Student Loans Just Changed... Here’s How to Pay Them Off Faster (This Year!)

In this episode of The Personal Finance Podcast, we break down the massive student loan changes hitting in 2025—why SAVE, PAYE, IBR, and ICR plans are being eliminated for new borrowers starting July 2026, how interest resuming on SAVE loans means balances could grow again, and why wage garnishment restarts in August 2025. We provide a 12-step action plan to pay off loans faster, including the biweekly payment hack that saves $1,000+ in interest, scripts to negotiate lower rates, and how to get $5,250 per year in tax-free employer loan assistance before these changes make escape even harder. ⁠Get the Student Loans GUIDE Here! How Andrew Can Help You: Listen to The Business Show here. Don't let another year pass by without making significant strides toward your dreams. "Master Your Money Goals" is your pathway to a future where your aspirations are not just wishes but realities. Enroll now and make this year count! Join The Master Money Newsletter where you will become smarter with your money in 5 minutes or less per week Here! Learn to invest by joining Index Fund Pro! This is Andrew’s course teaching you how to invest! Watch The Master Money Youtube Channel! , Ask Andrew a question on Instagram or TikTok Learn how to get out of Debt by joining our Free Course Leave Feedback or Episode Requests here. Car buying Calculator here Thanks to Our Amazing Sponsors for supporting The Personal Finance Podcast Shopify: Shopify makes it so easy to sell. Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at shopify.com/pfp Thanks to Policy Genius for Sponsoring the show! Go to policygenius.com to get your free life insurance quote. Indeed: Start hiring NOW with a SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR SPONSORED JOB CREDIT to upgrade your job post at Indeed.com/personalfinance Shop outdoor furniture, grills, lawn games, and WAY more for WAY less. Head to wayfair.com Get 50% Off Monarch Money, the all-in-one financial tool at www.monarchmoney.com/PFP Chime: Start your credit journey with Chime. Sign-up takes only two minutes and doesn’t affect your credit score. Get started at chime.com/ Acorns: Start investing automatically with Acorns and get a $5 bonus at Acorns.com/PFP Visit www.functionhealth.com/PERSONALFINANCE or use gift code PERSONALFINANCE100 at sign-up to own your health. ⁠Delete Me⁠⁠: Use Promo Code PFP for 20% off! Connect With Andrew on Social Media: Instagram TikTok Twitter Master Money Website Master Money Youtube Channel Free Guides: The Stairway to Wealth: The Order of Operations for your Money How to Negotiate Your Salary The 75 Day Money Challenge Get out Of Debt Fast Take the Money Personality Quiz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Andrew Giancola?

  Longtime listeners know, one of the best ways to build wealth is to increase your income. And one way to do that is by starting a side hustle. And that's one reason why I absolutely love Whatnot. Now, my son and I, we love collecting sports cards. And we've used Whatnot to buy and sell cards. It's been a really fun way to enjoy something we love together. Now, Whatnot is a live shopping platform where people sell everything from sports cards to clothing, electronics, and collectibles. And what's really cool about it is you can turn something you're passionate about into a business. And you could do it right from your phone. You don't even need a storefront or a website. So whether you're looking to make some extra money or find great deals on your next shopping trip, check out Whatnot.

• 0:44Andrew Giancola?

  Search Whatnot, that's W H A T N O T, in the App Store. Download and start selling right away. When I started the Personal Finance Podcast, I had no idea how big it could become. I just knew I had something I wanted to share, so I started putting it online. And looking back, I definitely wish I would have started a decade earlier. One of the horror parts about building something online, though, is making it look professional. A website used to mean hiring a developer, figuring out design, and potentially spending thousands of dollars. In fact, on my website, I spent tens of thousands of dollars. That's what impressed me when playing around with Hostinger's AI website builder.

• 1:27Andrew Giancola?

  I told it what kind of website I wanted, and I built the first version in minutes. No coding, no designer or developer needed. And Hostinger doesn't stop at launch. Their AI can help with SEO, website copy, email marketing, and more. Plus, your domain, website, email, and marketing can all live in one account, with plans starting at just $3 every single month. Hostinger builds your vision step by step. Create your website today. Go to hostinger.com/pfp and use code PFP for 10% off now. On this episode of the Personal Finance Podcast, student loans just changed. Here's how to pay them off faster.

• 2:24Andrew Giancola?

  What's up everybody and welcome to the Personal Finance Podcast. I'm your host Andrew, founder of MasterMoney.co. And today on the Personal Finance Podcast, we're going to be talking about your student loans. If you guys have any questions, make sure you join the Master Money Newsletter by going to MasterMoney.co/newsletter and you can respond to any of those newsletters that come out every single week and I read every single one of them. And don't forget to follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or whatever podcast player you love listening to this podcast on. And if you want to help out the show, consider leaving a five-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. Can I thank

• 3:05Andrew Giancola?

  you guys enough for leaving those five-star ratings and reviews. Now, first off, before we dive into this episode, I just want you to know that down below in the show notes, we created a free guide that you could follow along on this episode. In addition to all the steps that we're going to be talking about in this episode on how to pay off your student loans faster. We're going to be talking about negotiation tactics and ways that you can negotiate your rates. I give you scripts in that free guide that's going to show you exactly how to negotiate some of these different things that we are talking through. In addition to emails and templates and all these different things. And so if you have student loans, if you're looking to pay off your student loans faster, or just navigate the craziness of student loans right now, I want you to make sure that you check out that free guide down below. Now,

• 3:49Andrew Giancola?

  as we start to dive into this episode, one big thing that a lot of people are struggling with right now is student loans. And the default rates are at their highest because a lot of things are shifting within this landscape where some people thought they were going to get forgiveness and some people thought that they were going to have a bailout. And then all of the sudden, student loans came crashing back down. And now, we have these payments that we have to deal with. So, the number one thing I want you to focus on is the thing that you can control, meaning that you can focus on what you have to pay currently. And we're going to focus on how we need to think about paying these loans down. And specifically, if you have a high interest rate loan, we want to get rid of those loans as fast as we possibly can. Now, I know for some people out there that income is tight, meaning you're living paycheck to paycheck. It is a difficult world to live in right now

• 4:34Andrew Giancola?

  when it comes to your financial situation. And so I'm going to try to help you navigate through that in this episode so that we can go through this entire process. But first, before we dive into the tactics that we're going to talk about in this episode, I want to dive into some of the changes that are happening right now so that you are informed as to what may be happening to your student loan as well. And so we're going to dive into those changes first, then we're going to get into how to pay off your student loans faster and some tactics and things that you can use to pay off those loans faster this year. And then lastly, we will have those scripts available for you. And I'm going to go through a bunch of rapid fire questions on student loans at the end. So this is an action packed episode. Without

• 5:16Andrew Giancola?

  further ado, let's get into it. All right. So first, let's talk about some of the changes that are happening to your student loans. First is there is an elimination of save, pay, IBR, and ICR for new borrowers that is going to be eliminated July 1 of 2026. So what does this mean? These were all income driven repayment plans where your monthly payments were going to be based on a percentage of your income with forgiveness after 22, 25 years. So the way that these were structured is that they looked at your income and said, okay, these payments are going to be based on a percentage of that income in this given year. And then after 25 years, if you truly can't pay these back, they will be forgiven. So these were governmental loans

• 5:57Andrew Giancola?

  that were in place based on that. So starting July 1, 2026, none of these plans will be available for new borrowers. And so the government is consolidating options into just two, which is the standard plan. And the standard plan is going to have fixed monthly payments over 10 to 25 years. And then the repayment assistant plan, which is 1 to 10% of discretionary income with forgiveness after 30 years. And so the previous plan was a little better. And so anyone borrowing new federal student loans on or after July 1, 2026, this is going to impact you. And so if you already have loans, you're safe. Nothing is going to change. You can keep your current plan. They are going to honor your current plan.

• 6:39Andrew Giancola?

  But if you're starting school soon, try to take out the loans before July 1st, 2026 to preserve access to IDR plans like IVR. Now, just so you know, at the top of the show, I just want to say this upfront. If you can avoid student loans, I would try to avoid them at all costs. Don't take out student loans if you don't need them. And it is really important to make sure that you do that. If you go through life without having student loans, you are going to have a much easier time financially than someone who has to take out student loans. But the reality is, privilege is very real. And some people are privileged to have folks who can help them through college. And some people are not so privileged. And they have to take out student loans in order to make sure that they can pay for college. Now, the second big change that is happening right now is interest resumes on SAVE plans starting August 1st, 2025.

• 7:24Andrew Giancola?

  So this episode is coming out after August 1st, 2025. And so this is something where SAVE was the most generous repayment plan available. And it eliminated unpaid interest for low-income borrowers. So any unpaid interest, it was eliminated. But as of August 1st, interest starts to accrue again. Meaning even if your payments are low, your balance might grow again. So anyone currently enrolled in the SAVE plan, you need to go and log into your servicer account and check out how much interest is building. And if your balance is growing, consider either making extra payments every single month or switching to IVR if your income has gone up. And then comparing cost projections under SAVE and RAP. Those are three of the things that I would do first, and then you can figure out what to do next.

• 8:06Andrew Giancola?

  Number three is there is going to be a forced transition to the Repayment Assistant Plan, or a lot of people call this RAP, by July 1st, 2028. So everyone still on SAVE or older income re-driven payment plans will be automatically enrolled in RAP by July 1st, 2028. Now, RAP is a new plan that requires payments between 1% to 10% of your income and has a $10 a month minimum and forgives your balance after 30 years of payments. Now, anyone who is using SAVE, PAY, IVR, or ICR, you're going to be moved over to RAP at July 1st, 2028. But if your income is low enough, there is a $10 per month minimum. Now, don't wait to be auto-enrolled. You can lose forgiveness progress or end up with higher payments.

• 8:49Andrew Giancola?

  And so if you're pursuing PSLF or IVR or another strategy, it's time to switch now. And then if RAP is your best long-term option, review how those payments are calculated and plan accordingly. Number four is wage garnishment and collections restart. In August 2025. So during COVID, collections on defaulted loans were paused. And as of August 2025, those projections are gone. So if you're in default 270 plus days behind, the government can either garnish your wages up to 15%, they can seize your tax refund, or they can report you to credit agencies. And so borrowers who are in default on these loans, they need to make sure that they enroll in something like the Fresh Start Program, which gives you a one-time chance to get out of default and restart some of those payments.

• 9:33Andrew Giancola?

  And then contact your loan servicer via student8.gov to apply and do this before your wages or refunds are impacted. You need to do this beforehand. Don't do it after and wait too long. Do it now. This is one of those things that you can focus on, that you can control. You need to do this now. Otherwise, they're going to start taking cash out of your paycheck, and you don't want that to start to happen. Number five is new borrowing caps for grad and professional students. So borrowing limits have been tightened to curb runaway student debt, and grad students are $20,500 a year or $100,000 total, and professional students are $50,000 a year or $200,000 total with a lifetime cap of $257,000. I like this. I think this is helpful for a lot of people. If you are spending way too much on student loans, it is really hard to recover.

• 10:18Andrew Giancola?

  I know a lot of doctors, I know a lot of lawyers who are like, oh, I'm going to be able to make enough money to recoup all this and get by. And a lot of times what they realize is life happens once you start to make money. It is not as easy as you think to pay off debt when it is this big. And if you have a $200,000 debt, for example, it is very important to make sure that you are paying that down quickly because it is very, very difficult to pay it off, depending on what that interest rate is. Now, this affects anyone who is starting graduate or professional programs after July 1st of 2025, and it is something that I think is honestly positive for a lot of people. Now, number six is employer-paid student loan help is now permanent. So this is a great thing. So employers can now contribute up to $5,250 per year to your student

• 11:03Andrew Giancola?

  loans and won't pay income taxes on it. And so employers also get a tax break. So this is a win-win situation. So any borrower, especially those at larger or progressive companies, Should make sure that they actually have this available and in our guide that our free PDF guide that we're talking about, I'm going to give you an email template to send over to your company to see if they will offer this and they will kind of be able to explain the benefits of this so that they can get that tax break. In addition, you can possibly get $5,250 per year going towards your student loans. And so that is a great, great benefit. And so what you should do though is ask your HR department and we'll talk more about this in the episode. If they don't offer it, request it. See if you can request this as part of your package. This is a

• 11:45Andrew Giancola?

  great thing to throw in during your salary negotiations is to see if they will offer this because this is something where if you're not going to get the salary you want, well, this could give you a $5,000 boost somewhere else that can give them a tax deduction. In addition, help you with your student loan payments. That is a great, great win-win situation. I love utilizing this as a negotiation tool and it is something I think most people need to be asking for and I would ask for it frequently. I wouldn't just ask for it one time. If they say no, don't take no for an answer. Keep on asking in different ways. All right. Number seven is easier access to IBR. So in the past, you could only enrolled in income-based requirement if you qualified as having financial hardship. That requirement is now gone. So the financial hardship requirement is

• 12:26Andrew Giancola?

  now gone, meaning anyone with eligible loans can choose IBR. Now borrowers who were previously blocked from IBR due to high income can now actually apply for this. And so what I would do is I would use some of those student loan calculators to compare IBR versus RAP versus the standard payment. And if you're seeking long-term forgiveness, but don't qualify for PSLF, IBR may be your best option. And so these are the seven changes that we're going to be talking about now. So for most of you out there, these are going to impact your student loans. And so you need to understand how these work and making sure that you have this in place is going to be very, very important and choosing the best option for you. So next, what we're going to get into is how to pay off your student loans faster in 2025.

• 13:12Andrew Giancola?

  All right. So we're going to talk about how to crush your student loans in 2025. Student loans can be crippling to a lot of people and their financial situation. I know how difficult it can be. When my wife and I first got married, that was the first debt that we attacked. She had about $20,000 in student loans. And so immediately, the first thing I did was I got after those student loans and made sure that we paid those off. And eventually, we were able to pay those off in just over a year, making very modest salaries. I was making about 30 something thousand dollars per year at the time, and she was making probably just a little bit more than me at that time, right around $45,000, $50,000 per year. And so because we had these entry level jobs, we attacked these student loans. We didn't have those payments anymore, got rid

• 13:54Andrew Giancola?

  of those student loans, and then from there, decided we want to start to build wealth. And that's where our big journey started, was getting rid of those student loans. So I want you to know that no matter what your income is, you can do this. And I'm going to teach you how to figure out a plan to pay off your student loans faster. And that is our entire goal, is to just increase the speed at which we pay off our student loans. Now, if you have a really low income, and you look at some of these repayment plans, and you think it's going to be forgiven over the course of 30 years, and you just want to make those minimum payments short term, then you can do that. But as your income rises, those repayment plans are going to shift, and you may end up paying off the balance anyways. And so talking through this, we're going to start to look through how to get rid of our student loans. Now, anybody who is thinking about going to college, or going

• 14:38Andrew Giancola?

  back to college again, the number one thing that you can do is avoid student loans altogether, is avoiding them is the number one thing, because debt is crippling to our financial situation, especially high interest debt, and the rates right now are not very good. And so making sure that we avoid some of this crippling debt is step one, because it is very difficult to get out of these situations. I know people in their 50s and 60s who are still paying off their student loans. And so there's going to be a lot more of those folks in the future, because student loans really started to accelerate with the millennial generation, my generation, that's when they really started to accelerate. And so let's talk through how to get these paid off faster, get it off your plate, so that we can start to work towards some of the big impact

• 15:21Andrew Giancola?

  Like growing our wealth so we can achieve financial freedom. This is part of those steps to achieving financial freedom. Because once you get these extra dollars back, you could take those extra dollars, put them towards your freedom fund, invest them so they can grow over time. So you don't have to work that job you hate anymore. And so that is what we want to do is make sure that we are working towards this. So step one is I want you to really have a good understanding of your student loan. The biggest thing to note is that when you go to war with someone, you want to understand your enemy inside and out. It's very important to understand. And your student loan right now in this situation, that is your enemy. And so I want you to know what you owe, and I want you to know who you owe it to. You have no idea how many people I talked to,

• 16:05Andrew Giancola?

  who have no idea who they owe their money to with their student loans. Before anything else, I want you to get clear. So login to studentaid.gov, and I want you to go see your loan types. I want you to know your interest rates, and I want you to know your balances. You need to know those three numbers. That is very important. And so again, go to studentaid.gov, see your loan type, your interest rate, and your balances. And then I want you to make note of who your loan servicer is. Maybe it's Navient or Mohella or Nell Nets. There's a bunch of them out there. Just understand who that is. And then I want you to do one thing. If you have multiple student loans, maybe you have some federal student loans, but you also have private student loans. I want you to separate the two out and figure out what we're going to do. Because the repayment strategies are going to differ between those two types of student loans.

• 16:49Andrew Giancola?

  So say, for example, you got a student loan with SOFI. In addition, you also have some of the federal student loans. Well, those are going to be something where we are going to think through this. Now, if your loans are in default, I want you to make sure you pay attention to step 11 as we go through this. Because that is going to be the place that is going to help you the most. Now, step two is I want you to choose the right repayment plan. This is the time where you can change the structure of your repayment plan, and I don't want you to default into the wrong one. And so this is going to be very important for us to think through. So your repayment plan determines how fast that you can pay off this debt or how long it's going to linger for some of you in these situations. And so if your goal is speed, you can choose the standard 10 year repayment plan. Because this is the fast track and this has fixed payments.

• 17:34Andrew Giancola?

  The payments are going to be the same every single month. You know what to expect. And this is going to fast track you to get those paid off in 10 years or even less. If you make extra payments, which we'll talk about in a second. If you need flexibility, but you still want progress, which flexibility is everything when it comes to paying off debt. I really like flexibility and having the ability to be flexible. Then you could consider things like IBR or the repayment assistant program or RAP. Based on your income. So you could do this based on your income. If you're worried about your income and your situation, if you're in an entry level job, or you don't make a lot of money currently and you're just struggling to pay your bills as it is. Then that might be the way to go for you. And if you're still on save, review your plan now. It's less generous with interest starting again. And so making sure you review your plan if you're on save is going to be really important.

• 18:20Andrew Giancola?

  Now there's something at student aid.gov called the loan simulator. And it compares monthly payments and total costs across plan. I think that's a really great tool for you all to use when you're comparing these plans. So that you can look at this based on your financial situation. And so looking at that loan simulator at student aid.gov is really, really helpful. Now, step three is I want you to automate your payments. And I want you to automate these payments bi-weekly if you can. So instead of paying once a month, I want you to split your payment into two and pay every two weeks. What's going to happen here? Now here's why this works. There are 52 weeks in a given year. And so because there's 52 weeks, paying every two weeks means that you are making 26 half payments.

• 19:04Andrew Giancola?

  Well, if you're making 26 half payments, that means you're making 13 full payments every single year. So you have one extra payment that you're making just by changing this to bi-weekly payments. Now that extra payment is actually going to go to reducing your principal. So it is a principal only payment and it's going to reduce the interest over that timeframe. And it's going to shorten your loan terms. So let me give you an example of this. Let's say, for example, you have a $30,000 loan and your interest rate is 6.5%. And so your standard monthly payment is $341. And in that situation, over the course of 10 years, you'd pay about $11,000 in interest over 10 years. I know it probably makes your stomach turn. It is one of the worst things in the world. This is why debt is so crippling.

• 19:49Andrew Giancola?

  That's at a 6.5% interest rate. But if you make biweekly payments, you're still going to pay $340 per month overall, but you're going to make those 13 full payments each year instead of 12, and you'll pay the loan off 10 to 11 months faster. So it'll be about nine years and you'll save about $1,200 on interest. So that's if you just do this one simple thing. You'll save yourself over 10% in interest alone. And the cool thing is it's automatic. It's low effort and accelerates payoff by almost a year. And so that is what we're trying to do is accelerate that payoff. Now you can pay even more than the minimum. And this is the next thing I'm going to talk about. Every dollar that goes towards principal, not interest, is really, really powerful. So if you add $25 to $200 per month extra to your current payments,

• 20:35Andrew Giancola?

  you're going to be able to pay that off even faster. See, these things are going to start to compound. So let's say you make the extra payments. But in addition to the extra payments, you got a little bit of extra cash that you can put towards making sure you get this paid down even faster. If that's the case, you can add a little more. 25 bucks, 50 bucks. I don't care, 200, 400. If you're a high earner, you should be adding a lot more to this if it is high interest. And so because of that, you can tell your servicer to apply the extra payments to your high interest loan, not just the next due date. And this is going to help you when you're looking at paying this off faster. Now, step five is you have two options here. You have something called the debt snowball and the debt avalanche. The debt avalanche is going to make sure that you can pay off your loan slightly faster. But the debt snowball, if you have a lot of student loan debt and if you have a couple of different carriers,

• 21:20Andrew Giancola?

  then the debt snowball may be the better option for most people psychologically because you get those wins. Now, the difference between the two is very simple. The debt snowball, you pay off the lowest balance first. Then you move on to the second lowest balance. Then you move on to the third lowest balance until you reach to that largest balance. And all those payments from the previous balances are then going towards the largest balance. Now, when you're paying off the lowest balance first, you're making minimum payments on all the rest of your debt. And so because you're making minimum payments on all the rest of your debt, you're at least making sure that those are up to date and then you're attacking that lowest balance. Now, once that lowest balance is paid off, then all the money that you were sending towards that lowest balance goes towards the second lowest balance and then you're making minimum payments on the rest of your debt.

• 22:04Andrew Giancola?

  And this helps you get those wins and keeps people motivated. Now, studies have shown that the debt snowball, even though mathematically it may not be the best option, is psychologically the best option for most people and they stick with it way longer. And so this is something where if you are someone who needs the motivation to stick with it longer, the debt snowball is probably for you. Now, if you're someone out there who loves the hard numbers, you love the math and you just want to get there as fast as you possibly can, the debt avalanche or what we used to call the debt wrecking ball, because like Miley Cyrus, you come in on that debt like a wrecking ball, that is probably the optimal one for you. And so between these two, just thinking through which one kind of fits your personality is going to be really, really important. You can start with the debt avalanche if you want.

• 22:48Andrew Giancola?

  And if you're like, ah, this is tough. I just want to get some of these small loans out of the way so I can take this extra money and move it towards the bigger loans, then that may be the better option for you on the debt snowball side. So avalanche, snowball, both of them are really good. And honestly, the end result is not going to be much different depending on how much debt you have. I really like the debt snowball for the psychology effect, but the debt avalanche is mathematically the faster way to pay this off. Step six is if you get raises or you get financial windfalls, I want you to utilize those windfalls to help you take money and put it directly towards your loan. So this is tax refunds. Don't just go blow that tax refund on a vacation in Ibiza. Take half of it, put it towards your student loans to get those paid down. Second is bonuses.

• 23:31Andrew Giancola?

  If you get a bonus, take half, put it towards your student loan debt, get that paid down faster. Third is pay increases. When you get an increase, increase the amount that you were paying down on that student loan. To get it paid off faster. Most people take the increase, commingles in their checking. They don't make differences when it comes to building wealth. Instead, if your number one goal is to pay off that loan, then taking those increases and paying that down. Also, side hustles. So I've talked about this a number of different times when it comes to student loan debt. I don't like side hustles like Uber Eats or DoorDash, but those are great side hustles if you've got a big goal that you're trying to accomplish really quickly. So if you have student loan debt and you're trying to get an extra 100 bucks to 200 bucks a day doing DoorDash or Uber Eats, it may be honestly an awesome option for you while

• 24:15Andrew Giancola?

  you are in the student loan phase. Get that thing paid down first and then after that, then we can worry about everything else. And so ensuring that we get that debt paid down is going to be a really, really powerful thing for most people. And then birthday or holiday or gifts, those types of things. I mean, for most of you, I'm not going to make you take your birthday money or your holiday money and just throw it at your student loans. But if you are really motivated and want to do that, not a bad idea. And so again, when it comes to windfalls, we talk about the 50/50 rule. I want you to take 50% and enjoy your life. The other 50%, I want you to put it towards wealth building activities and paying down debt is going to increase your net worth. Hence, it is a wealth building activity. And so really, really important stuff if you want to make sure you get this paid down fast and you are sick of student loans taking away some of your earning

• 25:00Andrew Giancola?

  power. Next, we're going to jump into step seven. If you've heard any recent episode of Health Corner, you know that I have spent the last few years trying to optimize my sleep. I've tried sleep trackers, cooling my room, changing my nighttime routine, all the different things, but nothing really matters as much as having the right mattress. And that's one of the reasons I love Lisa. A great mattress is one of those things that you use every single night and you spend a third of your life sleeping and it can make a huge difference on how you feel the next day. Lisa has mattresses designed for different sleep positions and comfort preferences and their sleep quiz can help you get matched in

• 25:41Andrew Giancola?

  less than two minutes. Plus, they're designed and they're assembled in the USA and they come with free shipping, easy returns and a 120 night free sleep trial. So go to LESA.com for up to 30% off mattress plus and get an extra $50 off with promo code PFP. Exclusive for my listeners. That's L-E-E-S-A.com promo code PFP for 30% off mattresses plus an extra $50 off. Let them know we sent you in the survey after checkout. LESA.com promo code PFP. My relationship with money has changed a lot over the years. Early on, I thought building wealth was about making more money. Now, I know it's really about having clarity.

• 26:26Andrew Giancola?

  When you know exactly where your money is going and whether you're on track, you make better decisions. That's one of the reasons I love Monarch. It's the personal finance app that tracks everything from your accounts and investments to your savings, goals, and spending, so you can see your entire financial picture in one place. One habit that's made a huge difference for me is my five-minute drill every single morning. I open Monarch, check my spending, investments, cash flow, and net worth, and I'm done in just a few minutes. It gives me confidence that nothing is slipping through the cracks. I also love the AI weekly recap because it'll flag spending changes, upcoming expenses, or shifts in my net worth before they become a problem. Instead of reacting after the fact, I can make adjustments early.

• 27:11Andrew Giancola?

  It really feels like having a financial advisor in your pocket. Write your own money story with Monarch. Use code PFP at Monarch.com to get your first year of Monarch Core half off at just $50. That's 50% off your first year at Monarch.com with code PFP. It's kind of amazing how much can change in just a single year. Every summer, the kids are a little bigger, a little more independent, and life looks a little different than it did the year before. And it reminds me that while we can't predict the future, we can prepare for it. That's one of the reasons I like PolicyGenius. See, PolicyGenius isn't an insurance company. They're an online marketplace. That lets you compare life insurance quotes from some of America's top insurers,

• 27:56Andrew Giancola?

  side by side for free. And their licensed team helps you compare coverage, prices and terms, answers your questions and even handles the paperwork so you can get the right policy without the hassle. For me, having life insurance isn't about expecting something to happen. It's about knowing my family is protected so I can actually enjoy these moments together instead of worrying about what comes next. And with Policy Genius, you can find 20-year life insurance policies, starting at just $276 a year for $1 million of coverage. Head to policygenius.com to compare life insurance quotes from top companies and see how much you can save. That's policygenius.com. If you've been listening to this show for a while, you know it's not just me anymore.

• 28:40Andrew Giancola?

  It takes a great team behind the scenes to make everything happen. And if I had to hire someone tomorrow, I'd want someone who could jump right in and make an impact. That's why I'd use Indeed Sponsored Jobs. When workplace chaos hits, Indeed Sponsored Jobs helps you reach qualified candidates faster. Your job gets boosted in search results, so you're spending less time searching and more time interviewing the right people. Plus, you only pay for results, which I absolutely love. Sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed are 95% more likely to report a hire than non-sponsored posts. That's a huge advantage when you're trying to grow your business. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check

• 29:23Andrew Giancola?

  all of your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is the job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves at indeed.com/podcast. Just go to indeed.com Podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about indeed on this podcast indeed.com slash podcast terms and conditions apply need to hire this is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. All right. So step seven is to take advantage of employer loan contributions. Now, this is really, really powerful and I want everybody to really push their HR department to try to get this approved because this can be something that can be huge for you and your

• 30:08Andrew Giancola?

  benefit in terms of making sure that you get some of this stuff paid down faster. So again, at the top of the show, we talked about this, but as of 2025 employers can contribute up to $5,250 per year tax free towards your student loans. Now, why this matters is that you get free money towards your loans. And so this is just like getting a 401k match. You're getting a 100% rate of return on your money, meaning they're just giving you this money. Your employer gets a tax deduction. So that's the benefit to them is they get this tax deduction and it's a win win and costs them less than a salary raise. It's going to cost them less than a salary raise for you. And so you can even ask for this instead of a raise in some scenarios. But again, if you don't have a massive amount of student loans, it's not always the best option. But if they won't give you a raise, asking for this if they don't already offer it can be a great,

• 30:53Andrew Giancola?

  great perk. And so we have a script to send your HR representative so that you can send this over to them in a chat version. And we also have it in an email version in the free guide that is down below in the show notes. And so making sure you look at that, we have that available for you so that you can make that request. You could tell them what the benefits are and you can adjust that any which way that you think fits your voice. But we have those two scripts down below to help you with that. Now, step eight is to consider refinancing, but only if it's makes sense and it's smart. So if your interest rate is above 6%, refinancing may lower your interest rate in those lower interest rate environments. So if you're listening to this and you're in a lower interest rate environment, this could help you dramatically. But there are some reasons to refinance and there's some reasons not to refinance. Only

• 31:38Andrew Giancola?

  refinance if you have a stable income and good credit. Okay. So usually 700 or above so that you can actually get a good decent enough interest rate. Secondly, do not refinance if you're pursuing forgiveness. So if you want to have forgiveness over the course of 30 years, Worth it to refinance and if you don't need federal protections like deferment or income based options, then you can consider refinancing. But if you want the options to have deferring your student loans or income repayment options, then that's probably not something you want to refinance to a private loan. Instead, you want to make sure that you are looking at some of those other loans. But if you are refinancing, we have a script in that guide that's going to show you, hey, here's the questions that you ask the refiner to figure out what exactly they can

• 32:20Andrew Giancola?

  offer you. And so it's going to be things like, what rate can you offer based on my credit and income? Are there any origination fees or prepayment penalties? Can I select between fixed and variable rates? And what happens if I lose my job or have a financial hardship? So in that script or that email that you can send over to the refinancing company, we have a little email there that to help you through that process as we do this. Now, step nine is to dedicate a side hustle to student loan payments. So even a small side gig, if you are willing to take on side gigs, putting 100% of those side gigs towards your student loans to pay them off faster can be really, really powerful. So let's say, for example, you want to do gig work. So you want to do Uber Eats or DoorDash. And so you start to do that and you make a hundred dollars every time you do

• 33:03Andrew Giancola?

  it for a half a day. Well, let's say, for example, you want to do it one week in a month. Well, that's 400 extra dollars per month that you can put directly towards your student loans. That's really powerful. Or maybe you want to walk dogs and every dog you walk is 30 bucks. And you put that towards your student loans every single time that you go and walk a dog because you're really motivated. That is another really powerful thing that you can do. So if you think about it this way, and you think about those side hustles as something that is reducing your debt liability, it can help you stay motivated to keep doing that over time. And I think it's really powerful. You're never going to regret being like, gee, I wish I didn't pay down that debt so fast, especially high interest debt. You're never going to say that. And so overall, really, really important stuff. Now, let's talk about the interest rate for a second here on your student loans, because if you have a really low interest rate on your student loans,

• 33:48Andrew Giancola?

  and you just got lucky and we're in a really low interest rate environment, it may not be something that I'm going to pay off super fast. It may be something and instead I'd rather invest those dollars. So if you have a two and a half, 3%, 4% rate on your student loans, some of those, I'm most likely going to invest those dollars first. Before actually paying them down faster. So I just want to make sure we note that as we're talking through some of this stuff. Now, if you hate debt and you still have a low interest rate and you want to get rid of that debt, more power to you. There is nothing wrong with that whatsoever. I like it. I like that the idea. But for some of you, if you're more investment minded and you want to make sure you're achieving financial freedom as fast as you possibly can, that's the trade off that you have to think through. Now, step 10 is to track your progress and making sure you track your total debt balance, countdown months

• 34:31Andrew Giancola?

  remaining and celebrate every $5,000 milestone is going to be very important for most people, but just tracking how much you are actually paying down in debt is really, really important. Now, step 11, if you're in default right now, I want you to use Fresh Start now. So you need to act immediately and stop wage garnishment or tax refund seizure. And so enroll in the Fresh Start program at studentaid.gov. That is the place you need to go and it removes the default from your credit and gets you back into good standing. So getting that default removed is very, very important. You need that off your credit score so that you can have a decent credit score. In addition, number two is it means that they're not going to seize part of your tax return or wage garnishment and instead you get a fresh start. This is a limited time opportunity.

• 35:16Andrew Giancola?

  So again, make sure you are doing it right now. Step 12, if you're unsure about forgiveness and now you're torn and you're saying, should I pay it off or should I wait for forgiveness? Here's a smart hybrid strategy that I would say that you could consider is continue on your forgiveness plan. So IVR or PSLF or repayment assistant program or RAP, continue on that plan. Then save extra debt payments in a high yield savings account, meaning if you think that some way you're going to get this forgiven, you can take the extra payments, put it in a high yield savings account, which is barely going to keep up with inflation, but at least you have it somewhere. And then if forgiveness comes, keep the cash. If it doesn't, you can make a lump sum payoff. I would say right now, how likely is it for you to be able to get forgiveness currently?

• 35:59Andrew Giancola?

  It is less likely than it used to be. I'll just put it that way. But in the future, if you think or hope or just want to make sure before you do anything, that you can actually get this forgiven, or you want to make sure that you actually didn't just waste your money and you think it could get forgiven for some whatever reason, maybe you got inside intel or whatever else, this gives you the optionality without locking the money into your loan. And again, you can make that bigger payment later on in the line. Just know you're going to be paying more in interest over the timeframe. And then again, we give you a bunch of different scripts for folks who want to chat with their lender when it comes to private loans, for federal loans, for private lenders when it comes to refinancing, and for financial hardships, all in that free guide. And so just knowing

• 36:42Andrew Giancola?

  your current score and income and debt income ratio before you enter into some of these conversations can be really, really important. So next, we're going to dive into the top student loan questions, and we've got a bunch of them. I'm going to do this in a rapid fire fashion, because we have a number of them here that I want to go through. So I got a bunch of student loan questions. I'm going to try to do this in one to two sentence answers to make it easier for everybody.

• 37:05Andrew Giancola?

  All right, the first one is what is the best repayment plan right now? So if you want to pay off your loans fast, the standard 10-year plan is best. If you need income-based repayments or forgiveness, IBR or RAP may be the best depending on your current situation. Number two, is the SAVE plan still available? Yes, but the benefits have ended as of August 1st, 2025. In all SAVE borrowers, we automatically move to RAP in 2028, like we talked about at the top of the show. Should I wait for forgiveness or just pay off my loans? If you're in a program like PSLF, or if you're in IBR forgiveness, stick with it. But otherwise, it's most likely smarter to just focus paying off your loans. And for most people, I like to focus on the things I can control, and I can control if I get this paid off. So

• 37:47Andrew Giancola?

  for most of you, I would say yes, go ahead and pay off your loans. You should never ever wait for the government to do anything when it comes to your finances. That includes everything from paying off your debt to social security. You always want to make sure that you are focusing on what you can control. Is student loan forgiveness still possible this year? Yes, it is, but mostly it's limited to PSLF and IBR forgiveness after 20 to 30 years. And targeted programs, but blanket forgiveness for people like people had talked about a couple of years ago is unlikely. And that's probably not going to ever happen. Just so you know. And so it's better to just focus on paying them off. Can I lower my interest rate on student loans? If you have private loans, refinancing can lower your rate. For federal loans, auto pay gives

• 38:27Andrew Giancola?

  you 0.25% discount, but deeper reductions aren't typically available. So making sure you have your student loans set up on auto pay can help you reduce the amount that you're paying in interest. And trying to negotiate your rate on the private side is something you could definitely do. You just need the data to make sure that you understand how to negotiate that. Can I refinance my student loans in 2025? Yes, but only refinance if you're not using federal forgiveness programs. We just talked about some of those and the considerations to have. What is the difference between IBR and RAP? So IBR capture payments at 10% of discretionary income with forgiveness in 22, 25 years, while RAP ranges from 1 to 10% with a 30 year forgiveness

• 39:08Andrew Giancola?

  timeline and a $10 minimum. So that's the difference between the two. How do I qualify for public student loan forgiveness? So if you work full time for a nonprofit or government, and you make 120 qualifying payments under an eligible plan like IBR and submit your employee certification yearly, that's how you can qualify for the public service loan forgiveness program. Now, what happens if I default on student loans? Well, we talked about this a little bit, but the government can garnish your wages, they can take your tax refund, and they can ruin your credit. And so it is not something you ever, ever want to do is default on loans. It will ruin your financial situation, short term and probably long term, if you do not get that stacked together. Can I deduct student loans interest on my taxes? Yes, you can deduct up

• 39:53Andrew Giancola?

  to $2,500 per year in student loan interest if your income is under the IRS limits. And so what is the IRS limits currently? So at the time of recording this, if you're single, the deduction phases out between $75,000 to $90,000 magi. And married filing jointly, it phases out between 155,000 to 185,000 on your adjusted gross income. So if your income is below those thresholds, and you can claim the full deduction even without itemizing your return, and typically even like TurboTax and some of those things, they will be able to calculate this for you in your CPA. Mostly you should have a CPA if you're a wealth builder, should be able to claim this for you as well. Will my spouse be responsible for my student loans? Only if they co-signed for a private loan? Or if you live in a community property state,

• 40:38Andrew Giancola?

  otherwise student loan debt stays with the current borrower. So that is something like if your spouse cosigned, then that's something different. But if they didn't cosign, then no, it's going to stay with just you specifically. If something ever happened to you. What if I can't afford my payments right now? So I would contact your servicer and I would ask about switching to IVR or RAP, or request forbearance if it's a short-term hardship. So if you just lost your job and it's a short-term hardship and you know you're going to get another job, then I would request forbearance. That's the thing that I would look at doing. So that's all the rapid fire questions that we have on student loans for this episode. Again, if you guys have any questions, make sure that you join that master money newsletter. And again, download the free guide down below, which is going to be the ultimate guide to paying off student loans faster.

• 41:20Andrew Giancola?

  I hope that's going to help you because we have those free scripts in there that will help you kind of communicate with your HR department or your loan providers to help you get lower rates and save a lot of money. Again, this is one of those big ticket items that we want to make sure that we are focusing on and getting rid of to have a big difference maker overall. Listen, thank you so much for listening to the personal finance podcast. And if you guys have any questions, again, join the master money newsletter and we will try to answer as many of those questions as we possibly can. And again, sometimes we have those questions answered on the show, on our money Q and A episodes. Thank you so much again, and I will see you on the next episode.

• 42:10Speaker 01

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