HUG Your Student Debt, Inc.^™

Most debt you can get out of—painful as it might be. Credit card debt can be

cleared in bankruptcy. A mortgage can end in foreclosure. But student debt is

more sticky, and it turns out it can have big consequences in retirement.

Renold Zergat—Getty Images

2/20/2019 Retirement & Student Loans: Student Loan Crisis Affects Retirement Savings | Money

http://money.com/money/3913676/student-debt-into-retirement/ 2/6

Last year, Richard Minuti’s Social Security payments were cut by 10%.

The Philadelphia native was already earning only a bit over $10,000 a year,

including some part-time work as a tutor. “I was desperate,” says Minuti.

“Taking 10% of a person’s pay who’s trying to live with bills, that’s the cruelty

of it.”

The Treasury Department was taking the money to pay for federal student

loans he had taken out years before. Just before age 50, Minuti had gone back

to college to get a second bachelor’s degree and a better job in social work and

counseling. But the non-pro

t jobs he landed afterwards were lower paying,

and he defaulted on the debt.