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Student Loan Planner Review 2022: It’s the Real Deal

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by  Clint Proctor

October 20, 2022

Student Loan Planner Review

Founded by Travis Hornsby (CFA), Student Loan Planner is a student loan advisory service. Before diving headfirst into my Student Loan Planner review, I need to give one quick disclaimer.

Student Loan Planner also has a blog. And before I took on the Editor-in-Chief role at Investor Junkie, I used to write for them on a regular basis (give the team photo above another glance and you’ll see yours truly on the left.)

But I wrote for a lot of websites, yet I never felt compelled to write a review of any of them.

Student Loan Planner, however, had a different kind of impact on me. Through my work with Student Loan Planner, I saw firsthand the amazing work that Travis and his team do on a daily basis.

I interviewed borrowers who received help. I read the stories of clients who had been dealing with depression (and even considered suicide ) because of their student loans but felt their burden lifted after their consultation.

So while (honestly) many “coaching” and “consulting” services are a waste of money, that’s not the case with Student Loan Planner. It’s the real deal. Read my full Student Loan Planner review to learn more.

What Is a Student Loan Consultant?

A student loan advisor is someone who looks at your student loan situation and can help you pick the best repayment strategy.

  • Should you use an Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plan ?
  • If so, which IDR plan would save you the most money?
  • Should you refinance?
  • Should you pursue Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) ?

A student loan consultant can help you navigate these student loan questions. Unfortunately, the student loan industry is incredibly complex.

Choosing the wrong repayment strategy can cost you tens, and in some situations, hundreds of thousands of dollars. And with the COVID-19 payment pause on federal student loans set to end in January 2023, student loans will once again become a critical financial issue for millions of households.

What Makes Travis and the Student Loan Planner Team Different?

Although there are other student loan advisory services out there, there are a few things that set Travis and his team apart. Here’s why I can highly recommend them.

1. Expert Knowledge and Advice

When I started writing about personal finance, I thought I knew a lot about student loans.

And then I met Travis Hornsby.

Travis is an absolute encyclopedia of student loan information. I’ve learned so much from him about the intricacies of student loan repayment and continue to each week.

Travis is a CFA. And before he began Student Loan Planner he was a bond trader for one of the world’s largest investment companies. But he left Wall Street because he wanted to help people with student loans. His wife is a physician and he was shocked by the amount of student debt she was saddled with.

To decide which repayment strategy would be most affordable, he built the world’s best student loan calculator (like any normal person would). His calculator doesn’t just take the loan total and interest rate into account. It considers a host of factors including:

  • Marital status
  • Whether or not you have kids
  • Where you work (private or public sector).

Student Loan Planner Review

The Student Loan Planner calculator will compare the 10-Year Standard Repayment Plan, vs IDR, vs refinancing. And it will even compare each type of IDR plan to show you which one could save you the most money.

Student Loan Planner Review

But the calculator was just the beginning. Not long after building the calculator, people started bombarding Travis with student loan questions. And eventually, people were even willing to pay him for consultations.

And, thus, Student Loan Planner was born.

2. Certified Consultants

As the Student Loan Planner business grew, Travis needed to add more consultants to his team. One of the things that’s really great about his team of advisors is that they all have either the CFA or CFP designation.

student loan planner reviews

With Student Loan Planner, you’re not just getting advice from people who call themselves “experts.” You’re getting the chance to talk to someone who’s spent years receiving formal training and experience in the world of finance.

3. A Team That Really Cares

I know this sounds like a super subjective point. But I can’t say enough about the sincerity of the Student Loan Planner team.

Every week, the team is talking back and forth on Slack about ways to help people better. They truly feel heartbreak when they hear from readers who are overwhelmed by student loan debt. And they get all geeked up whenever they hear success stories.

Personally, it’s been refreshing to interact with people who care so deeply about their work.

Why Pay for a Student Loan Consultation?

If you’re dealing with crushing student loans, there are multiple repayment options from IDR, to PSLF, to refinancing.

But here’s the deal. Bloggers (like yours truly) have an incentive to heavily encourage the last option. Why? Because they can make a lot more money when you click on a refinancing link vs. deciding to stick with your normal repayment plan or switching to Income-Driven Repayment.

There are plenty of times that refinancing could truly save you money. But there are also many times when refinancing would not be your best decision .

The great thing about paying a flat fee for student loan advice is that you take bias out of the picture. When you meet with a consultant from Travis’ team, you don’t have to worry about conflicts of interest. Whatever is the best choice for you is what your consultant will advise you to do.

What Happens During a Student Loan Consultation?

Before you even hop on a call with on the SLP consultants, you’ll provide them with lots of information about your student debt and overall financial picture. This allows your consultant to prepare a full analysis before your chat.

During your video call, you’ll receive an in-depth review of all your options and if a better repayment strategy is available, your consultant will give you all the info and resources that you need to take action. Note that if you’re married, your spouse can sit in on the call as well.

The one-on-one calls last one hour. And after your call, you’ll have access to unlimited email support for up to 6 months. Here are some more details about how the student loan consultation process works.

How Much Does a Student Loan Planner Consultation Cost?

In the past, SLP’s consultation fee varied based on your amount of student debt. However, the fee is now standard across the board, with the exception of follow-up appointments which receive a $100 discount. Here’s the current pricing:

  • New clients : $595
  • Follow-up : $495

Is a consultation worth the money? In most cases, absolutely!

Student Loan Planner has helped over 9,830 clients save an average of over $49,000 over the life of their loans. Combined, their clients have received over $457 million in projected savings.

I recently recommended an SLP consultation to one of my own personal friends who had just graduated from chiropractor school with over $200,000 of student debt. He and his wife both said that they the peace of mind they received from the session was well worth their fee.

But don’t just take my word for it. Listen to their actual customers. Student Loan Planner has a 5.0-star rating on Shopper Approved from over 1,800 reviews .  And if those reviews don’t convince you, check out this awesome video review from David B.

Student Loan Planner Alternatives

While there are multiple companies and apps that can help you with document prep, there aren’t many that offer fee-only student loan consultations like SLP.

One one of the few available today is StudentLoanAdvice.com, which is a subsidiary of The White Coat Investor. Currently StudentLoanAdvice (SLA) comes in $40 cheaper than Student Loan Planner and they offer 12 months of email follow-up support. Here is their current fee structure:

  • New clients : $559
  • Follow-up : $449

One concern I have with StudentLoanAdvice is that they don’t provide much information about the consultants that you might speak with, other than that their team is led by Andrew Paulson. According to their FAQs, this should set borrowers minds at ease that the SLA team can handle any questions you throw at them:

In addition, our team, led by Andrew Paulson who’s career in finance and specialized education in student loans, qualifies us to solve even the most complex student loan scenarios.

However, I’m not sure that a leader’s experience necessarily translates to everyone on the team being qualified to provide quality student loan advice. And while I’m sure that Andrew is very knowledgeable, information about even his own respective credentials is conspicuously absent from the site as well.

Also, unlike Student Loan Planner, SLA isn’t listed on a third-party review site like Shopper Approved or Trustpilot. So the only client reviews that I could find were the non-verified testimonials listed on their homepage.

Finally, and this is being nit-picky I know, but SLA’s marketing video (below) just isn’t doing it for me. It’s giving me hard 90s infomercial vibes. Yes, I know this has nothing to do with the quality of the advice that they may provide, but it’s not helping their cause either.

Who Would Benefit From a Student Loan Planner Consultation?

If you have over $20,000 in student loans, it could be worth it to set up a consultation. Below that, you may not get enough value out of an appointment and should probably just try to repay your loans as fast as you can.

The larger your student loan balance, the more money you could save by using Student Loan Planner. They’ve worked extensively with doctors, veterinarians, dentists, lawyers, and many other professionals that are known for accumulating large student loan balances.

Trust me when I say that no student loan balance will surprise Travis and his team. The average client that works with them has a student loan balance of over $250,000 .

Conclusion:

I’m not a “glowing” review kind of guy. If you’ve read any other content on my site, you know I prefer muted and subdued praise.

But with Travis and the Student Loan Planner team, I honestly believe wholeheartedly in what they’re doing. They’re helping lots of people find student loan relief.

And if you have a high student debt total, they could very well help you too. Click here to book a Student Loan Planner consultation .

About the author 

Clint Proctor

Hi, I'm Clint! I love writing about everything personal finance. In addition to this site, my work has been featured on several major publications including Business Insider, Forbes, Credit Karma, and U.S. News and World Report. My hope is that you'll be able to find plenty of helpful information and inspiration on this site to help you reach your financial goals. Thanks for visiting!

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Student Loan Planner Review

If you have had to pay for medical school , pharmacy school, law school, or graduate school, then you know that student loan debt climbs very quickly for people who pursue these paths.

It’s not uncommon to meet a medical resident or new pharmacy graduate who has at least $250,000 in student loan debt.

With such high amounts of debt — and usually, high interest rates — the answer to paying off debt is not simple.

What’s someone with over six figures in student loan debt to do? Should you pursue student loan forgiveness? Should you refinance your loans? Can you save money on your loans even if you’re a high earner? How about your tax situation? How will that factor into your journey to debt freedom?

What if you could get someone to look closely at your numbers and give you a plan tailored to your specific situation? That’s what Student Loan Planner — a consulting service to help people in the exact situation I’ve described above — does. They help people come up with a plan to get out of debt faster. And as they say on their website, “Ditch Your Student Loan Anxiety For Good.”

Today’s post is a review of Student Loan Planner and whether or not using this consulting service will be good for you.

Student Loan Planner

Quick Summary

  • CFA and CFP financial advisors that are student loan debt experts
  • Focused on designing a holistic plan for eliminating student loan debt
  • Flat Fee $595 for a consult

About Student Loan Planner and Reviews

Student Loan Planner was founded by Travis Hornsby (Editor’s Note: See his and his team’s credentials here ) . He started the service in 2016 after he helped his wife and her friends figure out how to get rid of their six-figure student loan debts.

According to the Student Loan Planner website, Travis and his team of credentialed professionals have worked with 8,300+ professionals. Student Loan Planner estimates that they have helped their clients save a projected $156 million.

Student Loan Planner currently has 1859  reviews on Shopper Approved with 97% of users rating them at 5 out of 5. 

Student Loan Planner Shopper Approved Review

So how can you work with Student Loan Planner and what will you get out of the experience?

Who Is This Service For?

Student Loan Planner can help you regardless of how much debt you owe. However, as I mentioned before, Student Loan Planner is especially helpful for people who have six-figure student loan debt amounts and/or have complex finances and repayment plan possibilities.

If pursuing a postgraduate degree in medicine , law, nursing, pharmacy, or any of those professions that are notorious for hefty debt has you anxious, you want to talk to the professionals at Student Loan Planner.

Because most of the professions listed above tend to be high-paying, a common misconception is that because they are high earners, they don’t qualify for any programs or avenues that reduce their student loan debt. This is not necessarily true.

Figuring out the details of what you might qualify for is daunting and time-consuming. Chances are you’re a busy professional and don’t have that type of time. And so, you spend years missing out on opportunities that could have gotten you out of debt faster.

This is where Student Loan Planner comes in handy. Because they’ve worked with so many people who have situations similar to yours, you can work with them to come up with the best plan for taking care of your debt.

On the Student Loan Planner website, they state that if you owe between $50,000 and $1 million, they can help you in one of two ways:

  • They will create a custom student loan plan with details on how to get out of your debt.
  • They will connect you with private lenders so you can refinance your loan at a lower interest rate.

How Much Does It Cost?

Student Loan Planner charges a $595 flat fee for a 1-hr consult. If you need more time, you can book an additional consult for a $495 flat fee.

Student Loan Planner sends out the invoices for their consulting service after the call.

How Does Student Loan Planner Compare?

Student Loan Planner is the industry-leader in financial planners that specialize in student loan debt. However, there is one other company that compares, and that's Student Loan Advice by the White Coat Investor. 

Both of these companies offer financial plans by Certified Student Loan Professionals (CSLPs). Student Loan Advice focuses specifically on doctors with student loan debt, but they can help everyone. Student Loan Planner has helped more customers overall.

My Thoughts

First of all, Travis Hornsby, the founder of Student Loan Planner, is well known in the personal finance community and had built up his credibility over the years. It’s kind of like knowing that local shop owner who has been in your community for years. He used to be a bond trader with Vanguard and he has a sharp financial mind.

So if I would recommend someone to consult with to get your high student loan debt down, I would recommend him and his team. 

With that being said, who benefits most from a consultation? While this isn't all-encompassing, I've found that those who benefit most include:

  • Individuals in high earning professions that should balance debt repayment with investing and other goals
  • Small business owners who want to maximize their own retirement savings while paying the debt
  • Couples who need to tackle their loans together and weigh their options for repayment strategically

I'm sure there is more - but where Travis and his team specialize is in the complex situations.

I’m always on the lookout for the best services and products to help you win at your financial life. One of those services is Student Loan Planner . If you think a do-it-yourself option is better, check out LoanBuddy for DIY student loan help.

Student Loan Planner Review

  • Ease of Use
  • Tools and Services
  • Pricing and Fees
  • Customer Service

The Student Loan Planner is a financial planning practice that specializes in student loan debt assistance. The team is comprised of CFAs and CFPs that have a fiduciary duty to their clients.

  • Financial planning for student loan debt
  • Fiduciary duty
  • Can help figure out how to best handle your debt with your entire financial picture
  • Price increases based on loan debt amount
  • Try Student Loan Planner

Robert Farrington

Robert Farrington is America’s Millennial Money Expert® and America’s Student Loan Debt Expert™, and the founder of The College Investor , a personal finance site dedicated to helping millennials escape student loan debt to start investing and building wealth for the future. You can learn more about him on the About Page  or on his personal site RobertFarrington.com .

He regularly writes about investing, student loan debt, and general personal finance topics geared toward anyone wanting to earn more, get out of debt, and start building wealth for the future.

He has been quoted in major publications, including the New York Times , Wall Street Journal , Washington Post , ABC, NBC , Today , and more. He is also a regular contributor to Forbes .

Editor: Clint Proctor Reviewed by: Chris Muller

Student Loan Planner

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Student Loan Planner Review: Is It Worth the Fee?

If you're deciding whether or not to get a student loan planner, this article will help you through your decision process.

Sarah Li Cain

Jul 30, 2021

When it comes to student loans, you’re probably wondering how much debt you’ll accrue. Of course, it depends on where you go to college and the type of degree you’re pursuing. No matter what, having any amount of debt — especially for those with high amounts of debt from graduate, medical, or law school — can feel overwhelming. 

Whether it’s tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands, your student loan debt payoff journey may not be the same as others. For instance, do you want to negotiate an income-driven repayment plan? How can you figure out the best way to tackle a $250,000 balance? Or how will you pay it down aggressively even if  you don’t earn a high income right away?

student loan planner reviews

That’s where some personalized advice can come in handy. A company called the Student Loan Planner is an option for those looking to get help figuring out a plan to pay off their loans in the best possible way. Their consulting service aims to get people out of debt in a shorter amount of time. 

Student Loan Planner’s services aren’t exactly what we’d call cheap, so before committing, keep reading to see whether this is the right fit for you. 

  • Work with student loan debt experts who have CFP© (Certified Financial Planner) Certified Student Loan Professional (CSLP) and CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) designations
  • Pricing from $395 to $595 based on student loan debt
  • Helps clients to create a plan to pay off student loan debt

About Student Loan Planner and Reviews

Founded by CFA former bond trader Travis Hornsby in 2016, he and his team of professionals have worked with over thousands of clients to pay down their student loans. According to their website, the company has helped their clients save an estimated $280 million. 

Student Loan Planner offers two types of consultation services: one for those who haven’t taken on debt yet, and one for those who are looking to pay theirs back. Both services charge a flat fee for a one-on-one consultation and you’ll leave the call with a thorough and personalized plan on how to pay down your debt. 

How Much Does It Cost?

Student Loan Planner charges a one-time flat rate for their consultation services. You’ll be able to book a time right away and the call will last for an hour and leave with a customized plan. 

The exact amount you’ll pay will depend on the type of call:

  • Pre-debt consult: $395
  • Student loan debt up to $200,000: $395
  • Student loan debt over $200,000 and up to $400,000: $495
  • Student loan debt over $400,000: $595

Once you complete your consultation call, you’ll receive an email with an invoice for the amount due. 

Here at Juno, we offer the same type of services but we don’t charge a penny (more on this later). 

Who Is This Service For?

Student Loan Planner is best for students who plan on pursuing a degree and know they’ll accumulate a significant amount of debt. That, or someone who already has a large chunk of student loan debt — the company consults anyone who owes at least $20,000. 

If you have a complicated situation such as figuring out multiple repayment plan options, Student Loan Planner could be for you. For the service to be worth it however, it’s best for those who owe a large amount, enough to recuperate the consulting fees and then some. 

Let’s say you’re pursuing a degree in law, medicine, pharmacy or equally expensive professional degree, it’s a good idea to see how you can pay less overall. Plus, the professionals can walk you through different programs or options that help you to reduce the amount of loans you take out, no matter your income level. 

For high income earners, sorting through what you may qualify for and look at potentially conflicting information can be very overwhelming.  It’s also hard if you’re working a busy job (or looking for one which can take as much time) and don’t have a lot of time to devote to research. 

Considering Student Loan Planner has worked with thousands of professionals, the chances of them working with someone that had a scenario similar to yours is pretty high. What this means is that they probably have the experience to help you come up with the best way to tackle the would-be (or existing) student loan debt. 

This is where Student Loan Planner comes in handy. Because they’ve worked with so many people who have situations similar to yours, you can work with them to come up with the best plan for taking care of your debt. The company also has connections with private lenders should you choose to refinance, which could help reduce the interest you pay overall. 

Is Student Loan Planner The Best Choice?

Student Loan Planner is a legitimate service and has experienced professionals helping you figure out a customized plan to pay down your debt, or plan on how you’ll do it after graduation.

If you want someone on your side to create a repayment strategy, it’s a good idea to look into Student Loan Planner. This is especially so if you’re not interested in going the DIY route or fear missing out on opportunities to save.

However, there are two potential downsides. One, you’re on your own after the one-time consultation. So if you want help with things like negotiating for a better rate with a private lender, you’ll have to do so.

Second, Student Loan Planner’s services come with a hefty price tag. The more debt you have, the more you’ll need to pay — do you want to pay up to $595 for a one hour call?

Instead, Juno offers these services for free (yes, you read that right). By chatting with Juno, you’ll receive a customized plan of how to pay for college, including scholarship and grant options — this is much like Student Loan Planner’s pre-debt consultation. 

Also, by the time to end your call with Juno, you’ll understand your loan options and won’t be fed a sales pitch. Also, you’ll know what your expected student debt and monthly payments are when you graduate (separated by what you and your parents might owe) and due dates to ensure you’re staying on top of your loans. That way, you’ll know exactly what you need to do to lower the amount you’ll pay overall.

Juno can also help you with getting the best rates with private lenders due to their collective bargaining power with a student loan negotiation group. Whether you’re refinancing an existing loan or taking out a new one, you can receive significant savings this way. 

Intrigued?  Click here to book a free 30 minute consultation  so you can be on the right financial foot when it comes to your student loans. 

Join Juno today to find out more about your options for affordable private student loans to help fund your degree.

Sarah Li Cain is a finance writer and a candidate for the Accredited Financial Counselor designation whose work has appeared in places like Bankrate, Business Insider, Financial Planning Association, Investopedia, Kiplinger, and Redbook. She’s the host of Beyond The Dollar, where she and her guests have deep and honest conversations about money affects their well-being.

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The Institute of Student Loan Advisors Review: Student Loan Help

Anna Helhoski

Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners who compensate us. This influences which products we write about and where and how the product appears on a page. However, this does not influence our evaluations. Our opinions are our own. Here is a list of our partners and here's how we make money .

To help student loan borrowers avoid scams, NerdWallet is rounding up information on legitimate sources of help, like this one.

Organization: The Institute of Student Loan Advisors.

Mission statement : “To make certain that all student loan borrowers have access to free, neutral and accurate resources and mentoring to ensure they can successfully manage their student loan debt," says Betsy Mayotte, president and founder of TISLA. "Our overarching message for almost all borrowers is that the name of the game is paying the least amount over time.”

Location: Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Best contact method: Email [email protected] or go through the contact page.

Business hours: Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET.

Website: freestudentloanadvice.org.

Twitter handle: @TISLA_SL .

Areas of expertise: Federal, private, parent, graduate, state and institutional loans, as well as income share agreements.

It can help with: Answering general questions; providing advice on current student loan management strategy, default and loan forgiveness programs; and dispute resolution. Most emails are answered within one business day.

» MORE: How to get student loan help

It cannot help with: Advice on applying for aid, legal advice or choosing a lender. It does not forgive loans.

It is funded by: Grants, donations and mission-driven fee for service (such as webinars for employers).

Cost to expect: None.

Most common question topics: “We generally have two types of questions: those from borrowers who have done lots of their own research but want a second opinion on their chosen strategy due to the confusing nature of the programs," says Mayotte. "Other borrowers are just overwhelmed — either by their debt or the programs available — and just want someone to evaluate their situation and suggest how to move forward. We also get quite a few questions about [public service loan forgiveness].”

Most common relief/repayment solutions it recommends: Income-driven plans.

Process for assessment/resolution: Most questions are answered within one business day. Disputes, depending on the situation, can sometimes take months to resolve. Most disputes are resolved within a week or two.

What information/documents to bring to the table: Provide information such as the type of loan you have, how much, whether you are in default or not and any questions/goals. A list is available on TISLA’s contact page. Do not send any personal information.

Policy on acting on the borrower’s behalf: TISLA never acts on the borrower’s behalf using a Federal Student Aid ID, or FSA ID, or through power of attorney. TISLA also does not ask for permission to take action or initiate any actions on a borrowers’ account. For complex disputes, TISLA may request the borrower submit a third-party authorization form to the loan holder to allow them to speak about the borrowers’ dispute, but these authorizations are only used to discuss the account with the borrowers' servicer or the Education Department.

If you need student loan help

If you’re struggling with your student loan debt, first speak with your servicer or lender to:

Discuss repayment options.

Take a temporary payment pause.

Temporarily reduce your monthly payments.

If your problem is with your lender or servicer or you’re not getting the help you need, look for a legitimate student loan help organization that offers counseling. In addition to TISLA, consider these other vetted resources for student loan help ; they are established organizations with verified histories:

Many of these organizations offer advice for free. In some cases, you may need to pay a fee, as with a certified nonprofit credit counseling agency or if you hire an attorney.

None of the organizations above calls, texts or emails borrowers with offers of debt resolution.

Offers of help that you have not sought out are likely to be scams. While it’s not illegal for companies to charge for services such as consolidation or enrollment in a payment plan, those are steps you can do yourself for free.

Avoid any debt relief companies that demand money upfront.

» MORE: How to spot student loan scams

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Student Loan Planning Software Solutions: Comparing The 8 Leading Tools For Financial Advisors

October 8, 2018 07:03 am 2 Comments CATEGORY: Technology & Advisor FinTech

Executive Summary

As a wave of next-generation clients starts to seek out help managing their finances, one of the most common challenges that they face is a high level of student loan debt. Unfortunately, advisors are generally ill-equipped to provide student loan analysis and planning, because, unlike traditional debt, student loans - and federal loans in particular - are subject to a dizzying array of repayment options (each of which can result in significantly different outcomes for borrowers) and forgiveness programs, which in and of themselves, are stunningly difficult to navigate. And, in a world where interest rates are rising quickly, the “easy” solution of refinancing older loans at a lower rate isn’t providing the same bang for the buck it once did, not to mention the fact that refinancing won’t make any sense for borrowers that recently took out loans while rates were at historic lows. Which means that a strong working knowledge of the various options for repaying federal student loans will increasingly be an important tool for advisors in coming years.

Fortunately, there is a growing number of tools to help advisors analyze their clients’ student loans, and in this guest post from Ryan Frailich, founder of Deliberate Finances, (a fee-only financial planning practice that specializes in working with couples in their 30's, as well as educators and nonprofit workers) provides comprehensive reviews and ratings for 8 student loan planning tools, including offerings from CSLA, RightCapital, the VIN Foundation, Loan Buddy, and Pay For ED (among others), and shares his thoughts on everything from features and flexibility, to their ease of use and usefulness of output.

Because the fact is that, often, those clients who come in with the highest level of debt, including doctors and lawyers who are just starting out, also happen to be ideal long-term clients, and having the knowledge and ability to potentially help them save a significant amount of money over the life of their loans is a great way to build long-term loyalty. And even for advisors who work primarily with Baby Boomers, the ability to help their children navigate the student loan landscape can assist in introducing you to your next generation of clients.

While not all the solutions that Ryan examines are targeted specifically at advisors and there’s still plenty of room for improvement with all of them, the good news is that FinTech developers are recognizing the importance of putting tools in advisors’ hands that will help clients with student debt navigate what is often the first (and most challenging!) aspect of their young financial lives. So, whether you have clients with questions about how best to manage and repay their student loans, are looking for ways to gain and develop expertise in this important area, or are simply interested in staying up-to-date on this rapidly evolving area of financial planning and FinTech, then we hope you find this amazingly comprehensive guest post from Ryan to be helpful!

Ryan Frailich Headshot

Author: Ryan Frailich

Ryan Frailich is the CFP, founder of  Deliberate Finances , a fee-only financial planning practice that specializes in working with couples in their 30’s, as well as educators and nonprofit workers. Prior to becoming a planner, Ryan was a teacher himself and then worked to grow a charter school organization as the Director of Talent & Human Resources. Given their age and occupations, student loans are a priority for the majority of his clients, so he’s spent many hours trying to find the right ways to provide clients with information about their student loan options. You can find him on  Twitter , email him at  [email protected] , or at basically any New Orleans festival featuring delicious food and drinks.

Read more of Ryan’s articles  here .  

When I work with my typical clients, who are usually in their 30’s, the most pressing topic is often something to the effect of, “How do I manage my student loans, and how should I weigh them against all the other things I want to be saving for?”

This isn’t surprising, given that more than 44 million Americans have student loans, with the total debt having recently passed $1.5 trillion dollars. Amongst 30-39 year olds, they hold $461 billion of student debt, or nearly 1/3 of all the student debt outstanding. For advisors who work with younger clients, it’s imperative to be properly equipped to incorporate student loan analysis into younger clients’ financial plans. And for planners who tend to work with Baby Boomers, helping your current clients’ children formulate a student loan plan could be a great way to build a bridge to your next generation of clients.

In fact, some of the highest levels of debt belong to those who might be ideal long-term clients for many advisors. Law school graduates now come out with an average of over $140,000 of debt , while medical school graduates are averaging more than $190,000 . Knowing how to help them solve their number one concern as recent graduates becoming high-income professionals is a way to build trust and loyalty that will help lay the foundation for a business with continual growth for decades to come. But first, you have to actually know how to give advice in this area, and it’s much more complicated than other forms of debt.

Planners are used to looking at just a few variables when it comes to advising on debt management, mainly interest rates, monthly payments, overall cost of the debt over time, and looking to see if there’s an option to refinance to lower a monthly payment.

Student debt is an entirely different animal. In particular, while private student loans are also essentially a function of interest rate, repayment period, and total debt, federal loans often are not. There are a host of different federally-sponsored income-driven repayment plans, all of which have different criteria for use, and different outcomes for the borrower. In some you can use the MFS (Married Filing Separately) tax-status, but in others, that filing status would be disregarded for income-driven repayment amount calculations. There are forgiveness programs for public service , and forgiveness programs linked directly to income-driven plans, regardless of employer. There are job specific forgiveness programs, such as Teacher Loan Forgiveness or National Health Service Corps and Veterinary Loan Repayment . And while refinancing federal student loans may reduce loan interest or monthly payments, it can forfeit access to many of these programs (which itself may or may not matter, depending on the client’s situation).

This complexity regarding student loans, and specifically the intersection of various federal student loan programs, means it’s an area most advisors aren’t equipped to give great advice on, especially considering the CFP curriculum only scratches the surface . And it’s an area that has enough complexity to warrant more sophisticated tools, if only to be able to effectively analyze the complex trade-offs in the first place.

Knowledge of federal student loans is only going to become more valuable if interest rates continue rising. Recently, the reality is that refinancing has often simplified the process; given the downward trend of interest rates to historical lows, borrowers often took out loans at 6-7%, and could then refinance at 3-4% after graduating (giving rise to an entire industry of refinancing companies targeting students who had borrowed 4-6 years earlier at higher rates). As rates rise and borrowers come out of school into a rising interest rate environment where refinancing often won’t make sense for borrowers anymore, they’ll actually need to navigate the myriad of options in the federal system. For advisors, this means it’s likely that federal student loan repayment knowledge will be even more valuable in the coming decade than it is today.

Features to Consider when Selecting a Student Loan Analysis Tool

A promising sign is that in recognition of the growing need, there is an emerging industry of tools to help financial planners analyze student loans. Not all of them are intended specifically for financial advisors, and many of the tools are still in their early stages, which means that their capabilities range widely, and are changing regularly with development happening quickly.

Nonetheless, there is a core set of features that all advisors should look for when considering different software to conduct student loan analysis.

Ability to Import Data from NSLDS

Having accurate data is a must in order to properly analyze student loans. To cut down on errors, student loan analysis software should ideally be able to import student loan data directly from the National Student Loan Database (NSLDS), which is the central database for all federal student aid programs.

The NSLDS allows borrowers to download a text file with the status of their loans (i.e., Is the loan in forbearance? Deferment? Has the loan been defaulted on?), date of disbursement, initial balance, current balance, accrued interest, etc. The file itself is near impossible to make sense of directly, but a variety of tools can be used to organize and clean up the data to a useable format.

The NSLDS database is particularly important because the four major student loan servicers are not known for accuracy, nor for considering the best interests of the consumer.

Ability to Analyze Student Loans at the Household Level

With the variety of different payment plans available, it’s key that any student loan analysis tool be able to look at the entire household unit, not just each individual borrower.

The reason is not just due to the importance of considering the household’s entire ability to make student loan payments from a financial planning perspective (e.g., when both spouses have student loans), but because some payment plans, such as IBR & PAYE, allow for spouses who file MFS (Married Filing Separately) to use that status for income-driven repayment amount calculations. Others (REPAYE) ignore that distinction and look at total household income regardless of tax filing status.

Which means there may be a payment plan one spouse would choose if single, but not want to choose if married and filing jointly, or alternatively might make themselves eligible for by choosing to be married filing separately because the tax benefits lost by using MFS are less than the benefit of being able to look at income separately for student loans.

Adaptable Assumptions To Model Long-Term Student Loan Planning

Like any financial planning advice, we must take the best known information to date, and extrapolate it out into the future, using our best guess as to a host of variables, from inflation to investment returns to future tax rates.

In the context of student loan planning, this is particularly important for clients who may be working towards loan forgiveness, which is sometimes treated as a taxable event. Thus, the platform must be able to project what the tax impact of forgiveness would be, and an estimated amount the client would need to save (including growth) in order to be prepared for that so-called “tax bomb” that comes after 20 or 25 years of payments when the loan is typically forgiven.

Loan forgiveness, along with the trajectory of income-based repayment plans and their varying monthly payment obligations over time, also hinges heavily on future changes to income as well, so effective student loan planning tools must be able to easily model adjustable future income projections. Other key variables to be able to model include tax status, family size, and inflation assumptions.

Side-by-Side Comparison of Repayment Plans

Under the umbrella of Federal Income-Driven Repayment Plans, there are actually four different payment plans that have become available and evolved over the past two decades (along with a 5th, Income-Contingent Repayment or ICR , which still exists but is no longer typically used because the others are all more favorable):

Federal Income-Driven Repayment Plans

In addition to those plans, there is the 10-year Standard Repayment , in which loans are repaid across 120 consistent payments regardless of income, as well as the option to privately refinance (or alternatively to do a direct consolidation federally but without refinancing) . There are also extended repayment and graduated repayment options (though they are rarely the best option these days).

The significance of these varying programs is, again, that the monthly payment, total amount repaid, amount forgiven (if any), and tax impact of these plans can vary widely. The software must be able to clearly show, based on the information entered, all of the factors listed above for at least the 6 most common repayment program options.

To demonstrate just how much the plans vary, let’s look at an example of a couple with the following situation:

  • She is a surgeon and just completed residency and will be making $225,000 as a starting income.
  • He is a teacher with a few years of work experience and currently makes $52,000.
  • They have a combined student loan debt of $370,000, $300,000 of which is hers, and $70,000 is his.

The outcomes would change somewhat depending on assumptions regarding taxes, future earnings, family size, etc. If we assume:

  • 3% annual wage growth
  • 3% annual inflation
  • Two children born in the coming decade
  • Average student loan interest rate of 6.4%
  • 35% income tax (combined federal & state)

...then in this scenario, the Net Present Value of repayment ranges from $224,521 (if both use the Public Service Loan Forgiveness route) to as much as $446,588 (if both use the Revised Pay As You Earn plan). The first month’s payment, (assuming you could get both started on repaying the exact same month, which is rare), ranges from $2,108 to $4,182. That’s an enormous range!

The impact of choosing the right student loan repayment plan (and going even deeper, choosing the right initial plan and then knowing if and when to switch plans) can often be a six-figure decision over the borrower’s lifetime. So all software should be able to compare the impact of any route being considered.

Ability to Input Private Student Loans

Federal student loan debt is the overwhelming majority of the outstanding student loan debts, but there is also $113 billion of private student loans .

It’s important to be able to see any/all existing private student loans in any analysis to determine if a given monthly payment (across all public and private loans) is feasible, and whether it could make sense to consolidate existing federal loans and existing private loans into one loan (especially if a lower interest rate is possible).

Ability to Filter Out Unavailable Repayment Plans

The rules governing (and limiting the availability of) different federal repayment plans present an additional complicating factor for student loan analyses.

For example, the Income-Based Repayment plan caps payments at 10% of discretionary income if your first loans were taken out after July 1, 2014. It’s 15% for everyone who borrowed before that date . Another example is that Federal Perkins loans are not eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. They would have to be consolidated first.

A student loan software solution that can hide options that aren’t actually available to a borrower would help many advisors make sure they aren’t recommending a path that the client isn’t actually able to follow anyway. Of course, advisors should know this information, but built-in fail-safes would help limit errors and reduce client confusion.

Review of 8 Tools for Student Loan Analysis

Before getting into the comparisons, it’s important to state upfront that none of the current vendors provide everything on the above list of desired features for financial advisors. The above is what would be ideal for a tool to have, but the current tools available aren’t there yet, so it’s a matter of figuring out which one best suits the advisor’s individual needs and planning approach.

Fortunately, most of them are also rapidly developing, so what exists now and what exists in 6 months will almost assuredly not be the same. In fact, two of the vendors here either have only launched a beta, or haven’t launched at all yet.  (Michael’s Note: In fact, between this article being drafted in September and published today, multiple changes and new features have already been announced by several vendors, which demonstrates just how rapidly the tools are evolving!)

Based on the various factors listed above, below you will find my reviews of 8 tools for student loan analysis. Each tool will have an overall summary of how they line up on the key features discussed earlier, followed by a rating for Features (in the aggregate), Ease of Use, Quality of Output, and Flexibility, scored as follows:

1= Inadequate 2= Somewhat adequate 3= Adequate 4= More than adequate (Surpasses Expectations)

Listed in no particular order, the 8 Student Loan Analysis tools for financial advisors to consider are:

Right Capital Student Loan Module

  • Student Loan Planner’s Excel
  • Studentloans.gov
  • VIN Foundations tool

Certified Student Loan Advisor Technology (CSLA)

CSLA launched a beta version in 2017 of their platform and has most of the key features advisors would want.

CSLA is backed by the Certified Student Loan Advisor Board of Standards , a non-profit organization that also recently launched their own designation, the Certified Student Loan Professional . Recognized student loan expert Heather Jarvis is a board member, which demonstrates their commitment to having some of the most knowledgeable people in the country on their team.

CSLA has the most robust detail and adaptability of any of the tools listed. Advisors can trigger an email to clients to have them upload their NSLDS data file, and it automatically populates with all of their loan info, as shown an in the example below.

student loan planner reviews

(At one point the tool actually had a live link to the National Student Loan Database, allowing for real-time data flows, but that is no longer active due to FERPA [Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act] concerns.)

The “forecast” screen allows advisors to project AGI (Adjusted Gross Income) with annual growth, or override to account for an expected jump in earnings, such as when a medical resident becomes an attending physician. You can also project year of marriage, spouse’s income, and plans for future children, as those factors all impact the Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plans.

The Payment Plans screen allows easy comparisons across all the different plans, including showing the amount of the “tax bomb” that would hit those who use an IDR plan and have taxable forgiveness at the 20- or 25-year mark. By clicking on any of the tabs, you see the total cost of repayment, and how that compares to the 10-year standard plan. You can also see how monthly payments rise over time based on the inputs on the forecast screen.

student loan planner reviews

Note: The “savings” calculation didn’t seem to work on this screen, despite there being a difference between the IBR plan vs the standard plan.

You can also go through year by year to see how the payments change with income growth, family size changes, etc.

Disadvantages

The CSLA platform is new, and there are definite areas to be improved. It relies on a client to upload their data, and there is not an easy advisor option to do so. There is no integration with any other financial advisor software programs (e.g., other financial planning software or CRM systems), so all the data on each client must be entered in manually, including data like salary, age, children, marital status, all of which most advisors already have elsewhere in their CRM and/or financial planning software. Existing private loans don’t have a spot to be entered, so the advisor has to manually put together any analysis of overall debt repayment based on their recommendations.

The other drawback on CSLA is that the initial launch was somewhat confusing. There was an initial beta last year with a price of $3/month per client uploaded and some initial training videos were posted on their website. But after several months, the client service and feedback essentially went dark. Multiple advisors have told me of calling repeatedly and not hearing anything back from the company. The platform remained live, but with little means of getting support (though their fee was also not charged during this time).

Their team has relaunched the tool and is now taking on advisors and billing their monthly per-client fee. With this relaunch, I hope to see a lot more support so that advisors aren’t left alone to navigate the software that by its nature is somewhat complex simply due to the complexity of the loans it is modeling and analyzing.

CSLA Overall Score (1-4 scale):

RightCapital recently released their student loan module and is the only financial planning platform to have built this functionality into their existing software. Given how different student loan analysis is versus a typical debt analysis, it’s a huge benefit to those advisors serving many clients with student loans.

Embedding a student loan analysis tool into existing financial planning software is a tremendous advantage and is ideal for building a cohesive overall financial plan. All the existing assumptions around family size, income growth, tax rates, etc., are already built in and inputted for the rest of the plan. It also means one fewer system for the advisor and the client to navigate.

However, with RightCapital, data does not import from the NSLDS file, although you are able to link directly to the student loan servicer’s account data via the data aggregation that RightCapital provides. It’s not as good as having the NSLDS data, though, because the federal student loan servicers don’t always provide the most accurate or complete data. But it’s a start.

The summary tab allows advisors to easily toggle between different repayment plans and see the outcomes. There is no side-by-side comparison, but with a few clicks, advisors can see how much the total repayment and monthly repayment costs will be under different scenarios. Advisors can also differentiate between what route each spouse takes, so one may go for PSLF while the other privately refinances. Below is a screenshot for a couple who have decided to privately refinance, now that their income has risen to the point where continuing on (or maintaining eligibility for) an Income-Driven Plan does not make sense.

RightCapital Loan Analysis

You can easily view the total student loans summary, including all the pertinent information about each loan and what programs the loans may be eligible for. For example, with the couple below, many of their loans are not eligible for PAYE or REPAYE because they are FFEL loans. The screen clearly shows which programs they and are not eligible for.

RightCapital Program Eligibility

For some clients who have much larger debts than their income, and don’t have the long-term earning potential to pay off the debt, the RightCapital tool helps show what amount would be forgiven, as well as the year, and actually puts that forgiveness amount on Line 21 of the projected Form 1040 tax return in the rest of the financial planning software projections for that year. This lets you build your entire plan around that taxable forgiveness event in the future, though the software doesn’t automatically calculate how much to save in order to meet that tax bill in the year it will be due.

RightCapital Forgivness Analysis

Since the RightCapital student loan tool relies not on NSLDS but on student loan servicers, the imported client data still requires some cleanup, as the information transferred is not always accurate. I’ve found loans labeled “private student loan” when in fact the loan was federal. I also had a case where the NSLDS file said the interest rate was 3.8%, but the servicer was using 5.25%, so we had to do the legwork to confirm which one was accurate. In addition, RightCapital still requires manual entry of the Standard 10-Year Repayment option, since that doesn’t come in automatically, and is necessary for comparing different options.

Another downside is not being able to do a side-by-side view of the different repayment programs, like what CSLA (and the later-discussed VIN Foundation software) can do. Thus, a little more work is required to see what the major variables, such as total repayment, monthly payment, etc., wind up being, which actually drives the best decision outcome.

One other item is that the RightCapital student loan module has an all-or-nothing approach to strategy, and you can’t select different strategies by the individual loan. Let’s look again at the loans from the couple we used up above:

In this case, all of the Stafford loans belong to one spouse, whereas the MOHELA loan is the only loan for the second member of the couple. I ended up recommending privately refinancing all of the loans that had an interest rate above 4% but leaving the ones which are at 3.28% (and switching payment plans) since the refi came in at 4.25%. There is no way to mark which loans to include or exclude from the proposed strategy, so it still required using Excel to break down the total savings versus continuing on their current plan.

Another thing I’d like to see is better integration of the standard debt module RC has with the student loan module. Right now, on their regular debt analysis tool, you can’t model a refinancing. And on the student loan tool, you can model a refinancing, but you can’t increase the monthly amount contributed. These two tools should interact to fully model the possibilities for a client.

Overall, this student loan planning module is a great leap forward in terms of integration of student loan analysis into the overall plan, but still has work to be done to make it usable in all cases and without some outside calculations needing to be done for certain circumstances. The data feeds from the loan servicers also lack the completeness that tools which use the NSLDS file have.

RightCapital Overall Score (1-4 scale):

Student loan planner excel-based calculator.

Student Loan Planner is a business entirely dedicated to conducting student loan analysis. Their team has now done 1,000+ student loan projects, and with that has built a tool for analyzing the student loan debts. They make an Excel-based tool available on the website for download by consumers, along with a wealth of other information about student loans.

Student Loan Planner is very much focused on direct-to-consumer work and does not hold itself out as a tool for advisors, but I know a few advisors who use the tool to help them conduct their student loan analysis.

Given the depth of knowledge required to give student loan advice, and the consequences of a mistake, many advisors may want to outsource this aspect of the financial plan to an expert. Student Loan Planner itself is one option to do so, and then the planner can take the recommendations generated from Student Loan Planner and its spreadsheet tool, and then integrate the recommendations into the overall financial plan.

The Student Loan Planner calculator is very easy to use, and intuitive for anyone with a passing knowledge of using Excel. Although there is no NSLDS import function, it does allow a planner to type in all the relevant data points, and easily adjust the assumptions for future tax rates, family size, income, etc. It also provides a great table with side-by-side comparisons to see total payments, both in nominal dollars and NPV (Net Present Value) terms, any possible taxes due, year of forgiveness (if applicable), and monthly payment amounts.

StudentLoanPlanner Excel Analysis

Not only does the Student Loan Planner tool not have the ability to import loan data from NSLDS, it, in fact, asks for the loans to be combined together into one input of the total loan balance and average interest rate. This makes analyzing a household where each spouse has student loans (potentially eligible for different federal programs) more difficult.

In addition, the tool does not have any way to notify a planner which federal repayment program is or isn’t available based on the data. For example, there’s no way to note whether a loan is an FFEL or Perkins loan, each of which have different rules governing what programs they are eligible for. This makes sense, as it’s not designed to be a tool for advisors, but does mean it’s of limited use to an advisor as a standalone tool. As ultimately, using Student Loan Planner requires the advisor using it to have even stronger student loan knowledge themselves, and not rely on the tool for anything beyond the actual calculation of the total repayment and monthly payments.

I’d encourage planners just beginning to learn about student loans to download Student Loan Planner’s spreadsheet to use for their own education, but it is not robust enough for most planners to use without assistance (which, admittedly, Student Loan Planner would likely be happy to be engaged for).

Student Loan Planner Overall Score (1-4 scale):

Studentloans.gov repayment estimator.

The Repayment Estimator from StudentLoans.gov is a tool directly from the U.S. Department of Education. It’s useful for relatively simple situations, such as a single person with fairly predictable income, but does not have the flexibility of some other tools, and thus isn’t as useful for advisors, especially when looking at more complex client scenarios.

The StudentLoans.gov tool allows clients to log in under their account and do analysis with their own data pulling from the DOE’s database. This is great in that the advisor can be confident he/she is working with accurate information, but since there is no way for an advisor to get the data without logging in under the client's credentials, it presents a challenge for advisors to actually use at scale and without compliance concerns .

The StudentLoans.gov tool gives information only on the programs the client is eligible for as well, thus eliminating the confusion of attempting to enroll in a repayment program that the loan may not be eligible for. It also generates an easy to understand table comparing all your options, including nominal repayment cost, monthly payments, and timeline until the debt is gone, as shown with an example below:

student loan planner reviews

The StudentLoans.gov tool is not very flexible. For example, it uses an assumption of 5% annual income increases, and there doesn’t appear to be a way to override that with a more client-specific income trajectory. Similarly, you can enter current marriage and family info, but there’s no way to project the impact of those planned events at a future date. Even though a monthly payment amount will be drastically different for a single person than a married parent of two. Which means the ability to set when one estimates those life events to occur is very important.

You also cannot add information about the debt of a spouse and have that factor into a household-level plan. You could, similar to the Student Loan Planner tool, combine the two spouse's debt into one and manually enter the information, but that doesn’t allow the true depth of analysis to be done (especially relevant when spouses have a significant gap in incomes or debts).

For example, let’s look at two situations identical in aggregate, but different in the details:

In both cases the total income is $200,000 and total student loan debt is $300,000, but the correct repayment plan will vary significantly depending on future earnings expectations, types of loans, etc. Not being able to break out each spouse by themselves is a significant limitation with the StudentLoans.gov tool.

Studentloans.gov Repayment Estimator Overall Score (1-4 scale):

Vin foundation student loan calculator.

Veterinarians tend to graduate with a significant student loan debt relative to their income, and their student loan burden is a huge barrier to financial security for many veterinarians.

As a result, VIN Foundation tool comes courtesy of the Veterinary Information Network (VIN) website, and while it is nominally intended for their members (veterinarians), the tool is free online and accessible for anyone to use.

Advantages:

The VIN Foundation student loan tool is actually one of the most flexible tools for student loan analysis. Advisors are able to enter almost any variable they’d ever need to, including manually overriding income assumptions in future years as necessary. You can set future dates for marriage and kids and see how those impact the plan, including toggling between using the MFS and MFJ tax filing status. The software is able to include household level income and debts and provides a variety of tables and charts to show the impact of different repayment plans. An example of the outputs include:

Table showing side-by-side comparison of total repayment info

VIN Comparison

The simplicity of this table is a helpful starting point to have conversations with clients about what each route means for them both now and over the life of the loan.

  Forgiveness Planning Module to Prepare for the “Tax-Bomb” after forgiveness

student loan planner reviews

If you’re having a client work towards one of the long-term student loan forgiveness programs, planning and saving for the taxation on forgiveness is vital. This can also help when a client is wavering on putting slightly more towards paying down the loan, versus paying the minimum and working towards forgiveness, because oftentimes, the cost of the income-driven plan + savings for the tax bomb is so similar to the amount needed to just pay off the loan that it makes more sense to work towards payoff and just get out from under the enormous debt burden.

Graph of Total Loan Balance During Repayment:

Student Loan Payoff Graph

This graph is very helpful to demonstrate to clients which plans will result in actually paying down the debt, and which don’t. In some cases, the negative amortization of a growing loan balance showing on this graph can help a client weigh the psychological impact of carrying a growing (or stagnant) debt for 20 or 25 years just to pursue forgiveness at the end.

Range of Monthly Payments Across Payment Plans

Student Loan Payment Comparison

It’s important for planners to evaluate not just the monthly payment at the start, but how it will grow as income grows and family size changes.

It’s also easy to save the analysis, which is vital given how many times a planner may need to come back to the data.

Disadvantages:

The VIN Foundation tool still requires a tremendous amount of planner knowledge to enter all the inputs properly. And there is no automated way to get data into the program (e.g., an NSLDS import option), so using the software takes a lot of manual entry. In addition, there is nowhere to enter the type of each student loan the client has, and thus there’s nowhere to see which student loan programs the loans are (or are not) eligible for, again forcing the advisor to rely on their own knowledge to know what to model (or not). Private loans are not able to be included in the analysis, either.

VIN Foundation Calculator Overall Score (1-4 scale):

Loan Buddy was founded by a fee-only financial planner who specializes in working with physicians and thus has a lot of experience looking at significant student loan debt as part of a client plan.

With that advisor perspective, the Loan Buddy team is also looking to find ways to educate the advisor community about student loans and building a mechanism for advisors to easily tap other advisors to assist if they have a complex student loan case. They are also building out an advisor database for consumers to search and find an advisor who specializes in student loans associated with the consumer’s particular profession. Advisors will be able to get leads directly from the database, including the prospects student loan data, so Loan Buddy is both a software tool and potentially a high-quality lead generator.

Loan Buddy will also be helpful for advisors looking to market their student loan knowledge. It tracks the overall amount of student loans advised on, as well as average student loan balance. Imagine a prospect calls and says “I have $185,000 of student loans.” It’s incredibly powerful for an advisor to be able to say, “My average client has $215,000 of loans, so I know how daunting that can seem. I’ve advised on over $4,000,000 of loans in the past 3 years and am confident we can find a plan that works for you.”

Notably, at the time of this review, Loan Buddy is primarily just a tool to aggregate information on and review clients’ student loans, but in the very near future, Loan Buddy plans to roll out their full suite of student loan repayment analyses and additional features, and from the demo I conducted, it will be a powerful tool.

Loan Buddy translates the NSLDS data file into easy-to-digest data in no time. It’s clear exactly what is owed, since when, in what status, the applicable interest rate, and all other important data.

Loan Buddy Information Graph

Loan Buddy is also easy to navigate and shows a lot of promise for the future. Of all the companies I spoke to, Loan Buddy seems to have the strongest knowledge around what planners want (not surprising since they were founded by one!), and how advisors would use the tool.

At this point, Loan Buddy builds the most robust history of student loans, which is a big advantage vs. tools that rely only on data aggregation. It can see the entire history of a loan, which is particularly important if there are consolidation loans made up of loans that may make a client ineligible for a particular program based on the disbursement date. This info isn’t available if a program is relying solely on data aggregation feeds.

student loan planner reviews

Another perk of using all the information in the NSLDS file is that it keeps track of the number of months of eligible payments for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, and Loan Buddy pulls that number directly into the overall plan. The PSLF program can be difficult to navigate , so helping clients monitor their progress over time is of huge value to those striving for forgiveness through that program.

Loan Buddy Student Loan Progress

In the soon to be released version, all assumptions are adaptable and you can easily adjust for future changes in marital status or family size. Loan Buddy is also building in some guideposts for advisors, so if an advisor attempts to do something that isn’t possible for one reason or another, a message will appear to tell the advisor their current recommendation won’t work. For example, if a client has an FFEL loan and wants to go for PSLF, the system will notify the advisor that the loans must first be consolidated into a direct loan before going for PSLF.

Loan Buddy will also have an integration with First Republic to offer current student loan refinancing rates to borrowers in Zip Codes where First Republic makes loans. The hope is that this integration is the first of several that will make it so an advisor doesn’t have to go outside the system for refinancing rates. In the longer term future, this could potentially even be a spot to apply for and get a refinancing loan for the client based on individual credit history, but that is quite a ways off.

A feature no other system has that Loan Buddy is developing will be a database of available forgiveness programs and grants available to borrowers. Currently, Loan Buddy has populated the database with about 70 state or federal student loan programs, and they will be embedded in the software so that advisors are able to see if a unique program is available based on that client's state of residence and occupation. This database is not live yet, but their team is planning to make it into a robust database of currently available programs that may impact overall student loan repayment plans.

Loan Buddy doesn’t yet actually do student loan repayment analysis within the software. To date, it relies on the planner to have a robust knowledge of student loans and do their own analysis of which route for repayment is best. It exists primarily just to capture and show (i.e., summarize) the relevant student loan information, so advisors can use it as a framework for discussion. Their full student loan calculator is being released in the coming month, but it will likely be several months until all of the features mentioned here are available.

From the demo I worked through, there are a few drawbacks. Unlike the RightCapital tool, all information about income and family size must be manually entered (since it doesn’t come over from the existing financial planning software data gathering input process), and there are no integrations to any financial planning software.

In addition, the software does not yet analyze a full household, where both spouses have student loan debt, and create a holistic plan; rather, it looks at each spouse individually to develop what plan makes sense for them. While this often is fine, there are situations where looking holistically at the household income and debts results in different recommendations than doing so individually, which Loan Buddy can’t show at this time.

The other concern about Loan Buddy is that they are trying to do many things at once (build the student loan tool, an advisor lead generator, advisor marketing statistics, etc.), and that could mean the core features aren’t developed as quickly as tools that have a narrower focus.

Loan Buddy Overall Score (1-4 scale):

The Pay For ED  tool sounds like a promising new solution for advisors, but the platform is not yet live either. I’ve spoken at length with their team but not actually seen a demonstration of the stated capabilities. As with any software, the promised and the delivered can sometimes leave a gap. That said, the Pay For ED team has already successfully built a tool to help with Financial Aid planning (EFC Plus) before students go to college and has clearly done the work to deeply understand the features on a post-graduation student loan repayment tool that would help advisors as well. So this tool seems like it will be very useful if it can really deliver on the promised features.

One of the unique features that Pay For ED is touting is a “max earnings” feature, which would show the maximum AGI a couple could have before income-based repayment no longer makes sense. This is very helpful to project ahead of time which plan makes sense for the long-term, given a client’s anticipated income trajectory, especially once you consider the interest subsidy that exists for some repayment plans but not for others. This reverse engineering can help take away some of the “guess-and-check” type work that an advisor may otherwise do to determine which repayment plan is best.

Pay For ED is a promising tool, but we just don’t know yet whether it will meet the lofty expectations. One concern is that the company appears to be aiming to help across all aspects of planning for, paying for, and paying down debt from college education. The knowledge necessary to adequately plan how best to structure assets and pay for college is entirely different than the knowledge needed to repay existing student loan debt. A company with a somewhat wider focus may not have the precision on student loan repayment (or the readiness to build out advisor-relevant features) that a tool fully dedicated to that problem alone would have.

Pay For ED Overall Score (1-4 scale):

PayItOff  is the most recent entrant into this space, and their platform has about 60 advisors using a beta version. The full rollout of their tool will be unveiled during XYPN LIVE’s FinTech Competition in late September of 2018 as one of 6 finalists in the competition . The company was founded by a software engineer whose personal experience managing his student loans led him to realize just how much of a need there is for robust tools to analyze the various repayment options.

PayItOff is the only tool to offer three different ways of bringing in the data: NSLDS data file upload, data aggregation links to loan servicers, and manual entry. This flexibility is the best of both worlds in that the live feeds from servicers have the most up to date data, but the NSLDS file contains the best historical information. They are still working on reconciling if any discrepancies arise from the two sources, but having both sources is a unique feature. The other unique data-gathering aspect of PayItOff is that it allows clients to link or enter other liabilities they may have as well, so their total debt can be taken into account when an advisor is looking to figure out how much in monthly debt payments a client can afford.

Once loans are in the system, you can enter available information on private refinancing options, and adjust any relevant information on the loans under review, such as current payment plan, months in repayment, etc. An advisor can also differentiate the best option for different loans. So, in the scenario mentioned above with a split of using the standard repayment plan and private refinancing, the advisor can use the checkmarks on the left of the screen to include or exclude certain loans from the refinancing calculation.

student loan planner reviews

PayItOff has an algorithm to determine the recommended extra monthly payment to maximize relative savings . Advisors can then adjust the extra amount paid monthly based on the client’s actual ability to pay more each month.

Spouses can be linked in the system so you can aggregate household information together and come up with the best recommendations for the entire household unit.

For clients pursuing Income-Driven Repayment, you can quickly see which plans you are eligible for and how they compare to one another, as shown with the table below.

student loan planner reviews

Something else I liked on the PayItOff app is their 501(c)(3) search for PSLF eligibility. It can sometimes be unclear if an employer is eligible for the program, so embedding a search tool is a useful feature. It isn’t perfect, as the tool only searches for entities that have the 501(c)(3) status, and there are some other non-501(c)(3) entities that are also eligible for PSLF, but it’s a good starting point.

student loan planner reviews

Overall, I found PayItOff to be difficult to navigate. It was often unclear to me where a piece of information comes from, or how to edit that information. Editing the imported loan data proved more difficult than I anticipated, and there were a few scenarios I struggled to model and was told afterward that analysis was not yet available.

Also, unlike a couple of the other tools, you aren’t able to see the loan history even if you upload the NSLDS file. This proved to be limiting, as I wasn’t able to easily see loan disbursement dates, which was confusing on a case I tried to run. The loan info showed all of the loans as being on the “standard” plan, which should be 10 years of level payments. But, since the loans had different repayment start dates, the system was telling me it would take 21 years until all loans are fully paid off. While I can see some scenarios in which this would play out if a client had some undergraduate debt they began repaying before taking on graduate debt, it wasn’t easy to understand how the system was arriving at the payoff term.

Currently, the assumptions for income, family size, and marital status can’t be altered, so it’s hard to truly project the terms of repayment as those items change.

There is a lot of potential here given the scope of features they have or are planning, but to right now the difficulty navigating the system makes it hard for me to recommend it as a comprehensive tool.

PayItOff Overall Score (1-4 scale):

What advisors want in student loan planning tools going forward.

There are some promising student loan planning tools coming out for financial advisors, but nothing yet on the market that is truly a complete solution for student loan analyses. None of the tools I reviewed have all of the criteria used as a starting point for what advisors would want, though some are much closer than others.

In addition to the list discussed earlier, fellow advisors provided the following as things they’d love to see a student loan repayment tool do:

  • Integrate with advisor CRM and comprehensive financial planning software tools (if not already part of the planning software).
  • Automate reminders for income recertification for clients on income-driven plans, or integrations to push those reminders into the advisor’s CRM. (Each year a borrowing client’s income has to be recertified to recalculate payment amounts on IDR plans).
  • Import current refinance rates from a set list of private refinance companies (e.g., SoFi, Earnest, Common Bond, etc.) to make it easier to see what is actually available currently in the private refi market.
  • Database of available forgiveness programs linked to the occupation inputted by the advisor or client (i.e., if someone inputs “teacher,” all federal AND state teacher forgiveness programs would be brought up on a separate tab as considerations for the advisor to look at).
  • Viewing of past loan consolidations.
  • Cost impact of using MFS tax status (or not) when considering whether to use the REPAYE plan as a married couple.

Overall Takeaways on Student Loan Analysis Tools

Right now, there is no tool that truly can be called the go-to solution for student loan repayment analysis. Many advisors end up using some tools for certain clients that are simpler and having to do much of the analysis using Excel or other manual calculations for the more complex client situations.

However, it looks like we are on the cusp of getting advisors the tools to really support clients in making what is one of their most important financial decisions in many of their young lives. Given the competition in the area and the tremendous need, I anticipate that 12 or 24 months from now the tools above (and perhaps others!) will look dramatically different than they do today.

SUMMARY CHART:

Comparison Review of Student Loan Repayment Analysis Tools for Financial Advisors

Disclosure: Michael Kitces is a co-founder of XY Planning Network , which was mentioned in this article.

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April 7, 2020 at 1:12 pm

Hey Michael-thanks for the great article! What are the tools you mention that should be coming out soon? Are there any updates since this article you published? Thanks a lot!!!

student loan planner reviews

April 7, 2020 at 11:56 pm

Great guide! Before getting involved in any loan repayment issue, it is better to analyse it first. What amount should be paid, what is the exact interest and yes, the terms and conditions which were there at the time of loan agreement should be studied. Thanks. Ashworth College Loan Forgiveness

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student loan planner reviews

Student Loan Planner Review: Help CRUSH Your Student Loans

If you’re struggling with massive amounts of student loan debt, you might decide that getting help from a money professional is the right move for you. That’s why we’ve written this Student Loan Planner review… because when it comes to something as important as your student loans, seeking help from the right folks is crucial.

Student Loan Planner is a group of specialized student loan professionals who offer expert advice to those with large amounts of student debt. They help people come up with a solid plan to pay debts off, in the most efficient way possible. So far, Student Loan Planner has consulted on over 2.6 billion dollars worth of student loan debt! Better yet, they calculate that their average client will save around $53,000 over the lifetime of their loan! 🤯

We have tons of folks reaching out to How To Money who are juggling hefty student loans and are unsure how to proceed. So we decided to put Student Loan Planner to the test and give them a thorough review. Today, we’re taking a deep dive into the benefits of using SLP, and discussing who could benefit from their services.

Student Loan Planner Overview

Student Loan Planner is made up of some of the country’s top student loan experts. Most of the crew has a CSLP designation which stands for ‘certified student loan planner.’ That means they aren’t just general financial advisors, they’re specialists! 

These SLP experts help people manage large piles of student loan debt (anything $20k+) by creating actionable payoff plans. These plans include helping you refinance at the best rates, consolidation if it makes sense, and making sure you’re on the right repayment plan for your specific loan situation.

Essentially, working with Student Loan Planner is like a one stop shop to becoming a student loan warrior. You’ll walk away with a plan to slash that debt out of your life, and pay the least amount of money possible.

Here’s how SLP works: 

  • You book a consultation with one of their CFP, CFA or CSLP professionals and pay a one time flat fee between $395 – $595.
  • One of their student loan experts will perform a thorough review of your student loans. This includes your payment history, and some other aspects of your finances (like your family size and income).
  • During this one hour meeting, your student loan professional will help you put together a plan to tackle your student loan debt in order to save you time, money, and stress.
  • You can reach out to them via email for support up to 6 months after your consultation. You might have follow up questions or need a review of your plan! 

Remember, the average SLP client is projected to save ~$52,000 over the life of their loans! So if you’re wondering whether the $595 plan fee is worth it — for most folks it definitely is!

What is a CSLP?

I mentioned it above briefly, but CSLP stands for certified student loan professional . It’s a relatively new certification. In fact, we even interviewed the first person to become a CSLP in the state of Georgia, Meagan McGuire , who actually works for Student Loan Planner as a senior student loan advisor! 

CSLP education focuses heavily on the federal loan system and private student loans. This allows them to recommend the best payment strategies to borrowers. This makes these highly specialized professionals some of the best people to speak on the topic of student loans.

If you’re reading this, you already know how dang confusing and complicated the world of student loans can be. Imaging having someone fully trained and certified, who knows all the ins and outs of every single loan type helping you navigate your situation. That’s what a CSLP does!

CSLP vs. CFP

On the other hand, CFPs, or certified financial planners , focus their education on five main areas of finances- investing, retirement, estate planning, tax and insurance. While most CFPs do have some understanding of student loans, it can be helpful to talk to someone who has spent a great deal of time studying the ins and outs of both federal and private student loans. If you have a complicated student loan situation, or a large amount of student loan debt, you might stand to benefit more from speaking with a CSLP as opposed to a general CFP or financial advisor.

Why Student Loan Planner was Founded:

One of my favorite things about Student Loan Planner is that its story is actually akin to that of a love story. 

Student Loan Planner was founded in 2016 by Travis Hornsby, a former bond trader. He came up with the idea to build Student Loan Planner when he fell in love with his wife.

When they first met, she had six figures of medical school debt. Wanting to help the woman who would become his wife, Travis put his financial expertise to work by helping her to come up with a better plan to pay off her debt. Pretty soon, her friends started reaching out to him, asking him to do the same for them and their loans. 

He built a program to analyze student loans, and when he shared it online, hundreds of thousands of people used it and requests for help with student loans began to pour in. That’s when Travis decided to found Student Loan Planner to allow him to help as many people as possible with their student loan debt. 

How Student Loan Planner Helps You Save Money: 

Once you book an appointment with one of their student loan professionals, you’ll be asked to fill out a questionnaire, and send over an “nslds” file from StudentAid.gov . This file contains information about your federal student loans (if you have them). If you’re dealing with private loans, they’ll ask you for information detailing those loans.

Next, during your call, you’ll discuss your biggest financial goals, as well as evaluate the types of loans you have, and your payment history with your student loan professional. 

Then, they’ll plug all your information into a custom planning document built by Travis, which will help you to better understand your personal loan situation. On the call they’ll walk you through every repayment option you have based on your income level, family size, and what that might look like in terms of your monthly payment and payoff timeline. 

They’ll crunch numbers with you until you land on the most ideal student loan payoff plan, tailored to your situation. If you decide that refinancing your student loans is the best option for you, they can also help you reach out to private lenders to refinance at the best rates possible. 

At the end of your appointment, you’ll have had all your questions about your student loans answered, and you’ll leave feeling confident and in control of your finances. 

They’ll send you a followup email summarizing your meeting, along with the planning worksheets they utilized throughout the meeting. And of course, they’ll send you any resources they have for any topics discussed during your consultation. 

The Best Things About Student Loan Planner

At first glance, there are a lot of really great things that stand out to me about Student Loan Planner. First, I think it’s awesome to see great financial advice out there catered towards people with high amounts of student loan debt. 

While the national average for student loan debt is $35,210, about 6% of borrowers have more than $100,000 worth of student loans. Having six figure student loan debt can feel scary and isolating! Especially when most financial advice caters to those with smaller student loan balances. Talking to professionals can make you feel less alone. Just knowing they’ve worked with thousands of clients with a combined 3 billion dollars of student loan debt feel good.

You’ll Save Money

If you have high amounts of student loan debt, there’s a great chance that you’ll save a large chunk of money by working with SLP. In fact, according to their website, they’ve found over 90% of their clients five to six figures worth of savings over the course of their repayment period.

Whether it be paying less interest, taking advantage of forgiveness programs, or restructuring your payment plans to be more efficient, Student Loan Planner’s primary goal is to help you pay as little as possible.

Flat Fee Structure

Another great benefit of working with Student Loan Planner is that they charge a flat fee. Similar to working with financial advisors, it’s ideal to work with money professionals who charge a flat fee only. This ensures that they have nothing to gain from selling your products, investments or any kind of insurance. Student Loan Planner won’t benefit from you refinancing your loans, or joining a particular payment plan. That means you’ll get unbiased advice from people who truly have your best interest at heart. 

Free Resources

Even if going with a consultation isn’t for you, that doesn’t mean SLP can’t help you on your financial journey. They have tons of free resources available that can increase your financial knowledge. They’ve got a free blog on their website as well as a podcast that covers various topics within the student loan space. 

Who can benefit from Student Loan Planner

Overall, we think Student Loan Planner offers a great service that can make a huge difference for the right person . Here’s who we think can benefit greatly from a consultation with one of their student loan professionals:

If you have large amounts of student debt: 

The larger the amount of student debt you have, the higher the stakes are when it comes to having the right student loan payoff strategy. Remaining on the wrong plan can cost you tens of thousands of dollars over the life of your student loan. If you have $20,000-$1,000,000 of student debt, the greater the chances are that you will see major savings with Student Loan Planner’s services.

When you want to lower your monthly payments:

You might suspect that working towards forgiveness is the best way to approach your student loans. If so, Student Loan Planner can help you to choose a plan that lowers your monthly payments. This will maximize the amount of forgiveness you can receive.

People that need help refinancing: 

If you need help refinancing your student loans, or deciding if refinancing is the best move for you, Student Loan Planner can help connect you with private lenders and help you get the best rate. They will also come up with a plan for after you refinance. This means you can pay your loans off as quickly as possible while forking over less money in interest.

If you want to learn the best strategy to pay off your student loans:

Raise your hand if you’ve ever had a question about your student loans and received different answers from multiple employees at your loan servicer? 🙋‍♀️

If you’re unsure about the best way to pay off your student loans, you’re not alone. With so many different types of repayment plans, as well as intricate stipulations for each of them, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed. Speaking with an expert can help you to demystify the repayment process for you. It’ll leave you feeling confident that you’re on the right path. 

If you experience money anxiety:

Lastly, if you experience a lot of stress or money anxiety surrounding your student loans (you are not alone!), a consultation with Student Loan Planner could be worth it just for peace of mind. Even if it turns out you’re doing everything right, it can still be helpful to hear from a professional that you’re on the right track. 

When Student Loan Planner Isn’t A Good Fit

Even though Student Loan Planner saves a ton of people money, it may not make sense for everyone.  

For example, if you are 100% sure that you’re on the right payoff plan already and feel confident that you have a plan you can stick to for payoff, you might not find Student Loan Planner to be worth it for you.

If you only owe very little in student loan debt, it also may not make sense to pursue a consultation. If you’ve only got $5k left, for instance, you probably don’t need professional advice. The bigger your debt, the more likely that Student Loan Planner will be able to find you significant savings. If you have minimal loans, your money might be better spent just paying down a portion of that student loan. 

However, even if a consultation isn’t the right fit for you, you can still benefit from Student Loan Planner’s many free resources. Be sure to check out their blog and podcast for free personal finance insights from licensed professionals.

Is Student Loan Planner Legit?…

Wondering whether or not Student Loan Planner will be worth it for you? Just check out their reviews! About 3,000 people on ShopperApproved have left reviews , with 97% of customers giving them a 5 star review!

Here are just a few excerpts from my favorite reviews on their website :

“ Professional, organized, efficient. Jake definitely is an expert in the field. His visualization of real-time data really helped guide my decision in choosing a loan repayment plan. He was extremely patient and answered all of my questions including questions on PSLF, nuances of being an S-Corp, filing jointly vs single. I will ultimately be saving tens of thousands of dollars. Thank you so much!” 

“I was hesitant to book the call, but it paid for itself since the advice I received will end up saving me thousands of dollars. Not to mention the peace of mind knowing I’m making the best choice of repayment plans. And I love a good spreadsheet!”

“Knowledge, helpful, and polite! Travis listened to my concerns, took me through the relevant data, suggested a solution, and stepped me through that process. I am still processing the fact that I should have my PSLF loan forgiveness cover ALL my loans after the consolidation goes through! Time saver and huge money saver!”

The positive reviews don’t end at their website. Just googling Student Loan Planner Review you’ll find a ton of folks who rave about how happy they are.

The Bottom Line:

Student Loan Planner’s services greatly helps a big swath of folks drowning in student loan debt. They save borrowers tons of time, money and headaches when it comes to paying their student loan debt off. They are a legit company with stellar client reviews. Their mission to help people save money by reducing their student debt burden is one we can get behind!

If you have large amounts of student loan debt, or feel overwhelmed by your student loans, a consultation with Student Loan Planner can help you to take control of your finances and work to pay off your student debt with confidence.

Related Posts: 

  • How to Pay Off Your Student Loans
  • Pros and Cons of Consolidating Student Loans
  • How to Tackle Your Student Loans with Lauryn Williams- Episode 397
  • Categories: Debt
  • # college costs
  • # compound interest
  • # debt avalanche
  • # debt forgiveness
  • # debt management
  • # personal finance
  • # saving money
  • # student loans

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student loan planner reviews

STUDENT LOAN PLANNER REVIEW

I created this Student Loan Planner review after getting lots of DM’s about whether a consult with the Student Loan Planner was worth the money, once we realized that we were going to save $200,000 on the student loan repayment plan that we chose . The short answer is that I think it’s worth it for a lot of people, but if you have less than $50k in student loans, you probably don’t need it.

What is the Student Loan Planner?

The Student Loan Planner is a website where you can get a personalized student loan debt plan to help you get on the path to debt freedom. It also has a blog that answers almost any question you could ever have about student loans. Basically, it’s a website of a few smarty pants people who have become the experts on the overly complicated system that is student loans in the United States.

Is the Student Loan Planner consult worth the money? A Student Loan Planner Review.

I’m Amber. I created this blog after my husband and I graduated dental and law school respectively. We had accumulated over $600,000 in student loan debt and didn’t have the first clue about how to pay it off.

By day I am a lawyer. My husband is a dentist who recently purchased his own dental practice. Our full time jobs keep us BUSY, but by night, we (royal we really. Mostly just me, Amber) blog here at Deeply in Debt about all things personal finance, especially as it relates to those of us who have six figures of debt.

Right after we graduated, it felt like someone physically placed a heavy, soul and body crushing weight on our shoulders. That weight was our student loans. While most of our friends had student loan debt, no one had as much as us. And we kept getting tons of conflicting advice about what to do with our student loans. We felt extremely isolated and confused about what the heck we should do with our crippling student loans. It got to the point where I literally could not sleep at night. I was so overwhelmed and conflicted.

After doing my own research (which took hours. Maybe even hundreds of hours?) we finally decided that we were going to refinance our student loans for a lower interest rate and pay them off as quickly as possible. We were determined. But then we told that plan to a few people who completely disagreed, and we felt like we were back at square one again. And right about that time, I found the Student Loan Planner.

Since we had more than $400k of student loan debt, Travis did our individual consult. He had a handy excel sheet and asked us some personal questions about our finances, our family, what our plans were for the next few years, and wham bam thank ya man in about 30 minutes we’d chosen the plan that was right for us. In other words, I could have skipped the hundreds of hours of research!! He walked us through each of our options and we all discussed the pros and cons of each. He didn’t pressure us any way in regards to what path to take, he simply made sure we understood each of our options. (Because there are A MILLION different options, it really can be SO frustrating and overwhelming).

Here’s a little glimpse into what the Student Loan Planner’s analysis looks like with each of the main student loan repayment plans:

student loan planner review

I cannot overstate the peace of mind that we had after our consult. It was like someone came in and lifted that heavy weight off our shoulders. He made the whole overwhelming process seem really simple. Not to mention the fact that our custom plan literally saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars — really. I’m not exaggerating.

But, it is not for everyone. 

With that being said, in this honest Student Loan Planner review, I’ll say that I actually don’t think a consult with the Student Loan Planner is for everyone. There are definitely people who don’t need it. If you have less than $50k of student loan debt, you probably don’t need the consult. Also, if you already know that you are going to qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness and you know all the steps you need to take to get it, you don’t need a consult. Or if you know that you want to refinance your student loans for a better interest rate and pay them off on your own, you don’t need a consult. If you’re confident in the path that you are on for paying off your student loans, then I’d say don’t start stressing about it now, you probably don’t need the consult!

I recommend booking a consult with the Student Loan Planner if you have $50k or more of student loan debt and haven’t decided what to do with it yet and are feeling overwhelmed (like I was) by the whole process. If you have six figures of student loan debt, I *highly* recommend contacting them for a consult. Spending a little time with them could save you hundreds of thousands of dollars, like it did for us. There is so much conflicting advice on what to do with your student loans, and when you have a six figure balance, interest on your loans can get out of hand fast. Having personalized advice is totally warranted when you have a six figure balance.

Let’s recap.

You don’t need a student loan consult from the Student Loan Planner if:

  • You have less than $50,000 of student loan debt. 
  • You are planning on Public Service Loan Forgiveness (and know how to qualify for it). 
  • You know that you want to pay off your student loan debt on your own. 
  • You are confident that you are on the plan that is best for you at the moment. 

You do need a consult if:

  • You’ve got more than $50,000 of student loan debt. 
  • You are feeling overwhelmed by your debt and want to make sure you’re choosing the best plan for you. 
  • You’re confused by your repayment options. 
  • You want peace of mind when it comes to your student loan repayment plan. 

Is a Student Loan Planner consult right for you? 

Thanks to my consult with the Student Loan Planner, we are literally saving hundreds of thousands of dollars on our student loans. Which is really nice. But for me, the best part about the consult was the peace of mind that it left us with. We left our consult with a solid achievable plan that has already saved us thousands of dollars over the course of the last two years! We’ve been able to pay off well over $200k of our student loan debt. I’m not the only one who has gotten amazing results from the Student Loan Planner by the way. They’ve saved thousands of student loan borrowers tens of millions of dollars. Literally. So, if you are like me, and you’re feeling completely lost, overwhelmed, frustrated, and or confused about what on earth to do with your student loan debt, definitely Click here to schedule an individual consultation at the Student Loan Planner.   You’re 30 minute consult could save you hundreds of thousands like it did for us.

For the comments: what are your thoughts on having someone help you figure out what to do with your student loan debt? Have you benefited from it? Is it overrated? I’d love to hear your trips and thoughts below!

Get inside tips and tricks:  Find out all the behind the scenes things we’re doing to pay off our $650k of student loan debt by subscribing to our newsletter by clicking here . You’ll also get a copy of our  FREE Debt Payoff Starter Kit.

student loan planner review

*This post contains an affiliate link at no extra cost to you. 

6 thoughts on “ STUDENT LOAN PLANNER REVIEW ”

Thank you for this. I was on the fence after seeing the hefty $450 fee. But I’m enrolling in a PsyD program that begins in August. I already have $190k from undergrad and my masters and feeling VERY overwhelmed. I’ll be using this service for sure.

That’s exactly how I felt but it was totally worth every penny for the peace of mine alone. Congrats on the PsyD program!

If you have law school debt of $103K and undergrad debt of $40K and no job (just graduated in May and am studying for the bar)is the consult still worth it?

Definitely Dee! They can help you decide what to do with it and lower monthly payments if you need it. If it’s too big of a stretch right now, you could also wait until you find a job. Congrats on graduating law school and good luck on the bar!

I’m curious why you didn’t do the PAYE option? We have nearly 600k of debt (dental school) as well and it seems like the best option though we are pretty fresh out of school so still researching.

We didn’t qualify for it! If you do qualify, that’s a great option. 🙂

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Amber Masters from Deeply in Debt

282 episodes

Travis helps you navigate the insane world of student loans, especially if you owe $20,000 to $1 million. If you've ever spent too much time on the phone with your loan servicer, this is the show for you. Every week we share tips on loan forgiveness, investing, crushing debt, and how to get to financial freedom when you owe more than most people's mortgage.

Student Loan Planner Travis Hornsby

  • 4.8 • 139 Ratings
  • FEB 12, 2024

Which Tik Tok Finance Tips Get You Arrested?

Financial advice has never been more accessible — or more questionable. Are you ready to tackle the truth behind those viral finance hacks you’ve seen online? The barrage of personal finance advice on platforms like TikTok is a siren song, promising financial security and a life free from money worries. But those tips can affect more than just your wallet. Some might get you a slap on the wrist, while others could land you in legal hot water. Join me as I sift through the noise of self-proclaimed “experts” peddling easy wealth, from misleading tax credit pitches and hazy tax advice to exaggerated real estate loopholes and sketchy investment opportunities. Discover how to distinguish between genuine advice and deceptive, flashy pitches to build a solid financial foundation that can withstand the trends and temptations of our times.  In today’s episode, you'll find out: How pandemic relief is stretching the IRS too thin, leading to tax fraud and scams The exact requirements and documentation for the short-term rental tax loophole Why you can’t focus solely on “maximizing wealth” The ins and outs of student loan loopholes and how to avoid pitfalls How visual effects can skew your perception of financial advice found on social media Why “vanilla” insurance products win out over complex insurance-investment hybrids How actuaries calculate insurance product profitability and why it favors the company Why the allure of low interest rates and novelty causes alternative investments to surge Why decisions based on student loan forgiveness programs can be risky The real estate loophole to use if one spouse works full time and the other takes on real estate investing The truth behind the marketing of whole life and universal life insurance Why tax-efficient index funds may be a better investment alternative How the concept of “infinite banking” could be misleading When borrowing against insurance products might not be the best option Why the smartest financial move is to verify before you buy     Like the show? There are several ways you can help! Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Amazon Music Leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts  Subscribe to the newsletter Feeling helpless when it comes to your student loans? Try our free student loan calculator Check out our refinancing bonuses we negotiated Book your custom student loan plan Get profession-specific financial planning Do you have a question about student loans? Leave us a voicemail here or email us at [email protected] and we might feature it in an upcoming show!

  • FEB 5, 2024

Financially Undressing: A Talk About Your Debt

Are you ready to strip away the layers of your financial life? We’re unbuttoning the secrets of debt management and financial planning. We cover everything from the impact of inflated car prices on credit and the potential risks and benefits of home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) to debt management strategies and the potential tax implications of forgiven debt. Senior Student Loan Advisors Sim Terwilliger, CFP®, CSLP®, and Meagan McGuire, ChFC®, CSLP®, share expert insights on debt consolidation, budgeting for recurring expenses, and the significance of prioritizing mental health while working towards financial goals. Get ready to shed some light on your financial wardrobe with valuable tips to help you become debt-free and financially empowered.  In today’s episode, you'll find out: The difference between the funnel method and the strainer approach for financial goals How the pandemic’s inflated car prices are impacting car loans and credit What high loan-to-value ratios mean for your credit score The role of credit reports for landlords, jobs, and future debt costs How car payments can make or break your house hunting journey A warning to parents about using HELOCs to pay for children’s college costs When to use HELOC vs. double consolidation for student loan debt What changes borrowers can expect in student loan forgiveness programs Why math-based strategies like debt avalanche or debt snowball aren’t a slam-dunk The sneaky language in cosigner agreements and why refinancing is a smart solution What types of debt to prioritize before paying off private student loans How to get out of default on federal student loans The secret to leveraging debt to earn money rather than paying it off Options when dealing with IRS debt and how to balance payment options   Like the show? There are several ways you can help! Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts Leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts  Subscribe to the newsletter   Feeling helpless when it comes to your student loans? Try our free student loan calculator Check out our refinancing bonuses we negotiated Book your custom student loan plan Do you have a question about student loans? Leave us a voicemail here or email us at [email protected] and we might feature it in an upcoming show!  

  • JAN 29, 2024

Using Real Estate to Lower Student Loan Payments

The world of real estate can feel overwhelming. The rewards can be incredible, but it’s a journey filled with highs and lows. Joining me is Student Loan Advisor Rebecca Baldauf, CPA, CCFC, and Senior Student Loan Advisor and partner in SLP Wealth Dan Rooker, CFP®, CSLP®. They’re sharing their experiences with multifamily properties, I open up about my challenges with home renovations, and together we’re getting real about real estate investment and why you shouldn’t let student loans get in your way. You’ll learn about savvy tax planning, investment strategies that can make a big difference, and what it takes to get Real Estate Professional Status. Whether you're already dipping your toes in the real estate waters or just real estate-curious, this episode is a fountain of insights, personal stories, and expert advice.   In today’s episode, you'll find out: Key tax-saving strategies and depreciation tricks in real estate How to calculate property depreciation from the purchase price Why real estate taxes are different from other investments The impact of real estate investment on financial health and lifestyle How real estate influences income-driven repayment plans  Why refinancing real estate in changing market conditions can be a smart move What Real Estate Professional Status is and how to get it When to use 1031 exchange to defer capital gains tax in real estate The good and the bad of investing in owner-occupied properties How passive real estate investments like REITs factor into taxes Why tax planning is crucial when renting out personal residences What bonus depreciation is and how it can help you build wealth Links mentioned: BiggerPockets Coach Carson Like the show? There are several ways you can help! Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts Leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts  Subscribe to the newsletter   Feeling helpless when it comes to your student loans? Try our free student loan calculator Check out our refinancing bonuses we negotiated Book your custom student loan plan Do you have a question about student loans? Leave us a voicemail here or email us at [email protected] and we might feature it in an upcoming show!  

  • JAN 22, 2024

Married Filing Separately Traps to Avoid

Just in time for tax season, I’m unraveling the complex tax strategy of married filing separately. You might have heard that it’s a game-changer, especially for folks with student loans. But it’s not at all straightforward. You’ll learn the dos and don’ts, and I’ll uncover tips to help you avoid costly mistakes and even find some savings along the way. We’ll talk about everything from how your and your spouse’s income can play a huge role to unexpected losses like tax credits and deductions. Also, if you're juggling things like adoption expenses, dependent care credits, or figuring out the best way to handle your retirement contributions, I've got you covered. Student loan borrowers on an IDR plan, don’t miss the best tip: find out how delaying your tax filing just might be in your best interest.   In today’s episode, you'll find out: Why married filing separately might lead to higher taxes, especially with uneven incomes How filing separately affects ACA subsidies and Medicare premiums The effect on tax credits and deductions, including those for dependent care and education Challenges with Roth IRA contributions when filing separately, including backdoor strategies Why filing separately is different in common law versus community property states How filing separately can interfere with small business deductions and credits Why delaying tax filing can save you money on income-driven student loan repayments Tax consequences for borrowers in loan forgiveness programs when filing separately The cost and benefits of professional tax services combined with financial planning How inaccurate income reporting can leave you vulnerable to audits and penalties Links mentioned:  Get profession-specific tax help with SLP Wealth   Like the show? There are several ways you can help! Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts Leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts  Subscribe to the newsletter   Feeling helpless when it comes to your student loans? Try our free student loan calculator Check out our refinancing bonuses we negotiated Book your custom student loan plan Do you have a question about student loans? Leave us a voicemail here or email us at [email protected] and we might feature it in an upcoming show!  

  • JAN 15, 2024

Timeline and Predictions for Student Loans in 2024

Get a sneak peek into what lies ahead in the world of student loans in 2024 as I discuss upcoming changes, potential scenarios and strategies you need to know. You’ll learn about administrative forbearance, income-driven recertification, the influence of the 2024 presidential election, and policy changes that could significantly impact you as a student loan borrower. There are many ways to save money right now on payments. So, if you want to stay ahead of the game, buckle up and get ready for an episode packed with valuable student loan insights.   In today’s episode, you'll find out:   About the widespread impact of the current administrative forbearance on over 3.5 million people How the administrative forbearance is causing a political stir between Democrats and Republicans The challenges arising from policies announced through press releases instead of legislation How the 2024 presidential election might reshape student loan policies Whether the administrative forbearance is likely to conclude in early 2024 The implications of income-driven recertification before March 2024 How to get a refund for payments made during the forbearance period Strategies for lowering payments by self-certifying income until October 2024 What the expiration of the IDR waiver means for borrowers How the new SAVE plan will alter payment plan rules The ripple effect of these changes on employers and personal finance strategies The potential for new cancellation rules and their impact on borrowers Consequences for borrowers with loans from 2007 to 2014 due to phased-out payment plans Proactive strategies for saving money as a student loan borrower   Like the show? There are several ways you can help! Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts Leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts  Subscribe to the newsletter   Feeling helpless when it comes to your student loans? Try our free student loan calculator Check out our refinancing bonuses we negotiated Book your custom student loan plan Do you have a question about student loans? Leave us a voicemail here or email us at [email protected] and we might feature it in an upcoming show!  

  • JAN 8, 2024

10 Ways to Save $1,000 in 2024

Want to build up your savings or cut costs in 2024? From filing taxes and saving on insurance to buying a car and saving for travel, I’m bringing you 10 ways you can save at least $1,000 this year. And some of these can potentially save you $10,000 or more. The best part? These are strategies you can learn and do on your own. Of course, you can enlist the help of a financial expert if you want more support on your journey.   Just know that you have the ability to stash away a good chunk of money this year… and who knows, maybe you’ll finally be able to take that vacation you’ve been dying to go on! Plus, you’ll learn how to get a limited-time discount on our investing course, Six-Figure Debt to Six-Figure Net Worth.   In today’s episode, you'll find out:   How to lower your tax bill with tax-loss harvesting  How car buying services (like Costco or Sam’s Club) can save you money on a new car The best way to save on flights, hotels, car rentals, and other travel necessities When to put off income recertification for income-driven repayment plans Why the stock market’s 26% gain in 2023 could be bad news If you should increase your policy deductibles Why “shopping around” for insurance policies is more than a marketing gimmick The effect of the difference in tax rates for saving vs. investing Why you should open a retirement account if you’re self-employed  When to opt for a brokerage account instead How to file taxes the smart way Why you’re uniquely positioned to weather a potential stock market downturn Links mentioned:  More ways to save money and cut costs with our Six-Figure Debt to Six-Figure Net Worth course Membership clubs like Costco and Sam’s Club Travel discounts at Hotwire and Hotels.com   Like the show? There are several ways you can help! Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts Leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts  Subscribe to the newsletter   Feeling helpless when it comes to your student loans? Try our free student loan calculator Check out our refinancing bonuses we negotiated Book your custom student loan plan Do you have a question about student loans? Leave us a voicemail here or email us at [email protected] and we might feature it in an upcoming show!  

  • © Copyright Student Loan Planner®. All Rights Reserved.

Customer Reviews

139 Ratings

A must for anyone with student loans.

Thank you so much Travis and your team for all that you. Looking out for us with student loans, with compassion and nonjudgmental .
Very informative, however as much as it’s boasted that you can apply these steps to anyone’s situation, which…I’m sure you can to a degree, I’ve listened to many of these episodes and it is largely focused on people with 6-digit debt, ASSUMING they’re in well paying jobs like medical, or married with dual income, and especially people who qualify for PSLF. For someone like me, 6-digit student loans, stuck in 46k job that ISN’T medical or government or anything remotely PSLF-qualifying, with high bills, I haven’t found anything that talks to people like me. Smart guy, but where’s the help for the: -single -$200k+ debt -$46k gross -living minimally with $180 to live off bi-weekly after bills -standard job; think customer service, not govt or medical or law
This is an amazing resource for student loan borrowers. Thank you!

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  • Dec 12, 2023

[2024] Student Loan Planner Review: Worth the Fee?

Updated: Dec 20, 2023

Affiliate Marketing Disclosure

Student loan debt is confusing.

And oftentimes it can be difficult to know what your best next course of action should be. Should you pay off your loans as quickly as possible, giving up enjoyment from your life now in the hopes of a more secure financial future? Or should you just make your standard 10 years of payments in an attempt to make steady progress?

The answer is that it just depends. On your career, your income, and other factors.

Look no further – Student Loan Planner's consultants are here to guide you through the maze of student loans and help you find the most effective solution tailored to your needs.

This post is a review of Student Loan Planner.

What is Student Loan Planner?

Student Loan Planner (SLP) is a student debt consulting company, based in Durham, North Carolina, that helps borrowers nationwide to pay down and eliminate their outstanding loans.

Founded and owned by Travis Hornsby, SLP offers a wide variety of resources to help borrowers, including:

Quizzes and calculators

A comprehensive blog

What is a student loan consultant/advisor?​

A student loan consultant Is a financial professional that specializes in providing student loan guidance and repayment assistance to individuals burdened by student debt. Independent from any college or university, consultants oftentimes have expertise in specific areas of the student loan world, including:

Repayment strategies

Refinancing

Forgiveness

SLP's consultants are industry experts that will help you decide what your best course of action is. For instance, many borrowers grapple with whether to pay their debt off as quickly as possible, or to pay as little as possible and strive for forgiveness or repayment assistance.

Student Loan Planner's consultants

Student Loan Planner has over a dozen consultants, advisors, and experts ready to help you now. Each of them holds a CFP, CFA, or CSLP designation. Furthermore, they've helped over 15,000 clients thus far, consulting on nearly $3.5 billion in student loan debt. With over 3,000 online reviews, SLP scores a:

5/5 on Google (446 reviews)

4.8/5 from the College Investor

5/5 on Shopper Approved (2,617 reviews)

Consultants are offered to both new and existing clients. New clients can schedule a one hour consultation with an advisor for $595, while existing clients can schedule follow-ups for $495.

While a hefty fee for an hour of time, it becomes easier to handle when you consider that the average SLP consultation leads to over $53,000 in projected savings over the life of the loan repayment period for 90% of their clients.

What separates Student Loan Planner from its competition?

Student Loan Planner's consultations are very unique in the industry, for three main reasons:

Demonstrated expertise

Free resources

Other services and products

1. Demonstrated expertise

Travis and his team are student loan experts. Each consultant has a CLSP, CFA, or CFP designation. They know their stuff. Travis originally started the company while working in financial services as a bond trader. His wife, a physician, was frustrated by her student loan debt, and as Travis familiarized himself with the industry and its rules, he found tons of savings!

Over the years, he has hired equally intuitive and bright consultants to bring these skills to thousands of borrowers nationwide each year.

In 2023, with a designated track record of success, their services are even more appealing.

2. Free resources

To SLP's credit, they're not only in it for the money. They're truly in the business to help Americans being taken advantage of by loan servicers and unclear policies.

As they aim to bring transparency to the forefront, they offer a ton of free resources for borrowers to use, including calculators, worksheets, and other quizzes.

For reference, Travis and his team now offer:

Student loan forgiveness calculators : PSLF, SAVE Plan, Parent PLUS, IDR, discretionary income, interest

Repayment calculators : Payoff, interest, refinancing

Mortgage : Doctors (physician loan)

Quiz : What should you do with your student loans?

Their forgiveness calculator is something that all borrowers should download, regardless of whether they plan to book a consultation or not.

Rather than just summarizing your monthly payments based off your interest rate, term, and balance, SLP's calculator will take more data points (like your income, household size, and more) to show your future projected payments under a whole bunch of repayment/forgiveness plans, like:

Consolidation

In fact, it's been downloaded over 81,000 times to date!

3. Other services and products

SLP is far from a one-trick pony, and they understand that the financial services business is all about building relationships.

So, if you book a consult and you're really happy with the service and suggestions you receive, you may opt to use Travis and team for any future disability insurance or wealth management needs.

And while out of scope for this blog post, these offers operate with the same service and focus on getting you quality results at affordable prices.

Is it worth paying for student loan help?

Many websites, even the Department of Education , suggest that student loan borrowers don't need to pay for help. And this can be true, to a certain extent. But what these sites don't mention is the cost of both your time and money, particularly if you make a mistake.

Student loan mistakes can be unforgiving and may cost you tens of thousands of dollars in future forgiveness. So, to determine whether or not paying student loan planner for a consultation is right for you, you should consider:

The cost of your time : We're all busy enough as it is. If it takes you 30 hours of research to come to a conclusion, would you have been happier paying the one-time fee to get your complex questions and situation analyzed on the spot?

Your mental energy : Student loans are frustrating enough to handle, and obscure legal jargon can have a huge impact on what your ultimate course of action should be. Are you confident that you can overcome these powerful forces on your own?

Also consider that you're not just paying for student loan answers. Student Loan Planner has evolved into a robust business that now offers wealth management services, disability insurance, and other financial help!

These considerations alone, coupled with the tens of thousands of dollars in potential savings, may make SLP the perfect solution for you!

Student Loan Planner's impeccable track record and history of finding student loan solutions for borrowers nationwide make it an appealing go-to if you're frustrated and don't know where to turn next.

Schedule your consultation with Student Loan Planner now!

Affiliate marketing disclosure

studentdebtdestroyer.com is a student loan research and education website provided by Grow Your Green LLC.

studentdebtdestroyer.com is not a student loan lender.

We're passionate about teaching and guiding people to a better personal finance situation. To do this, we create an enormous amount of content, which takes time, resources, and money. ​

In order to write about and offer these products and services for you, we utilize affiliate marketing and link to certain products and services. If you click on, subscribe, to purchase on these links then we may be paid a small commission. These are at no cost to you, but by earning small commissions, are able to help us keep our website active.

We manually review all products and services that we think are of high quality and value to you.

About Nathan Zarcaro

Nathan Zarcaro is the founder of The Student Debt Destroyer and is passionate about personal finance related causes.  A 2018 graduate of Providence College's Liberal Arts Honors Program, Nathan studied Finance, and has worked for industry leaders in both finance and healthcare.  In his free time, Nathan enjoys playing golf and traveling with his wife Brigid.

Student loans are hard

My friends over at Student Loan Planner   have consulted with over 13,000 clients, saving them over $783 million off their student loan repayments.

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Student Loan Planner Review: Is It Worth the Money?

Student Loan Planner

This article contains all the information you need to know about Student Loan Planner, its requirements, and how to apply for it.

You undoubtedly want to know how much debt you’ll have when it comes to student loans. Of course, where you attend college and the degree you’re seeking will determine this. 

It can be difficult to have any amount of debt, especially for individuals who owe a lot from graduate, medical, or legal school. 

Your student loan debt repayment journey could not be the same as others’, whether it involves tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands. 

Do you wish to discuss, for instance, an income-driven repayment plan? 

How do you decide which approach to take when faced with a $250,000 balance? 

Or, how are you going to pay it off quickly even if you don’t immediately have a large income?

That’s when some specific guidance can be helpful. 

If you need assistance coming up with a strategy to pay off your loans as efficiently as possible, you may want to consider contacting a company called the Student Loan Planner. 

Their consulting service seeks to help people become debt-free faster. 

The services offered by Student Loan Planner aren’t exactly what we’d call inexpensive, so before signing up, read on to see if this is the perfect choice for you.

Check out also: How Does Student Loan Forgiveness in CT Work? Repayment Program

Quick Navigation:

What To Know About Student Loan Planner and Reviews

In 2016, Travis Hornsby, a former bond trader and CFA, founded this company. 

Since then, he and his staff of experts have helped over tens of thousands of clients pay off their student debt. 

The business has saved its customers an estimated $280 million, according to their website. 

Two different sorts of consultation services are available through Student Loan Planner: one is for individuals who haven’t yet incurred debt, and the other is for those who are attempting to repay it. 

One-on-one consultations with either service cost a set rate, and you’ll get a comprehensive plan that’s tailored to your needs for paying off your debt after you hang up.

Read also: Guide To Central Research Student Loan: All You Need To Know

How Much Does It Cost?

For their advisory services, Student Loan Planner charges a one-time flat fee. 

You can schedule a time right immediately, and an hour will pass during the call, during which you’ll receive a personalized strategy. 

Depending on the kind of call, you’ll pay a specific amount: 

  • Pre-debt advice: $395 
  • Up to $200,000 in student loan debt: $395 
  • Over $200,000 in student loan debt and up to $400,000 in total $495 
  • Over $400,000 in student loan debt $595 

You’ll get an email with an invoice for the balance owed after your consultation call is over.

See also: How to Apply for Student Loan Forgiveness in Illinois | Review

Who Is This Service For in 2024?

Students who intend to pursue a degree and are aware that they will accrue a sizable amount of debt should use Student Loan Planner. 

The business consults anyone who owes at least $20,000 in student loan debt, or someone who has a significant amount of debt already. 

Student Loan Planner may be right for you if you need help navigating a complex issue or comparing different repayment choices. 

It is best for individuals who owe a considerable sum of money, enough to cover the consulting fees plus interest, for the service to be worthwhile.

It’s a good idea to look for ways to reduce your overall tuition costs if you’re seeking a professional degree in law, medicine, pharmacy, or another similarly expensive field. 

Additionally, regardless of your income level, the experts can guide you through various options or programs that can help you lower the total amount of loans you take out. 

Sorting through what you could be eligible for and examining potentially conflicting facts can be highly overwhelming for high income workers. 

Furthermore, it can be challenging if you have little time for research because you have a demanding job (or are seeking one that can take up the same amount of time).

Given that a Student Loan Planner has worked with hundreds of professionals, the likelihood that they have encountered someone who experienced a situation like yours is rather significant. 

This means that they are likely to have the knowledge to assist you in figuring out the best strategy for paying off the potential (or present) student loan debt. 

A Student Loan Planner can be useful in this situation. 

You can work with them to develop the finest debt repayment strategy because they’ve dealt with so many people in situations like yours. 

Should you decide to refinance, the organization also has links with private lenders, which might help lower the total amount of interest you pay.

Read also: Student Loan Forgiveness: Taxable or Tax-Free? | Review

What Makes The Student Loan Planner Team Different in 2024?

1. expert knowledge and advice.

When it comes to knowledge about student loans, Travis is an absolute expert. 

He continues to provide excellent knowledge of the complexities of student loan repayment each week, and a lot has been learned from him. 

Additionally, prior to founding Student Loan Planner, he worked as a bond trader for one of the biggest financial firms in the world. 

He left Wall Street, nonetheless, to assist those who were struggling with student loans. 

Travis Hornsby created the finest student debt calculator in the world in order to determine which repayment plan would be most affordable (like any normal person would). 

His calculator includes more information than just the loan balance and interest rate. 

It takes into account a variety of things, such as: 

  • Income 
  • relational status 
  • Whether you have children or not 
  • private or public sector(whichever you work)

The 10-Year Standard Repayment Plan, IDR, and refinancing are all contrasted in the Student Loan Planner calculator. 

Additionally, it compares each type of IDR plan to inform you which one could result in the biggest financial savings. 

However, this was only the beginning. 

And gradually, people started to charge for his consultations. 

Therefore, the Student Loan Planner was created as a result.

Read also: All you Need To Know About Ryan Wolfson Student Loan

2. Professional Consultants

Travis had to increase the size of his consulting staff as the Student Loan Planner company grew. 

His team of advisors’ CFA or CFP credentials are just one factor that makes them outstanding. 

You don’t simply receive recommendations from those who identify as “experts” when you use a Student Loan Planner. 

You have the opportunity to speak with a person who has spent years acquiring formal knowledge and experience in the field of finance.

Check also: How to Apply for Student Loan Forgiveness in Virginia |Review

3. People That genuinely care

We realize that this seems like a very individualized point. 

However, It cannot be overemphasized how sincere the Student Loan Planner team is. 

The crew exchanges ideas on Slack every week about how to assist people more effectively. 

When they learn that readers are drowning in student loan debt, they experience genuine sadness. 

And anytime they hear success tales, they become all giddy. 

Therefore, interacting with people who are so passionate about their work has been a welcome change and this is what differentiates them from the crowd.

See also: Guide to Student Loan Forgiveness in California

Is Student Loan Planner The Best Choice in 2024?

You can create a personalized plan to pay off your debt or make plans for how you’ll do it after graduation with the help of Student Loan Planner, a reliable business with knowledgeable staff. 

Student Loan Planner is a wonderful option to consider if you want someone on your side to develop a repayment plan. 

This is especially true if you’re not interested in doing it yourself or worry that you’ll lose out on money-saving chances. 

There are two possible drawbacks, though. 

One, following the one-time consultation, you’re on your own. 

You must ask for aid if you want assistance with tasks like obtaining a better interest rate with a private lender.

The second drawback is the high cost of Student Loan Planner’s services. 

You’ll have to pay more the more debt you have;  are you therefore willing to spend up to $595 for an hour-long call? 

Loan Planner provides these services without charge instead (yes, you read that right). 

Similar to Student Loan Planner’s pre-debt consultation, you may speak with one of the staff to get a personalized plan for paying for college that includes scholarship and grant alternatives.

You will also be aware of your loan alternatives by the time your conversation with the attendant is over and you won’t be subjected to a sales pitch. 

When you graduate, you’ll also be aware of your predicted student debt, monthly payments (separated by any possible debt from your parents), and payment deadlines to make sure you’re keeping up with your loans. 

You will then be fully aware of what must be done to reduce your overall payment. 

Due to their leverage with a student loan negotiation group, we may also assist you in obtaining the best rates from private lenders. 

You can save a lot of money by doing this, whether you’re taking out a new loan or refinancing an existing one.

Read more: Everything you need to know before you apply for ECMC Student Loan

Benefits of a Student Loan Planner Consultation

It can be worthwhile to schedule a consultation if you have student loans totaling more than $20,000. 

Below that, you might not receive enough value from a consultation and should probably just focus on paying off your debts as quickly as you can. 

The more money you may save by utilizing a Student Loan Planner, the more debt you have. 

Notably, they have a lot of experience working with professions that are notorious for having high student loan amounts, including doctors, veterinarians, dentists, lawyers, and many others. 

Note that no student debt balance will come as a surprise to Travis and his staff at Student Loan Planner. 

Moreover, the typical client they work with owes more than $260,000 in student loans!

Also, see: Guide to Student Loan Forgiveness in Indiana

In conclusion, we believe that the Student Loan Planner team knows what they are doing and they’ve got what it takes to get to the top and remain competitive.

They are assisting many people in obtaining student loan relief. 

If you owe a lot in student loans, they could be able to assist you as well.

References 

  • Deeplyindebt.com

We Recommend

  • Everything you Need to Know About Bidens 5 Options for Student Loan Relief
  • Student Loan Forgiveness: Taxable or Tax-Free? | Review
  • Everything you need to know before you apply for ECMC Student Loan
  • Guide To Daca Student Loan: All You Need To Know
  • Everything You Need to Know About David Wise Student Loan | Repayment Program

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How to Hire a Retirement Advisor

A couple meets with a retirement advisor to evaluate their retirement plans.

A retirement advisor can help clients plan, manage and optimize their financial resources to reach retirement goals. They do so by offering expertise in areas such as investment strategies, tax planning and creating a comprehensive retirement income plan. A financial advisor can also help you create a long-term retirement plan for your specific needs. Here’s what you need to know about hiring a retirement advisor.

What Is a Retirement Advisor?

A retirement advisor, also known as a retirement planner , is a professional who creates and guides retirement plans. They play an instrumental role in helping individuals and families create a strategy to ensure that their retirement savings will last throughout their lifetime and meet their retirement goals. In simpler terms, a retirement advisor is your go-to person for all things related to financing your retirement.

There are different types of retirement advisors with varying specializations, which can you plenty of options to choose from. These can include:

  • Retirement income planning: Focuses on creating strategies to generate a sustainable income during retirement, considering factors such as Social Security, pensions and other retirement accounts.
  • Investment planning: Specializes in designing investment portfolios that align with retirement goals. These strategies will also take into account your risk tolerance, time horizon and income needs.
  • Tax planning: Provides guidance on tax-efficient strategies for retirement. These can include optimizing contributions, managing withdrawals and minimizing tax liabilities.
  • Estate planning: Assists clients in structuring their assets to facilitate an efficient transfer of wealth to heirs, address tax implications and ensure the fulfillment of legacy goals.
  • Social Security planning: Offers advice on maximizing Social Security benefits and considers the timing for claiming benefits, as well as spousal strategies.
  • Long-term care insurance: Specializes in helping clients plan for potential long-term care needs. These can include recommending appropriate insurance solutions.
  • Pension planning: Provides guidance on navigating pension options, including decisions about lump-sum distributions, annuities and other pension-related considerations.
  • Healthcare cost planning: Assists clients in estimating and planning for healthcare costs during retirement. Will also consider factors such as Medicare and supplemental insurance.

Types of Retirement Advisors

Retirement advisors are a specialized category of financial professionals whose expertise lies in assisting clients with retirement planning. They offer important advice that is tailored to your financial situation, retirement goals and risk tolerance.

There are many types of retirement advisors with unique roles and specializations. Financial planners, for instance, consider all aspects of an individual’s financial life, including retirement planning, when creating a comprehensive retirement strategy.

Investment advisors, on the other hand, focus on managing a client’s investment portfolio to achieve their retirement goals.

These advisors often have a fiduciary duty, meaning that they are legally obligated to act in the best interest of the client.

Additionally, there are insurance agents who specialize in insurance products, like annuities, which can provide a steady income stream during retirement.

When choosing a retirement advisor, you may want to consider their certifications, which can demonstrate their are of expertise. Here are two common certifications:

  • Certified financial planner (CFP) : Holds a comprehensive designation covering various aspects of financial planning, including retirement planning, investment management, tax planning and estate planning.
  • Chartered retirement planning counselor (CRPC) : Focuses specifically on retirement planning strategies, addressing issues like income distribution, asset management and estate planning.

When You Need to Hire a Retirement Advisor

A couple reviewing their retirement plan with an advisor as they approach retirement.

If you have complex retirement plans or significant investment assets, you might need a retirement advisor. For example, if you hold multiple retirement plans like a 401(k) and an IRA you may need to work with a professional to create a tax efficient withdrawal strategy. Or, if you have a substantial investment portfolio such worth over $500,000 you may need the help of an advisor to rebalance your asset allocation and optimize your investments to lower your tax liability.

Here are three common examples when you may need to work with a retirement advisor:

  • Major life changes: Divorce, the death of a spouse, or a career change could require you to reevaluate your retirement plan. A retirement advisor can help you adjust your financial strategy, assess the impact on your retirement goals and develop a revised plan that aligns with your new circumstances.
  • Healthcare planning for retirement: As you get older, healthcare costs become a major concern. A retirement advisor can help you evaluate your Medicare options, understand potential long-term care needs and implement strategies to address rising healthcare expenses.
  • Receiving an inheritance or windfall: Getting a significant inheritance or windfall could require you to reassess your finances with a specific focus on taxes, investments and long-term wealth management.

The process to hire a retirement advisor begins by defining your retirement goals so that so can determine which areas you need the most expertise in. One you have a clear idea of what your retirement could look like, you would start researching potential candidates based on qualifications, certifications, specialties, and client reviews.

You should then do your due diligence and verify the advisor’s credentials, such as Certified Financial Planner (CFP) or Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor (CRPC), to ensure that they have the necessary expertise that you are looking for.

Once you have narrowed down your pool of candidates, follow up by scheduling meetings or interviews to discuss your financial situation, retirement goals and gauge their approach to financial planning.

During the meeting or interview, make sure you understand how they get paid. What is their fee structure: Fee-based, fee-only, or commission-based? Knowing this can help you avoid any potential conflicts of interest if the advisor earns commissions for the sale of financial products.

Asking the right questions is key so that you can get all the information you need to make an informed decision. If you’re not sure who to choose, consider using different advisor lists for your state.

Finally, don’t forget to verify if the advisor is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). This will help you ensure that they meet industry standards. You can also request references from current or past clients. And, always review any written agreements or contracts.

Costs of Hiring a Retirement Advisor

Much like when you begin investing, you need to be aware of the expenses you’ll incur as you set your retirement savings on a path to growth with the help of an advisor.

The average cost of working with an advisor can be anywhere from 0.5% to 2% of assets under management per year. It depends on the services you’re receiving and the experience of the advisor you’re working with. Advisors may also charge fixed fees for certain services. For example, creating a retirement plan could cost anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000, or more depending on the service that you’re receiving. This type of fee is usually for a specific task and is agreed upon before the work starts.

Bottom Line

A couple discussing different retirement strategies with a retirement advisor.

Engaging the services of a retirement advisor could potentially benefit your nest egg by maximizing growth and optimizing investments to lower your tax liability. The process of hiring a retirement advisor should be planned out carefully, involving research, interviews and the verification of credentials and fee structure , among other considerations. Ultimately, you need to find an advisor who can work specifically for your needs.

Tips for Retirement Planning

  • Finding a retirement advisor can help you reach your long-term retirement goals. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with up to three vetted financial advisors who serve your area, and you can have a free introductory call with your advisor matches to decide which one you feel is right for you. If you’re ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now .
  • A retirement calculator can help you see where your savings are at and whether you’re on track for what you need to retire.

Photo credit: ©iStock.com/shironosov, ©iStock.com/nicexray, ©iStock.com/Prostock-Studio

Student Loan Planner

State of Student Loan Planner® in 2020: Year in Review

student loan planner reviews

Editorial Ethics at Student Loan Planner

At Student Loan Planner, we follow a strict editorial ethics policy. This post may contain references to products from our partners within the guidelines of this policy. Read our advertising disclosure to learn more.

Travis wearing a blue sweater and collared shirt.

This update is meant to focus on our Student Loan Planner® business, but I want to start on a personal note.

When's the last time you remember being together with your entire family?

For me, it was when I celebrated my 30th birthday in New Orleans in January 2020. We walked down Bourbon street without a care in the world, bumping into passersby, assuming that the news coming out of China about a novel virus was just another thing on the news like SARS, bird flu, etc.

Hopefully when I write our 2021 year in review post, we'll all get to enjoy normal lives and big family trips again.

2020 was tough, but many of you went through worse. My wife got laid off in 2020, I lost my grandmother to COVID, but I became a dad with the birth of my daughter. I celebrated the New Year with my parents, but through a window since they were infected. It was nice to be able to bring them food, but it was super weird.

2020 was a reminder that my business, income, career success, and other professional metrics do not matter as much as I pretend they do.

Just as I saw so many highs and lows personally, the same happened for the business in 2020.

In the first quarter, Student Loan Planner® was setting all kinds of records for how many people we were helping, the amount of loans people were refinancing, and the number of folks taking our investing course .

Then, like many businesses, we got punched in the mouth about as hard as you could imagine.

So how did we handle 2020? If you want to read how we did in 2019 and how we did in 2018 , I'll be pulling comparisons from that post.

First We Were Breaking Records

If you recall the economic environment pre-COVID 2020, things were booming.

In one month, readers refinanced eight figures of student loans on our site with a single company (we have multiple refinancing partners ). Then the same thing happened the following month.

I thought there was a solid chance we were going to blow our 2020 goals out of the water.

But then on March 12, 2020, the NBA player Rudy Gobert tested positive. Shortly after, I found out Tom Hanks had tested positive. I could tell the markets were going to nosedive.

Then on March 13, 2020, I got inundated with reader emails when President Trump held a press conference suspending student loan payments and interest until further notice.

What was I supposed to say? This had never happened before, and certainly no one knew a President could even suspend payments and interest like that.

Then we saw the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, which codified these suspensions.

Then I Went into Freak Out Mode

If you owned a business that got shut down during the March and April time frame, I'm sure you can relate to my emotions during this time.

While we have no physical location or huge debt payments to make, I was expected student loan consults and refinancing would fall 95% or more.

Why would readers hire us for getting a plan when they didn't have to make any payments on the loans we advise on?

Furthermore, yes there's over $100 billion of private student loans out there, but what lenders will want to lend when credit risk is off the charts and we're expecting the next Great Depression?

So I asked our writers to cut back their article production significantly. I asked our team to cap their hours, reduce the number of projects they were working on, and cut our ad spending to virtually nil.

In other words, I was preparing our business to do whatever it took to survive the next Great Depression.

Sure enough, lenders started pulling back. Some virtually halted lending completely. After the stimulus started entering the economy, things started to change though.

When I Realized Our Business Would Survive 2020 Without Massive Cuts

I know that our student loan consulting business is about making long term plans . My fear from a business perspective in 2020 was that readers would just stop booking plans and I'd have to make a bunch of layoffs.

And yes, people get laid off, the economic goes through ups and downs, and needs change. Obviously, if student loans all got cancelled, we would need to pivot to provide a valuable service or close down shop.

But it still was pretty lousy thinking of how much it would set me back if I wasn't able to keep our team together for something like a temporary suspension of student loan payments and interest.

However, people kept booking plans in about the same numbers as before the pandemic.

The extra money borrowers had from not having to pay their loans caused many people to decide to invest in getting advice for those loans.

It also resulted in many people wanting to learn how to invest and buying our investing course. Close to 1,000 people signed up for that course in the past year alone.

As the Federal Reserve supported credit markets and lowered interest rates, it resulted in lenders returning to the student loan refinancing marketplace.

Back in early April, I'm not sure if even the most qualified borrower could get a 5% rate on her private student debt. Now that same borrower could qualify for something as low as 3.4% fixed for 20 years as I write this.

So consulting was pretty steady for us throughout 2020, even in the toughest times economically.

Refinancing really came back in a big way in summer 2020, and now we're seeing millions of loans get refinanced each month going into the new year.

So now I'll show you a few business stats for 2020. I share this because 1) I think it can help inspire you to create your own business and 2) because it shows how well or not well we're sticking to our mission of helping borrowers live their best lives financially.

Consulting Stats for Student Loan Planner® in 2020

Here's how many clients we've had in each year since I founded the company in 2016:

student loan planner reviews

We advised about the same number of clients in 2020 as in 2019 despite student loan interest and payments being suspended for almost 10 months.

Clients still needed guidance on how to consolidate, choose the right plan, get FFEL loans set up the right way, navigate debt paydown strategies , and how to reach financial independence despite student loans as large as a mortgage.

The total debt for our clients we helped 1 on 1 this year? Just over $408 million.

We've now personally advised $1.24 billion of student debt since we launched SLP in September 2016. To my knowledge, that makes us the largest group in the country that's helping borrowers in a 1 on 1 capacity. We're also about to reach our 5,000th client, which I never thought would happen when I started this company.

For 2021, I'd like to get to the point where we've advised $1 of every $1,000 dollars of student debt in America. That would mean advising about $500 million of student loans in 2021. I just hope everyone doesn't wait until October, November, and December.

Borrowers We Helped Indirectly

I share more stats below, but assuming most of the people who read our website in 2020 owed student loans, we reached about 5% of all student loan borrowers in America this year.

When deciding what articles to write for our editorial calendar, we often choose to produce content that will not make us a dime.

For example, some of our most popular posts in 2020 were focused on helping people access federal student loan relief who were in default or having their tax refunds garnished.

But SLP is a mission driven company, which means as long as we can stay in business, I want to be helping 100 times the number of people who can afford to pay us with our free content.

Refinancing Stats for 2020

In 2018, we refinanced around $75 million in student debt and in 2019 I think we were somewhere between $100-125 million. In 2020, readers refinanced about the same amount of debt as they did in the year prior.

And honestly, that's shocking! Student loan interest was suspended for most of the year! Over 90% of all student debt was 0%, and you can't compete with 0% no matter how good your rate is.

Refinancing revenue remains our biggest conflict of interest. It's easier to tell someone to refinance than use more complicated student loan forgiveness strategies.

Some websites out there design their content around getting you to the conclusion that you're a bad person if you don't pay back your debt, or that you'll never be rich if you don't get to zero debt.

That advice pays the best, but it's often the wrong advice. In some cases where PSLF is the best option, it's borderline financial malpractice. Yet humans respond to incentives.

In their defense, you can choose the wrong student loan strategy and if your savings rate is excellent, it won't matter. And if you convince someone to have a high savings rate by hating debt, then it's wise advice even if it's mathematically wrong.

Of course, believing that student loan forgiveness and student loan reform will bail you out is an equally bad idea if you don't have a plan.

With advice surrounding paying off student debt and refinancing, I've consistently gotten more conservative.

That's just because of policy trends. Here's my advice over time:

  • 2018: If your debt to income ratio is lower than 2, refinance
  • 2019-2020: If your DTI is below 1.5 to 1, refinance
  • 2021: If your DTI is below 1.25 to 1, refinance

You can always refinance if your debt to income ratio is higher than that. It's still a defendable position even if your debt to income ratio is a bit above 2 to 1, because maybe you don't want to file taxes separately, or you're expecting a big income boost or inheritance, or maybe you just don't want loans hanging around for 20 years.

I don't blame you.

One thing we did do at the tail end of 2020 is make our refinancing bonuses the best in the world . Very shortly, you won't be able to find a collection of bonus and incentive offers like ours for student loan refinancing anywhere.

That's because as a mission focused company, we negotiate hard for bigger payouts that we share with our readers, unlike other companies that keep 100% of their refinancing revenue. That's taken years to achieve, but I hope it will continue to allow us to save readers money.

In total, I estimate we've now distributed over $2 million to readers in cash back bonuses that would've gone to us instead if we had just kept it. I'm proud of that.

How Many People Checked Out Our Blog Posts in 2020?

You can see the growth of site traffic below. Traffic roughly tripled from 2018 to 2019, then it more than doubled from 2019 to 2020. That's not too bad in a year where student loans were on the backburner for many.

I work in the student loan world everyday, and I can confirm I googled daily COVID stats a lot more than I searched student loan stuff.

State of Student Loan Planner® in 2020: Year in Review Line Graph Continued.

Site stats are just a vanity project if they're not helping people out.

But it's cool to be consistently helping more readers each year. I have no idea what site traffic will be like in 2021 now that interest and payments are suspended even further, but I think we'll do a good job helping those who do stop by.

Most Viewed Posts of 2020

Here's our top 10 most viewed posts from 2020.

  • Here's What the Stimulus Plan Will Do to Your Student Loans – 129,620 views
  • How to Handle the Student Loan Tax Offset – 117,001 views
  • Using Biweekly Payments to Pay Down Debt Faster – 109,334 views
  • The Highest Paid Types of Lawyers – 88,871 views
  • Top Jobs of the Pandemic Recession – 83,876 views
  • Cheapest Medical Schools – 78,164 views
  • Avoiding Student Loan Forgiveness Scams – 69,129 views
  • Student Loan Forgiveness Under President Trump – 68,112 views
  • Top Grants to Pay Off Student Loans – 64,145 views
  • Worst Jobs for Mental Health Due to Student Loans – 62,917 views

We did plenty of unique surveys in 2020 that resulted in some interesting data showing which professions were hit hardest by the pandemic.

We also covered topics on the stimulus plans and how borrowers could take advantage.

We will never beat news outlets to the punch detailing breaking stories about student loan policy, but our articles make up for that in the depth of analysis, which I think is what readers want from us.

Podcast Downloads in 2020

We had about 138,000 downloads of our “Student Loan Planner® Podcast” in 2020.

Some podcast hosts I know guard their show download numbers like a state secret. I recognize people would rather listen to true crime then detailed breakdowns of how the REPAYE interest subsidy works.

So I'm glad we fill a niche in the podcast world for people who want to learn a lot about growing wealth when you owe a bunch of student loans.

Here's our top 5 most downloaded episodes:

  • Student Loan Hacks You Haven't Heard Before (published 1/23/20)
  • How to Go from a Six Figure Debt to a Six Figure Net Worth (published 12/28/19)
  • What the Trump Student Loan Order Means (published 8/16/20)
  • Why You Might Pay Nothing and Borrow the Max (published 5/10/20)
  • The Coming Chaos in Student Loan Servicing (published 7/8/20)

 How Did We Do with 2020 Goals?

Here's the marks I set below for 2020. We failed at virtually all of them because I did not anticipate a global pandemic, but we did really well all things considered.

  • Get to 500,000 monthly visitors from search traffic (We averaged around 200,000)
  • Hit 5,000 downloads per podcast episode (we're anywhere between 1,000 and 2,000 per episode)
  • Reach 120,000 annual users from social, including 2x the Pinterest and 10x the YouTube traffic (I think we're about half of that)
  • Create content where you are the hero (kind of ambiguous, but hopefully we did that)
  • Hit 50,000 email subscribers (we're about 13,000 short of that goal).
  • Hit 10,000 YouTube subscribers (far below, around 2,000 so we can do better there)
  • Reach the point where we've advised 0.1% of all student debt in America by the end of 2020 (will likely hit that goal in 2021)
  • Refinance $400 million of student loans (about 30% of that, which is pretty great all things considered)
  • Triple our 2020 revenue while continuing to invest in the business (we doubled it but didn't triple it)
  • Host an in person meetup with all of our team (That obviously didn't happen. Here I was in late March 2020 thinking we wouldn't have to cancel our late May team meeting.)
  • Save at least 5 lives this year (I can't track that directly, but given how often our suicide prevention and mental health articles are viewed I hope we contributed to making borrowers love themselves and not feel trapped by their debt).

Revenue and Expenses for 2020

Our margin was about 59%, which was higher than last year's number of 44%. I ended up overreacting in the first half of 2020 because of the pandemic and cut expenses a lot more than I would have if I had known we would make it through pretty unscathed as a business.

I actually aim for a 30% profit margin. That's just because it allows me to pull out some profit while still investing substantially in growing the business.

I'm sure I made a lot of mistakes with how I've allocated capital as a business owner, but it's cool that our revenue has roughly doubled each year since I started SLP in 2016.

I seriously doubt that trend will continue in 2021 unless a lot of things fall into place perfectly. So my goals for 2021 are much more muted than they were in 2020.

Our Goals for 2021

Now I can set some goals for 2021.

  • Get to 300,000 monthly visitors from search traffic
  • Hit 5,000 downloads per podcast episode
  • Reach 10,000 subscribers on our YouTube Channel ( subscribe here 🙂 
  • Hit 50,000 email subscribers
  • Reach the point where we've advised 0.1% of all student debt in America
  • Refinance $200 million of student loans
  • Equal or surpass our 2020 revenue while continuing to invest in the business
  • Host an in person meetup with all of our team (I really hope this happens. My wife's medical conference all seem to be booking venues for November and December. Let's all hope!)
  • Save at least 10 lives this year through our content that promotes mental health wellbeing when you're struggling with debt anxiety

Obviously President Biden extended the student loan interest and payment freeze. Who knows what that brings in 2021. We will try to add some more team members as our revenue allows, including 2 new consultants in early 2021.

I think my main goal is just survive 2021. That sounds ridiculous given we had a much better 2020 than I ever dreamed possible, but it's an honest answer.

Readers reach out to me constantly sharing inspiring stories of what they were able to accomplish with a little help from our content.

Those goals above would be great, but they represent changing lives, and that's what our purpose is as a business.

Hopefully I can remember that you are our main focus and not get distracted by stress, noise, and anxiety around managing a business that's larger than I had anticipated. I'm much better at eliminating the debt anxiety of others than I am at managing my own.

Thank you for reading, sharing, and engaging with our content. I really appreciate it so much and it's very rewarding.

Do you have goals for 2021? Or just comments in general? Feel free to share.

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Travis wearing a blue sweater and collared shirt.

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Lender and Bonus disclosure

SoFi: ​​Fixed rates range from 5.24% APR to 9.99% APR with 0.25% autopay discount. Variable rates range from 6.24% APR to 9.99% APR with a 0.25% autopay discount. Unless required to be lower to comply with applicable law, Variable Interest rates on 5-, 7-, and 10-year terms are capped at 13.95% APR; 15- and 20-year terms are capped at 13.95% APR. SoFi rate ranges are current as of 02/01/24 and are subject to change at any time. Your actual rate will be within the range of rates listed above and will depend on the term you select, evaluation of your creditworthiness, income, presence of a co-signer and a variety of other factors.

Lowest rates reserved for the most creditworthy borrowers. For the SoFi variable-rate product, the variable interest rate for a given month is derived by adding a margin to the 30-day average SOFR index, published two business days preceding such calendar month, rounded up to the nearest one hundredth of one percent (0.01% or 0.0001). APRs for variable-rate loans may increase after origination if the SOFR index increases. The SoFi 0.25% autopay interest rate reduction requires you to agree to make monthly principal and interest payments by an automatic monthly deduction from a savings or checking account. This benefit will discontinue and be lost for periods in which you do not pay by automatic deduction from a savings or checking account. The benefit lowers your interest rate but does not change the amount of your monthly payment. This benefit is suspended during periods of deferment and forbearance. Autopay is not required to receive a loan from SoFi. You may pay more in interest over the life of the loan if you refinance with an extended term.

Student Loan Planner® Bonus Disclosure

Upon disbursement of a qualifying loan, the borrower must notify Student Loan Planner® that a qualifying loan was refinanced through the site, as the lender does not share the names or contact information of borrowers. Borrowers must complete the  Refinance Bonus Request form  to claim a bonus offer. Student Loan Planner® will confirm loan eligibility and, upon confirmation of a qualifying refinance, will send via email a $500 e-gift card within 14 business days following the last day of the month in which the qualifying loan was confirmed eligible by Student Loan Planner®.  If a borrower does not claim the Student Loan Planner® bonus within six months of the loan disbursement, the borrower forfeits their right to claim said bonus.  The bonus amount will depend on the total loan amount disbursed. This offer is not valid for borrowers who have previously received a bonus from Student Loan Planner®.

Splash Disclosure

See disclaimers at:  https://www.splashfinancial.com/disclaimers/

Splash Financial, Inc. (NMLS #1630038), licensed by the DFPI under California Financing Law, license # 60DBO-102545

General Disclosure

Terms and conditions apply. Loan or savings calculators are offered for your own use and the results are based on the information you provide. The results of this calculator are only intended as an illustration and are not guaranteed to be accurate. Actual payments and figures may vary. Splash Financial loans are available through arrangements with lending partners. Your loan application will be submitted to the lending partner and be evaluated at their sole discretion. For loans where a credit union is the lender or a purchaser of the loan, in order to refinance your loans, you will need to become a credit union member. The Splash Student Loan Refinance Program is not offered or endorsed by any college or university. Neither Splash Financial nor the lending partner are affiliated with or endorse any college or university listed on this website.  You should review the benefits of your federal student loan; it may offer specific benefits that a private refinance/consolidation loan may not offer . If you work in the public sector, are in the military or taking advantage of a federal department of relief program, such as income-based repayment or public service forgiveness, you may not want to refinance, as these benefits do not transfer to private refinance/consolidation loans. Splash Financial and our lending partners reserve the right to modify or discontinue products and benefits at any time without notice. To qualify, a borrower must be a U.S. citizen and meet our lending partner’s underwriting requirements. Lowest rates are reserved for the highest qualified borrowers. Products may not be available in all states. The information you provide is an inquiry to determine whether Splash’s lending partners can make you a loan offer but does not guarantee you will receive any loan offers. If you do not use the specific link included on this website, offers on the Splash website may include offers from lending partners that have a higher rate. This information is current as of June 12, 2023.

Rates are subject to change without notice. Not all applicants will qualify for the lowest rate. Lowest rates are reserved for the most creditworthy applicants and will depend on credit score, loan term, and other factors. Lowest rates may require an autopay discount of 0.25%.

Fixed APR: Annual Percentage Rate (APR) is the cost of credit calculating the interest rate, loan amount, repayment term and the timing of payments.

Variable APR: Annual Percentage Rate (APR) is the cost of credit calculating the interest rate, loan amount, repayment term and the timing of payments. Variable rates are derived by adding a margin to the 30-day average SOFR index, published two business days preceding such calendar month, rounded up to the nearest one hundredth of one percent (0.01% or 0.0001).

The minimum monthly payment of $100 while in the Residency Period may not pay all of the interest due each month, which will likely result in negative amortization and a larger principal balance when you enter the Full Repayment Period. Dental residents and fellows are unable to receive additional tuition liabilities for the duration of their Residency Period.

Lender and Bonus Disclosure

Splash:  If you refinance over $100,000 through this site, $500 of the cash bonus listed above is provided directly by Student Loan Planner. Lowest rates displayed with an autopay discount of 0.25%.  Splash disclosures .

To begin the qualification process for the Student Loan Planner® sign on bonus, customers must apply from the link provided. Customers who are approved for and close a loan will receive the $300-$500 bonus through Splash Financial. The amount of the bonus will depend on the total loan amount disbursed. There is a limit of one bonus per borrower. This offer is not valid for current Splash customers who refinance their existing Splash loans, customers who have previously received a bonus, or with any other bonus offers received from Splash via this or any other channel. If the applicant was referred using the referral bonus, they will not receive the bonus provided via the referring party. Additional terms and conditions apply.

For the $1,000 bonus associated with refinancing at least $100,000, $500 of the bonus is provided by Student Loan Planner® via Giftly, which can be redeemed as a deposit to your bank account or PayPal account. Upon disbursement of a qualifying loan, the borrower must notify Student Loan Planner® that a qualifying loan was refinanced through the site, as the lender does not share the names or contact information of borrowers. Borrowers must complete the  Refinance Bonus Request form  to claim a bonus offer. Student Loan Planner® will confirm loan eligibility and, upon confirmation of a qualifying refinance, will send via email a $500 e-gift card within 14 business days following the last day of the month in which the qualifying loan was confirmed eligible by Student Loan Planner®.  If a borrower does not claim the Student Loan Planner® bonus within six months of the loan disbursement, the borrower forfeits their right to claim said bonus.  The bonus amount will depend on the total loan amount disbursed. This offer is not valid for borrowers who have previously received a bonus from Student Loan Planner®.

THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENT. YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO MAKE ANY PAYMENT OR TAKE ANY OTHER ACTION IN RESPONSE TO THIS OFFER.

Earnest:  $1,000 for $100K or more, $200 for $50K to $99.999.99. For Earnest, if you refinance $100,000 or more through this site, $500 of the $1,000 cash bonus is provided directly by Student Loan Planner. Rate range above includes optional 0.25% Auto Pay discount.

Earnest Bonus Offer Disclosure:

Terms and conditions apply. To qualify for this Earnest Bonus offer: 1) you must not currently be an Earnest client, or have received the bonus in the past, 2) you must submit a completed student loan refinancing application through the designated Student Loan Planner® link; 3) you must provide a valid email address and a valid checking account number during the application process; and 4) your loan must be fully disbursed.

You will receive a $1,000 bonus if you refinance $100,000 or more, or a $200 bonus if you refinance an amount from $50,000 to $99,999.99. For the $1,000 Welcome Bonus offer, $500 will be paid directly by Student Loan Planner® via Giftly. Earnest will automatically transmit $500 to your checking account after the final disbursement. For the $200 Welcome Bonus offer, Earnest will automatically transmit the $200 bonus to your checking account after the final disbursement. There is a limit of one bonus per borrower. This offer is not valid for current Earnest clients who refinance their existing Earnest loans, clients who have previously received a bonus, or with any other bonus offers received from Earnest via this or any other channel. Bonus cannot be issued to residents in KY, MA, or MI.

Interest Rate Disclosure

Actual rate and available repayment terms will vary based on your income. Fixed rates range from 5.44% APR to 9.99% APR (excludes 0.25% Auto Pay discount). Variable rates range from 5.97% APR to 9.99% APR (excludes 0.25% Auto Pay discount). Earnest variable interest rate student loan refinance loans are based on a publicly available index, the 30-day Average Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The variable rate is based on the rate published on the 25th day, or the next business day, of the preceding calendar month, rounded to the nearest hundredth of a percent. The rate will not increase more than once per month. The maximum rate for your loan is 8.95% if your loan term is 10 years or less. For loan terms of more than 10 years to 15 years, the interest rate will never exceed 9.95%. For loan terms over 15 years, the interest rate will never exceed 11.95%. Please note, we are not able to offer variable rate loans in AK, IL, MN, NH, OH, TN, and TX. Our lowest rates are only available for our most credit qualified borrowers and contain our .25% auto pay discount from a checking or savings account.

Auto Pay Discount Disclosure

You can take advantage of the Auto Pay interest rate reduction by setting up and maintaining active and automatic ACH withdrawal of your loan payment. The interest rate reduction for Auto Pay will be available only while your loan is enrolled in Auto Pay. Interest rate incentives for utilizing Auto Pay may not be combined with certain private student loan repayment programs that also offer an interest rate reduction. For multi-party loans, only one party may enroll in Auto Pay.

Skip a Payment Disclosure

Earnest clients may skip one payment every 12 months. Your first request to skip a payment can be made once you’ve made at least 6 months of consecutive on-time payments, and your loan is in good standing. The interest accrued during the skipped month will result in an increase in your remaining minimum payment. The final payoff date on your loan will be extended by the length of the skipped payment periods. Please be aware that a skipped payment does count toward the forbearance limits. Please note that skipping a payment is not guaranteed and is at Earnest’s discretion. Your monthly payment and total loan cost may increase as a result of postponing your payment and extending your term.

Student Loan Refinancing Loan Cost Examples

These examples provide estimates based on payments beginning immediately upon loan disbursement. Variable APR: A $10,000 loan with a 20-year term (240 monthly payments of $72) and a 5.89% APR would result in a total estimated payment amount of $17,042.39. For a variable loan, after your starting rate is set, your rate will then vary with the market. Fixed APR: A $10,000 loan with a 20-year term (240 monthly payments of $72) and a 6.04% APR would result in a total estimated payment amount of $17,249.77. Your actual repayment terms may vary.Terms and Conditions apply. Visit https://www.earnest. com/terms-of-service, e-mail us at [email protected], or call 888-601-2801 for more information on our student loan refinance product.

Student Loan Origination Loan Cost Examples

These examples provide estimates based on the Deferred Repayment option, meaning you make no payments while enrolled in school and during the separation period of 9 billing periods thereafter. Variable APR: A $10,000 loan with a 15-year term (180 monthly payments of $157.12) and an 11.69% APR would result in a total estimated payment amount of $21,290.40. For a variable loan, after your starting rate is set, your rate will then vary with the market. Fixed APR: A $10,000 loan with a 15-year term (180 monthly payments of $173.51) and an 13.03% APR would result in a total estimated payment amount of $22,827.79. Your actual repayment terms may vary.

Earnest Loans are made by Earnest Operations LLC or One American Bank, Member FDIC. Earnest Operations LLC, NMLS #1204917. 535 Mission St., Suite 1663, San Francisco, CA 94105. California Financing Law License 6054788. Visit earnest.com/licenses for a full list of licensed states. For California residents (Student Loan Refinance Only): Loans will be arranged or made pursuant to a California Financing Law License.

One American Bank, 515 S. Minnesota Ave, Sioux Falls, SD 57104. Earnest loans are serviced by Earnest Operations LLC with support from Navient Solutions LLC (NMLS #212430). One American Bank and Earnest LLC and its subsidiaries are not sponsored by or agencies of the United States of America.

© 2021 Earnest LLC. All rights reserved.

Student Loan Planner® Bonus Disclosure:

Laurel Road:  If you refinance more than $250,000 through our link and Student Loan Planner receives credit, a $500 cash bonus will be provided directly by Student Loan Planner. If you are a member of a professional association, Laurel Road might offer you the choice of an interest rate discount or the $300, $500, or $750 cash bonus mentioned above. Offers from Laurel Road cannot be combined. Rate range above includes optional 0.25% Auto Pay discount.

Laurel Road Bonus Offer Disclosure:

Rates as of 2/9/24. Rates Subject to Change. Terms and Conditions Apply. All products subject to credit approval. Laurel Road disclosures . To qualify for this Laurel Road Welcome Bonus offer: 1) you must not currently be an Laurel Road client, or have received the bonus in the past, 2) you must submit a completed student loan refinancing application through the designated Student Loan Planner® link; 3) you must provide a valid email address and a valid checking account number during the application process; and 4) your loan must be fully disbursed. If a borrower is eligible for and chooses to accept an interest rate promotional offer due to that borrower’s membership in a professional association, the borrower will not be eligible for the cash bonus from Laurel Road. However, the borrower can still be eligible for the Student Loan Planner® bonus if they qualify under the “Student Loan Planner® Bonus Disclosure terms below.”  If you opt to receive the cash bonus incentive offer, you will receive a $1,050 bonus if you refinance $100,000 or more, or a $300 bonus if you refinance an amount from $50,000 to $99,999.99. For the $1,050 Welcome Bonus offer, $500 will be paid directly by Student Loan Planner® via Giftly. Laurel Road will automatically transmit $550 to your checking account after the final disbursement. For the $300 Welcome Bonus offer, Laurel Road will automatically transmit the $300 bonus to your checking account after the final disbursement.  There is a limit of one bonus per borrower. This offer is not valid for current Laurel Road clients who refinance their existing Laurel Road loans, clients who have previously received a bonus, or with any other bonus offers received from Laurel Road via this or any other channel.

You can take advantage of the Auto Pay interest rate reduction by setting up and maintaining active and automatic ACH withdrawal of your loan payment. The interest rate reduction for Auto Pay will be available only while your loan is enrolled in Auto Pay. Interest rate incentives for utilizing Auto Pay may not be combined with certain private student loan repayment programs that also offer an interest rate reduction. For multi-party loans, only one party may enroll in Auto Pay

Elfi:  If you refinance over $150,000 through this site, $500 of the cash bonus listed above is provided directly by Student Loan Planner.

To begin the qualification process for the Student Loan Planner® sign on bonus, customers must apply from the link provided on https://www.elfi.com/student-loan-planner. Customers who are approved for and close a loan will receive the $300-$775 bonus through a reduction in the principal balance of their Education Loan Finance loan when your loan has been disbursed. The amount of the bonus will depend on the total loan amount disbursed. In order to receive this bonus, customers will be required to complete and submit a W9 form with all required documents. Taxes are the sole responsibility of the recipient. There is a limit of one bonus per borrower. This offer is not valid for current ELFI customers who refinance their existing ELFI loans, customers who have previously received a bonus, or with any other bonus offers received from ELFI via this or any other channel. If the applicant was referred using the referral bonus, they will not receive the bonus provided via the referring party. If the applicant becomes an ELFI customer, they may participate in the referral bonus by becoming the referring party. Additional terms and conditions apply.

For the $1,275 bonus associated with refinancing at least $150,000, $500 of the bonus is provided by Student Loan Planner® via Giftly, which can be redeemed as a deposit to your bank account or PayPal account. Upon disbursement of a qualifying loan, the borrower must notify Student Loan Planner® that a qualifying loan was refinanced through the site, as the lender does not share the names or contact information of borrowers. Borrowers must complete the  Refinance Bonus Request form  to claim a bonus offer. Student Loan Planner® will confirm loan eligibility and, upon confirmation of a qualifying refinance, will send via email a $500 e-gift card within 14 business days following the last day of the month in which the qualifying loan was confirmed eligible by Student Loan Planner®.  If a borrower does not claim the Student Loan Planner® bonus within six months of the loan disbursement, the borrower forfeits their right to claim said bonus.  The bonus amount will depend on the total loan amount disbursed. This offer is not valid for borrowers who have previously received a bonus from Student Loan Planner®.

Credible: If you refinance over $100,000 through this site, $500 of the cash bonus listed above is provided directly by Student Loan Planner.

To begin the qualification process for the Student Loan Planner® sign on bonus, customers must apply from the link provided on www.credible.com.

The amount of the bonus will depend on the total loan amount disbursed. In order to receive this bonus, customers will be required to complete and submit a W9 form with all required documents. Taxes are the sole responsibility of the recipient. A customer will only be eligible to receive the bonus one time. New applicants are eligible for only one bonus. Additional terms and conditions apply.

For the $1,250 bonus associated with refinancing at least $100,000, $500 of the bonus is provided by Student Loan Planner® via Giftly, which can be redeemed as a deposit to your bank account or PayPal account. Upon disbursement of a qualifying loan, the borrower must notify Student Loan Planner® that a qualifying loan was refinanced through the site, as the lender does not share the names or contact information of borrowers. Borrowers must complete the  Refinance Bonus Request form  to claim a bonus offer. Student Loan Planner® will confirm loan eligibility and, upon confirmation of a qualifying refinance, will send via email a $500 e-gift card within 14 business days following the last day of the month in which the qualifying loan was confirmed eligible by Student Loan Planner®.  If a borrower does not claim the Student Loan Planner® bonus within six months of the loan disbursement, the borrower forfeits their right to claim said bonus.  The bonus amount will depend on the total loan amount disbursed. This offer is not valid for borrowers who have previously received a bonus from Student Loan Planner®.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means Student Loan Planner may receive a commission, at no extra cost to you, if you click through to make a purchase. Please read our full disclaimer for more information. In some cases, you could obtain a better deal from our advertising partners than you could obtain by utilizing their services or products directly.This content is not provided or commissioned by any financial institution. Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone.

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Gen Z rejects financial guru Dave Ramsey's advice to live debt-free: 'Self-care is extremely important.'

Our experts choose the best products and services to help make smart decisions with your money ( here's how ). In some cases, we receive a commission from our partners ; however, our opinions are our own. Terms apply to offers listed on this page.

  • Young workers are pushing back against Dave Ramsey 's financial advice on TikTok.
  • They say that Ramsey's "debt-free" mantra is outdated and neglects the value of self-care.
  • Others say his homebuying tips aren't realistic amid skyrocketing prices.

Insider Today

Dave Ramsey lacks clout with Gen Z.

The 63-year-old host of the financial talk show, “The Dave Ramsey Show," has attracted scores of followers over the years with a simple mantra — live debt-free.

But amid rising costs of living, skyrocketing home prices, and mounting student debt, young workers are bucking the advice of America’s favorite financial guru.

They’re calling his tips outdated and even a little depressing in videos on TikTok. The trend, first reported by The Wall Street Journal , has racked up millions of views on TikTok under the hashtag #daveramseywouldntapprove.

“I’d rather be caffeinated than depressed with $6.”

One of Ramsey’s maxims is to stop your "coffee habit." He says that if you want to live debt-free, stop spending $4 on a latte every morning.

“You’ll spend $63 in a month. You’ll spend $766.50 in a year. You’ll spend $22,995 over the course of 30 years,” Ramsey’s financial advice company, Ramsey Solutions, writes in a post on its website . 

But younger generations say that lattes (which average about $6 these days) are key to their mental and physical well-being.

“Self-care is extremely important and if that means buying a $6 coffee every day, do it,” Jarrod Benson, a 32-year-old comedian from Orlando told Business Insider over TikTok. “I’d rather be caffeinated than depressed with $6.”

@thejarrodbenson Reposting since TT flagged the original as sensitive content 😂😂 #millennial #trending #daveramsey #daveramseywouldntapprove ♬ Daddy Dave is always watching - thejarrodbenson

Benson's comments come as many young workers grow disillusioned with corporate America and adopt an attitude of working to live . 

“This is particularly true in the West. They have seen the legacy of all these broken promises. In the old days and in many parts of the West, they would promise you if you worked for 30 years, you have this defined benefit pension, you have retiree medical care, etc. None of that exists today,” Ravin Jesuthasan, a future-of-work expert and global leader at consulting firm Mercer, previously told BI.

You can’t buy a house with “$50 and a pack of strawberries.”

Gen Z workers said Ramsey’s advice also doesn’t cut it when making long-term investments, like buying a house.

One of Ramsey’s top tips for buying a house is to pay for it upfront in cash and avoid taking out a mortgage. While Ramsey has acknowledged this is a daunting task, he outlines a game plan for how someone might save up to $100,000 in cash to buy a home on the Ramsey Solutions website. 

“Divide $100,000 by the amount you can save each month to determine how long it will take to get there,” he writes, alongside a list of equations to help people figure out how they might get there between two to eight years.

But younger workers say buying a home in cash isn’t feasible when home prices are skyrocketing nationwide. The median home price in the United States is about $363,000 now and upwards of a million in some of the country’s priciest cities.

“It’s mind-boggling that the older generation that bought 4-bedroom homes for $50 and a pack of strawberries continues to lecture younger people on money management,” Josh Benson, a 28-year-old from Dallas working in the financial industry, told BI over TikTok.

@joshbensontherapper Debt. Is. Bad. 💰 #daveramsey #daveramseywouldntapprove #moneytips #millenial #impression #costoflivingcrisis ♬ original sound - Josh Benson

Younger generations began questioning Ramsey’s advice on homebuying even before the anti-Ramsay rhetoric began trending on TikTok.

Sarah Martinez Shaw, who grew up on Ramsey’s advice, told BI his tips left her in a tough spot .

On the one hand, buying a house in cash only seemed feasible for the wealthy, she said. At the same time, by taking a hard line against credit card debt, she said Ramsey “stigmatizes legitimate paths forward.” She realized that a strong credit score from years of responsible credit use was one of the best ways to secure a mortgage loan. 

Dave Ramsey did not immediately respond to BI’s request for comment.

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Watch: A financial planner explains why buying a home is one of the best investments you can make

student loan planner reviews

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  1. Student Loan Planner Review 2022: It's the Real Deal

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  2. Student Loan Planner Review: It's the Real Deal

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  3. Student Loan Planner Review

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  4. SunTrust Student Loans Review: 3 Competitive Loan Products

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  5. FedLoan Servicing Review

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  6. Splash Financial Review: Student Loan Refinancing

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COMMENTS

  1. Reviews for Our Student Loan Planning Service

    Student Loan Planner was able to simply the process and guide me to make the best decisions." Evan R. ME, United States "Travis took into account my wife's finances and student loans and pointed us towards SERIOUSLY AMAZING savings. Travis was honest, nice, and easy to follow as we went through everything.

  2. Student Loan Planner Review 2022: It's the Real Deal

    Student Loan Planner Review 2022: It's the Real Deal 0 Comments by Clint Proctor October 20, 2022 Share Tweet Founded by Travis Hornsby (CFA), Student Loan Planner is a student loan advisory service. Before diving headfirst into my Student Loan Planner review, I need to give one quick disclaimer. Student Loan Planner also has a blog.

  3. Student Loan Planner Review: Professional Student Loan Help

    According to the Student Loan Planner website, Travis and his team of credentialed professionals have worked with 8,300+ professionals. Student Loan Planner estimates that they have helped their clients save a projected $156 million. Student Loan Planner currently has 1859 reviews on Shopper Approved with 97% of users rating them at 5 out of 5.

  4. Student Loan Planner Reviews: Honest Opinions from Three Former Clients

    Student Loan Planner Review #1: Chad How did you decide to work with Student Loan Planner for a student loan consult? I was in practice my first-year post-fellowship and was on a 10 year payoff at a low interest rate thanks to SoFi's refinancing of my federal student loans .

  5. Student Loan Planner Review: Is It Worth the Fee?

    A review of Student Loan Planner, a service that helps clients create a plan to pay off their student loans. The review compares the cost, benefits and drawbacks of this service with Juno, a free online tool that provides personalized repayment strategies and loan options.

  6. Student Loan Planner

    Private Student Loans You deserve a custom plan from the experts Get a custom student loan plan from our CFP®, CFA and CSLP® professionals. Our 15,470+ clients are putting a projected $983 million in savings toward living their best lives. Get Your Custom Plan 3,000+ 5-star reviews Featured in Our top resources

  7. The Institute of Student Loan Advisors Review: Student Loan Help

    Business hours: Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET. Website: freestudentloanadvice.org. Twitter handle: @TISLA_SL. Areas of expertise: Federal, private, parent, graduate, state and...

  8. About us

    189 Reviews Our impact The student loan system in America is extremely complicated compared to what it should be. Because of this complexity, we've found over 90% of our clients five or six figures in projected savings over the life of their loans.

  9. Bankrate Student Loan Reviews

    4. Bankrate Score. Splash Financial partners with lenders to offer student loans with low rates. Read full review. 4.7. Bankrate Score. SoFi is an online lender that offers student loan ...

  10. Cornerstone Student Loans Review

    Written By Kevin Payne Although it is a small organization, Cornerstone may be your loan servicer if you have federal student loans. The Department of Education uses loan servicers to administer student loans to borrowers. In this Cornerstone student loan review, we'll dive into this loan servicer's available repayment options and discounts.

  11. Best Student Loan Planning Software For Financial Advisors

    Planners are used to looking at just a few variables when it comes to advising on debt management, mainly interest rates, monthly payments, overall cost of the debt over time, and looking to see if there's an option to refinance to lower a monthly payment. Student debt is an entirely different animal.

  12. Student Loan Planner Review: Help CRUSH Your Student Loans

    You book a consultation with one of their CFP, CFA or CSLP professionals and pay a one time flat fee between $395 - $595. One of their student loan experts will perform a thorough review of your student loans. This includes your payment history, and some other aspects of your finances (like your family size and income).

  13. studentloanplanner.com Reviews

    5.0 Overall Star Rating 5 2639 (97.3%) 4 49 (1.8%) 3 14 (0.5%) 2 4 (0.1%) 1 5 (0.2%) Customer Service 4.9 SHOW DETAILS 2,500+ 5-star reviews About this Company Student Loan Planner makes custom student loan plans for borrowers with $20,000 to $1 million in student loan debt.

  14. Student Loan Planner Review

    I created this Student Loan Planner review after getting lots of DM's about whether a consult with the Student Loan Planner was worth the money, once we realized that we were going to save $200,000 on the student loan repayment plan that we chose.

  15. ‎Student Loan Planner on Apple Podcasts

    This is an amazing resource for student loan borrowers. Thank you! Travis helps you navigate the insane world of student loans, especially if you owe $20,000 to $1 million. If you've ever spent too much time on the phone with your loan servicer, this is the show for you. Every week we share tips on loan forgiveness, investing, crushing debt ...

  16. Federal Student Aid

    Calculate Your Federal Student Loan Repayment Options with Loan Simulator. Loan Simulator helps you estimate monthly student loan payments and choose a loan repayment option that best meets your needs and goals. You can also use it to decide whether to consolidate your student loans.

  17. [2024] Student Loan Planner Review: Worth the Fee?

    With over 3,000 online reviews, SLP scores a: 5/5 on Google (446 reviews) 4.8/5 from the College Investor 5/5 on Shopper Approved (2,617 reviews) Consultants are offered to both new and existing clients. New clients can schedule a one hour consultation with an advisor for $595, while existing clients can schedule follow-ups for $495.

  18. Student Loan Planner

    r/StudentLoans • 5 yr. ago ellewoods3 Student Loan Planner - Travis Hi guys, I have a huge amount of student loans from law school. I'm trying to figure out how to best tackle it. I've seen the Student Loan Planner website and I am interested, but the only reviews are either on the website and it's affiliates or are on paid for by the website.

  19. Student Loan Planner Review: Is It Worth the Money?

    What To Know About Student Loan Planner and Reviews. In 2016, Travis Hornsby, a former bond trader and CFA, founded this company. Since then, he and his staff of experts have helped over tens of thousands of clients pay off their student debt. The business has saved its customers an estimated $280 million, according to their website.

  20. Best Law School Student Loan Refinance Lenders Of 2024

    Here are the best refinance lenders for law school student loan debt. ... Wealth Management Financial Planner ... Review repayment terms. Terms for loan refinancing can vary but often go from five ...

  21. Education Loan Finance Review

    Currently, the company is rated 4.8 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot and receives a 4.5 out of 5 stars from Student Loan Planner®. For more detailed information, read on for our full Education Loan Finance review. ELFI student loan refinance review

  22. Student Loan Planner Course

    r/StudentLoans • 2 yr. ago [deleted] Student Loan Planner Course - Scammy, or worth it? Hello, My fiance has $300k of medical school loans, and intends to pursue PSLF. We have basic financial literacy, but don't know all the tricks of the trade when it comes to maximizing our investments, loan payoff strategy, implications for home purchasing, etc.

  23. CD and Savings Rates Today: Secure Top Rates

    Savings Account Bonus. CIBC Bank Savings Account. Earn a $250 bonus when you deposit in new money between $25,000 and $49,999.99 during the funding period from an external bank and maintain at ...

  24. How to Hire a Retirement Advisor

    If you have complex retirement plans or significant investment assets, you might need a retirement advisor. For example, if you hold multiple retirement plans like a 401(k) and an IRA you may need to work with a professional to create a tax efficient withdrawal strategy. Or, if you have a substantial investment portfolio such worth over $500,000 you may need the help of an advisor to rebalance ...

  25. State of Student Loan Planner® in 2020: Year in Review

    First We Were Breaking Records If you recall the economic environment pre-COVID 2020, things were booming. In one month, readers refinanced eight figures of student loans on our site with a single company (we have multiple refinancing partners ). Then the same thing happened the following month.

  26. Gen Z Says Dave Ramsey's Advice Doesn't Work Today

    Dave Ramsey lacks clout with Gen Z. The 63-year-old host of the financial talk show, "The Dave Ramsey Show," has attracted scores of followers over the years with a simple mantra — live debt-free.