2 years ago, we moved aboard our newly purchased 1984 Cooper 316 32ft sailboat. It wasn’t our initial intention to pay off the 100k in student loans we had, or get serious about saving and investing. But as we found our monthly moorage to be much less than any rent we ever paid, my partner and I started to discuss the possibility of actually paying the debt off, how that would look, and how we could fully focus on investing and saving after.
In the UK where my partner Pav is from, it is very common for student loans to never be paid off. If you make over a certain amount in annual income, you pay a percentage of that income to the government which goes to the loan. After 30 years, whatever is left of the loan is written off. Many people expect to pay this percentage of their income to the government until they hit that 30 year mark and it is written off, and that is completely fair. By that 30 year mark however, they would have paid much, much more than the original loan amount. However, while the expenses of everyday life rack up, it appears to be the only option for many.
Pav and I vaguely talked about finances before we purchased our boat. Once we purchased the boat and our pay cheques started to go further, we started to have more conversations about how much we owed in student loans, and if now is the right time to pay it off. At some point, we made a decision that we would tackle it. Pav made a large payment from his savings to the loan in the spring of 2025, and I began to make large monthly payments of $2,000- $6,000 in May 2025. It was satisfying to see the loan balance go down, but at the same time, hard to see our savings from each pay cheque go out of our bank account just as fast as they went in.
By February 2026, we hit the $0 balance. We truly went full force at the loan for almost a year, throwing our savings from the previous year at it, and every extra dollar we were earning to get it paid off as quickly as possible. It wasn’t just to avoid more interest, or not have a payment for a few more years, but a big part of it was for the peace of mind. Knowing that once the loan is paid off we will never have to think about it again was the biggest motivation.
Everyone’s situation is different, and this blog post is not a promise that if you buy a sailboat you can easily pay off all your debts and easily live a rich life. It still takes hard work, dedication and a willingness to believe it is possible.
Although ideally we would never have had any student loans, this experience has changed our money mindset for the better, and forced us to learn more about saving and investing. We talk more about our finances and financial goals, we know more about our finances, and we have grown closer as we discuss our values related to how we spend our money and how it is a tool to achieve the lifestyle we want.
“The power of compounding is not just about money; it applies to every aspect of life. Small, consistent efforts can lead to remarkable results over time” – Jeremiah Say
-Keel
5knotstofreedom 
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