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Zero Based Budget template is a zero budgeting plan that helps you break down your expenses into categories. It provides an easy way to create budgets and track the spending in each category over time.

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Zero based budgeting is a process where every dollar that comes in goes to the number one priority.

It’s an effective way of prioritizing your money and executing properly, but it can be hard to know where to start when you are just getting started with this new system.

Budgeting can be a nightmare when you don’t have the mindset and tools to make it easier.

So many people struggle with money- they are overspending on things their family doesn’t need or doesn’t enjoy, which causes stress in their lives. But if your goal is financial freedom, it’s time to learn about a new budgeting system.

If you have a desire to:

  • Spend less than you make
  • Get out of debt
  • Save money faster
  • Become financially independent

Then, you are in the right place! Let how easy and simple zero based budgeting really is!

Decide what you want your budget to achieve: a zero-based budget forces you to think about what you want your money to do, rather than just accepting the status quo.

If you want to use zero based budgeting but aren’t sure where to start, this article will guide you through setting it up in an easy and effective way.

Zero Based Budget template is a zero budgeting plan that helps you break down your expenses into categories. It provides an easy way to create budgets and track the spending in each category over time.

What is zero based budgeting?

Zero based budgeting is a financial planning strategy where every dollar in the budget has a specific purpose. With this type of budget, it can be helpful for those looking to get their finances in order or who want more control over their spending.

A zero based budget is when you start from scratch every month and assign every dollar a job.

Income – Expenses = $0

You begin by calculating your income for the month, then subtracting your known expenses. What’s left is $0, which means you have to get creative with how you’ll spend the rest of your money.

You can use a zero based budget template to help make this process easier.

What are the benefits of using a zero based budget template?

Picture of a monthly budget for zero based budget

There are many benefits to using a zero based budget template.

Perhaps the most obvious benefit is that it allows you to see where every penny is going. This comprehensive view gives you a clear picture of your expenses and makes it easy to identify areas where you can cut back on spending.

In addition, using a zero based budget helps individuals worry less about their financial health. Since all living expenses are accounted for in the budgeting process, there is no need to panic if an unexpected expense pops up. This peace of mind can be very helpful when trying to stick to long-term financial goals.

A zero based budget template is also easy to follow. The basic plan can be executed without any difficulty, making it a great choice for people who want a simple way to manage their finances.

How to create a zero based budget template?

Picture of a notebook that says budget planning to create a zero based budget template

A zero based budget template can be helpful in tracking your money and achieving financial goals.

There are a variety of ways to create a zero based budgeting template, and no one size fits all approach. That is why we offer a zero based budget template in our shop that you can modify to your needs.

There are a few key things you’ll need to create your zero based budget template. The first is a list of your monthly income, expenses, and savings goals for the year. This will help you stay on track and plan ahead.

The next step is to individually itemize each expense and income. This may be time-consuming but it’s crucial in order to get an accurate picture of where your money is going.

After that, it’s important to track your spending and income on a monthly basis. This will help you see if you’re meeting your goals or not.

It is important to choose the proper zero based budgeting template for your needs.

What are the 5 steps in creating a zero based budget?

There are five steps in creating a zero-based budget. This system was made popular by Dave Ramsey.

We will quickly outline the five steps to make your first zero based budget. Then, we will go into detail on creating your own zero based budget.

  1. List your income
  2. List your expenses
  3. Subtract your income from expenses to reach zero
  4. Track your expenses.
  5. Make a new budget for the next month or pay period.

One way to ensure success by following a zero based budget is by taking small steps instead of making large changes all at once–this can be difficult for some people who are used to living paycheck-to-paycheck.

Another suggestion is to allow yourself some “fun money” so that you don’t feel too restricted while trying to adjust your spending habits.

By following these tips and using a zero based budgeting template, you can successfully get yourself back on track financially!

How to Create a Zero Based Budget

A picture of someone working their zero based budget.

Zero-based budgeting is a system of budgeting that has been gaining in popularity since the introduction of personal computers and spreadsheets. It encourages decision-making based on values and not numbers, which is important in a time when numbers are often used to make decisions.

Zero-based budgeting allows you to start with a clean slate and create your own vision of what the future looks like.

You will need to gather all of your financial information together, including your income, debts, and expenses.

Step # 1: List out your income

The first step in creating a zero based budget is to list out all of your income.

This should include job income, side hustles, rental properties, alimony, child support, and investment income. Once you have a complete picture of your income sources, you can start to make decisions about how to allocate your money.

It is important to decide how you plan to budget your money on a monthly basis, bi-weekly basis, or by paycheck.

Step #2: Tally up your expenses

Be sure to include any regular expenses you have as well, such as rent or mortgage payments, car loans, and credit card bills.

Think of all of the budgeting categories you need for absolutely everything.

This will help you track your spending more closely and make it easier to find areas where you can cut back. Some people recommend creating as many budgeting categories as possible, including for example:

  • Housing
  • Utilities
  • Food
  • Transportation
  • Entertainment
  • Health care

If there’s something that doesn’t fit neatly into a category, come up with a name for it that will help you remember what it is. For example, “clothes” or “misc.”

You’ll also need to factor in any debts you may have.

Step #3: Get your budget to zero

Once you have a full list of your expenses, it’s time to subtract that amount from your income. Then, figure out if you are close to zero.

This is where you will likely have to make adjustments.

There are two ways to get your budget to zero- either spend less than you make (aka cut spending) or make more money.

If you want to stay out of debt and save money, it’s important to do one or both of these things. It may be difficult at first, but with a little bit of effort, you can get your budget under control and start saving for the future.

Budgeting is an extremely important tool to have in your financial arsenal. It allows you to have more control over your money and can help you make more of it. By following a few simple steps, you can get your budget to zero and start saving for the future.

Step # 4: Track your expenses

In order to be successful with a zero based budget, you have to be willing and able to track your expenses. This means being mindful of every penny that goes in and out of your account – ALL month long!

By tracking your expenses, you’re ensuring that every penny goes into the right place. This enables you to see where your money is going and how you can save in specific areas.

Expenses tracking apps allow you to easily record, categorize, and analyze your spending. They let you see how much money you spend on different categories of items from groceries to travel and more. Some of the most popular apps are Simplifi, You Need a Budget, and Qube Money.

This also makes tax season less daunting because you’ll have a complete record of all of your transactions.

You can also use this information to refine a realistic budget that works for you.

Step # 5: Make a new budget for each month or paycheck

Creating a new budget every month is an important part of zero based budgeting. This helps ensure that you are always aware of your current financial situation and can make changes as needed.

It is best to create your budget before the month begins, so you have time to adjust as necessary.

A zero-based budget is a great way to get your finances in order. It can be tough to stick to, but it’s worth it because it forces you to pay attention and make adjustments.

This is why the budget by paycheck method has gained popularity in conjunction with the zero based budgeting system.

Tips to Make Your Zero Based Budget Successful

Picture of a budget and cash for tips to make your zero based budget successful.

It can be difficult to stick to a budget, but there are ways to make it happen.

Here are a few quick budgeting tips:

  • Make a list of your necessary expenses and stick to it.
  • Cut back on unnecessary spending.
  • Live within your means.
  • Find cheaper alternatives to your regular expenses.

In addition, here is what you need to make sure your money is spent where you want and not following the status quo.

You need to learn which payment type is best if you are trying to stick to a budget.

Know your End Goal

What do you want your money to do for you?

Too many times, we let life dictate how and where we want to spend money. Then, we are always chasing from behind.

To truly make your money work for you, decide on three core areas you want to spend your money. Then, make your budget reflect those values.

Understand the Flexibility of Zero Based Budget

Zero-based budgeting is a great way to stay flexible with your finances. There are no set rules to follow, and you can adapt as your life changes. The goal is to always be mindful of your spending and make sure that every penny counts.

Unexpected expenses are going to pop up from time to time, so it’s important to have some flexibility in your budget. That way, you can handle these unexpected costs without breaking the bank.

Put Most Important Expenses at the Top

When creating a zero based budget, it is important to start with the most important items and work your way down.

This ensures that you do not miss any essential expenses and that you are able to stick to your budget. It is also important to be realistic about what you can afford and to make sure that you are flexible in case of unexpected expenses.

Put in a Cushion or a Buffer

When starting a zero based budget, it is important to be realistic about what you can and cannot do.

Some people find it helpful to have a cushion in case of unexpected expenses, while others prefer to keep their spending as low as possible. It is important to find what works best for you and stick to it.

Additionally, remember that your goal should be to live within your means, not spend less than you make.

Look Ahead

When creating or following a zero based budget, it is important to be mindful of any upcoming events that may require more money.

This includes things like holidays, birthdays, and special occasions. If you know these events are coming up, you can plan for them in your budget and make sure you have the funds available.

Check out ideas for bill calendar strategies.

Sinking Funds

Picture of a jar with the various sinking fund categories on it.

One of the most important things to remember is that you need to plan for big-ticket items and one-off events. This can be done using sinking funds.

Sinking funds are special savings accounts that are specifically designated for planned expenses.

You put money into the account over time until you have saved enough to cover the expense. This allows you to avoid breaking your budget when something unexpected comes up.

Learn how to use sinking funds.

zero based budgeting Example

Picture of the zero based budget.

Zero based budgeting is a way of organizing your finances in which you spend money only on things that have an actual impact on your financial situation.

This method can help you stay mindful of how much you are spending and where it is going.

It can also help you to make better decisions about what needs to be paid off, saved for, or invested in.

Here is a basic zero based budget example:

Zero Based Budget template is a zero budgeting plan that helps you break down your expenses into categories. It provides an easy way to create budgets and track the spending in each category over time.

Can You Make a Zero-Based Budget With an Irregular Income?

Picture of a lady creating a budget

Zero-based budgeting is an excellent way to manage your finances when you have an irregular income.

Regardless of how much money you earn each month, you can create a budget that will help you save money and make the most of your income. With a zero-based budget, every penny has a purpose and you can be sure that you are making the most of your resources.

It is also helpful to “age” your money by at least one month. That means your April income will be paying your May bills.

The Best Zero Based Budget Templates and Apps

Zero-based budgeting is a methodology of budgeting that starts with the assumption that how much one has at the beginning of each period should be used to purchase only those things needed. This is different from the traditional budgeting practice of starting with how much one has at the end of the last period and using that as a basis for what needs to happen during the next period.

There are a number of zero-based budget templates and apps that are available on the internet. The following seven are some of the most popular:

1. Tiller Money

Tiller Money is a budgeting app that allows you to create a zero-based budget. This means that every dollar in your budget has a specific purpose.

It has a “Foundation Template” feature that allows expenses to be budgeted against goals in order to make sure the amount of money actually spent is at a minimum.

This allows you to create a zero based budget quickly and easily.

You can try Tiller Money for free for 30 days, and the annual cost is $79.

2. Simplifi by Quicken

Simplifi by Quicken is a budgeting app that takes a different approach to budgeting.

Rather than starting with your current income and expenses and trying to adjust them, Simplifi starts with your savings goals and works backwards. This can be helpful for those who have trouble sticking to a budget because it allows you to focus on your financial dreams rather than your current spending habits.

You can set up your own categories, limits, watchlist, and spending plan.

It offers all of the features of Quicken with the added convenience of being able to access it on your phone or tablet.

Another thing that makes Simplifi stand out is that it is ad-free (unlike Mint), which can be helpful if you are trying to stay focused while budgeting.

Enjoy your first 30 days free and then pay as low as $3.99 per month.

3. Qube Money

Qube is an app that helps you create intentional, smart spending habits.

With Qube, you have the freedom to manage your money with real purpose. Qube helps you stay on top of your finances by giving you a clear picture of where your money is going and how much you have leftover each month.

Qube Money is a budgeting tool that helps you manage your money by automatically ledger transactions and allowing you to divvy up your money into qubes. This makes it easy for you to see how much money you have in each category and click to spend.

Get started with Basic for free with 10 qubes. Upgrade to Premium for $6.50 per month.

4. YNAB

You Need a Budget (YNAB) is a popular method of budgeting that requires you to spend money from the previous month’s income. They stress “aging your money” to break the living paycheck to paycheck method.

Each month you start from scratch each month, accounting for all of your income and expenses.

YNAB is best known for its awesome support community and training.

It offers a free trial for 34 days, after which it costs $84 per year.

Best Zero-Based Budget Template For Debt Payoff

It is useful to make a debt payoff plan that starts from the zero level. This will allow you to track your progress and adjust your budget as necessary.

Using Tally is a great tool when paying off debt.

Time for you to Start with the 0 Budgeting Method

A zero based budget is a financial planning strategy where every dollar in the budget is assigned a purpose. This differs from traditional budgeting where the focus is on last month’s spending and last year’s income.

With a zero based budget, you start fresh each month and assign every dollar a job or responsibility. This way, you can ensure that your money is being put to its best use.

When you use a zero based budget template, you are able to track every dollar that you spend.

This comprehensive view gives you a clear idea of where your money is going and where you can cut back on spending. Additionally, using a zero based budget template makes it easy to see if there have been any areas where you could save money.

The best part is you are comfortable knowing that all of your living expenses are accounted for.

This means that you can spend money without worrying about jeopardizing your financial health.

Know someone else that needs this, too? Then, please share!!

Source: moneybliss.org

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This woman retired early at the age of 28 with $2.25 million and still lives an incredibly luxurious life. Here's how she reached early retirement.

This woman retired early at the age of 28 with $2.25 million and still lives an incredibly luxurious life. Here's how she reached early retirement.

I’ve recently decided to start a new series where I interview people who are doing extraordinary things with their lives. First up, I have JP Livingston, who retired at age 28 with a net worth of $2.25 million. And, her net worth is still increasing!

Of that total, 60% of her net worth came from saving, while 40% came from growing her money through investing. This is why investing your money is so important, and it’s how you really allow your money to grow for you!

JP grew up listening to stories about financial insecurity during her parents’ upbringing. The freedom that early retirement brought really appealed to her, and who doesn’t want to retire early anyways?

She is now retired at the young age of 28 and says that she still lives “an incredibly luxurious life.” And, she managed to retire early while living in one of the most expensive places in the world – New York City.

Related articles:

I asked you, my readers, what questions I should ask JP. And, make sure you’re following me on Facebook so you have the opportunity to submit your own questions for the next interview.

So, below are your questions, along with some of mine.

Here is how JP Livingston retired at the age of 28 with over $2,000,000. You can follow her on her blog The Money Habit as well.

1. Tell me your story. How did you manage to retire at 28?

I have wanted to retire since I was about 12 years old. My parents grew up poor. I am talking eight people living in a one room apartment poor. My father’s father passed away when he was 18, and his mother who had previously been a homemaker was only able to find a job at a cookie factory. Her dream for my father was that he would be a busboy and eventually work his way up to be a cook in a restaurant.

My mother’s father passed away when she was in middle school; her mother found work as a seamstress at a large garment factory to support a family of six children.

I grew up on stories of their financial insecurity.

When I started thinking about the future, my parents’ refrain to me was that I could be anything I wanted to be, as long as I had a way to financially support myself.

In middle school, we took a survey on our interests and read about different jobs. I loved to write and wanted to be a writer. When I found out how unsteady the income was for a writer, though, I was demoralized. I decided that if I couldn’t support myself financially by being a writer, I would find a way to retire instead, Then I’d have the freedom work on whatever I wanted, including all the writing I could handle. So I started reading personal finance books.

I learned that you don’t have to be a genius or have special skills to retire early. A habit of making small and regular improvements trumps even the most gifted people who only apply themselves sporadically.

The tactics I’ve employed include optimizing for pay raises and promotions, living a very minimalist and frugal life, focusing on investing skills, and building analytical skills such as understanding how to build and use spreadsheets to support my investment ideas. I found there was an 80-20 rule to different improvements I could make in my money life: 20% of the improvements accounted for 80% of the results. I’ve been trying to outline those major needle movers on my blog so people don’t waste their time as I did on the things that don’t really matter.

All those incremental improvements stacked up into a humming, healthy machine. When I retired at 28, I had a net worth of $2.25 million and it’s still climbing.

2. How did you reach $2,250,000 in savings by the time you were 28? When did you begin saving?

60% of my net worth came from saving and 40% came from growing my money through investing.

My saving habits started in childhood, which isn’t surprising given my parents’ experiences. But what really upped my game was branching out from a few good habits and awareness to trying to find unorthodox ways to save.

One savings move that went against the grain was graduating college in three years. I earned scholarships to attend a state school for free but I chose a private college which I felt would offer broader opportunities. That private college was incredibly expensive though. So in compromise, I graduated a year early.

The savings from that move was not just the tuition costs, but also a full year of missed earning opportunity. My first job was in finance and paid $60,000, with a promise that that if you stuck it out through the entire year you got a bonus that was almost equal to your base. So that one decision to graduate early caused a nearly $150,000 net worth swing.

That kind of savings so early in life, growing at market rates for 20 years would yield $800,000 by the time a person were 42. That’s enough for some people to retire through one decision alone!

Related: How I Paid Off $40,000 in Student Loans in 7 Months

3. What made you want to retire early?

The freedom is really what appealed to me.

I had a very potent reminder of how important freedom was and how little time I had to enjoy it the year before I retired. There were several deaths and major health scares amongst my loved ones. That made me realize that given my family’s history, I had about 15 to 20 really good years of health that I could count on. Did I want to spend even one more of those years stressed out while working?

4. What sacrifices did you have to make in order to reach this milestone?

I’ve rarely thought of my financial decisions as sacrifices. Rather, they were decisions to purchase one thing over another. If I took my bonus into the store and were deciding between a cool new phone or a camera, I wouldn’t leave feeling like I had “sacrificed” the one I didn’t purchase.

I wanted to buy back my time and my freedom more than I wanted to buy anything else in the store. In short, I’ve looked at this is as an opportunity, not a sacrifice. That does wonders for your motivation and mental health.

There is an excellent book that I think provides one of the best frameworks to thinking this way. It’s called Your Money or Your Life, written by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez. The general concept is this: take the amount of money you make in a year. Subtract out all your work-related expenses. Now take that balance and divide it by the number of hours you work. That gives you the amount of money you are exchanging per hour of your life. With that metric, you could estimate how many hours of your life a purchase would cost rather than dollars.

Once you start looking at your purchases this way, you will want to buy much less. And investing will start to look amazing to you! It’s a magical way to get more of your life back, because those dollars can go to work in your place, earning you money while you sleep.

5. Would you say that you live comfortably?

I think we live an incredibly luxurious life. There’s still a ton of fat we could cut.

6. What career did you have before you retired? Did that career help you to retire earlier?

I was a professional investor at a finance firm and it definitely helped me to retire earlier. I got really lucky that it ended up being so lucrative; I initially planned on it being a two year stint at most. But the work kept getting more interesting and the pay got better. The frameworks we used for investments also helped me think about my own investment decisions for my personal portfolio.

7. What do you have to say to those who may think that they can never earn as much as you can – can they still retire early too?

They can absolutely retire early!

To me this is the whole point of why the personal finance blogosphere exists. None of us have identical circumstances and identical outcomes. Your childhood may have been more or less advantaged than mine. Your lucky breaks might be better or worse than the ones I experienced. But the absolute truth is this: the you that is making consistent, small improvements over time to your money plan is going to easily accumulate 5x the wealth of the you that isn’t.

It’s not hard to retire early in this country because the bar is so low. The average age of retirement in the US is age 63. After 41 years in the workforce the average 63-year-old couple has a total net worth of $174,000 to show for it. That works out to just over $4,000 of savings per year; less if you assume any investment growth.

8. What do you do now that you’re retired?

The best thing I can do is show you. Here was my actual calendar from a recent week:

This woman retired early at the age of 28 with $2.25 million and still lives an incredibly luxurious life. Here's how she reached early retirement.

This woman retired early at the age of 28 with $2.25 million and still lives an incredibly luxurious life. Here's how she reached early retirement.

Broadly speaking, I have one major project – a personal finance site I write to help others retire early – which I work on for about 10 hours a week, then the rest of the time is filled with hobbies, reading, and being out in the city.

It is amazing how enjoyable the mundane things are when you are not too stressed out to notice them.

9. Many people will have this question in the comments of this interview, I just know it! – Can you explain how you will make $2,250,000 last your whole life, even though you are only 28?

That’s a great question.

My plan is based on data gathered by the Trinity Study. This study calculated that if deployed in a portfolio of stocks and bonds, an inflation-adjusted 4% yearly withdrawal rate from savings was optimal to safely retire and not work for a given 30-year window in the history of the United States.

Thus, if your annual expenses is equal to that 4% yearly withdrawal rate, the idea is that it is very unlikely you will run out of money in a 30-year period.

However, I have some concerns about the riskiness of that 4% figure. For one thing, my retirement is expected to be much longer than 30 years. In addition, if you look at stock market performance in the last 20 years, the compound annual growth rate was 8.2%, almost 2 points lower than the CAGR shown in the period the Trinity Study originally measured. For these two reasons, I plan to live off a stock and bond portfolio withdrawing an inflation-adjusted 3%.

3% of my $2,250,000 would give me $67,500 a year. My husband and I currently spend $65,000 a year living in one of the most expensive cities in the world. That means we could support our current lifestyle almost indefinitely.

But one of the hard parts about retiring so early is that you have to plan for chapters of life that could look drastically different than today. Having children, for example. So before I pulled the trigger, I built a projected budget for a family of 4 to calculate how much I would need to support a family. I did this with empirical data, researching what actual families of four paid for the service in the city I was considering.

This woman retired early at the age of 28 with $2.25 million and still lives an incredibly luxurious life. Here's how she reached early retirement.

This woman retired early at the age of 28 with $2.25 million and still lives an incredibly luxurious life. Here's how she reached early retirement.

The nest egg required to support this budget is $2.23 million, which is within our means.

With early retirement specifically, I think it’s also comforting to walk through your other margins of safety that don’t show up in the budgeting process. Here are a few in our case:

  • Conservative Withdrawal Rate: We are using a withdrawal rate some would argue is half to one percentage point more conservative than needed. That would equate to overstating my nest egg needs by over $400,000.
  • Extra Buffer: We have an extra one hundred thousand dollar buffer that will grow over time and which will absorb costs we haven’t foreseen (i.e. higher healthcare premiums, poor market performance for a year, etc.).
  • Full-Time Work: Either of us could go back to work full time.
  • Income-Earning Hobbies: One or both of us might end up doing a hobby that generates money
  • Tighten Discretionary Purchases: $9,700 or 19% of our annual budget is discretionary and we could tighten our belts in a particularly rough year just as every other family does.
  • ACA Healthcare Savings: We have not factored in any ACA subsidies even though our income in this budget would qualify us.
  • Market Outperformance: Markets could do better than we’ve projected. We require a blended 5-6% return (3% withdrawal, 2-3% inflation). We could easily see market CAGR of 8%+ as evidenced by historical data.
  • Home Equity Loans/Reverse Mortgage: We can draw cash out through a home equity loan if we have a temporary cash crunch or use a reverse mortgage in our old age.
  • Profit-Share Grants: My profit-share grants from my previous employer may be worth greater than the $0 we’ve estimated.

10. Do you still earn an income?

Not currently.

I am not ruling out a traditional job one day, but it would be about finding interesting work and less about the money. My goal right now is to create a place that helps other folks get smarter about money and retire faster, so I might do some freelance writing outside of the blog. But I don’t want to have left one job just to jump into another!

As for other forms of income: I do have some deferred compensation from my old employer. And although my husband could retire as well, he likes what he is doing and continues to work.

11. How did you decide on how much you needed to retire on?

I was a professional investor and the way we used to make our investment decisions was to build out various scenarios, observe the outcomes, and attach a probability to each. I did a similar exercise for determining how much I needed to retire. I used three scenarios to triangulate on a target number. There’s a walk through on the three scenarios which anyone can use to determine their own target retirement number over here.

12. If you were starting back at ground zero, what would you do differently from the beginning?

Two things:

  1. Put Momentum First: I would focus on building momentum more than trying to muscle my way through things with sheer discipline. Most people’s initial reaction to starting a new project is to throw themselves all in. I get emails asking me what book I’d recommend people buy to turn their financial lives around. But think about how you got into your other hobbies. Did you run out and buy a book about proper free-throw technique to get into basketball? Were you consulting a textbook to get into yoga? If the key to millions of dollars is showing up every day and making small improvements, then the key to your success is figuring out how to build momentum in those early days that will get you showing up regularly. That means less of a focus on running out and buying dry, boring textbooks and more effort on joining blogs or forums with bite-sized, regular content where you can start to get your bearings and get interested.
  2. Tackle The Right Steps In The Right Order: There are four steps to early retirement, and tackling them in the right order really accelerates your progress. I wish I had thought deliberately about how the levers in front of me were changing and better prepared myself for the different stages. I’ve missed a lot of great opportunities because I was so focused on the things that had been working for me in the past that I didn’t look up and think about the new opportunities open to me as my wealth accumulated. For example, I wish I had understood the math behind investing in high-appreciation real estate markets year ago. If I had, I would have bought a house in NYC years ago and be $500k richer.

13. Is retiring everything you thought it would be or not as you planned? Do you ever miss work? 

It is a hundred times better than I thought it would be. I will admit there was a learning curve at first. But these days, I often tell my family that I am living a version of my dream life. If you had known me before I retired, you would have found that statement astonishing.

If there is one thing I miss about work, it’s regular interaction with smart and thoughtful people. Since I started the blog, though, I’ve gotten quite a bit of that back. So overall I’m quite happy!

14. Lastly, what is your very best tip (or two) that you have for someone who wants to reach the same success as you?

Ask questions. Be the active commenter on a blog or the vocal one at the cocktail party. Be courageous enough to cold-email the people you know have the answers you need. You can learn so quickly if you’re willing to put yourself out there. People are generous with their experience if you show you’ve done your homework and ask them specific things that make it easy for them to help you.

“Why?” is your most powerful tool. If someone tells you investing in X is the way to go, ask why, and pepper them with all the potential concerns you can think of. Then go find another smart person and ask them why X is a good or a bad idea. Go back to the first and pose the second person’s counterargument and ask them to respond. Introduce another expert. Repeat until you feel you understand the issue backwards and forwards. This is hands down the best way I’ve found to master a concept.

Focus on habits and systems, not results. You can make yourself feel really good by muscling through a one week sprint with discipline and admiring what you accomplish. But really impressive results take weeks and years of focused effort. I have seen a lot of amazing people in college and at my old employer, and the thing that separates the average from the incredibly successful is really just who has figured out how to put out consistent effort.  No one has discipline to last in a marathon like this without building the right systems and habits.  Show up every day and do one small thing to improve the thing you’re measuring. If you do this, you will be among the top 5% of achievers. Over time you will build a system that will trump any specific lucky breaks or windfalls, and it will get you to financial success you deserve.

Are you interested in retiring early? Why or why not?

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Source: makingsenseofcents.com

Apache is functioning normally

How to take a good rental property listing photo

“Invest during a pandemic? Are you crazy?”

That’s a reasonable question. Why would anyone want to invest in a volatile market and in the midst of economic uncertainty?

But recessions create opportunities. Yes, it’s terrible that millions have lost jobs and suffered huge portfolio losses, but the unfortunate reality is recessions happen. Like it or not, this is our current situation. By looking at the market and asking “what opportunities can I find?,” we contribute to the recovery.

We contribute to the recovery in all types of investments: stocks, real estate, side hustles.

When we buy stocks, we infuse capital into companies that we believe in and/or into the market as a whole.

When we buy, renovate and rent properties, we create jobs for contractors, agents and property managers and we offer our tenants a safe, comfortable and well-maintained home.

When we start a side hustle, we build products or services that thrill our clients and create jobs for our team.

When we invest, we participate in the recovery. Recessions are an unfortunate fact of life, but they carry a silver lining. And for newbie investors in particular, recessions can open the door.

Unfortunately, during times of uncertainty, many people surrender to their fear of investing. They sit in cash until it’s too late.

To be clear, I’m not talking about people who don’t have the capital to invest. If someone is financially unstable — if they lack an adequate emergency fund, for example, or if they’re buried in high-interest credit card debt — then they should be applauded for focusing on the fundamentals first. Build the foundation; everything else rests on that.

But many financially stable people will sit on excess piles of cash.

I get it. Investing is scary during a recession.

It’s normal to feel scared of buying index funds, only to watch them drop the next day. It’s natural to feel scared to start a side hustle, when you know this is a tough time for small businesses. It’s normal to feel scared about buying a rental property; what if your tenants lose their jobs?

But by sitting on too much cash, you miss the opportunity to pick up undervalued deals.

You also miss the chance to start building momentum, so that when the economy starts rebounding, you’re already established. You’ve started the side hustle. You own the rental property. You’re not scrambling to get started after the recovery is underway; your projects are in place.

You might not have enough cash to buy cheap assets at this moment. That’s okay. Focus on the fundamentals (like building an emergency fund) and don’t worry.

If you’re fortunate enough to be able to invest, though, don’t sit out this opportunity due to fear.

We discussed stocks at length in this podcast episode, and we talked broadly about how to finish 2020 financially stronger than you started in this episode.

In this article, we’ll focus on real estate.

Should you invest in rentals during a pandemic? Might we see another housing crash, 2008-style? Is this a good time to buy? To sell? Let’s explore.

“Is the real estate market going to crash again?”

Have you heard of the availability heuristic?

It’s defined as “the tendency to overestimate the likelihood of events with greater ‘availability’ in memory.”

We overvalue examples that can easily come to mind, while we undervalue examples that are harder to imagine or recall.

If something happened recently or if something is emotionally charged, then it’ll easily come to mind. And if it easily comes to mind, we overestimate the likelihood that it’ll happen again.

Prior to the pandemic, the 2008 housing crash was the most recent recession. It comes to mind quickly: it was recent and suuuuper emotionally charged.

And so it’s natural — it’s logically flawed, but natural — to assume that this current recession will resemble the last one, to overestimate the likelihood of another housing crash.

But the factors that led to the 2008 recession (subprime lending, speculative building, shady credit-default swaps) are nothing like the factors that led to the 2020 economic collapse (a deadly virus).

The Great Recession was created by weakness in the housing market. The chain of events in 2008 wasn’t: “a recession struck, therefore home prices collapsed.” It was the opposite: “home prices collapsed, therefore recession struck.”

If you started investing before the 2002 dot-com burst, or if you were already an adult during the 1987 market crash, you’ve experienced bear markets that didn’t coincide with a housing crash. But if you’re under 40, the Great Recession was the first major recession in your adult life.

If that’s your situation, then it’s especially tempting to associate recessions with real estate crashes. After all, as a millennial, 100 percent of the recessions of your adult life — 1 out of 1!! — have been tied to a massive real estate crash.

But that was a dozen years ago. The underlying economic factors are different today.

There may or may not be a temporary slight dip in housing prices. (I doubt it, but it’s possible.) If that happens, clickbait headlines will refer to this minor dip as a “crash,” because that’s eminently more clickable. Don’t be fooled by the phrasing.

Study the housing market. Read the price-per-square-foot declines. Look at the average days-on-market of homes for sale. Scan for the number of new mortgage loan originations. This data will tell you far more than any screaming headline.

“What if my tenants can’t pay rent?”

Let’s look at statistics:

In a normal market, around 20 percent of tenants are late in paying their rent, according to data from the National Multifamily Housing Council, which tracks 11.5 million apartment units nationwide.

In April 2020, that number increased from 20 percent to 31 percent. That’s not as bad as many landlords feared.

  • In normal conditions, 80 percent of tenants pay rent on time, and 20 percent are late.
  • In pandemic conditions, 69 percent of tenants pay rent on time, and 31 percent are late.

But wait! It gets better.

The NMHC surveyed apartment managers again one week later. They found a huge improvement: 84 percent of apartment households paid rent by April 12th.

Tenants might not be able to pay rent on the 1st of the month. But the overwhelming majority — 84 percent — were able to pay after a delay of less than two weeks.

As far as the data shows so far, worries that tenants won’t be able to pay rent have largely not come to pass. Most tenants are still able to pay rent; they just need extra time.

(The NMHC noted that a huge number of apartment managers volunteered to waive late fees or offer flexible payment plans.)

That said, millions of people have been helped by a combination of stimulus checks, enhanced unemployment benefits (which currently provides an extra $600 per week in addition to normal state unemployment benefits), or payroll protection if either they or their employer qualifies for Paycheck Protection Program funds. Will these programs get renewed or extended? What will happen if they don’t? There are many lingering questions, and the future remains to be seen.

The simple truth is that nobody can accurately predict the future. We can look at data about our current situation, and as of now, we know that 84 percent of tenants (out of 11.5 million household units) paid rent within two weeks of its due date. But we do not know if or how that number will change in the future. Variables that cannot be predicted — such as the speed of recovery, the level of government intervention — will play a major role in shaping these answers. We don’t know how those variables will take shape.

The greatest risk is assuming that we know the future. Beware of certainty. Those who pretend to know the future are clinging to security at the expense of honesty and accuracy. Don’t listen to any economic or market projections that are expressed with too much confidence. We don’t have a crystal ball. Nobody knows what the future holds. The wise ones recognize this and accept it.

We cannot state what will happen. We can only state what IS happening. And from that, we make preparations for what is and what might be.

“What risks should I be wary of?”

Of course, there are serious risks ahead. We do not know:

  1. … how long the pandemic and global shutdown will continue.
  2. … how long such a large portion of the population will remain unemployed.
  3. … how many employees have had their hours reduced or accepted a temporary paycut, and how this will reverberate throughout the economy.
  4. … how long the recovery will take.
  5. … whether or not there will be a tragic second wave, or third wave, which triggers an unavoidable second or third shutdown.

How can you approach smart real estate investing in this context?

Here are a few Do’s and Don’ts:

Don’t avoid investing. The people who made that mistake during the Great Recession — those who avoided making new investments from 2009-2012 — missed out on massive, opportunity-of-a-lifetime recovery gains.

Do thoroughly analyze any new rental investment that you’re eyeing. Run a variety of “what if” scenarios on a spreadsheet, crunching the numbers with different assumptions.

What if occupancy rates fell by an additional 10 percent? What if you reduced the rent by 20 percent for the next six months? How would this affect your returns?

In our course, Your First Rental Property, we provide robust, detailed spreadsheets for heavy number-crunching.

We teach our students that the cliché thrown around by other investors — who tell you to “calculate the return” — is too simplistic.

You’re not calculating “the” return; you’re calculating a range of possible returns.

You’re not stubbornly insisting that a given rental property will have an 8 percent cap rate. You’re calculating a range of cap rates in best-case, worst-case and middle-case scenarios.

Unfortunately, there are sellers who will advertise properties as having an “X” cap rate, and there are investors who take that information as a fixed number. That’s baloney.

Properties don’t have a single fixed cap rate; they have a range of cap rates, and we teach our students how to assess this range before they commit to a six-figure investment.

Don’t over-leverage. You don’t need to borrow every penny you qualify to receive.

Ignore the real estate investors who are fixated on cash-on-cash return, a popular formula that inherently rewards overleveraging.

Instead, focus on an investing strategy that prioritizes the property’s cap rate (essentially its dividend stream). This is the investment philosophy and strategy that we teach in our course.

Do maintain strong cash reserves. We teach our students to keep a minimum of three months’ gross rent, which translates to six months of operating expenses.

Don’t jump in without a specific, carefully-thought-out written plan. Before you start investing in rental properties, write your personal investor statement.

Your written investment statement should articulate how many properties you want to purchase, the speed or rate of acquisition, the type of financing you want to use, your ideal debt-to-equity ratio or leverage maximum, the type of neighborhood you want to target, the age and condition of properties you want to purchase, and more.

We provide a fill-in-the-blank template to guide you through this exercise in our course.

Do prepare a variety of ways that you can accommodate tenants who are financially struggling. Here are some examples:

Offer an incentive: 
Offer your tenants one month of free rent — which they can use immediately — if they extend their lease by an additional year.

This is a win-win scenario. You’re spared from the costs of a turnover and vacancy. You pass these savings directly to your tenant.

Waive late fees: 
If your tenant is waiting on unemployment benefits, they may not be able to pay rent on the 1st of the month. That’s fine; they’ll have the money once their benefits arrive.

Offer to waive late fees, under the condition that they stay communicative.

You want to avoid a tenant ‘ghosting’ you, screening and dodging calls from you or your property manager.

You can avert this situation by (1) letting them know you’re flexible and accommodating, and (2) telling them you’ll waive late fees as long as they send you frequent updates about their situation, like a quick text message or email, every two to three days.

Set specific and measurable communication criteria, such as: “Please text me with an update at least once every three days, even if your text is as simple as ‘hey I’m still waiting on my benefits to start’.”

Spread the payments:
Another option? If your tenant is waiting for their unemployment benefits to arrive, offer to spread next months’ payment across the rest of their lease.

Let’s say their rent is $800 per month, and they have 9 more months remaining on their lease. In this example, they would pay $0 next month, and their rent would rise by $100 per month for the remaining 8 months.

The Bottom Line: Recessions are tragic, but they also carry the hope and promise of a recovery. If you have money to invest, don’t let fear hold you back. Invest in the market, start a side hustle, or invest in rental properties. Don’t let another year or two slip by, and then scramble to get a foothold after the recovery is well underway.

Our flagship course, Your First Rental Property, opens for enrollment again on Monday, November 30th.

Learn about the course in this video below, or check out this page for FAQs, testimonials, and your chance to join our VIP waitlist. When you join, you get a free 7-day crash course on the fundamentals of residential real estate investing.

If you’re interested in investing in rental properties and want an A-to-Z guide of everything you need to know, learn all the details here.

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Source: affordanything.com

Apache is functioning normally

May 25, 2020Written By Paula Pant

Photoshopped image depicting Paula as a real estate guru with Lamborghinis driven by cats

You know those flashy “real estate seminar” types, the ones who wear $10,000 wristwatches and flash cheesy Powerpoint slides of their Lamborghini at you? 🙄

Don’t trust them. (I reaaaalllly hope I’m stating the obvious.)

I call them Lamborgurus, driving their Scamborghinis. They can be found lurking in the spotlight, dispensing a blend of platitudes and high-leverage, high-risk speculative strategies from the stages of big hotel chains.

They can be forgiven for being tacky. But not for destroying peoples’ retirements with their shoddy ‘investment’ advice.

Here’s the thing:

Be careful about choosing who you take advice from. This is true in any arena — health, fitness, personal finance, business, real estate, travel. Some teachers are better than others. The slick, sentient-infomercial Scamborghini types offer the most dramatic cautionary example.

But there’s another reason.

Most people who teach or offer advice (on any topic) are good people — great integrity, great heart — but they’re not a good fit.

There’s nothing ‘bad’ or ‘incorrect’ about them; they’re a great fit for someone else. But they hold a philosophy, approach, strategy and framework that’s not right for you.

If you want to learn about index funds, you don’t seek out a day trader.

If you want to learn about asset allocation, you don’t ask the neighbor who’s obsessed with penny stocks.

If you want to learn about financial independence through rental property investing, you don’t seek out the mega-deal, high-leverage, speculative-style instructor.

I made a video about this. You can watch it here.

In the video, I chat about real estate investing, but the big-picture idea applies across topics — including music, art, fitness, cooking, creative writing, nutrition, stock and bond investing, and personal finance 101.

Choose your mentors wisely.

— Paula

Our class, Your First Rental Property, is an 11-week online training that walks you, A-thru-Z, through everything you need to know as a beginner rental property investor. Learn more here, where you can also check out stories from our students and alumni.

If you want to prepare for investing in real estate this year, join our VIP waitlist, where you’ll get a 7-day sneak peek of the material inside the course.

We open enrollment twice a year – once in the spring, and once in the fall. Our students have lifetime access to the course, which includes quizzes, worksheets, spreadsheets, templates, forums, and peer support from small accountability groups.

Our students benefit from learning from our Teachers Assistants (TA’s), all of whom are alumni from our course and successful real estate investors. Students can also bring their questions to me directly during our live Q&A Office Hours calls on Zoom. We will hold Office Hours twice weekly during the 11 weeks, and students and alumni are welcome for life.

P.S. Got questions?

“I’m an out-of-state investor.” “I’m interested in Airbnb.” “I’m househacking.”

Cool. This video explains whether or not the course is right for you.

“Wait … what’s inside the course, exactly?”

This video walks you through everything.

If you’re interested, get more information and join our VIP waitlist here!

Source: affordanything.com

Apache is functioning normally

Landscape photo of Joshua Tree National Park

Kelsey Kaszas loves numbers.

But crunching numbers too much can be a crutch, rather than a tool.

Before she enrolled in Your First Rental Property (YFRP), Kelsey found herself stuck in analysis paralysis. She wanted to invest in rental property, but she kept crunching theoretical numbers without taking action.

“When people talk about how difficult it is to get over analysis paralysis, that is me, that is absolutely me, because I’m such a numbers person,” she said. “I love to analyze every single aspect of something new.”

She’s not alone.

Analysis is great. But analysis paralysis, when overthinking or overanalyzing leads to inaction, is one of the most common obstacles new investors face.

When you’re putting significant savings on the line, analysis paralysis is a normal fear-based response.

But it sidelines you. It shortens your time in the market and the compounding gains that follow.

Kelsey recognized this and enrolled in the course to learn how to rigorously analyze properties without succumbing to analysis paralysis.

She learned how to transform analysis into action.

“You level up your knowledge so much faster than you possibly could have if you were doing this all on your own and trying to figure it out as you go, stumbling through every decision.” — Kelsey Kaszas

The California resident began her search near the opposite coast, in Pittsburgh, Pa.

In 2018, Kelsey was introduced to Pittsburgh by her soon-to-be-wife, whose family lives in the area. She noticed that price-to-rent ratios looked promising, so she used the tactics she learned in YFRP to research the area from afar.

She started looking for off-market deals, including driving for dollars and working with wholesalers — “something I learned about in your course,” she said.

Yet something felt … off.

She decided to take a break and focus on wedding planning. She knew she had YFRP course and community access for life, and she could return to the course for knowledge, support and confidence whenever the time felt right.

Two years later, Kelsey had an epiphany while on vacation in Joshua Tree National Park. This is right, she realized. She wanted to invest in this area in Southern California.

She knew she’d need to be flexible, knowledgeable and innovative to make the numbers work.

Kelsey dove headfirst back into the course, refreshing her real estate knowledge by reviewing every module again. She joined a YFRP mastermind group. She attended Office Hours. She used the spreadsheets and other resources nearly daily.

“The course is just so comprehensive that when you … try to learn it and take all the quizzes and you’re engaging with the course material, you level up your knowledge so much faster,” she said.

She made offer after offer. Most didn’t pan out, but Kelsey was undeterred. She had the support of the YFRP community and the confidence that comes from deeply understanding the numbers.

“The last four months has been nonstop real estate for me,” she said.

The YFRP Analyzing Module features a robust spreadsheet that helped her make well-informed offers. She could calculate how much she’d need to pay for a property in order to get the profit margin she wanted.

During the hottest seller’s market in a decade — early 2021 — she made competitive offers, using tactics she learned in YFRP.

On March 11, 2021, Kelsey closed on her first rental property, located six minutes away from the entrance to Joshua Tree National Park.

We talked to Kelsey on the day of her closing. Here’s what she said:

“There’s so much – so many positive things I could say about my experience with taking the course … and getting to engage with the forums and with people in the mastermind group.”

“Office Hours were huge — getting face-time with you and being able to ask questions as they come up. And I know that’s been big for other people.

“And sometimes I’ll go back and listen to Office Hours recordings, because someone else will have a question that maybe I would have had. And so instead of having to ask it myself, I can just go listen to the recording and the information is all there. That’s support in a way that you wouldn’t really be able to find anywhere else.

“Being able to interact on the forums, and if someone has a question, there’s a whole group of people who are ready to help, ready to answer these questions. I think that really shows what a strong community is being built with every single cohort that goes through the course.”

What’s next for Kelsey? She’s gearing up to renovate her property — as a long-distance investor — and she’s turning to the Renovation Module within the course to support her during this project.

The Renovation Module, she says, prepared her for intense conversations with her contractor, and she’ll be returning to this module repeatedly as she makes renovation decisions from her home in Los Angeles.

Watch Kelsey tell her story:

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Source: affordanything.com

Apache is functioning normally

Pre-qualification is usually the first step in the process for student loan applications. After that, you’ll choose from a list of potential lenders. Then, ideally, you’ll select the one with the best rate.   

But what if you and your pals could contact a single lender for a loan together? Would they be more inclined to reduce their rate? Introducing Juno: a platform that seeks to harness the power of community.   

Juno has created a platform that allows students to band together and leverage their buying power to get the best possible rates on their loans. Juno works with several different lenders to find the best rates for borrowers. 

And because they work with multiple lenders, they can offer more flexible repayment options than most traditional organizations. So, if you’re looking for a student loan, we encourage you to check out Juno and see what we can do for you. Juno is a reliable and trustworthy source for student loans, and most Juno student loans reviews are positive.   

Check out our Juno review below to learn more! 

What’s Ahead:

About Juno Student Loans

Juno was founded in 2018 by two Harvard Business School students shopping for loans to cover their student debt. Their mission is to help reduce the alarming level of student loan debt in the United States. Juno offers competitive rates and terms on its student loans and has various lender options. 

Its founders, Nikhil Agarwal and Chris Abkarians, used negotiation strategies to obtain more affordable loans for their education. They decided to create Juno so other students could benefit from their experience. 

Working with Lenders

In 2022, Juno held an auction to compel lenders to provide the community with the best prices. They spent hours poring over rate tables and spreadsheets to determine which lenders provided the best rates for most borrowers. It allowed them to get the best possible deals for their members and ensured they got the best terms for new student loans as well as refinancing existing student loans. 

Juno charges the chosen lender a pre-determined fixed fee before the start of the agreement. It ensures that Juno will not get tempted by more substantial financial inducements from other companies.   

Offering the community the best pricing is the only way for lenders to prevail in the auction. By providing the community with the best possible pricing, Juno can ensure that it remains the preferred choice for student loans. 

Saving Students Money 

As an authority on student loans, Juno has helped countless students and families save money on borrowing. Juno members have borrowed more than $500 million at reduced rates, making it an ideal go-to source for anyone looking to lower their student loan payments.   

With a wide range of options and expert negotiators on staff, Juno is well-equipped to help you get the best possible terms on your student loans. 

What Loan Types Does Juno Offer? 

Here’s a quick breakdown of the loans you can access. 

Undergraduate Loans: These loans are for students enrolled in an undergraduate program at an accredited institution. 

Graduate Loans: These loans are for students enrolled in a graduate or professional program at an accredited institution. 

MBA Loans: These loans are for students enrolled in an MBA program at an accredited institution. 

Parent Loans: These loans are for parents of dependent students enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program at an accredited institution. 

DACA Loans: These loans are for students with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program at an accredited institution. 

Degree Abroad Loans: These loans are for students enrolled in a degree program at an accredited international institution. 

Student Loan Refinancing: If you have an existing student loan and have already graduated, you may be able to reduce your rates through refinancing.

Now let’s provide some in-depth Juno student loans reviews. 

1. Juno Graduate Loans 

As a graduate student, you want to be sure that you’re getting the best possible deal on your student loans. That’s where Juno comes in. 

Juno is committed to providing the best possible terms for graduate students with credit scores of 650 or above. In addition, they offer a cash incentive and a price match promise to anyone who can find a better private student loan. 

Pros 

  • Free membership 
  • Juno offers the lowest rate guaranteed 
  • No obligation 

Cons 

  • Juno doesn’t work with every lender 

Verdict 

With Juno, you can rest assured that you’re getting the best deal possible on your loan. That’s why they’re the best choice for graduate students looking for a private student loan. 

Get a quote for a graduate student loan 

2. Juno Undergraduate Loans 

Federal Stafford loans are generally the best choice for undergraduates. Still, it’s common for students to need to borrow more than the federal maximum of $5,500 for their first year of school. As an undergraduate student, you may find yourself in need of extra funds to cover the cost of tuition and other associated expenses.   

The cost can be even higher for parents helping their children pay for college. Parent PLUS loans, which the federal government offers, have an interest rate of 7.54% for the 2022–2023 school year and a 4.2% origination charge. That can make them quite expensive for borrowers with good credit. 

Consider a private loan from Juno if you cannot secure additional funding through federal loans. Juno currently offers a notable rate reduction for student loans, which can help families fill the gap after reaching the national lending limit, saving you money in the long run. 

Pros 

  • Low fixed interest rate  
  • No origination fees 
  • Deferment period 

Cons 

  • You can’t see what rates you’ll get before signing up 

Verdict 

Our Juno student loans reviews are overwhelmingly positive for undergraduates. Juno’s undergraduate loans have competitive interest rates and terms that could help you cover most expenses. 

Get a quote for an undergraduate student loan

3. Juno MBA Student Loans 

If you’re looking to finance your MBA, you may wonder if getting a private loan is worth it. Unfortunately, most MBA graduates enter profitable positions not covered by PSLF or IDR policies after graduation.  

So, private student loans can be a great way to finance your education. Juno offers low-interest loans specifically for MBA students, with repayment terms possible starting after graduation. 

Pros 

  • No credit checks involved 
  • You can tap into lower rates 
  • Quick sign-up process 

Cons 

  • Potentially longer approval process 

Verdict 

If you’re looking for a low-interest loan to finance your MBA, Juno could be a good option. 

Get a quote for an MBA student loan

4. Refinancing a Loan Through Juno 

Already taken a loan out? It’s not too late – you can also refinance through Juno. They offer a wide range of services for students and professionals to meet the needs of borrowers. 

Here are our Juno student loans reviews for refinancing. 

If you are looking to refinance your loan, Juno has a few different partner lenders that can help you. Earnest, Splash Financial, and Laurel Road all offer refinancing with periods ranging from 5 to 15 years.   

If you want to refinance medical loans, you will get sent to Laurel Road. However, if you wish to refinance any other loan, Earnest or, Splash is used instead. Juno is an excellent resource for those looking to lower their monthly payments or interest rates on their existing student loans. 

Refinancing plans are available for: 

  • General Student Loan Refinancing 
  • Medical Student Loan Refinancing 
  • Parent PLUS Loan Refinancing 
  • MBA Student Loan Refinancing 

Get a quote for refinancing a student loan

How Does Juno Compare to Federal Loans? 

Juno student loans reviews are slightly different from federal loans. One thing to note is that the government offers federal student loans, while banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions offer private student loans. 

Interest Rates   

Interest rates are another key difference. With a federal loan, interest rates are set by Congress, while the lender sets private student loan interest rates. As of 2022, the interest rate for Federal Direct Subsidized Loans and Unsubsidized Direct Loans is 4.53-6.54%. For federal Grad PLUS Loans, the interest rate is 7.54%. 

Repayment 

Federal student loans offer several repayment options, including income-driven and extended repayment plans. On the other hand, private student loans like Juno typically only provide a standard repayment plan, although some others may offer a comprehensive plan.  

Protection 

Finally, federal loans offer borrower protection. For example, if you become unemployed or have a sudden drop in income, you may be eligible for a deferment or forbearance on your federal student loans.   

These options temporarily allow you to stop or make smaller payments than usual. But, unfortunately, there is no such thing as a deferment or forbearance for private student loans – if you can’t make your payments, you’ll likely default. 

So Which is Best?   

One thing is sure from our Juno student loans reviews: pooling resources can help you secure the lowest loan interest rate guaranteed. Private financing is often considered less flexible than federal support, but Juno is seeking to change this. 

FAQs about Juno Student Loans

Is Juno Legit? 

Yes – Juno’s track record is impressive. Since its founding in 2018, Juno has already had more than 110,000 members sign up to join one of its negotiation groups, and it has secured over $520 million in loans.   

It’s free to use, and you can choose the best option for your needs. So if you’re considering where to get your student loans, check out Juno as a potential option! 

Can I get a scholarship from Juno? 

Yes, Juno provides a $1,000 essay scholarship. Only citizens of the United States may enter, and a winner gets chosen annually. 

Can Juno be used to refinance debts for overseas students? 

Yes! Juno launched a program to help international students refinance their student loans this December. It is the first program of its kind. 

Does Juno require a good credit score?   

No, you don’t need an excellent credit score for a loan — you can get a cosigner to help you get qualified if your credit score is low. A cosigner is usually a parent or other family member who agrees to sign the loan with you (but their score will need to be above 650).   

This way, even if your credit score isn’t good, you may still be able to get the loan you need. When requesting refinancing from Juno without a cosigner, a credit score higher than 650 is advisable. 

What kind of student loan do most people take out?   

The most typical Juno loan is a 10-year loan with a fixed interest rate. However, many parents choose the deferred option, where they don’t make any payments while their children are in school.   

But paying a little while in school to receive a lower interest rate is often the wiser choice. For instance, if you pay $25 per month, you may save a lot of money if you take advantage of the autopay discount. 

Summary

Saving money as a student by using the force of collective bargaining to get lower interest rates is innovative. We’ve looked at Juno student loans reviews. Many students balk at private financing compared to federal funding – this might be the organization that changes the game. 

By pooling borrowers with similar profiles, Juno can negotiate better interest rates with lenders on behalf of its members. And because there’s no cost to use Juno’s services, it doesn’t hurt to try it out and see if you could be qualified for lower interest rates.   

So why not give it a shot today?

Get a quote for a graduate student loan refinance or a new private student loan

Source: moneyunder30.com