ASHA Leader Blog: Financial Tips for Recent CSD Grads

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ASHA Leader Blog: Financial Tips for Recent CSD Grads

Part 1 of 2 posts focusing on recent SLP graduates starting their careers!

Congratulations! You’re the owner of a newly minted degree giving you access to a great career in speech and hearing sciences. Now what? The transition from college to a full-time career is exciting, a bit liberating and often overwhelming. Let’s talk about two financial areas where you should focus your attention as you job hunt this summer. Read more.

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ASHA Leader Blog: Financial Spring Cleaning: 6 Questions to Ask Yourself

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My latest guest post to the ASHA Leader blog.

Forget cleaning your home! It’s boring, and let’s be honest, in two weeks it’s going to be a mess again anyway. You’re busy helping people and only have so much time. This spring I suggest you clean up your finances. To help you get started, I offer six questions for you to ponder:

Check out the full piece!

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ASHA Leader Blog: The Perfect Complement to Your School or Hospital Pension

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My first guest post to the ASHA Leader blog! 

If your employer provides a pension, be happy. A pension provides a powerful retirement tool in your arsenal. The jovial folks at the Department of Labor and National Association of State Retirement Administrators estimate 85 percent of state and local government employees participate in a defined benefit pension. I’m looking at you, public school clinicians. If you work at a federally operated hospital (like a Veterans Affairs facility) or institution, this applies to you, too. Even many nongovernment-operated hospitals offer pensions.

Shut Up, Brain!

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Shut Up, Brain!

“Well, I guess we’ll get there someday…maybe, haha. Until then, we’ve got the small things”

That was how my longtime girlfriend finished our conversation about some of the things we’re currently working towards; none of which are particularly exciting or exotic. In fact, most people have similar goals on the surface but dig deeper and they become uniquely ours for unique reasons.

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The Risk of Using Home Equity to Pay Off Student Loans

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You had damn good timing!

You bought a house in late ’09 or ’10 after graduating college and getting a good job, maybe even starting a family. A few years later, with a rebound in both housing and the overall economy, your home is worth substantially more than what you owe on it....

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You Should Use Credit Cards, They Are Awesome. (When Used Responsibly)

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You Should Use Credit Cards, They Are Awesome. (When Used Responsibly)

Let’s start out with this, credit cards are not evil! In fact, debt as a financial instrument is not evil. It has many useful and reasonable purposes. To turn a phrase: debts don’t kill your finances; you kill your finances (by making bad choices).

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Every Way To Pay Off Your Student Loans

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Every Way To Pay Off Your Student Loans

Have a student loan? You’re not the only one. 40 million US citizens have some form of higher education loan.

I imagine that number will continue to climb in the years ahead. As you can imagine, many of those 40 million people have questions. To help out this group of people, we’re going to run through a bunch of possible ways to work towards repaying your student loans.

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5 Lifelong Financial Planning Benefits for Young Professionals

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5 Lifelong Financial Planning Benefits for Young Professionals

So, how can an up and coming professional continuously benefit from working with a financial planner?

Beyond technical skill and the initial planning process, I believe there are five core ways a financial advisor can provide value.

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Food for Thought: 401k's and Burritos

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Food for Thought: 401k's and Burritos

I work with and know many young professionals. One of the things I’m certain they hear about often is the importance of 401k’s. Whether or not they have a good understanding of them is a different question. However, there is one thing I’m absolutely certain young professionals do know and understand: Chipotle burritos. I’m about to use the latter to explain the former. I hope you’re impressed.

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Tips For Medical Professionals With Student Debt

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I was featured in an article from goodcall.com. They asked me for some tips medical professionals could use to manage their student debt. Here's what I offered:

There are a few basic tips for medical students who graduate with a large amount of debt:
  • Consider working for a non-profit institution. Your government loans could be eligible for forgiveness after 10 years of service.
  • Look into refinancing your private loans. There a few online lenders offering low rates on student loan refinances, especially to high income earners.
  • Don't be paralyzed by the huge number. You have to start systematically working them down. Even if it's only an extra $100 a month, it'll make a difference.

Check out the full article here.