You have an outstanding student loan with required payments of

$ 500

per month for the next four years. The interest rate on the loan is

9 %

APR (compounded monthly). Now that you realize your best investment is to prepay your student loan, you decide to prepay as much as you can each month. Looking at your budget, you can afford to pay an extra

$ 150

a month in addition to your required monthly payments of

$ 500 ,

or

$ 650

in total each month. How long will it take you to pay off the loan?