New Repayment Plan Available
A new student loan repayment plan, the Income Based Repayment (IBR) option, is designed to help borrowers who are having difficulty making their monthly payments.
IBR is available if you have Stafford, Graduate PLUS, or federal consolidation loans. Perkins Loans also qualify if they are consolidated with loans in the Federal Direct Loan Program.
You monthly payment under Income Based Repayment is based on the amount of your debt, income, family size, and your state of residence. This plan also offers loan forgiveness if you make 25 years of qualifying payments.
One word of advice—this program extends repayment, which typically increases the amount of interest you'll pay. We encourage you to discuss the IBR option with the servicer of your loans to determine if Income Based Repayment is the best option for you.
For more information on IBR, please visit www.aesSuccess.org.
401(k) Basics
A 401(k) plan is an employer-sponsored retirement plan in which you can elect to defer part of your salary until retirement. Most employers match employee contributions; many employers will match your contribution, dollar for dollar, up to 6% of your gross pay.
The advantages of participating in a 401(k) plan include:
- Your contributions to a 401(k) plan are not subject to income tax until you retire.
- You do not pay taxes on the earnings in a 401(k) plan until you retire.
- You decide how much to save (within federal limits) and how to invest your funds.
- You can borrow against the funds in your 401(k) plan in an emergency.
- You can transfer the funds in your 401(k) to an IRA without penalty if you leave your employer before retirement.
Remain Professional at Work
The best-case work scenario is that you will enjoy a professional working relationship with each of your coworkers; however, many times that just isn't the case.
You will run into colleagues that irritate you or even offend you. Keep cool, even when you want to tell someone what you really think of them, and remember that your reputation at work may hinge on how you interact with various coworkers.
Be careful of the office gossip. They know everything about everyone and aren't afraid to share it. If you get too involved with this coworker, you could easily find yourself being the new topic of water cooler chit-chat.
Some workers aren't happy no matter what. They complain, complain, complain and make sure everyone else knows how unhappy they are. The best advice is to not join in the gripe sessions; sooner or later they will stop using you as a sounding-board because you just don't seem interested.
Coworkers can be nosey. If your coworkers know as much about your personal life as you do, you're either talking too loudly on your personal calls or revealing too much info about your life to coworkers. It can be difficult to not let some aspects of your personal life filter into your conversations at work, but try to keep your personal and professional lives at a comfortable level of separation.
There are all types of personality types in the workforce. The trick to surviving unpleasant, rude or difficult coworkers is to remain positive, get your work done and do it well. Keep a healthy distance between your professional life and your personal life.
Explore any or all of our web sites. You'll be glad you did!
Manage your AES account online at aesSuccess.org.
YouCanDealWithIt.com gives you the real story on money, student loans and life.
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