Was His $120,000 College Degree a Huge Mistake?
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How did Joe turn $120,000 of student debt into a $70,000 net worth?
You start at negative 120 six years ago, and here you are with a net worth of $70,000. When you came out of school,
what was your
plan?
After we took out these loans, I never touched them. I didn't know what was going on with them. If you went from 120 down to 76,000. That's
got to be more than minimum payment.
I didn't want to start paying down debt with nothing to my name.
I can't remember how much your shoe collection was last year.
Do you remember? I don't necessarily use it in like an arbitrage way where I'm trying to make money off of it.
So what is this?
It's
more just a collection, you know?
What
are you going to do with them if you don't wear them? What about the crypto?
If there is an opportunity to change the way that we do money, I'd like to at least have exposure to
it. Are you really changing the world with a Coinbase account?
Not changing the world. It's a hedge.
All right, Joe, so give us the background. Who are you, man? What's the background? Where do you come from? And why are we sitting down here today?
I applied because I think that what you guys do is absolutely amazing, first of all. So thank you for that. Yeah, man. My story basically goes back to... The good old get a college degree. The college degree that I got was something in like graphic design.
Where'd you go to school at?
I went to Wentworth in Boston. So right next to Fenway.
What's funny is I went to a couple of years ago. I'm in this like entrepreneur group. We went to, we got to go to Boston and we got to like go do Fenway. We actually got to take batting practice in the cages, not on the field, but like on the field. in the background or whatever. That's a cool area. I had never been there before, had never like walked around, seen all
that. It was awesome. So I ended up going there and not really like understanding what it is to take out a bunch of debt at
the
end of the day.
You're not alone in that. A lot of folks, that's their story.
Hey, give me the mindset because you're not that far removed. We'll get what your age is here in a second. What does a student feel like when you're, so the young people who watch this can kind of watch out for the trap.
The thing that I did was I just went to school and had fun. I mean, listen, I didn't do anything bad in terms of like I got really good grades. But did you use student loans for lifestyle? No, I actually didn't really use it for, I mean, a little bit maybe. I mean, I wanted to live off campus one year. Okay. So because of that, I took out a little bit of debt to go ahead and like get an apartment with some of my friends and stuff like that. But that wasn't super major, I don't think. More it was just like the degree that I got itself was- Cost of college. Yes, was way outside of like some of the stuff that you guys preach today with, you know, being inside a certain amount of range of money so that you're not, you know, spending this incredible amount of money.
And then the job that you get out straight out of school is, you know, not covering the amount of
money that you had. How much is one worth cost? Like how expensive a school is that?
I feel like it just kind of depends on obviously what-
How much it costs for you. Yeah.
In total, everything
in
was $120,000. 120 grand. How
much student loan debt you run up? That was it. That was the whole thing. Okay, so ran up 100. So no scholarships, no outside money, just student loans.
And that's another thing that I would say that people really need to do and take part in is like, I just didn't care. You know what I mean? I was like, hey,
we're
taking out the loans. What was your starting salary coming out of college? Around 65. So way outside of the guidelines that we would have liked to be in just in the beginning. Going back in time, would you have changed colleges, changed majors? What would you have done differently? So I don't think I would have changed the major. I think a lot of the people that I met, the experiences that you get, once you experience it once, you really wouldn't trade it. So it's hard to say that you wouldn't do that again, right?
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
How did Joe turn $120,000 of student debt into a $70,000 net worth?
0:00–4:27
2
What were the total college costs and Joe’s starting salary after graduation?
4:27–8:32
3
How did living with family and strict budgeting enable Joe to start investing in a Roth IRA?
8:32–14:25
4
What financial impact does moving out have on Joe’s monthly cash flow and savings rate?
14:25–19:20
5
Which debt‑repayment strategy is Joe using and how does he prioritize his student loans?
19:20–23:24
6
How does Joe’s side‑hustle income affect his ability to pay debt and invest?
23:24–29:49
7
What is Joe’s Coast FIRE plan and how will his savings rate shape his retirement portfolio?
29:49–35:52
8
What timeline and steps do the hosts recommend for Joe to become debt‑free and achieve financial independence?
35:52–47:00