New Grad: What's the best way to attack my debt/plan for the future?
Just for context, I went back to school for Physical Therapy and just finished. Currently 37 y/o male living with girlfriend. I have student loan debt that I plan to hammer away at, but I want to be smart with where my money goes.
- Salary: 100k, but also looking to add per diem work and cover for coworker's vacation times. After taxes and everything I am taking home around $2600 every 2 weeks.
- Student loan: $50,000 (8% interest) The student loan hasn't kicked in looking for payments yet, but I estimate it will be a hair under $600 a month.
- Rent + Util = $1250 (but my state/area is HCOL otherwise)
I want to pay off my loans quick. My company offers $5200/year for up to 4 years. If I pay off the loan early, the rest is sent over as a sign on bonus (yeah it sucks to lose some of it to tax but I hate having debt).
The main goal is to safe up for a 2BR condo
- Somewhere between $350,000-$450,000.
- I currently have $12,000 saved up so far for down payment, additional costs (she has around $5000)
- We are not house people or plan to have children.
- In my area these typically have a $400-1200 HOA range.
- Credit score is good (around 780-800 which I hope improves as the loan goes down).
- I don't realistically see myself making a move for another 2-3 years at the least between saving and paying off the loan, unless it makes sense to go in on something for whatever reason.
The main thing I want people's thoughts on are how I should split my income. Should I go heavy on the student loan and knock it out just outright? Right now my game plan is $2000 at the loan, $1000 into my HYSA. Any way to better attack this, or should I throw more at my savings for the home and let the loan slide for now paying only the monthly? Should I be waiting for a crash or a shot that interest rates drop? Any other way you guys would attack this?