Oprah's Debt Diet IV

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Eating out every night is normal for some people. My siblings and I ate out every night. My entire family (30 people min) always had thanksgiving together at a restaurant. I had a great childhood just didn't have a family that cooked.

It is normal if you can afford it. It is not normal if you charge it nightly and hope to pay it off in your lifetime with a minimum payment to the credit card.

 

[MrsPete]

In NJ, I earned a pension, and paid into SS. Here in NV, we are in PERS (a public employee retirement system), so my SS benefits when I retire will be significantly cut due to PERS payments. In addition, a teacher who taught their entire career, with no other employment outside the school district, does not earn the quarters necessary to be eligible for any SS upon retirement. Therefore, many people in my school will only receive their PERS, no SS supplement.

I fully agree that as a general statement, teachers are among the fortunate people who still have access to a pension and (in most states) SS.

I don't know what a PERS is -- guessing it's something unique to your state? Does this affect Social Security?

I know that I receive those yearly information letters from SS listing how much I've made over the past years . . . and telling how much I can expect to receive from SS if I retire at 62, at 65, etc. I don't think I collected 40 quarters prior to beginning teaching, but I know I'm eligible for SS when I'm old enough. My retirement benefits book gives me an option to receive more pension money prior to the date my Social Security kicks in -- if teachers across the board didn't receive SS, this wouldn't be an option.

I agree that teachers are fortunate to be among the last Americans who'll receive traditional pensions.

 

[tinaluis]

drakethib,
The $170,000 does NOT include their mortgage.

 

[disneysteve]

14-pair of $60 blue jeans.

This was one ridiculous thing. Why would anyone, especially someone in so much debt, spend that much on pants? My wife has 3 or 4 pairs of jeans at any given time and I think the most she has ever spent is about $25 and most were less than that. DD got her last 2 pairs at a thrift shop - one pair was $5 and the other was $7. And just the other day she was asking if we could go back there so she could get a couple more. If she came home with a $60 pair of jeans I would turn her around and send her right back to the store. I think the most I have ever paid for a pair of pants is about $35.

 

[MrsPete]

You might be surprised then to find that teachers in MN earn an average salary of 38,000. All time off is unpaid with the exception of sick leave.Mn does not pay for any advanced training. All out of pocket or student loans. I just met a teacher who went back to get her masters with the hopes of earning substantially more. Surprise, she justs broke $40,000 after 12 years of experience and a masters.

I don't know how this stacks up to other states, but here's how things shake out in NC:

NC pays its teachers the national average -- no more, no less.
Teachers are not required to earn a master's degree, but if they do it raises their pay 10%. Teachers are reimbursed a large percentage of the cost of a master's degree.
Teachers can raise their pay an additional 10% by earning National Board Certification.
The biggest raises come from leaving the classroom and going into administration; however, in my experience, most teachers don't want to do that -- they want to teach, and administration is a completely different job.
A first-year teacher (bachelor's degree only) earns 26,262, and a 30-year veteran teacher (bachelor's degree only) earns 46,590.

Website:
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/salary_admin/salinfo.htm

 

[disneysteve]

One thing bothered me about David Bach's segment. He kept saying how the CCs were charging late fees and over limit fees and he kind of made it sound like that was an evil plot by the CC companies. He never pointed out that if the family would just pay their bills on time and not overcharge, those fees would cease.

 

[MrsPete]

One thing bothered me about David Bach's segment. He kept saying how the CCs were charging late fees and over limit fees and he kind of made it sound like that was an evil plot by the CC companies. He never pointed out that if the family would just pay their bills on time and not overcharge, those fees would cease.

Yeah, but it's so much easier to blame someone else for your own shortcomings!

A few months ago I made a mistake -- I paid my bills too close to the deadline, and my credit card payment arrived to the company one day late. I was hit with a huge late fee and interest. That mistake cost me more than $100 -- ouch! But it was my mistake. I can't blame the company for having instituted the fees; I agreed to them when I accepted the card.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

This was one ridiculous thing. Why would anyone, especially someone in so much debt, spend that much on pants? My wife has 3 or 4 pairs of jeans at any given time and I think the most she has ever spent is about $25 and most were less than that. DD got her last 2 pairs at a thrift shop - one pair was $5 and the other was $7. And just the other day she was asking if we could go back there so she could get a couple more. If she came home with a $60 pair of jeans I would turn her around and send her right back to the store. I think the most I have ever paid for a pair of pants is about $35.

Debt not into consideration...but it is b/c of fit. sometimes I get lucky and find that expensive pair on the clearance rack.

I have not justified paying full price but the less expensive non-clearance stuff--just doesn't fit me right.

i have the same problem with shoes--I'd rather invest good money into an excellent pair and have it last me 5 years. My cheap shoes I get at old navy b/c for some reason tehy know how to make cheap shoes (but I get them on clearance as I don't consider them good--just pretty).

My feet will flatten a shoe in 3-6 months time. I spend $30 to $125 (though the big jump is due to my running shoes--I MUST have an excellent pair and the type of shoe I require doesn't come cheap ).

 

[Nolcrest]

Yeah, but it's so much easier to blame someone else for your own shortcomings!

A few months ago I made a mistake -- I paid my bills too close to the deadline, and my credit card payment arrived to the company one day late. I was hit with a huge late fee and interest. That mistake cost me more than $100 -- ouch! But it was my mistake. I can't blame the company for having instituted the fees; I agreed to them when I accepted the card.

This same thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago. Payment due on a Sunday and it didn't post until Monday and I was hit with a $35.00 late fee. Luckily my interest rate stayed at 2.99 or I would have really been annoyed at myself.

Anyway, that same week I was reading David Bach's "Start Late, Finish Rich" book where he suggested that you call and ask to have the late fee waived as soon as you see it on your bill (I had NEVER been late before). Normally, I would not do this because ultimately it was my fault however I decided to give it a try and BINGO! Fee waived no problem at all. I told them I was a 10 year account holder and had never been late and I would like them to waived my late fee. It was so easy - I felt like I won the lottery.

Since that incident I have setup online payments because I do not want to jeopardize my low interest rate becaue of snail mail.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

One thing bothered me about David Bach's segment. He kept saying how the CCs were charging late fees and over limit fees and he kind of made it sound like that was an evil plot by the CC companies. He never pointed out that if the family would just pay their bills on time and not overcharge, those fees would cease.

While I am sure that they were really late on their payments..it is a ploy.

Remember the pseudo due date discussion thread a while back. CC companies are mailing out due dates that they do not intend to honor if they fall on a weekend or the payment doesn't arrive at 2:37 am on the nose.

Kind of a derivitive (sp?) of the old bait and switch.

while the contract may say whatever--they should not be entitled to place a date that will not be honored on the bill.

Most likely not what that familyi experienced--but still....a problem and catching some people with late fees and interest that they should not be charged.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

This same thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago. Payment due on a Sunday and it didn't post until Monday and I was hit with a $35.00 late fee. Luckily my interest rate stayed at 2.99 or I would have really been annoyed at myself.

As I posted--this irritates me. They should not be permitted to do that.

We do an electronic transfer and their computers won't even recognize the payment. We cancelled a card b/c it was due on Sunday and they didn't recognize it on Saturday nor on Friday when they got it b/c it didn't get to them until after 5am. I would like to know since when the US Postal service has been delivering mail that early? My payment was late b/c they required it 3 days ahead of time.

That is not a due date and legally they should not be permitted to do that. I think they caught on to us electronic transfer people and it is not right.

 

[zippeedee]

I don't see them sticking with the plan the way that they'd need to in order to succeed. I think that the moment Oprah and Jean Chatsky pull out of their lives, they'll begin to slip. Maybe only a little at first, and maybe they won't slip all the back to where they started. But the fact is that they'd need a 100% transformation to achieve that and I just don't see the will power there to stick it out.

Her husband sort of muttered under his breath that he has been doing most of the cooking, so she is already falling behind. Good for him for finally stepping up, but I think she'll need to end up homeless before she gets it.

All I can think of with her is what my dad used to say if he thought I was spending too much - "Be careful, you don't want to end up an old lady in a room somewhere eating cat food". Harsh, but it worked!!

 

[Jon99]

In Illinois, public school teachers do not pay into SS nor do they recieve a benefit.. My wife is a 15 year teacher and makes around $48K a year, around the state average.. TRS is 9% of her check, when she retires (35 years of service for full benefits), she will get 75% of her highest years salary and medical as her pension.

 

[puddleduck]

Someone asked about PERS. My dh and I both teach. For PERS (public employee retirement system), in our state, MS, all state employees put in 7.5% of their salary per month and it works like a pension plan. My dh and I also have money taken out that goes into an annuity.

As far as the state that pays $70,000. I wish. My dh and I don't make that combined. Of course, MS pays less than the national average.

In MS, the teacher pays for all costs of getting their master's degree and the pay increase is barely worth the time and cost. It would take me 6 years to break even on what it would cost to obtain my degree (and that is just tuition, not books or gas or other related expenses).

They do offer a good incentive for taking the National Boards. They state will fully reimburse the cost if you complete the process (but you have to pay the now $2500 cost upfront, and wait 2 years to get the reimbursement). If you pass, you get a $6,000/year raise for 10 years.

In MS, our pay is divided by 12 months, so any summer work I take on is extra.

It is just important to know that not all states work the same when it comes to their teachers.

 

[emer95]

I'm fascinated by the talk about teacher salaries and how they vary state to state. I teach in NY and our wages are higher than average, but the certification standards are much more strict. A teacher in NY must have a master's degree within 3 years of being hired. I am paying every single penny of my $20,000 loan (which is just my master's. I paid for my undergraduate degree out of pocket), so it is definitely NOT the case that all school districts pay for higher education.
I've also been very intested in the Eggleston's and their strategies. Was anyone else surprised to hear her say Bulls--- (beeped out)?? Her students will have a field day with that!

 

[DVC Sadie]

Rewarding these people who are in debt with high end appliances is doing anyone any good IMHO.

I have a question. This $170,000 that they are in debt, dows this include mortgage or just credit card debt.

The 170,000.00 is credit card and car leases debts. This does NOT include their 300,000.00 mortgage.

 

[disneysteve]

Her husband sort of muttered under his breath that he has been doing most of the cooking, so she is already falling behind

I didn't necessarily see that as a problem. As long as one of them is cooking instead of all of them going out to eat, I think they are making progress. To be fair, it would be pretty tough for a woman who basically never cooked a meal in her life to suddenly start preparing 3 meals a day for herself and her family with minimal skills and zero experience. From what they showed, it looked like she didn't even know how to chop an onion. I think she's got a steep learning curve ahead but I don't think that situation is hopeless. I think him stepping up in the kitchen is great. If he's got some cooking skills, then maybe she can pick up some lessons from him. She actually seemed pleased by the meal she and Jean made together.

 

[drakethib]

Yeah, but it's so much easier to blame someone else for your own shortcomings!

A few months ago I made a mistake -- I paid my bills too close to the deadline, and my credit card payment arrived to the company one day late. I was hit with a huge late fee and interest. That mistake cost me more than $100 -- ouch! But it was my mistake. I can't blame the company for having instituted the fees; I agreed to them when I accepted the card.

Give them a call.

Sometimes they will give a one time exception.

The same thing happen to me a while back as I thought I made payement and actually did not.

 

[Debbie]

I can't blame the company for having instituted the fees; I agreed to them when I accepted the card.

I think that that was the point that David Bach was trying to make. We DO sign the agreement, but we really don't know what the agreement is. I didn't know that the interest rate went up, up, up. I rarely carry a balance except on my LOC, so this one had escaped me.

All of my online banks tell me to make sure that there is a period of @ five days to transfer the money for bills paid online. Give me a break! In this computer world of ours, that transfer should take....um......seconds. I tend to pay on the due date or the day before. I have resorted to the Friday or Saturday (depends on the bank) for the bill due on the Sunday, since I figure Monday really will be too late.

 

[sk!mom]

I can believe it. I'm a New York City gal. My dad was a NYC policeman that worked the night shift in order to stay home during the day with me & my siblings. My mom was an accountant who work during the day. While we had dishes, we didn't have pots. We pretty much ate out every day. We loved it, since there was such a variety of food, I grew up loving everything from soul food to thai to ethiopian food. Not sure how my parents afforded it but I grew up in the early 70's so I guess every thing was cheaper. When I had my bridal shower my aunts and female cousins all thought it was a hoot that my husbands family gave me pots and dishes. They couldn't imagine what the heck I was going to do with them.

I also know people who eat out every night but I don't think I know anyone who has never used a cart in a grocery store. Eating out is fine if you can afford it and that's how you want to spend disposable income.

I had a problem with the top of the line appliances being given to them becaused I think one of Lisa Bradley's problem is a sense of entitlement to the finest things. She "had" to have a BMW, a $300,000 home, the nicest clothes, etc... I think that she needed to realize that many of us manage just fine with lower end things. The cookware and appliances she was given are what I would expect to find in the kitchen of someone serious about cooking.

I think that she needs to be clued in to the fact that she doesn't have to go all out like she did when Jean Chatsky was helping her. Salad in a bag with chicken breast, canned soup and sandwiches, rotisserie chicken and salad would all be cheaper than eating out and less time consuming to put together than driving all over for fast food. Conveniece foods from the store aren't the cheapest but are much less costly than eating out and probably a good starting point for someone who has not cooked.

As far as Steven Bradley's comment that he has been doing the cooking- I thought the comment showed some of the hostility that you can see in the relationship but if he knows how to cook then that could be the solution. He can cook and she can clean up. In our house, I cook and DH cleans up.

It's easy to see why the Bradleys have the deepest debt - they seem to have the most issues.