SoFi Blog

Getting laid off can send your finances into a tailspin, especially if the pink slip comes without much notice. Whether you are facing temporary unemployment, or are having trouble finding a full-time position for a while, it’s important to think about how you will handle your student loans during this period so that you don’t go into default.

While it’s certainly scary to suddenly be without a job, layoffs are pretty common. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, every year about 21 million Americans lose their jobs due to layoffs and discharges.

If you recently got laid off and are suddenly scrambling to pay your bills, you may wish to consider income-driven repayment plans for your federal student loans or student loan forbearance. Loan forbearance allows the borrower to temporarily stop making payments, or at least reduce the payment amount for a specific timeframe, and can apply under many circumstances, not just unemployment.

April Showers: It Rained IPOs (Plus, Blockbuster Flicks, Streaming and More!)

The ol’ adage about April showers certainly came to fruition this past month, especially in terms of IPOs. A bunch of consumer brands went public and there was a sense of excitement in the financial world that we haven’t seen in quite some time.

Personally, I’ll be pumped when literal raindrops stop falling on my head here in not-so-sunny SF, but that’s another story. (In reality, “Karl” is much easier to manage—yep, the fog in SF indeed has a name and a sassy Twitter account ).

Another juicy IPO for San Franciscans is that of Beyond Meat. The plant-based meat startup IPO’d Thursday morning with its initial public offering at $25/share , which implies a market valuation of $1.46 billion. You don’t need to be vegan to give that a look.

Summer is almost here and the long, lazy days are in full swing. The hazy heat and extra sunlight are cause for celebration. Days spent cooling off at the beach or pool and summer nights spent enjoying time with friends and family—is there anything better?

All of the summer fun can lead to some serious spending, though. It can be easy for summer to feel like the season of perpetual vacation, treating yourself to iced lattes and trips to the local ice cream stand.

When your friends are frequenting rooftop happy hour and splurging on tickets to outdoor concerts, it can be difficult to reign in your spending. The fear of missing out can make it easier for people to spend money on things they don’t actually want or need. One recent study found that of the 1,045 participants aged 18 to 34, nearly 40% said they had gone into debt to keep up with their friend’s lifestyles.

Especially in today’s social media obsessed world, it can be easy to feel left out when you’re sitting at your desk envious of a Facebook friend’s trip to Fiji. One of the biggest drivers of consumer behavior is social comparison.

Seeing your final student loan payment post might elicit cheers of joy, sighs of relief, or both. Your epic, years-long journey to be free of student loan debt can only be capped off by an equally epic celebration, whether you want to simply treat yourself to dinner, or host a massive payoff party.

But, the huge sense of accomplishment you feel can often lead to overspending once you are finally free from student loan debt, so make sure to acknowledge the investment you’ve made in yourself and celebrate paying off your student loans smartly.

In a 2011 interview about what makes a good investor, Warren Buffett said, “The good news I can tell you is that to be a great investor you don’t have to have a terrific IQ. If you’ve got 160 IQ, sell 30 points to somebody else because you won’t need it in investing. What you do need is the right temperament.”

So what exactly is the right temperament? What are the shared characteristics of the most successful investors?