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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm a 5th year. I have a net worth of around $0. My student loan balance is barely better than when I graduated, but my house equity + retirement is now worth more than my debt, so at least I have that.

So no, no "significant net worth." I'm trying to leave now but my offers have been too low to swallow. [/quote]

I'm not in Law at all.  Curious what someone at your level makes (salary + bonus) and how much debt you started off with.  Have a kid who wants to be a lawyer but the picture you paint seems scary.[/quote]

NP -- these days a 5th yr has to be around 300k or close to it (my guess -- I left a few yrs ago before the latest round of raises). I'm more curious about the debt -- how much did you start with that you've barely made a dent in 5 years? And is it low interest debt? I imagine the max amount of debt anyone could have would be around 500k -- at 70k/yr for 4 yrs undergrad + 3 law assuming you went private for all of it and didn't receive a single $ of grant money or parental help.[/quote]

PP said that their loan was 160K to start with.  Paying off over 5 years would have been about 40K/yr (once you build in interest) or about 3K/month once you factor in interest.

Kinda hard to say if it's a big deal or not depending on your other commitments.

[/quote]

You're right that, if I had paid $3k/mo toward my loans from year one, I could be debt-free today. I know people who made paying off the debt their sole focus and are close now. I had to pay for childcare and chose to pay into retirement and DP savings instead. [/quote]

So in retrospect your capital allocation decision turned out to be good.  The markets were rising over the last few years you were socking money away and your return is better than what you would have gotten if you were paying off your loans.  More luck than anything else but it worked out.[/quote]

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