We’re going to give you the best, most reliable method, for getting rid of debt, period.
But before we get started, let’s get our context straight…
If You Have Debt, You’re Not Alone
Debt burdens among young professionals have reached historic highs…
According to Pew Research, Americans now owe roughly $1.6 trillion in student loans (pewresearch) – about 42% more than a decade ago.
In fact, student debt more than doubled since the late 2000s (pgpf), making it the third-largest category of household debt after mortgages and auto loans (pgpf). Today, about one‐in‐four adults under 40 carry student loan debt (pewresearch).
Not only that, young professionals are deeper in debt than any previous generation (pewresearch, pgpf), with the typical bachelor’s‐degree borrower owing on the order of $20-25K of college debt (pewresearch).
This is bad… But…
The fact that a degree is essential for career mobility, makes it a bit worse… (It’s like rubbing salt in the wound)
Student Debt Has Become Inevitable
For most young people, college feels like (and by and large IS) a necessity for getting ahead – especially if you don’t start out wealthy. Higher education is widely seen as (and by and large IS) “a potent pathway to success, especially for children from disadvantaged backgrounds”(opportunityinsights).
In other words: if you want to make it, the only way up is through debt!
And yes, college pays off. Full-time workers ages 25-34 with a bachelor’s degree earned a median ~$66,600 in 2022, about 59% more than the $41,800 median for those with only a high school diploma (nces.ed.gov). And while today’s degrees are expensive and often come with huge debt, they also offer the best path for career mobility when you’re not already born into privilege.
But.. Of course, it’s a race to the bottom. And it’s going to get worse… As more people get into debt and get those degrees.. Well.. The degrees experience inflation.
In fact, a study from Georgetown shows that 72% of U.S. jobs will require postsecondary education by 2031, while also warning that higher education has already become “the only path to a middle-class lifestyle for most workers” (cew.georgetown).
TL;DR: Debt is now the default mode if you’re not born rich, and it will get worse.
OK… Now that you know where we stand, let’s get back to the business of eliminating debt…
So You Have Debt – What’s The Secret Hack?
We’re not trying to sell you something. We’re not funded by banks, loan servicers, or get-rich grifters. In fact, we don’t have any stake in the “debt/finance” game… So… here’s the truth about the secret hack to getting out of debt:
There is no secret hack.
If someone claims to have a “little-known trick” to erase your debt, they’re likely selling a scam, a useless app, or a fantasy. And they’re preying on your anxiety to convert it into profit.
The reality is simple and brutal:
The only way out of debt is to pay it.
And to pay for it, you need money.
Therefore, the important question you need to be asking yourself should not be “what’s the secret hack that will make this debt go away?”, but it needs to be:
“Where Do I Get The Money?“
Here’s where you get the money…
If you’re part of the 0.1% – with an uncle named Christopher The Third or a trust fund seeded by capital gains – it’s easy! Your money already earns more money while you sleep, just call your accountant…
For everyone else, there are only three paths to “getting the money to pay off that debt”:
1. Investor Class
Capital earns more capital. Or more colloquially, you use your current access to money to make more money.
But if you’re in debt, you likely don’t have surplus capital to deploy…
And remember: markets reward the already-rich, punish the under-capitalized, and require you to take asymmetric risks with borrowed money. In other words, playing investor while in debt is gambling with leverage. (It’s the dumbest thing you can do).
This path is a no go!
2. Entrepreneur Class
This is viable, but challenging…
Starting a business demands intellectual capital (i.e. education, mental training), social capital (i.e. contacts, references), and access to finance – none of which are equally distributed.
As a result, success in entrepreneurship often depends more on pre-existing wealth, elite affiliations, and tolerance for risk – not just pure skill and grit.
Keep in mind, survivor bias muddies the waters too: everyone who made it as an entrepreneur, credit their “hustle-grind mindset”, not recognizing all those others who failed despite their superior “hustle-grind”.
Remember: entrepreneurship is glamorized, and a few do beat the odds, but in practicality, it IS the domain of the well-connected, well-established and supremely talented.
3. Employee Class
This is where most people land, and with good reason.
Employment is the only path available to those who weren’t born into wealth, credentials, or connections.
But even here, the game is rigged!
Wages haven’t kept up with productivity since the 1970s. The job market is saturated with over-credentialed candidates paying rent to elite institutions for entry into roles that barely cover their cost of living.
So… You’re not crazy if you feel like you were sold a dream, delivered a debt note, and now you’re stuck in a lifetime repayment plan while those who loaned you the money – their capital compounds upward.
Still… If you want out – employment is the only practical and immediate playing field. (Yes, you could become an entrepreneur, and even an investor, overtime… But… Pay off that debt first! You’ll be glad you did.)
Here’s how:
The Most Important Part Of Paying Off Debt As An Employee
There’s no financial engineering trick. There’s no budgeting app that will change your life. Like we said above, there is no secret.
When you’re in debt and working for wages, the only thing that moves the needle is your salary.
The higher your income, the faster you eliminate your debt. And the difference between dragging it out for a decade versus vaporizing it in a year is – in the VAST MAJORITY of cases – a matter of job title and negotiation, not effort.
Example: Same Debt, Different Outcome
Case A: Marketing Coordinator
- Salary: $58,000/year
- Student Debt: $35,000
- Monthly Loan Payment: $400
- Time to Pay Off: ~10 years (with interest, assuming no major lifestyle changes)
Case B: Product Manager
- Salary: $145,000/year
- Student Debt: $35,000
- Aggressive Repayment: $3,000/month
- Time to Pay Off: ~1 year
Same starting debt. One suffers under it for a decade. The other destroys it in twelve months. The difference? Positioning, compensation, and leverage.
(By the way, we deliberately picked job titles for roles that require very similar education and background. We can take any reasonably presentable Marketing Coordinator and get them a job as Product Manager. There’s a method to this madness😉)
How Exactly Do You Earn More?
Increasing your salary is both a science and an art. You need to master both.
It’s A Science
We have the data. And the studies are unambiguous.
- Certain roles consistently pay more (tech, product, strategy, finance).
- Switching companies every 2 to 3 years results in higher comp increases than staying put (Payscale data confirms this, but you don’t even need the data – this truism has been known for decades).
- Negotiating at the offer stage yields the largest compensation gains, not post-hire.
- Equity, bonuses, and benefits packages compound your total value, but only if you know how to ask.
- Building leverage through external offers, internal visibility, and rare skills is a replicable process.
We cover all of this in our Courses, Publications, and Events. Much of it is public. Look around the site a little and you’ll learn how to do it all. And those tactics we discuss behind closed doors are… Well… They are accessible if you ask one of us.
It’s An Art
When earning more, the methodology matters. But so does instinct.
- Can you read your boss’s mood before making the ask?
- Do you understand your company’s financial position well enough to know when you can’t win?
- Do you know when to stay silent? Or when to make a move?
If you’re thinking about leaving, timing and preparation are everything. You don’t quit cold.
You position yourself to leap upward, not laterally, and definitely not downward!
That means knowing how to get a better job before you leave – and ideally, using that offer as leverage.
This means, you must learn how to break into roles beyond your current capabilities. You must learn how to sell yourself, how to schmooze, and frame yourself as an insider – even if you started as an outsider.
That’s the corporate game. And how you play it is the difference between a $55k role or a $155k… Or a $555k… Or even $5. 5M role…
Big Warning
If you ignore the science, you’ll waste years barking up the wrong tree. You’ll take low-leverage jobs. You’ll stay too long. You’ll negotiate too late or not at all. You’ll think effort equals reward in a system that’s built on power and information asymmetry.
Fortunately, most young professionals today don’t ignore the numbers. They study them. They track salary bands, comp ladders, and offer timelines. That’s good. And that’s necessary.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the art…
And if you ignore the art – you’ll set yourself up for a type of failure you won’t even see coming.
It’s like memorizing every chess opening but still losing to a street hustler who plays by feel.
Or like training for a boxing match by reading anatomy textbooks while your opponent’s been throwing punches in underground fights for five years.
Remember this: Career progression isn’t linear. It’s social. It’s psychological. It’s strategic.
The best offers don’t go to the best candidates – they go to the best narratives, told at the right time, in the right room.
If you ignore the art of reading the room, managing perception, and timing your moves, you’ll end up passed over by people half as competent but twice as politically attuned.
You don’t want that.
What To Do Next If You Really Need To Earn More Fast
If your debt is crushing and you need out – there are only two solutions:
Ask for a raise. Get a better job.
How?
First, learn the science.
It’s all documented. Read our content. Study real compensation data. Avoid influencers, avoid fluff.
In truth, this part is easy – you can knock it out in a weekend if you’re serious. (If you don’t know where to begin, start here and Learn The Language of Value)
But learning the art… That’s another story.
You cannot learn the art while you still need the art.
It’s not downloadable. It’s not teachable in a weekend course.
You’ll know the art when you no longer need it.
By the time you’ve mastered it, you’re negotiating retention packages, not begging for salary bumps. You’ve stopped applying to jobs because they’re all being referred to you.
So… What do you do now, before you’re there?
The Real Hack: Find Someone Who’s Already Done It
It’s not the “hack” you asked for, but the “hack” that gets the job done is – find someone (i.e. a mentor, an ally, or a benefactor), who has been through it before, and who has come out successfully on the other side.
You need a person.
Not a guru. Not a YouTuber.
A successful professional who will talk to you, relate to you, empathize with you, and provide perspective.
In practical terms, you need someone who started at the bottom and ended up at the top (i.e. upper management or executive level), not through family connections or DEI initiatives, but through individual effort, merit and cunning.
Find someone who’s seen the game and won.
Most people have a few such individuals they can connect with if they try a little…
And for those who are truly socially isolated (yes, it happens) – there are online communities of professionals, including our network – who are relatively accessible…
Maybe one of them will help you spot the door that was hidden in plain sight.
There IS a Way Out!
It sucks to be in debt.
And it’s more than just unfortunate – it’s structural theft. A system that claims to reward merit now hides social mobility behind five or six figures of debt for a credential that’s required just to sit at the table.
THAT is a rigged game, no doubt about it.
And that is the truth you already know (but we admit, it does feel good to see it acknowledged.)
The more important point, however, is that there IS a way out!
The way out is to earn more.
And not just a little more – a lot more.
You can do it. But only if you stop treating employment like a moral contract and start treating it like a power game. (Hint: If you were born after 1910, you were brainwashed to treat it like a moral contract…)
See the corporate game for what it is…
Master the science.
Train in the art.
Use both like weapons.
If you do, you’ll realize: Even as an employee, you can out-earn, out-leverage, and out-maneuver people who were born with the head start.
But only if you stop playing fair in a game that was never fair to begin with…