Highlights from Michelle Obama's DNC Speech

Last night was the 1st night of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) and our favorite FLOTUS, or mom-in-chief, gave an amazing speech that hit home with the majority of us. This election isn't about Democrat vs Republican...have vs have-not...white vs black....it's about doing what is best for the ENTIRE American public.

Success is not about how much money we make but the difference we make in people's lives.

Highlights from the Washington Post:

CHILDREN: Obama said serving as first lady is an honor and a privilege. But four years ago, at the Democratic convention in Denver that nominated her husband, she worried that her two daughters might be affected by the glare of the national spotlight and being moved from their school, friends and home if he were elected. Obama said her most important title is still “mom-in-chief.”

FAMILY: Obama said she and her husband were raised by families that didn’t have much money, but instilled in both of them the values of hard work, dignity and decency. Her father was a pump operator at the city water plant. He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when she and her brother were young. “But every morning, I watched my father wake up with a smile, grab his walker, prop himself up against the bathroom sink, and slowly shave and button his uniform,” Obama said.

HEALTH CARE: Barack Obama refused to leave health care overhaul for another president to tackle, Michelle Obama said. “He didn’t care whether it was the easy thing to do politically — that’s not how he was raised — he cared that it was the right thing to do,” she said. GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney has said that if elected he will repeal Obama’s health care law.

WOMEN: In a subtle shot at the Republican platform on abortion, Obama said the president believes that “women are more than capable of making our own choices about our bodies and our health care.” The president also signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, she said, which makes it easier for women to sue for equal pay if they earn less than their male counterparts.

EDUCATION: When they were first married, the Obamas’ combined monthly student loan bills cost more than their mortgage, she said. That’s why Barack Obama wants to increase student financial aid while keeping interest rates low, Michelle Obama said.

WHITE HOUSE: After more than three years of living in the White House, Obama said she is well aware of the pressures of the presidency. The issues that come across the desk in the Oval Office are always the hard ones, she said, and the decisions a president makes reveal his character.

AMERICAN SPIRIT: Since becoming first lady in January 2009, Obama said she has been inspired by the kindness and sacrifice she has seen from Americans. She mentioned teachers in a near-bankrupt school district who promised to keep teaching even without pay and members of the U.S. military who have overcome serious battlefield injuries.

Tackling Student Loan Debt: Upromise

One of the questions I am asked most is about how to tackle student loan debt. There isn't much to really do, but pay what you can and take advantage of the little opportunities to lower your interest rate (by having the payment directly removed from your checking or savings account), make extra money to throw at it, use Upromise to earn money toward your loans, or taking E-Reward surveys to earn credit to pay towards your debt.

Upromise

Wikipedia describes Upromise as:

Upromise members accrue account credit on eligible purchases from grocery stores, online retailers, travel, restaurants and gas stations. Members can direct their earnings into a high-yield savings account or tax-deferred 529 plan, use it to pay down eligible student loans or request a check to spend the funds in any way they like -- the money is not required to be spent on college-related expenses.

Critics of the Upromise program point out that as of 2008, the average member has earned only $47 toward future college expenses -- and that to accrue this amount, the participant opts into a highly detailed purchase-tracking system, with information sold by Upromise to subscribing marketers.

shop online through upromise.com.

Get 1%-25% back from eligible purchases at more than 600 online retailers when you shop through upromise.com.
» Learn more

eat at our participating restaurants.

Get up to 8% cash back at thousands of participating restaurants — on food, drinks, tax and tip.
» Learn more

go to the grocery store or drug store.

Activate Grocery eCoupons each month to earn on participating grocery and drugstore items.
» Learn more

invite family and friends.

You can save over 2 times more when your family and friends help!
If you would like to sign up email me and I will send you an invite (hey I have loans to pay off also!) at personalfinance4thepeople@gmail.com.

For example:

What you purchase	Partner	Eligible spending	Partner contribution	Estimated Upromise earnings
Clothes	Gap through upromise.com	$150	5%	$7.50
Books	Barnes & Noble through upromise.com	$50	3%	$1.50
Airfares	Expedia through upromise.com	$300	1%	$3.00
Flowers	ProFlowers through upromise.com	$50	10%	$5.00
Dinner	Upromise Dining Program	$40	8%	$3.20
Groupon Deal	Groupon through upromise.com	$50	4%	$2.00
New Shoes	DSW through upromise.com	$60	4%	$2.40
Birthday Gift	ToysRUs through upromise.com	$50	1%	$.50
Ink cartridges	Staples through upromise.com	$60	2%	$1.20
TOTALS		$810		$26.30

You don't earn huge amounts, unless you utilize the the program to the fullest, so this isn't a way that I reccommend using as the only method to battle your student loan debt.

How Upromise works is pretty simple:

1. Register all of your grocery, CVS, Rite Aid, and other discount cards and your debit and credit cards.
2. Check the grocery coupon section for items you normally buy and add them to your account.
3. Shop.
4. When you buy anything online, buy it through Upromise.
5. Shop.
6. Eat at Restraunts that participate with Upromise and earn a percentage of your meal to go toward your loans.
7. Eat.
8. Earn!

 

Remember:

The more you do, the more you can get back!

Support The Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012

The Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012 (H. R. 4170) was introduced by Rep. John Kline (MN-2) to increase purchasing power, strengthen economic recovery, and restore fairness in financing higher education in the United States through student loan forgiveness, caps on interest rates on Federal student loans, and refinancing opportunities for private borrowers, and for other purposes.

Key Objectives:

Make student loan repayment both simple and fair

If you have already been making payments on your student loans, your repayment period would likely be shorter than 10 years. The amount you have already paid on your student loans over the past decade would be credited toward meeting the requirement for forgiveness.

The bill would ensure low interest rates on federal student loans by capping them at 3.4%.

The bill would reward graduates for entering public service professions like teaching and firefighting. It would also provide incentives for medical professionals to work in underserved communities. It would reduce the Public Service Loan Forgiveness requirement to 5 years from its current 10 years. The bill would allow existing borrowers whose educational loan debt exceeds their income to break free from the crushing interest rates of private loans by converting their private loan debt into federal Direct Loans, then enrolling their new federal loans into the 10/10 program. If you make payments equal to 10% of your discretionary income for 10 years, your remaining federal student loan debt would be forgiven.

Jumpstart the economy and create jobs

 

The bill would create jobs by increasing consumer demand for goods and services.

Send a lifeline

The bill seeks to ensure that no one will be pushed into poverty because of a stroke of bad luck.

Americans who are behind on their payments would be eligible to enroll in the new program and bring their payments down to 10% of discretionary income.

Promote financial responsibility in higher education

Provisions of the bill itself would be financed by projected savings from Iraq and Afghanistan Overseas Contingency Operations; the bill would not affect funding for existing student aid programs.

What does it all mean?
The Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012 would mean a way out from the student loan trap many of us are trapped in (me included). This Act would help lessen the pain of student loans for those who believed if they received the education, they would receive the jobs. Many, like myself, owe so much in student loans that they literally rule my life. I work a job I'm not passionate about because it pays well enough to pay my loans and still live.

"This provides student loan borrowers with a second chance, those who have been struggling financially," Clarke told his colleagues on the floor of the House. " And by cutting this debt, this frees up their money to invest on their own. That will create new jobs throughout this country.

The legislation, HR 4170, would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 by giving borrowers the option to enter the 10/10 loan repayment plan. Discretionary income, in this case, appears to be defined as any annual income exceeding 150 percent of the poverty line for an individual or family.

The legislation also would cap interest rates on federal loans at 3.4 percent, and allow graduates who enter public service professions -- such as teaching and firefighting -- to have their loans forgiven in five years instead of ten.

"While current borrowers would be eligible for full forgiveness under the plan, future borrowers would be subject to a $45,520 cap on forgiveness (based on the average overall cost of a four-year degree at a public university). The aim is to incentivize students to be mindful of educational costs and for colleges and universities to control tuition increases." While current borrowers would be eligible for full forgiveness under the plan, future borrowers would be subject to a $45,520 cap on forgiveness (based on the average overall cost of a four-year degree at a public university).

The aim is to incentivize students to be mindful of educational costs and for colleges and universities to control tuition increases. Many Americans who have fallen behind on payments due to illness, unemployment, or divorce face continually rising interest rates and compounding fees with no hope of escape. to student borrowers who have fallen on difficult times The bill would increase millions of Americans’ purchasing power by forgiving debt, reducing loan repayment burdens, and cutting fees and interest rates. This would free many of these Americans to invest, buy homes, and start businesses.

Support The Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012

How to Limit Student-Loan Debt

Student loans SUCK!I think I will be paying mine off for the rest of my life. I may have to give Sallie Mae my first born child, but at least I would be out of debt. But there are things you can do to help keep your loan amounts down or help you pay off what you have already.

Upromise is a good tool for earning money towards your Sallie Mae loans. You can link your debt and credit cards, store discount cards, and even get family and friends to do the same. When you buy things from places affiliated with UPromise you can either get a discount or a percentage towards your loan. The amounts are small...but small amounts count jsut as much as large amounts. UPromise also has coupons that either give you a discount simply by using your cards or you get a percentage of the price. UPromise also has partnered with a bunch of stores where if you buy online through the UPromise website, you get discounts or percentages.



I also do surveys on E-Rewards and have that linked to my UPromise. Once I build up enough money, I buy whatever amount I qualify for and send it to my UPromise. My plan is to earn so much money as possible through the surveys and every six months cash the money in and send it to UPromise. Then at the end of the year use what I have earned to put towards my loans. It's a small amount but, it's basically FREE MONEY towards my loans.

There are a lot of things you can do to help pay off your loans, as I find them I will share....



I came across this article from Kiplinger about How to Limit Student-Loan Debt that I found pretty interesting.

Here are the tips Kiplinger listed...

Choose a school that fits into the family budget. Families seem to be learning that picking a school is an economic decision as well as an academic one. In a survey by Fastweb.com, 45% of students ranked “quality of major” as their top reason for choosing a school. But “scholarship or financial assistance” (43%) and “total costs” (41%) came in a close second and third -- even higher than “academic reputation” (38%).

Among students who leave school with no debt, 85% graduated from public colleges, according to a report by Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of Fastweb.com and FinAid.org. Selecting an affordable school doesn’t have to mean sacrificing quality. To find public and private schools that deliver both, see our Best College Values special report.

Bypass the four-year route. Starting at a community college and transferring to a four-year school can save a lot. You can also slice a year off your expenses if your child takes Advanced Placement courses in high school or qualifies for college credits through the College Level Examination Program.

In Kantrowitz’s study, half the students who graduated with no debt graduated from a community college (one-third graduated from a public four-year college). Other hallmarks of students who graduate debt-free: They tend to spend less on textbooks -- $1,000 or less per year (see How to Cut College Textbook Costs in Half -- or More) -- and are more likely to live at home with their parents.

Use money you don’t have to pay back. It’s never too late to save, especially if you live in a state that gives you an income tax break for contributions to state-sponsored 529 plans (find the best 529 plan for you). Visit FastWeb.com to look for scholarship and grant money from schools and other sources where your student’s grade point average or other achievements would make him a standout (for inspiration, read about a student who put himself through school with zero debt).

If you must borrow, borrow smart. Start with government-sponsored loans, which offer flexible repayment options -- such as lower payments and deferral -- and fixed interest rates. These include Perkins loans, for eligible students, and Stafford loans, which may be subsidized if your student qualifies. Also look into PLUS loans for parents or a home-equity line of credit. (For more information on student loans, go to StudentLoans.gov.) With that combination you shouldn’t need private loans, which carry a variable interest rate and generally require a co-signer (see Be Wary of Private Student Loans).

Apparently, many students don’t realize that federal loans are the most attractive. “A majority of undergraduates who take out risky private loans could have borrowed more in safer federal loans instead,” reports the Project on Student Debt.

One of our young staff members here at Kiplinger told me that the financial-aid office at his college steered him to private loans before he had exhausted his federal borrowing. He spotted the mistake, but not every student is so savvy. The Project on Student Debt found that “counseling and information at critical decision points can really help borrowers make smarter choices.”

It’s also smart to pay all or part of any loan interest as it accrues so that it isn’t added to the balance that has to be repaid. And remember that even the best student loan can be a dual-edged sword, encouraging a student to borrow more than he should.

Know what you’re getting into. Use the Student Loan Advisor calculator at FinAid.org. It provides an estimate, based on starting salaries of various professions, of the maximum in student loans your child should take out and how much it will cost to pay it back.

One rule of thumb is that students should try to limit their total borrowing to no more than their expected starting salary when they graduate. FinAid warns that “if you borrow more than twice your expected starting salary, you will be at high risk of default.”

Choose a marketable major. Moody’s is right on the money in suggesting that students pick fields of study that are in demand. That doesn’t mean your child has to major in engineering or computer science. But if she’s majoring in economics, it couldn’t hurt to take accounting. If she’s studying history or government, she could learn a foreign language. And if she insists on studying something as precarious as journalism, she should minor or concentrate in another subject -- such as business, health or computer skills.