Saturday, July 14, 2007

Florida teacher wants out of debt

One thing we often hear very often when folks are trying to get out of debt is cut off the extra expenses or try to earn more money. It is always easy to do one, but something doing both can be hard.

Student loans and high credit card debt are affecting a Fort Lauderdale teacher.

He's a 27-year-old physical education teacher who works with special needs kids at a private school in Coral Springs. His income is $32,000, including part-time work during the school year and summer jobs.

He's single, lives in a large house with five roommates, and pays modest rent. But it's not the carefree life that it could be.


Add onto top of that he is 42k worth of student loans and $10,000 in credit card debt from spending carelessly.

He is currently coming out $300 a month short. He is playing the robbing Peter to pay Paul game. I have been in his situation with my debt and I know how stressful it is.

The suggestions from the financial planner include some simple advice:

  1. Earn more Apply for higher paying teacher jobs. He is currently teaching in a private school.
  2. Get a part time job during the school year.
  3. Sell his 2006 car since it is has 14% interest rate and payment is $507. he would then buy something cheaper.
  4. See if he could live with a family member rent-free
  5. Work with the credit card consolidation company to lower rates or a lower payment

Two thing I would also suggest would be a budget as well as a small emergency fund. I also don't necessarily agree with asking a family member to move in. He is an adult and shouldn't be looking for a financial safety net from Mom and Dad. I do agree that he needs to earn more and as a single guy could be working 7 days a week to get out of this financial mess. If you are working 7 days a week, you don't have the time or energy to go out every night.

If you are in debt, there are way to get out of the whole. We had over 20,000 in debt that took us several years to get out http://www.budgetdial.com/news-Jan0105.htm

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