Ways to Reduce Student Loan Debt Episode + Buy and Power Your Home on the Cheap Can Elon Musk Help Power Your House? Elon Musk of Tesla fame is also into solar energy. He’s thinking about building a battery, akin to the Tesla battery that will power your home. Imagine this, lowered energy for your... The post #12-Ways to Reduce Student Loan Debt, Let Elon Musk Power Your Home + Get New Home Cheaply appeared first on Young and Oldish Money.
Student loan debt is a big problem. Learn ways to reduce student loan debt. Plus how to power your home cheap and buy one without a down payment.
Elon Musk of Tesla fame is also into solar energy. He’s thinking about building a battery, akin to the Tesla battery that will power your home. Imagine this, lowered energy for your home-but what do you do if it’s cloudy?
We talk about ways to cut energy costs as Bobby discloses the results of his 1:00 am call with the electric company.
Call your energy provider and schedule an energy audit to check out ways to get that utility bill down. Don’t wait around for the Elon Musk battery powered home.
Looking to live off the grid? Tune in for tips and ideas for today to thwart the energy bills.
“Elon Musk is Designing a Tesla Battery to Power Your Home“, Quartz (Q.com), John McDuling
“A program in Vermont makes homeownership more accessible by covering down payments and then splitting the resulting profits.” ~Nancy Cook, The Atlantic.com, “Is There a Middle Ground Between Renting a House and Buying One?“
Learn about the middle ground between renting and buying a house. And no, it’s not about asking Mom and Dad for a down payment.
Shared-equity housing is a way for you to buy a house without all of the upfront cash. We talk about a program in Vermont called the Champlain Housing Trust which gives you the down payment (staked by the government). You make the mortgage payments. When it’s time to sell, you share in the profits.
With housing costs through the roof, its tough for many people to find the cash for a down payment. These types of home shared equity programs make home ownership a reality for those with a job and decent income, just not enough to fund the whole home buying endeavor.
We talk about how this type of program works, how much money and income you might need and whether your town offers a similar gig.
Please don’t confuse this strategy with another ‘sharing’ program we talked about in Episode #2. This is not an Uber for home buyers.
Debt in the U.S. is declining……except student loan debt.
We talk about the rise in college costs, debt, and the ‘good old days’ when Barbara went to college. We’re not sure if she rode a covered wagon to college or not.
Seriously, student loan debt is a huge problem. In fact, even in bankruptcy, you can’t get rid of it.
We discussed college options to reduce debt and refinance it at a lower interest rate.
“More People are Paying Off Their Debt On Time – Except For Student Loans“, Buzzfeed.com, Matthew Zeitlin
Continuing the student loan debt conversation, we explained how to refinance your debt to lower your interest rates and subsequently your monthly payments. Seems like several start ups are trying to get in on the student loan debt help arena:
Apparently, CommonBond uses a controversial algorithm to set their interest rates for student loan debt borrowers. They forecast how much money you might earn and then determine your interest rate based upon your future ability to pay off the debt. Got a computer science degree from Harvard? You’ll likely get a rock bottom interest rate when refinancing your student loan debt.
We help you understand the types of student loans and next, ways to lower your student loan debt.
Then we get into a bit of college philosophy conversation as we discuss the viability of choosing a college major based on ‘love or money’.
“Online Student Loan Start-Up CommonBond Gets Help From an Industry Giant“, Buzzfeed.com, Matthew Zeitlin
(Featured image courtesy of oninnovation on Flickr)
The post #12-Ways to Reduce Student Loan Debt, Let Elon Musk Power Your Home + Get New Home Cheaply appeared first on Young and Oldish Money.