The days in Choshi have grown short, and rain and snow are falling little by little. These days, everyone is used to the job, the life, the tranquility of Japanese living.
On the other hand, those demons known as student loans likely lurk, lying in wait for many of us, ready to spring up and attack at any moment. For me, the loan monster has been on my tail for nearly 3 years, and I've got to be honest, I'm tired of running. I wonder if perhaps our money could be put to better use than sitting in a savings account that earns 1% a year.
In general, inflation proceeds at a rate of 3% per year. So, if you have 100 dollars in your savings account, you've lost 3 dollars to inflation every year you let your money sit, and you might currently think that's actually good to let interest accrue. Note that your 1% return in interest is just 1 dollar, which inflation already demolished thrice over. The fact is that big banks offer you paltry returns, and you actually lose money if your money is sitting below 3% interest.
3%? That sounds impossible. Where are you going to find an account that will offer more than 3% return annually? The answer is, I don't know. All I know is that loan interest accrues at a rate somewhere between 5 and 20 times the rate at which interest in a savings account does. How are we EVER supposed to get back on track with our finances?
Perhaps investing is the way to go? Stocks? Hoarding cash? Living frugally for a few MORE years? When does it end? Will we ever be free of the debt demon?
Thankfully, Japan is liberal with its wallet, and does ALTs a great service by allowing us a period of both easy living and great earnings. For many, JET offers the chance to escape debt and--would you believe it?--actually SAVE money! We sure are lucky.
It's not really until you witness and calculate for yourself how much your loans are REALLY costing you -- adding in the interest you might pay over 5 years, versus 2, for example -- that you realize every dollar you don't put towards your debt is hurting you exponentially more than a single dollar. Factor in regular inflation, lack of interest accrual in your bank account, and the high rate of interest for loans, and it seems like a truly mountainous task. Are we to live on ramen noodles, living in the basement of our parents' homes for a bit longer just to not owe anything to the banks?
What's a generation of soul searchers to do?
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