I paid off $90,000 in student debt by living with my parents. I moved to Australia, have my own place, and a higher salary.

"When I was a kid, I'd look up at the sky and think about what life was like outside my hometown, Middletown, Connecticut. As I grew older, I became interested in exploring other countries. In 2019, at the age of 28, I visited Australia and fell in love with it. During the pandemic, I thought about applying to move there once the borders reopened. Civil unrest in the US also drove me to seriously consider leaving the country."

"Before moving to Australia, I wanted to pay off my student debt of over $90,000, build a six-month emergency fund, and cover my relocation expenses, such as the cost of my visa application. I was disciplined about setting money aside, and paid off my debt in August 2023, less than four years after I started seriously saving, and almost a year before I moved."

"I graduated in 2013 with a degree in community, environment, and planning, then got myMaster's in city and regional planning in 2016. After grad school, at age 25, I moved back home. I was very frugal growing up, and once I started working at age 26 in 2017, I paid money into a brokerage account. By the end of 2019, I had saved roughly $47,000, but it wasn't enough to cover my loans of roughly $90,000."

Gabriel Filer decided to move to Australia after visiting in 2019 and feeling increasingly motivated during the pandemic and amid US civil unrest. He set concrete financial goals: eliminate more than $90,000 in student loans, build a six-month emergency fund, and pay relocation expenses including a visa. He lived with his parents for 7.5 years and practiced strict frugality while contributing to a brokerage account. He saved roughly $47,000 by the end of 2019 and paid off his debt in August 2023. His urban-planning salary rose from about $40,000 to $65,000, and he now lives and works in Sydney earning more than in the US.

Read at Business Insider