<p>Here is the second financial issue that I would like some suggesions.</p>
<p>I have a sister-in-law who is 60. She was married to my wife’s brother but they divorced about 20 years old. One grrown daughter. She is in a world of financial hurt, due to some bad choices and some dumb luck.</p>
<p>She has asked me for some help in figuring how to dig herself out. I’m going to her place in a couple of weeks to look over her paperwork to see if I can come up with anything for her. I’m looking for any advice you might offer. Here’s some pariticulars:</p>
<p>Age 60
Librarian at a Christian high school. Was a teacher there, but found the rountine too stressful and was willing to take a cut in pay to get there.
Makes $24K a year (I’m guessing)
$30K in total 401Ks. (Another guess)
No other savings.
$8K in credit card debt. She’s makes minimum payments, but hasn’t missed a payment (I think). However, on one card the rate really went up.
Owes about $4K in car payments.
Has her own apartment.
Probably tithes to the church (I’ll find that out for sure).</p>
<p>Off the top of my head, my advice would start with: go back to teaching and find a roomie to share rent. I am aslo willing to lend her money to pay down some of the debt.</p>
<p>Why would you recommend that a person who cannot tolerate stress go back for more? Out of curiosity. I can understand the pay might be greater. NO job because of stress isn’t the solution. </p>
<p>Seems to me she might qualify for subsidized housing at her age and income. Could she consider that?</p>
<p>I suppose it was because I find it hard to believe that the stress of teaching is greater than the stress of doing without the extra few thousand a year at her income level.</p>
<p>Will look into the subsidized housing issue, though. Thanks.</p>
<p>I guess what I was really saying was this: to each his own stress. If she is unable to handle the challenge of social interraction w/ students, there you have it. I am in total agreement that economic disaster would produce much stress!<br>
Maybe she could be a librarian at a law firm or other institution that pays more than a religious school? </p>
<p>You are a saint for helping out with this. Not a pleasant task.</p>
<p>A house share/apartment share was one of my first thoughts.</p>
<p>Is her job a 9 or 10-month job or year round? Working in the summer months is an option.</p>
<p>A second job is an option. I say that advisedly, because I don’t know what caused the stress in the teaching job. A second job would be more hours in her day, obviously, but might not be more stressful. In fact, if she is stressed about finances (you don’t mention if this is stressing her out) a second job, at something she enjoys and doesn’t have to “take home” with her, could be a stress reliever. A retail job in the type of shop she enjoys could help. The pay would be low per hour, but might help get rid of her debt.</p>
<p>What are the interest rates on her loan/credit card? If they are quite high, it will be very difficult for her to eliminate this debt via minimum payments; so renegotiating or refinancing these to better rates might help.</p>
<p>If she is looking for a little extra work on a schedule she can have control over, have her check out this site: <a href=“http://www.ets.org/reader/osn/index.html[/url]”>www.ets.org/reader/osn/index.html</a>
Many of the jobs there are not currently taking openings, but some down near the bottom are open for application. This involved reading and scoring student responses (mainly essays) at home on your own computer. As a teacher/librarian, she should be qualified for many of the jobs there. I have been doing this for a few years now, and it is decent work, and NOT stressful.</p>
<p>Have you been a teacher recently? The stress is unbelievable. Young teachers leave the teaching profession in droves. I agree…if this person made a decision to leave teaching because of the stress, it might not be a good idea to return. </p>
<p>A second job (even very part time) would be a good suggestion, with all of that income going to pay down debt. Also, I agree…what about some kind of subsidized housing where rent is on a sliding scale based on income.</p>
<p>Also, what are her prospects for retirement? How much can she expect from Social Security, the 401K, any other pensions…what about the ex’s pension? Ex-spouses have rights to those under some conditions. At her age, retirement planning should be second only to reducing the crushing debt.</p>
<p>Agree with poster who extended kudos to the OP for helping with this. It’s frightening to grow old without a financial cushion…I have a dear friend who left nursing (too high-stress) for temp office work…it’s been awful for her.</p>
<p>Agree with the reading work…that sounds like something that’s made for her. Good luck to the OP and his SIL.</p>
<p>I taught an afterschool class in watercolor one a week to elementary school students. I came home and had a drink every time it was so stressful. Not everyone is cut out to be a teacher. I certainly am not! Can she transfer the credit card debt and work out a plan for paying it off. That it seems to me must be first priority. And to do that she may need to cut back expenses or increase her earning. Having a housemate seems like a definite possibility. I know people who do medical transcriptions. If you are a decent typist it’s something you can do on your own time.</p>
<p>Get a copy of the “Tightwadder Gazette” - tons and tons of practical ways to save money and live on less - recycle, reuse, borrow, cook or make yourself, or do without. It helps limited income go a lot farther. Re: stress and teaching. I left being a school librarian, (large low-income public school) to become a teacher in the same school. I found teaching LESS stressful. (Although a small private Christian school might be a different experience) Honestly, being a librarian can be exhausting - you are dealing with tons of kids, tons of materials, shelving, bookkeeping and purchasing, teaching classes, helping teachers, doing storytimes, handling av and computer equipment and training…way too much. :)</p>
<p>Have her pull her credit reports from the big 3, Experian, Equifax and Transunion. She can get all 3 for free by using annualcreditreport.com, which she is entitled to by law. She can also pull all 3 by paying for them and seeing her credit scores (myfico) for about $45 or $38 with a coupon code. The only difference between paying is the ability to see your credit scores AND if there is any erroneous info she needs to dispute they must respond within 30 days versus 45 as with the free credit report. (She and you can do all this online, with the ability to instantly see her credit reports and scores, make sure to print it all out.)</p>
<p>After analyzing her credit if she has decent credit she could apply for a new CC with a 0% APR/APY balance transfer which is good from 12-18 months or in some cases for the life of the balance transfer. She could transfer her high interest CC, or all her cards to a 0% card if they authorize an $8K limit which is more likely with a balance transfer. During that time (12-18 months or life of the transfer) she could, if possible increase her payments to her other debt or if possible to her 401K if she is provided matching funds from her employer.</p>
<p>For her car loan she could possibly re-finance that to a lower interest rate and if needed extend the loan if the interest is really low. Is she recieving the lowest quote on her automobile insurance? Has she shopped for lower rates? Is she using coupons in conjunction with the sales flyer from the local grocery stores for her food budget? How much does she eat out?</p>
<p>The roomate idea is a good one or does she have any relatives she can stay with while using her rent money/utilities to substantially pay off her debt? Granted this is more extreme but then the money she would be spending on rent would pay off her debt while not incurring any new debt if someone else lend’s her the money. Cleaning her apartment out may net additional funds if she gets an ebay account and sells some of her unwanted/unneeded things. Anything she makes from the sale of ebay stuff goes straight to a CC.</p>
<p>Is she paying a lot for pharmacy meds? There are quite a few programs out there that will substantially subsidize or provide for free some of her medications. Usually from the manufacturers themselves. A Google search under Montel Williams script programs will turn some up.</p>
<p>And maybe a second job as a part-time librarian for the local city or county.</p>
<p>She needs to make a list of every expense/utility/cable/internet/phone/insurance/food/clothing. Examine what can be trimmed and then examine what can be increased as far as income. She then needs to snowball her debt payments in order to make a sizeable dent in the debt while not incurring any new. In some cases having a car will be considered an asset if she were to look for subsidized housing depending on which authority is doing the subsidizing.</p>
<p>Good luck to her.</p>
<p>Kat </p>
<p>ps, another thought, is there any possible way the church she works for or belongs to can they help her out? Maybe put out feelers for cheaper housing or someone who would be acceptable as a roomate?</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone who has responded. I really appreciate it. Please let me know if anyone can think of anything else. I’d like to respond to some of the specific points that were made, but I can’t right now.</p>
<p>Yes, SIL has two big problems. The size of her current debt and that she will have to rely almost solely on SS for retirement.</p>
<p>find out all the low cost housing places including any lotteries that may come up soon. There is a new 55+ place in NJ with regular prices starting “in the 900’s” and theyare having a low price lottery for low income folks.
(when you get this you can’t then sell it for 900k of course)
My mom is in PA, my uncle in Princeton, NJ and their rentals are scaled to income.</p>
<p>Dadguy, we own a second home south of the border. There are many reasons we chose it. Lower cost of living is kind a nice bonus. But many of the folks we are meeting have chosen it out of “necessity.” It is a place where they can afford to live on Social Security alone, which they could not do in their previous communities. Something she might consider in planning her retirement.</p>
<p>That’s too funny anxiousmom, I loved being a librarian, very soothing. Admittedly not the busiest of libaries. (Munger Africana library at Caltech - part time job.) I loved the variety, I loved helping kids find things and I loved learning more about Africa where I’d done a bunch of growing up, but actually knew relatively little about.</p>
<p>Focus on the cc debt. Make more than the minimum payments. With some cards these days the minimum payment is BELOW what is actually needed to pay down the debt. She may need to suspend her tithe for the time being and reduce the CC debt. </p>
<p>Take a look at where money goes out and see what can be adjusted. Any adjustment should be drawn towards reducing cc debt. Look at insurance policies as well. See if raising deductibles will free up some cash to reduce debt. </p>
<p>It’s a tough situation especially renting. Let us know what you find when you look a bit closer, then we can refine advice a bit.</p>
<p>Here’s a perfect oppourtunity for her daughter to kick in/help repay all the love,considration,etc. afforded by mom throughout the years. Your sister-in-law must be deserving of this favor no doubt because after so many years you guys are still willing to help her.</p>
<p>BTW I would get a complete analysis as to how she got into such debt. Was it established in a month, a year, or several years. An attitude change at this point may prevent future problems.</p>
<p>Perhaps she could live rent free as a companion for an elderly person who needs a minimal amount of help? It sounds strange, but I’ve heard of this working out really well.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for your responses. A little more background.</p>
<p>SIL has always had some financial difficulty. Even when she was married to my wife’s brother, they were always scrapping by. He is in more of a mess than she is, can’t seem to hold a job very long. But he is a little more resourceful and not having custody, he could always make a go out of about any situation.</p>
<p>Once they were divorced, things always seemed a little bleak for her. My wife would occasionally sneak over to their place and slide a little money under the door. </p>
<p>SIl was teaching then but did not have her CA state credential so her employers could always get away with paying her a bit less than her experience would otherwise dictate. We oiffered to put up the money for her to take the classes to get her credential, but she turned us down saying she wanted to able to refer to Scripture in the class room and did not want to teach in public schools (where the money was substanailly better), even though it would have helped her even if she stayed where she was.</p>
<p>She had a teaching credential in MN where she grew up and her family was all back there. Her friends were out here though. But given the cost of liviing differential and that she would have made a bit more back there, that was not enough for her to make the move back.</p>
<p>Of course, there was no money saved for college, no reason to expect so. Her daughter was offered full scholarhship at a secular private university (good academcially, not known as a party school) but turned it down becuase she wanted to enroll at a Christian school just a few miles from home. There, the scholarship was for books and tuition only. not for living expenses. Well , the school was a 10 minute walk to the bus stop and a 15 minute ride. </p>
<p>What does SIL do? Pay for the daughter to live on campus. Daughter is now working at bookstore full time and is not looking to do anything else now. Is about 2 1/2 years out of college. She probably makes less than her mom does and can’t really help out.</p>
<p>So SIL’s situation is due to a combination of career choices and spending choices and some challenges that the working poor seem to face.</p>