Should I take a personal loan for my postgraduate studies?
If you are eligible for FEE-HELP then this is by far the cheapest way of financing higher education in Australia. I would not take this personal loan. Let's look closer at your options. Currently, you are paying $1100 a month in rent, and you have all the money saved up that you need to be able to pay cash for school.  That's a good position to be in. You are proposing to take out a loan and buy an apartment.  Between your new mortgage and your new personal loan payment, you'll be paying $1500 a month, and that is before you pay for the extra expenses involved in owning, such as property taxes, insurance, etc.  Yes, you'll be gaining some equity in an apartment, but in the short term over the next two years, you'll be spending more money, and in the first two years of a 30 year mortgage, almost all of your payment is interest anyway.  In two years from now, you'll have a master's degree and hopefully be able to make more income.  Will you want to get a new job?  Will you be moving to a new city?  Maybe, maybe not.  By refraining from purchasing the apartment now, you are able to save up more cash over the next two years and you won't have an apartment tying you down.  With the money you save by not taking the personal loan, you'll have enough cash for a down payment for an apartment wherever your new master's degree takes you. As mentioned in the comments, there are costs associated with owning & living in an apartment. First you have to pay maintenance charges on a monthly basis and perhaps also property tax. Find out the overall outgoings when you live in that apartment & add the EMI payments to the bank, it should not be way higher than your current rent. As an advantage you are getting an asset when you buy an apartment & rent is a complete loss, ast least financial terms. So, real estate is in general a good idea over paying rent. As for the loan part, personal loans are by far the most expensive of loans as they are in general unsecured loans (but do check with your bank). One way is to try and get a student loan, which should be cheaper. If you can borrow from family that is the best option, you could return the money with perhaps bank fixed deposit rates, it is better to pay family interest than bank. If none of the options are workable, then personal loan is something you need to look at with a clear goal to pay it off as soon as possible and try to take it in stages, as an when you require it and if possible avoid taking all the 15,000/- at once. I would delay purchase of a condo or apartment until you have at a minimum, 6 months of living expenses including mortgage set aside in other investments that could be liquidated.  If you lost your source of income though disability or layoff or an unexpected termination of a grant, you need to have that cushion or a significant other whose salary can sustain payments.   You could lose a lot if you either cannot make the payments and/or the value to the apartment dips greatly.  Many folks in the recent housing bubble and Great Recession learned this the hard way.  Many lost their entire investment by not being able to make payments AND seeing their house lose 1/3 of its value.
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Make sure you have a good credit score while applying so that your home loan gets approved easily.  **Personal loans for renovation**  If you are not able to find too many home loans or renovation loans for rented property, you need not worry. Have you considered taking a personal loan to make awesome home improvement measures? That’s right; you can apply for a personal loan and use the funds to renovate your abode. The best thing about a personal loan is that a lender does not enquire about the purpose for your loan application. So, you can use your personal loan for any of your needs.  *Eligibility criteria for personal loans*  The general criteria to be qualified for a personal loan in Singapore are: The applicant should be 21 to 65 years old. The applicant should be a Singaporean or a permanent resident or a foreigner. The minimum income requirement for a Singaporean or PR is generally S$20,000 p.a. and S$40,000 p.a. for a foreigner.  **When are personal loans ideal for renovation?**  There are a few situations when a personal loan is the best option for renovating your rented property: Many banks give personal loans with attractive promotions such as interest-free loan for a certain period. You can take this loan and even repay the full amount before the zero-interest period expires. This will help you save efficiently on your renovation project. The minimum income required to secure a home loan is generally higher than the income requirement for a personal loan. Hence, a personal loan is a better option. A home loan generally gives a higher sum of money than a personal loan. This high amount is suitable for a construction project but will be excessive for renovation work. Therefore, it makes more sense to apply for a personal loan to give the perfect makeover to the kitchenette in your home. The approval process for a home loan is typically very lengthy. Personal loan applications get approved within 24 hours by most banks in Singapore. So now you can apply for a personal loan without any tension and remodel your balcony to have a party at home sweet home! Personal loan rates are generally lower than home loan rates. You can refurbish your living space by paying your loan at an interest rate not more than 4%. Now, you would have got a fair idea about how to finance your remodelling work. Always remember to enquire about every loan’s terms and conditions. Never sign any loan contract without being absolutely clear about the loan’s features. so probably a stupid question but anyway.  Suppose I take a loan of 10lakhs INR(20k C$ or 15US$) in india for studying abroad.  and get a job after studying ther like 2-3 years later. How easily I can pay off the loan. Considering I can get a 50k c$ job and live frugally.   I think i could easily pay off the loan in a year or two. is that right. Or would I suffer and end up paying installments (right word?) every month for like 10 -15 years.  I know i may be exaggerating too much on latter part. But still. Would it be easy since currency is quite 'strong' as in you earn quite a good money for even a starting job or even minimum wage job.  Thank you "First, let me answer the question the best way I can: I don't know if there are any studies other than those that have already been mentioned. Now, let's talk about something more interesting: You don't need to base your behavior on any study, even if it is scientific. Let's pretend, for example, that we could find a scientifically valid study that shows that people spend 25% more when using a credit card than they do when spending cash.  This does not mean that if you use a credit card, you will spend 25% more.  All it means is that the average person spending with a credit card spends more than the average person paying cash.  But there are outliers.  There are plenty of people who are being frugal while using a credit card, and there are others who spend too much cash.  Everyone's situation is different.  The idea that you will automatically spend less by using cash would not be proven by such a study. When hearing any type of advice like this, you need to look at your own situation and see if it applies to your own life.  And that is what people are doing with the anecdotal comments.  Some say, ""Yep, I spend too much if I use a card."" Others say, ""Actually, I find that when I have cash in my wallet, I spend it on junk.""  And both are correct.  It doesn't matter what the study says the average person does, because you are not average. Now, let's say that you are a financial counselor who helps people work through disastrous financial messes.  Your client has $20,000 in credit card debt and is having trouble paying all his bills.  He doesn't have a budget and never uses cash.  Probably the best advice for this guy is to stop using his card and start paying cash.  It doesn't take a scientific study to see that this guy needs to change his behavior. For what it is worth, I keep a strict budget, keeping track of my spending on the computer.  The vast majority of my spending is electronic.  I find tracking my cash spending difficult, and sometimes I find that when I have cash in my wallet, it seems to disappear without a trace.  :)" "Why not both?  I have been working and studying at the same time since I was 13... for all purposes, when I finished high school, I was working and studying part time... until I got my B.Sc in Computer Science and Masters in Business Administration (MBA)... developed my career and now I am a senior executive making excellent money and supervising many people.  In retrospect, I want to tell you that the degrees did not help me at all in my career in the sense that did not teach me anything of significance for real work and career life, nor did they lend me my first jobs.   However(!!!), without a degree (piece of paper), I could not advance to my current position because ""degree required for this position"".  One more thing, very important: when I studied for my MBA, and worked full(!) time, I had no choice but to take night classes (City University of NY, Baruch College, one of the best business schools in the country). **This was the best experience I had in all the of my college studies!** Why? Because all(!) the professors who teach in the night were working in the morning in their normal jobs - none of them were tenured professors.   They were real business people, grounded, know what they are talking about, and they were teaching because they loved to teach and share the experience and knowledge. **Do you understand what I am saying here?**  So, I did not get the theoretical nonsense from them. They actually taught us what really happens, the real approach to things, and the real issues to address.  P/S: My son is following my way. Since he was 11, he works in the areas he like (Minecraft) and he made money since then, running classes, getting to know people in the field, getting experience, getting work ethics, etc. If he wants to go to Harvard, fine with me, but I think he just need to go to ""reasonable"" low cost college to get those pieces of papers called ""Diplomas""." "I'm going to subtly and cheekily change the obvious advice. There are three ways to deal with negative cashflow, not two: You're currently studying for a degree. You don't say what country you're in or how your studies are funded, but most people in the US, UK, and a fair number of other countries, run up debts while studying for a degree. They do this because a degree is valuable to them. They can't avoid it because the tuition alone costs more than most students can generate in income, never mind their living expenses. So by all means look for savings, (1). Clearly strangers on the internet can't just think up ways for you to spend less money without knowing anything about what you do spend money on. But you can at least list your expenditures for yourself, and see what's necessary. Consider also how much fun you want your studies to be: 4 years in a cold house to avoid paying for heating, and never going out with friends to avoid spending on unnecessary stuff is all very well. But with hindsight you'll regret torturing yourself if you're ever well-off enough to pay back whatever you would have borrowed to use for heating and fun. Only do (2) if it doesn't affect your studies or if the money you're paid justifies delaying the valuable asset you seek to acquire (a degree, leading perhaps to a better job but at least to the capacity to do a full-time job rather than fitting work around your studies). There are some jobs that are really good fits for students (reasonably low hours that don't clash with classes) and some jobs that are terrible. If these fail, resort to (3). I don't mean dishonest book-keeping, I mean accept that you are going to borrow money in order to pay for something of value that you can account as an asset. Work out now what you'll need to borrow and how you think you can pay it back, make sure the sum is worth it, budget for that, stick to your budget. You'll still have negative cashflow, nothing changes there, but your capital account looks fine. Personally I wouldn't actually put a monetary value on the degree, I'm not that bothered about the accounts and it's really difficult to be accurate about it. You can just consider it, ""more than I expect to borrow"" and be done with it. Studying costs money. Once you've graduated, you probably aren't going to be back here saying, ""I want to buy a house but I have no capital and I don't want to go into debt"". Are you? ;-) Although if you are, the answer happens to be ""Islamic mortgage""! I don't know whether Islamic banks have an equivalent answer for student debt, since they can't own a share of your degree like they can a share of your home. Unless you're a Muslim, presumably the ways that Islamic finance avoids interest payments would not in any case satisfy your desire to be ""not in debt""." Last question first:  The amount borrowed will not transfer to your loved ones upon death.  Even if you were age 50, it is somewhat unlikely you will die in 30 years. First question:  Are you okay with having a student loan that long?  Keep in mind that making payments for that long will hinder your ability to build wealth, buy a home, and have disposable income. Presumably you are used to living like a college student.  If you continue to do so, and maybe take on another job (for the time you used to spend in school), you could be done with this much sooner.  2k/month is doable and retires this in 5 years, but I would shoot for a shorter time frame than that. Hopefully by purposely incurring that much debt you bought yourself a high paying career. I think it depends on how you're approaching paying off the credit card. If you're doing some sort of debt snowball and/or throw all available cash at the card, it's not likely to matter much. If you're paying a set amount close to the minimum each month then you're probably better off getting a loan, use it to pay off the card and cut up the card. Well, I'd do the latter in either case... Mathematically it would matter if the interest rate on the card is 10%-15% higher than the personal loan but if you're throwing every spare dime at the card and the some, it might not matter. Another option if you have the discipline to pay the debt off quickly is to see if you can find a card with a cheap balance transfer, move the balance over and close the inflexible card. I recommend you consider a Roth IRA. Invest it as others here suggest, safely, CDs, money market,etc. You can put in $5000/yr. When you spend, use this last, there is no penalty to withdraw the deposits. But if you make it through grad school without needing it, you'll have great start on your retirement savings.