My name is Michael but you can call me Henry.
Henry is an acronym for High-Earner-Not-Rich-Yet.
That's me.
I'm the guy that did everything right.
I come from a family of immigrants who pulled themselves up from far below the poverty line.
My parents stressed to me the importance of a good education.
I have never gotten a dime of inheritance.
I took all of the hardest classes in college and studied at least eight hours per day while others around me goofed off and had a good time.
I went to medical school and became a doctor.
I did extensive reasearch ahead of time and picked a profession which would assure that my aquired skills would be in demand for years to come.
When I was in my 20s, I often worked over 90 hours per week and made only 33,000 dollars per year.
Even though I worked 90 hour work weeks, I still usually had to moonlight on the weekends in 60 hour shifts just to make ends meet.
I have never asked a union leader to artificially inflate my value in the workplace.
For years my wife and I lived in a 88,000 dollar home that we quickly paid off and got into the early habit of saving at least 50 percent of our income.
I stood by and watched people with one sixth of my income purchase houses at least three times bigger than mine with no money down.
My wife and I paid off over 160,000 dollars of debt before I turned twenty eight.
I became a self made millionaire by the time I was 33 years old.
I started my own business and purchased a 600,000 dollar apartment complex that is now completely paid for.
I have always paid all of my taxes and my only encounter with the law was a speeding ticket when I was 18 years old.
I have absolutely no debt.
I have only purchased one new car in my entire life and paid 27,000 dollars for it.
I took all of my money out of the stock market in 2007 and completely avoided the market collapse.
I would like to say I have been fortunate in life but this is untrue. I have earned everything I have through planning, education, and hard work.
I usually pick political candidates that get around four percent of the popular vote.
I have no offshore bank accounts and take the bare minimum of tax deductions.
My wife and I always pay at least 100,000 dollars in taxes every year.
We paid slightly over 310,000 dollars in federal, state, property, and
sales taxes last year alone.
My house is over 40 years old and has a few holes in it but it's mine.
I don't have a personal chef, personal trainer, or butler. I hire a housekeeper to clean our house twice a month and she drives a car nicer much nicer than the one I drive.
As the government prints more money over the past twenty years, I purchase more gold and silver.
I plan to avoid the upcoming currency collapse by putting many of my assets into commodities and real estate.
My country now runs up huge amounts of debt and turns their eyes to me once again.
I am told that I need to pay my fair share of taxes.
I am told that I should feel grateful for what I have.
I am told not to complain.
I say all of this not to complain, but to inform.
I am tired.
I am growing weary of a system that punishes the winners and rewards the losers.
I am growing angry over a system of taxation without representation.
I used to be charitable but have now grown selfish.
I have no intention of paying off anyone else's student debt. Paying off my own debt was hard enough.
I am now positioning myself to completely quit working and just walk away.
My country will be losing another doctor and another tax payer.
I am going to focus less on making money and more on improving myself by exercising, reading, and teaching myself to grow my own food.
I am awaiting our country's economic collapse.
Most importantly, I am going to teach my son about the principles that this country was founded on. I pray that he can be the kind of individual who can pick up the pieces and help rebuild this country into something great once again.
Besides, this country no longer needs my income for tax revenue. The government can now simply print it.
For those of you who think you are not asking me to pay off your debt and that you just want the government to wipe it off their balance sheets, you have no understanding of basic economics. You are about to be seriously shocked by the sudden spike in your cost of living as the price of commodities skyrocket across the globe due to the collapse of the US dollar as the global reserve currency.
Our citizens will soon learn that we all get the country that we deserve.
OK - well I read this post for information and instead all I want to do is claw my eyes out. I guess getting yourself through undergrad and then grad school doesn't constitute hard work? I worked 2-3 jobs during undergrad and the 2 years before I went to grad school and managed to pay over 30,000 dollars off...... and pay for living expenses.
I want to know why a middle class white girl who was raised by a single parent would be allowed to take out over 200,000 in student loans to begin with? The student loan problem is the same as the housing crisis. People being given loans for educations they cannot afford to attend colleges they should never been allow to go to. Im 25, about to graduate as a Physician assistant, and have 258,000.00 in debt. Although a majority of them are federal loans subject to income based repayment, I also have 750 a month in private loan payments.
Im not looking to have my loans wiped out - I am just trying to find other ways to pay for them. I don't qualify for any federally funded repayment programs and in 10 years when I would technically qualify for public service, they probably won't be any funds left.
I have literally applied for every scholarship I've even 1/2 qualified for, and in 7 years Ive been awarded 800 dollars. Awesome.
So - to all of you out there who are struggling, and in the same position as I am, if you know of any other avenues please post them. I'll do the same as I come across opportunities!
Thank You
"People being given loans for educations they cannot afford to attend colleges they should never been allow to go to."
I am a 32 year old laid off teacher from Ohio. I picked a profession that makes or breaks people dreams like yours. I work 7 hours a day teaching 30 kids an hour or roughly 200 kids a day. I get paid since I was at an upper school in Ohio 35,000 as a starting teacher. Not bad, where I come from, but nowhere close to what you make. Let’s think about this if someone told you had to see 30 patients an hour for 7 hours a day and you could only charge them all combined 195 dollars a day would you do it?
Not all of us have the luxury in our jobs to charge one person 200-300 dollars for like 30 minutes of your time and be able to put most of that money to paying off debt or buying properties that will help us generate more income. I know you are saying that you should have not chosen to be a teacher, but without people like me or civil service workers you would not be safe or even been given the chance to be that doctor. So I am with everyone else I believe that some school loans for certain jobs should be forgiven.
Dear Henry,
Obviously, you have never been disabled, even temporarily, by medical conditions, catastrophe, unemployment,or experienced life in a negative manner in any way, shape, or form.
Why you joined this group is evident in your self-proclaimed "success" article. You should run for president...if you really want your son to live on the principles you want him to learn.
None of us is asking for the loan to be wiped free.
We are asking for what was promised by the approval of the federal funds being provided for the higher education of everyone equally. It turns out that education facilities abused and continue to abuse the system to line their pockets, and all of us are burdened by this fraud.
Congress admits to the fraud, yet refuses to rein it in.
I can't understand how you think that you have not been incredibly fortunate and privileged in life. And why that has not resulted in a love of this country, a kind, generous spirit and an empathy for those who are in financial distress. Sounds like you come from a good family and good parents who came to this country to achieve prosperity, and that you are exceptionally bright and hardworking and so were able to achieve it for yourself. You also seem to have a spouse who earns a good wage and the blessing of a healthy family. You sound young and healthy yourself. You sound like you have no debt and have worked hard for your valuable assets and made wise choices. You sound like you have a fine mind and have worked very hard. You sound like everything any one of us aspires to. And,of course,the luckiest accident of your birth for a high standard of living; you're an American living in 2012. But Dr. Henry, how ever were you selected for medical school and how ever did you practice without at least a bit of the compassion, humility and logic it takes to understand the gravity of this student loan problem? Have you read these stories and seriously believe that every one of us suffering and struggling under the weight of intractable student loan debt is there because we are a blight on our society? Because we "goofed off?" Perhaps, if you don't see this as an epidemic, you should indeed get out of medicine. You're like a physician who is on a website about AIDS victims blaming people for contracting the disease, begrudging them the money that it is going to cost to cure them and threatening to quit practicing medicine instead of standing up as a voice who could make a difference and leading the way in demanding that this nation address the serious problem of underemployed people with crippling education debt. Most doctors that I know are all too familiar with the staggering burden of sky high tuition and excessive student loans and are all for expanding the forgiveness programs that are most prevalent in your field. And, by the way, who is to say that the value of your job has not been "artificially inflated" as you say, by your trade association, the AMA? In Russia, Scandinavia and Cuba, being a physician is just a job more on par with any other job. When you talk about basic economics, Dr. High Earner, are you understanding that your job is from two to five times more highly paid than physicians in any other country? http://wallstreetpit.com/5769-the-medical-cartel-why-are-md-salaries-so-...? Do you worry about people becoming so impoverished that they no longer can afford your medical services? I didn't think so. That's why I'll be doing everything I can, when I vote, to make sure that your passive investment income is taxed at the highest bracket whether you "walk away" from your employment or not. And that the student lending system is completely overhauled, with fair and equitable repayment terms and forgiveness available for all.
My name is Veronica. You can call me Veronica.
I come from a single-parent household. My mother was an immigrant who came here with 2 suitcases. She has now been a US Citizen for 17 years
My mother stressed the importance of education. I made her proud by getting good grades.
I have never gotten a dime of inheritance
I took all the classes necessary for my B.S. in nutritional sciences including the ones needed for my chemistry minor.
I went to grad school and received a Master’s in Health Care Administration
I did extensive research ahead of time and picked a profession which would assure that my acquired skills would be in demand for years to come.
I have worked since I was 16
I did not go to a private university. No Ivy League for me. I chose a state school
I had 2 jobs while in undergrad and 1 during grad school. Both between 40 -50 hours/week total
I had scholarships only for my freshman year of undergraduate that covered about 1% of my tuition.
I received a Pell Grant during most of my undergraduate years but none during my graduate years
The rest of my undergraduate and graduate school years were covered with loans. I have both federal and private loans.
My mother could not help me financially at all
For years I have lived in apartments. I do not own a home
I have always paid all of my taxes and the only encounter I’ve had with the law was when my car broke down blocks away from my apartment and a very nice officer helped push it into my apartment complex.
I bought a new car in 2001
I don't have a personal chef, personal trainer, butler, or a housekeeper.
I can’t afford to buy gold or silver
I have a full time job and am working on starting my own business.
I am single. There is no second income coming into this apartment.
I listened to my high school counselor and my financial aid counselor who said, “student loan debt is good debt and it’ll all be worth it in the end”.
I give $10 to my local Humane Society every month
I don’t want anyone to pay off my debt. I just want it to be possible for me to pay it off before my 100th birthday
Guess I should have been a doctor
*slow clap* congratulations, you won the game of life. Kudos for you. Now that you've secured your high horse badge and your holier than thou sticker how about you start to work on your compassion and empathy medals.
In all seriousness I am really happy you have done what it takes to make it in life, hard wasn't it? Now, imagine for a moment if you could have achieved all that AND more if the cards weren't completely stacked against you from the get go. How far do you think you may have gone then? Nobel prize? Cured cancer? Built a flying car and traveled back to 1955!
This isn't about "I did my part, now you should suffer too and make your way" but about making the system better overall so future generations can achieve greatness without going through as much pain as we have.
You now have my permission to leave the country, don't let the door hit you on the way out.
