SoFi Blog

Articles about the benefits of attending college typically focus on traditional situations where students live on, or right next to college campuses—and benefits of full college-campus experiences are numerous. But, there are also plenty of benefits when commuting to college and here we’ll look at seven of the most important of them.

Before we begin, though, we want to create a definition of this type of student. What is a commuter student, really? Traditionally, people think of students who live in dorm rooms as the ones who are heavily involved in campus life, but what about students who live nearby in an apartment? These students may also be immersed in campus life.

There are a lot of fun things to spend money on. Retirement does not always feel like one of them. Setting money aside for retirement is hard to do, but it’s truly a great gift that you can give yourself.

Your retirement has the potential to be one of the greatest times of your life—imagine taking your family on a European vacation, eating fantastic food, and reading all the books you never had time to read. It’s possible, but it all depends on how much money you save and invest.

The average person isn’t saving enough to live out their golden years in style. One study, by Vanguard , shows that the average (median) person has only $26,000 in retirement savings.

If you haven’t made an IRA contribution for 2018 and are looking to ramp up your retirement savings rate, you’re in luck: You can contribute up to $11,500 to your IRA by April 15, 2019 .

“Retail therapy” is a tongue-in-cheek phrase people often casually toss about, referring to the good feeling that can arise through shopping, a feeling that is often (but not always) short-lived. (This isn’t, it should be noted, an actual form of therapy!)

Sometimes, people pursue shopping therapy when they need to cheer themselves up, whether after a romantic breakup, a bout with the flu, or a tough day at the office. Other times, this kind of pseudo-therapy is used to celebrate a special occasion, perhaps a promotion at work or an engagement announcement.

This post will explore the psychology behind shopping for pleasure, versus shopping strictly for what you need. We’ll delve into ways in which retail therapy can be harmless and may be a release, along with some potentially negative impacts.

We’ll share tips on creating a budget that helps allow room for purchases that make you smile, as well as ways to free up your cash flow, and a strategy aimed to help dig yourself out of credit card debt that can arise with over-enthusiastic spending.

Created by Greg Glassman, CrossFit is an insanely popular fitness regimen. And like other workout programs, it takes planning, discipline, and commitment to reap the benefits of your hard work. The same is true, psychologically speaking, with managing your debt, as it also takes a similar sense of commitment and disciplined approach.

In both types of goals—fitness and financial—it’s great to first dream big. That’s what brings the excitement to the process, fueling your motivation to succeed. All big successes start with that big dream.

Next come the concrete, practical steps needed to achieve those dreams, making them your reality. In this post, we’ll discuss four things we know about CrossFit lessons that can also help with debt management. We’ll also look at how to manage a specific type of debt—student loans—sharing a smart way to potentially lower your interest rate, as well as describing how you might be able to pay less interest over the life of your student loan.

Millions of Americans are facing the realities of living with debt, as it continues to rise with record-breaking speed. High education costs, home loans, and rising credit card debt mean that most young families are juggling kids, career, and debt. For many, that balancing act quickly becomes overwhelming, with stress about bills and financial health eating away at their overall quality of life.

As debt rates rise, so do concerns about how debt and financial anxiety may impact mental and physical health. Feeling panicky about getting another bill in the mail and lightheaded when you see your account balance drop after your monthly student loan payment aren’t just symptoms of being a millennial, they may actually be symptoms of debt.

Research shows that your balance owed can negatively impact your sense of well-being, potentially causing a variety of emotional and physical issues. The bottom line is that the more stressed you are about debt and finances, the worse you’re probably going to feel overall, both physically and mentally.