I ' ve been looking at seattle recently , the apartments don ' t seem too bad out there and new grads still seem to be able to ask just under the six figure mark . <| sep |> He knows how the company is invested . He knows where all the real estate is , even if he doesn ' t talk to the kids . Would it not be a temptation for him to make decisions as president in order to benefit the company ? This is why presidents in the past have liquidated their assets and placed them in a blind trust . <| sep |> I understand that this is shocking , but is this humor ? <| sep |> Assume all other factors remain constant to make life easier 4 smaller loans . If you ride them all out until the end , then it would be the same as a large loan for the total balance at the same rate . However , the 4 smaller loans gives you additional flexibility . If you can pay off one or more of them early , this could free up additional cash flow to either throw at the other loans or pay for something else . With one big loan , if you pay down principal early , your payment will stay the same , but length of time you are paying the loan will shorten . Now in real life , there are fees , interest rates change , and more that will make less apples to apples .