college Archives - Empathic Finance

How I paid off my $40,000 in student loans

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on August 7, 2023 | Featured

The true story of how I paid off my student loans, and the tricks I used to make it happen more easily and quickly. … Read More

Tags: college, private loans, Sallie Mae, student loans

What if your community isn’t supportive of your growth?

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on June 1, 2020 | Featured

If your family or people you love don’t want you to change or grow, you have to help them along, or find your chosen family. Last time, I talked about David, who was at a crossroads in his life: start … Read More … Read More

Tags: college, community, support

My take on Dave Ramsey’s 7 Baby Steps (Part 2, Baby Steps 4-7)

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on October 25, 2018 | Featured

This post is part of a two-part series: My take on Dave Ramsey’s 7 Baby Steps (Part 1, Baby Steps 1-3b) My take on Dave Ramsey’s 7 Baby Steps (Part 2, Baby Steps 4-7) In my last post, I talked … Read More … Read More

Tags: college, Dave Ramsey, debt, investing, mortgage, wealth

Would I have done college differently if I had wanted to avoid debt?

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on July 7, 2016 | Featured

I’m annoyed when I think about debt. It’s a thing that I want to get away from, like a snoring person in the room, or a screaming baby on the plane. I want it gone. When I was in high school, … Read More … Read More

Tags: college, reflection, student loans

You are no longer allowed to say you didn’t know your college degree wouldn’t pay off

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on July 30, 2015 | Featured

College tuition in the US rises somewhere in the vicinity of 7% a year. Wage inflation rises between 1%-4%, depending on the source you consult and how good a year we’re having. This is clearly, mathematically unsustainable. You don’t … Read More … Read More

Tags: affordability, college, economics, millennials, planning

How to do college wrong

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on July 27, 2015 | Featured

There were parts of college that I did pretty stupidly. I mean, I guess everyone is stupid in college in some way, but I mean that I made some decisions (or rather, didn’t make some decisions) that I would … Read More … Read More

Tags: college, planning, plans, sarcasm

A conversation about debt

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on July 8, 2013 | Featured

(My friend Saul of Hearts recently posted an article about his experiences with leveraging debt. As I thought it was an interesting take on a subject that I have some strong feelings about, we talked about me writing a response … Read More … Read More

Tags: college, debt, Los Angeles, risk, Saul of Hearts

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