The Money-Finder Guide

This guide provides you with a calculator + instructions on how you can use it to cut your student loan debt.

The Money-Finder

It's like a leaky money tap. Didn't you have $20 in your wallet this morning? Where did it go?

The dollars you can't remember spending, the ones that leaked away, really do add up. Ever see how a pail fills up when it's left beneath a leaky tap?

You need to fix that tap.

How much money could you find each month by cutting back on unessential lattes, donuts, magazines, unnecessary cell-phone calls or whatever else you consume without much thought?

Consider cheaper ways to get what makes you happy. Try a coffeemaker at work or roll your own, use the library, turn your cell off, make your own lunch – at least some of the time.

And if you want to add to the above savings by quitting smoking, try another Debt 101 calculator combo: How Much Extra Money Could You Find From Not Smoking?

The Money-Finder helps you find extra savings so you can get free of your student loan debt faster.

Do you know of an investment that's guaranteed to pay more after tax than the interest rate you're paying on your loans? No??? Then, your best investment is getting rid of that debt.

Start by looking for savings with the Money-Finder Calculator!

Then use the steps below to see how much faster your extra savings could cut your student loan debt.

How to apply the Money-Finder to cut your student loan debt

You can use the savings you find through the Money-Finder calulator to pay off your student loans faster.

Paying the loans faster is what really saves you money. That's because it spares you from a heavy load of interest charges.

Here's how to apply the Money-Finder to your student loan debt - in 4 easy steps.

Fill out the Money-Finder spending fields to see what monthly total you could save from your present spending habits.
Input that monthly total amount as an extra payment in The Student Loan Whacker. The Whacker will calculate your rate of investment return. In other words, you'll see how your savings in making extra payments on your debt come back to you as an 'investment' return.
Input the rate of investment return shown by the Whacker into the Money-Finder calculator. You can use the fourth line from the top: 'Expected (nominal) Investment Return (p.a.)'.
Then hit the calculation button again.

Now you should see a real payoff from small changes to your daily spending!

NOTE: Student Finance 101/Debt 101 thanks York University Professor Moshe A. Milevsky for allowing our calculator team to adapt this Money-Finder for student use by drawing from the source code of his "Daily Spending Calculator".