing to navigate. There are various strategies to tackle student debt, depending on your unique scenario. And there are experts who can help. 

The Risks

The risk of figuring it yourself, or avoiding the question altogether? You could spend hours trying to wade through the details of student loan forgiveness programs, or worry you’re not meeting the requirements. Or, you could wonder whether the program you’re relying for forgiveness could evaporate, depending on who is elected into office. 

The Student Loan Planner (SLP) can help you make sense of your own numbers. Their experts can guide you through the best available options for your particular situation. Take advantage of their free resources, like repayment calculators, and blog articles to empower yourself with knowledge. When you’re ready for an individual consult, you can schedule it here. 

Since SLP helps so many physicians with their loans, they’ve been able to negotiate some powerful bonuses on your behalf. If refinancing is the right choice for you, depending on the lender you choose, the cash-back bonus could more than cover the cost of a personalized plan. Not only that, but they shop around to find the best interest rate for you. 

The story behind SLP

Student Loan Planner was founded by Travis Hornsby, a former bond trader, who married a physician, and learned the hard way about the cost of not understanding student loan forgiveness. Inspired to dive deep and learn all he could about student loan optimization, he used what he learned to help their close friends, and later, many others. He has built a business on it, using individualized plans to help their clients save millions of dollars in aggregate. It’s truly amazing, and a huge win for doctors to have him in our corner.  

To hear more about Travis’ story and financial pointers he provides, listen to this episode of The Physician’s Guide to Doctoring, a great podcast I discovered. 

Who needs a consult?

People who will benefit most from Student Loan Planner are those who are unsure about pursuit of public student loan forgiveness (PSLF) versus refinancing. 

As a radiologist in private practice, refinancing was a no-brainer for me. On the other hand, if you undergo a long training program like that of interventional radiology, and you are on an income based repayment plan, it might be favorable to pursue PSLF. If I had a higher loan balance, or a higher student debt to income ratio, for instance, I’d really be wondering if PSLF was for me.

For more information about what working with Student Loan Planner can do for you, check out their plans and testimonials here. 

Wishing you the best in your journey, as always. 

Tired Superheroine