On this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Rob Bertman. Rob is one of the resident experts at Student Loan Planner, a business that was founded by Travis Hornsby that has now grown to a number of consultants that have collectively provided more than 5,000 consults on over $1.2B of student loan debt.

Rob joins the show today to help optometrists answer one of the most common questions that we get from younger ODs: how should I start thinking about paying back my student loans? In this wide-ranging conversation, Rob shares the basic formula for determining whether it makes sense to stay with the federal loan system on an IDR (income driven repayment plan) or whether to refinance with a private lender, the two saving graces of federal loan repayment plans, and the differences between IBR, PAYE, and REPAYE repayment plans. We actually use a young OD making $120k a year with plans of buying into a practice as a hypothetical case study when evaluating options, which I thought brought a lot of context around the concept of student loan repayment options. We wrap up the conversation by explaining how someone knows what kind of loans they have and how to think about repayment strategies given the recent extension of COVID-19 relief for federal student loan borrowers.

Rob provided a wealth of information and his contact information is below in the show notes, which will include links to my past conversation with Travis as well as how you can get direct access to Rob and the team at Student Loan Planner.

As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today’s conversation by visiting our website at integratedpwm.com and clicking on the Learning Center. While there, you can also set up a 20-30min Triage conversation to learn a little bit more about how we help ODs around the country reduce their tax bill, manage cash flow, and make proactive money decisions or check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks and on-demand webinars.

And with that introduction, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Rob Bertman, CFA, CFP®.

Why Refinancing During Residency is a Bad Idea

Contact Rob

Adam’s conversation with Travis Hornsby (episode #12 of 20/20 Money)

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