I spoke to a friend yesterday who was smart enough to get a pharmacy degree that pays awfully well. However, she’s racked up a ton of student loans and it seems like she’ll be paying them for quite a while.[Not because she doesn’t make enough, but because buying a new luxury car and travelling to exotic locations takes preference!]. I was lucky enough not to have any student loans. I graduated with about $3500 in credit card debt and that was it. My parents paid for some of it and Northern Telecomm paid for the rest. As usual I was deemed the financial expert to ask about consolidation and funnily enough I knew more about it than my friend did.

• You can only consolidate your loans once, and thats it
• If interest rates are going down, wait to consolidate
• They calculate the weighted average of all the loans and add a margin on to it
• You can consolidate at any bank or credit union and the terms are usually all the same, regardless of where you go
• Many lenders will lower the interest rate after you’ve made on-time payments for 3 or 4 years, so it helps to be regular
• As they say, “A penny saved is a penny earned!”.

What does this have to do with making money??? Until you get out of consumer/student debt, you’re not in a good position to build wealth. So thats the first step in making money!