Arden Missal and her husband, Jordan.
Courtesy of Arden Missal
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Arden Missal, a 30-year-old physician's assistant and blogger based in Jupiter, Florida. It has been edited for length and clarity.I'm a physician assistant working in psychiatry in Florida. When I finished PA school in 2022, I had over $150,000 in student loans. After taxes, it was about two years' worth of my take-home pay.A lot of personal finance books told me the same thing: make the minimum payments, invest the rest, and stay in debt for a decade or more because my interest rate was relatively low. On paper, that made sense.When I ran the numbers, I realized that if I followed that advice, I would have a negative net worth for five years. I'd be making a six-figure income, matching my 401(k), maybe investing in the market, maybe upgrading my apartment, or going on vacation — and all the while, I'd be completely broke.That felt completely backward to meI decided that paying off my debt as quickly as possible would be best for me. I wanted to be debt-free, believed it was possible for me, and didn't want to wait five years to have something to show for all my hard work.When I mapped it out in Excel, I realized I could be out of debt in under two years. I ended up paying off all $150,000 in 16 months.I asked myself: what could I live without for two years?I started my plan in September 2022. I stopped spending money on anything that wasn't life-sustaining. I started cutting my hair at home. I switched from wearing contact lenses every day to wearing glasses, which saved me about $800 a year. I cut out vacations for 18 months.
