SoFi Blog

Chiara McPhee and Jen Kessler are great friends and the owners of San Francisco-based Bizzy, a startup offering a state-of-the-art email marketing platform for ecommerce businesses in varied industries and stages. They each refinanced student loans with SoFi, and they’re members of our Entrepreneur Program, which not only allowed them to defer their student loan payments for up to 6 months, but also provides access to valuable mentors and investors. Read about how they grew their friendship into a business and made it past a near-crippling initial failure to success.

Welcome to our new 3 People series, where we meet three professionals from diverse backgrounds, cities and careers, who open up about their finances, careers and overcoming student loan debt. Each person’s financial picture, student loans, and repayment strategy differs; however, each refinanced their student loans through SoFi to take control of student debt and pay off their loans faster.

The years following undergrad or grad school are filled with opportunities for you to own your career. Unfortunately for many, along with honing skills and making great connections comes a not-so-fun task: paying down student loan debt. On the plus side, since student loans represent investments in your future, they’re considered “good debt.” Yet, recent statistics put nearly 40 million Americans (including approximately 70% of bachelor degree recipients) in debt with student loans totaling about $1.2 trillion.

It’s hard to keep track of the many scandals that have shattered consumer faith in companies over the years. Negative buzz and outright crimes have caused prominent companies to crash and burn. But one of the things that can help prevent misdeeds, missteps, and outright company failure is trust. Building a culture of confidence strengthens business relationships, improves morale, and boosts interactions with clients, colleagues, and vendors.

Here at SoFi, our career strategy team is committed to helping your career flourish. Last week, we introduced our “Fundamentals for Career Success” series by focusing on your inner strength and developing resilience.  This week, we’re sharing more must-haves for your success and happiness by focusing on others and building meaningful relationships.

Is financial stress keeping your employees up at night? If your employees are highly educated, they probably have student loans. Lots of student loans. That debt, along with other money worries, could mean they’re suffering from financial stress—and that anxiety can cost your business big bucks.

ING U.S. Inc. (now Voya Financial Inc.) reported in early 2014 that employee financial stress costs businesses an average of $5,000 per employee, per year. The good news: it’s now easier than ever to help employees struggling with financial stress. Welcome to a new era of financial wellness programs and benefits that truly make a difference in employee performance and productivity.