• Pay Off

  • How One Millennial Eliminated Nearly $80,000 in Student Debt in Less than Five Years
  • By: Shannon Young
  • Narrated by: Sandy Rustin
  • Length: 1 hr and 22 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (63 ratings)

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Pay Off  By  cover art

Pay Off

By: Shannon Young
Narrated by: Sandy Rustin
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Publisher's summary

In 2009, amid the global financial crisis, 21-year-old Shannon Young graduated from college with a degree in English and more than $80,000 in student debt. Less than five years later, she was completely debt-free. This is her story - a cautionary tale with a surprisingly hopeful outcome. Filled with practical advice and personal experience, Pay Off is an invaluable resource for anyone coming in to or out of student debt.

©2014 Shannon Young (P)2014 Audible Inc.

What listeners say about Pay Off

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Completely Unremarkable.

What disappointed you about Pay Off?

Young has no idea just what a life of privilage she has lead. She reiterates that she is not in the top per-cent of the financial elites, but fails to realize that that is barely of consequence to her situation. She has a supportive family that takes on part of her loan payments to ease interest. She is also a highly motivated student that is part of an academic elite in her high school with a long list of extra-cirricular achievements. Her debt solution was to move to Hong Kong, teach, and make scads of money. An option that again, was only available to the academic elite.Young has never faced any adversity. Pregnancy, drugs, alcholism, sexual abuse. She has led a crystal-clean life, and experienced nothing that would make her story occur as even slightly a triumph. Her story is completely unremarkable, and indeed predictable. She has led a life of academic, social, familial, and intelectual privilage, and paying off her debt with determination and ease was second nature to her.

What could Shannon Young have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Not written it for starters. It was a non-story, and offered no practical advice to handle debt. Her target audience are high-achievement, acadmeic elite students who find themselves with the mild inconvienience of a large student debt.
She should have re-worked the book to look at what student debters are actually doing, and what they need to overcome to reign in their spending.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Sandy Rustin?

She was fine.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Contempt and disdain that she would have the gaul to attempt to come across as someone who has faced adversity and over-come the great odds.

Any additional comments?

You should take this off you list. And I'd really like my money back.

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4 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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horribke

not helpful at all. just blabbing about herself. what a waste of hard earned money.

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1 person found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great Idea! But not an option for everyone.

Basically find a job that gives you a housing stipend. Then use that money set aside for rent and apply to your student loans.

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Thank you for the information

Interesting to know the extremely low tax bracket in Hong Kong and the opportunity abroad

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent student loan advice

The advice to work over seas was helpful. However, the tradeoff of being away from your family had to be difficult.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Always have a plan

Small steps in the right direction can make a huge difference in the long run

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Good to hear before deciding if getting into college

Every student should know what they are getting into before deciding blindly to start college if the only option is student loans.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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The teachings came from heaven

This book got to me at the right time, right when I was contemplating a career change. It taught me that first we must work toward freeing ourselves from the servitude of debt and then we will have the freedom to follow our dreams.

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    1 out of 5 stars
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Not the most realistic

While it is well written, it was not the road map I had hoped it would be. Living overseas is not really feasible for most readers.

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