Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with $

Shall I get greedy or follow my heart?

saxamo — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:15:20 -0800

It it worth it for me to put an amount of money into an immediate fixed annuity and take out a loan to pay for tuition, or is it alright to just pay off my tuition with the money available to me. Hello, yet another question on tuition unlike those in the past. I realize the best person to speak to would be a financial planner, but I don't think the amount is enough to warrant an independent planner.

I'm currently still in college and I have 34K in CD's that will mature very shortly. I have taken out a loan last year and I want to do everything I can do to prevent doing that again. I strongly want to minimize the amount of debt I graduate with.

I am being offered an immediate fixed annuity on the 34K which will lock up the principal for five years and give me a payout on the interest every quarter. If I do this, I will undoubtedly have to take out loans for my remaining years in school. I am weary of the annuity for this reason, along with the fact that they grant high commissions.

What I would like do is to simply use this money to pay for the rest of my education. No harm in that, right? Put it in a high yield savings account and take it one year at a time. Can anyone give me a reason why this would be a bad idea or otherwise work against me?

I've been told that this is not necessarily the best way of handling my money, and that I should try and gain capital off of it while I'm in school so that I can make a down payment on an apartment or car or whatever when I graduate. I feel that a large sum upon graduation that will probably just go to my loans would not help me much.

Is there any alternative? Is it imperative that I rapidly try to accumulate more wealth on this sum of money and dive further into debt, or is it okay to spend it on my tuition with less stress upon entering the "real" world.

Help with student loan

Black_Umbrella — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:17:05 -0800

I am looking for the best general student loan company. What are your experienes with specific student loan companies? So I have managed to pay for the first 4 years of my 5 year program. But now I am completely broke so I need a student loan.

I have talked to a financial officer at my school who more or less said "most are good". What I would like from the hive are some of your experiences with specific loan providers.

Perhaps you may even know the "best of the best" loan providers if you have recently spent time researching this.

My permenent address is considered to be Maryland and my school is located in New Jersey.

I already recieve federal perkins and direct loans.

Misc. Information:
I NEED the loan to cover everything...i.e.: food, housing, books, tuition, etc

I just put myself into credit card debt by flying back to my school from Australia (study abroad). Can I increase my loan to pay off this debt and consolidate it under a better APR?

Am I allowed to increase my loan by a few grand, 3K - 4K, for my own personal use during my last year? Most will be spent on drinks, concerts and the occasional weekend trip - so not exactly a school expense, just a little NECESSARY relaxation.

NO $

raaka — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 02:31:00 -0800

How much economic activity did New Orleans generate? There's going to be a big fat hole in the economy regardless of any of other effects of the hurricane. I'd like to now the dollar amount.