27 years old, bought a house and paid off student loans in 6 years

This story is part of CNBC Make It’s Millennial Money series, which examines how people earn, spend and save money.

Margaret Skiff learned the importance of proper money management early on. Her father was a teacher and her mother was at home in Maine for most of her childhood, so money was “always a problem” in her family, she said.

“We definitely did everything we could to live below our means and be OK. But I think it definitely taught me the value of money… We always made do with what we had,” the 27-year-old tells CNBC Make It.

After graduating from college in Washington, D.C., in 2020 and earning $70,000 a year in her first job at a tech company, Skiff felt wealthy, she says.

“It felt like it was very expensive,” she says. “When I got the offer, I remember thinking, ‘Oh my god, I make more money than my parents combined…I’m rich. This is amazing.’

Fast forward just five years later. In 2025, Skiff more than doubled his income between his $113,000 annual salary as a full-time senior experience analyst at a transportation company and his $38,000 annual salary as a content creator on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube who earns through brand deals, affiliate links, and creator funds.

Her income and strategic savings strategy allowed her to purchase a duplex in Portland, Maine and pay off her student loans.

Skiff purchased a $575,000 home in April 2025 with a down payment of $57,500. After paying off the rest of her student loans in January, her only debt was about $510,000 left on her mortgage.

“I’ve always been very averse to debt,” she says. “I’ve seen families get into serious debt and never get out of it, and I’ve always told myself I would never be in that situation.”

Skiff worked in hotels and restaurants during high school and college to support himself. She had decided to leave Maine for college, so she attended Roanoke College in Virginia, even though there were more affordable options within the state. Skiff took out a total of $32,000 in student loans over four years, plus about $10,000 a year in out-of-pocket expenses to cover the cost of attendance.

Skiff said that when she was a high school senior, her mother convinced her that taking on hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans would preclude the job she wanted to get after school. They thought they could manage about $30,000 in debt, and for Skiff it was “worth it” to go to Roanoke on debt and she said she felt like she belonged there.

She continues to bring that strategic thinking to all major financial decisions. For example, when she bought a car in January 2021, it was wise to accept the first offer at the dealership.

“I was actually trying to negotiate the price with the guy, and he said, ‘Your monthly payment will be $250. Do you realize how low your car payment is?’ So I was still thinking, ‘Yeah, but it’s not low enough for me,'” she says.

Skiff started watching personal finance content on YouTube during college, she says, and learned the importance of saving and investing early and often. Shortly after she started working full-time, she automated her 401(k) investments so she didn’t have to think about making manual contributions.

“It’s been almost six years since I graduated from graduate school, and it’s so satisfying to look at my investment account and know that if I had started at 25, if I had started at 21, I wouldn’t have this money now,” she says. “You might not even have saved it, because if there was money there to spend, you (could) have spent it.”

Skiff returned to Maine in November 2023 after living in Virginia for several years. She lived with her mother in Newcastle for about seven months before moving to an apartment in Portland. After renting there for a year, her landlord did not renew her lease, so she considered her options: finding a new rental property or buying the house.

She says she always wanted to own her own home but never thought she would be able to buy one. But when I started looking at local listings on Zillow, I realized I could find a single-family home with a mortgage payment that was about the same as what I would pay in rent if I had one or two roommates.

“I tend to have the urge to think, ‘I can do anything…’ and this was one of those things. I’m going to buy a house,” Skiff remembers thinking at the time.

As we got deeper into the home search process, we quickly realized that buying an apartment complex made even more sense. She says she needed at least one roommate to be able to afford the single-family homes she looked at. But in an apartment complex, she can live alone in her unit and have tenants in another unit.

Skiff purchased the duplex for $575,000 in April 2025, just two months after starting the home search process, with a 10% down payment of $57,500 and a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with an interest rate of 6.625%. Also, because you put less than 20% down when you bought your home, you have to pay private mortgage insurance every month.

Skiff started making money from his social media content in 2023, but he said he “didn’t touch” that income until it was time to make a down payment on a house. Both her unit and the downstairs tenant’s unit have three bedrooms and a bathroom.

Skiff’s tenants had already lived in the house for 14 years, and when Skiff became landlord, she said, he increased the rent to a “pretty reasonable amount.” Her mortgage is $4,000 a month, and her tenant pays $2,000.

Becoming a landlord was “challenging” at first, she says, especially since she had to think about things like snow removal and repairs for the tenants. “It’s a lot more responsibility. You suddenly find yourself responsible for someone’s comfort,” she says.

When Skiff moved in, the house needed upgrades such as plumbing, electrical and drywall, which he paid professionals to do. Skiff and his mother did the rest of the renovations themselves, including refinishing the floors and upgrading the bathroom. She has spent about $15,000 on renovations so far. She still has a lot of work to do, including a complete kitchen renovation, which she is saving money for.

Since buying the house, Skiff says she hasn’t splurged much on anything other than repairs and interior decoration. However, she still spends her time and money going out with friends and taking occasional weekend trips.

“My latest splurge is renovating my bathroom,” she says. “That’s the most you can buy for $3,500.”

Here’s how she spends her money in October 2025.

Savings and investments: $5,682 toward 401(k), individual retirement accounts, savings and health savings accounts Housing and utilities: $1,367 for mortgage, Wi-Fi and utilities, food expenses less tenant and roommate payments: $557 for groceries and eating out Student loan payments: $300 Discretionary: $225 for Halloween costume supplies, concerts, home lighting Dollar Health: $162 for health, vision, dental insurance and medications Business expenses: $160 for accountant and iCloud storage Phone: $75 (I pay my mom for my mobile plan) Transportation: $54 for gas and rideshare Subscriptions and memberships: $33 for gym membership and streaming services

Skiff paid off the remainder of his student loans in January, but was still making monthly payments as of October 2025. She paid off her car loan in March 2025 and paid her insurance twice a year, so there was no payment in October.

Despite Skiff’s relatively high income, he occasionally takes cost-cutting measures, such as hiring a roommate. In October, she sublet one of the bedrooms in her unit to a medical student, who paid him $1,000 a month.

“We ended up in a really good situation. She paid half of my (mortgage), so that helped offset that,” Skiff said. “In the next few months, I’m planning on getting a roommate again to save on the cost of renovating the entire kitchen.”

Buying a home and paying off student loans have been Skiff’s biggest money goals for a while, but she wants to build on that momentum. She typically pays an extra $200 each month toward her mortgage to build up her equity and stop paying PMI as soon as possible.

“After we bought the house, it was like, what next?” she says. Now, she’s focused on making the house a “more finished and finished” place, she says.

In addition, Skiff continues to build wealth through savings and investments, and hopes to reach a net worth of $500,000 in the future. She has saved and invested a total of nearly $190,000 in retirement, brokerage, and savings accounts as of January 2026, and is on track.

“As a younger me, I would have thought, ‘Wow, you’re doing it!’ So I think about it a lot,” she says. “But at the same time, there’s so much more I want to do, so much more I want to explore and try and accomplish…but I’m very happy with what I’ve been able to do so far.”

What is the breakdown of the budget? Share your story with us for a chance to be featured in a future article.

Want to improve your communication, confidence, and success at work? Take CNBC’s new online course, Mastering Body Language for Influence. Sign up now and use coupon code EARLYBIRD to receive a 20% off introductory discount. Offer valid from February 9th to February 23rd, 2026. Terms and conditions apply.