Educated but broke

All of my friends have student loan debt. All of them. It's shocking and initially hopeless. Student loan debt has become the norm for many 20 to 40 somethings and the idea of living a life without the burden of Sallie Mae or the US Department of Education is laughable. Even talking about paying off student loan debt early triggers countless eyerolls and the all too common statements like "yeah but we live in _____ (insert any metro city here)" or "we don't make enough money" or "we're waiting for the government to forgive our debt". For a long time, John was part of this group: educated, motivated, dual-income households achieving economic success. Accomplished young professionals who drove nice (leased) cars, while living in major-city apartments or lofts where rent consumed 40% of one's post-tax income. Spending a lot but saving very little. John and his colleagues jokingly called this slice of society the educated but broke. It wasn't well into John's early 30s, after burning through over a million dollars of lost income while accumulating $170,000 dollars of student loan debt, did he realize that he was one of them. Seeking the wisdom of mentors who've created generational wealth, John took their advice and created a plan that enabled him to pay off over $170,000 of student loan debt in 24 months. More importantly, he realized that on the path to true wealth creation, there were 8 money lessons which need to be mastered. Educated but broke outlines both the path to student loan freedom and the 8 money lessons to true wealth creation, including: 1. Why your student loan interest is really keeping you broke
2. The true cost of missed wealth creation opportunities while in debt
3. The realization that FICO is the greatest scam in modern America
4. Credit cards are the cigarettes of the financial services industry
5. Debunking the "contribute to your retirement first" myth
6. Refinancing your debt to minimize lost opportunity cost
7. Accepting that the government will never forgive your debt, and what to do now
8. How to turn your money into more money with a written budget