massive student loan debt
to preface i am a 26 year old who just graduated pharmacy school in may. my forbearance ends next month. my total debt including interest is sitting at approx $350k with my highest interest loan sitting at 9.08%. im lucky enough that i only had to take federal loans other than one 10k private which i can handle paying off. so far i have put $2000 towards my loans but know i should be putting more towards them.
my initial plan was an IDR but i spoke with another pharmacist who made a great point saying there is no guarantee that my balance with actually be forgiven in 20 years. even with the IDR i was just looking at my payment schedule and it seems there is a time period where i will be paying more than $3.7k for 120 payments. all this being said i am trying to make the best financial decision in whether i should just start putting large amounts of money towards my loans.
its scary knowing that i could be putting half my monthly income towards my loans, but want the peace of mind knowing that i dont have them. im currently saving approximately $3.2k a month in between savings accounts and investment accounts outside of my 401k. it just seems like an impossible amount to tackle when i look at the numbers.
where would you start?