2 Teachers + 3 Years = $250,000

[Ed Mills]

Greeting Mustachians,
 I finally got this down in a post:  how my wife and I saved $250K over 3 years by simply maxing out every retirement account available to us.  We lived off of distributions from our 457 accounts and the remains of our paychecks.  I hope this helps a reader somewhere devise and hammer their own financial liberation plan.   

http://www.millionaireeducator.com/2013/03/how-we-saved-250000-by-taking-crappy.html

[imustachemystash]

Your story is really badass!  What an adventure and with such a nice rewarding ending. My parents were both teachers and they took jobs in New Zealand and the Virgin Islands when I was growing up.  They have always been careful with money too and are happily retired now.  Teaching can be a great profession.  i'm working part time in the school district as a speech language pathologist and really enjoy my summers off. 

[arebelspy]

Awesome.  Your site appears down now, but I was able to access a cached version.

The wife and I have saved about that much as well, both as teachers (with a gross pay of ~43k each), net worth has gone up about 200k from contributions in the past 2 years because we've saved basically 100% of our base pay and then some (and lived off of some rental income and extra money made from tutoring, summer school, etc.).  (Don't have exact figures to compare the three year total, but I'd estimate it'd come in around 300k in 3 years.)

Most teachers I know are, sadly, very bad with money.  Glad to see some fellow teachers provide inspiration!  Love it.

[nz]

Well done Ed, quite an accomplishment. People like teachers, nurses, police etc. tend to get paid similar amounts regardless of where they live. I can't understand why more people don't move to smaller towns/cities where in my opinion the standard of living is vastly superior.

And, as a recently retired teacher, I agree with  arebelspy that unfortunately most teachers are pretty hopeless with money.

[LowER]

I thought that I remember teachers being of the best accumulators of wealth of all professions in the The Millionaire Next Door.  Is that no longer the case?

[Dianas Report]

As a teacher myself, that is an awesome accomplishment! Great to hear your story.

t. People like teachers, nurses, police etc. tend to get paid similar amounts regardless of where they live. I can't understand why more people don't move to smaller towns/cities where in my opinion the standard of living is vastly superior.

And, as a recently retired teacher, I agree with  arebelspy that unfortunately most teachers are pretty hopeless with money.

I partly agree, Teachers get paid by State and district they work for. When I taught in FL, the district I worked in payed lower than the nieghboring district. The state I live in now pays $10,000 more per year than my prior location. But I agree... after your retired to move to a lower standard of living to get the most bang out of your pension.

Please no stereotyping teachers...Any profession can be hopeless with money even Dr.'s & Lawyers.

[nz]

Dianas Report- Yes any profession can be hopeless with money. No argument there. BUT...... in my experience ,and I've worked with hundreds of teachers , there seem to be a disproportionately high number who lurch from pay day to pay day.
In my last job of 60 staff there were 5 who I would consider to be financially astute and  in charge of their finances, another 40 who lived hand to mouth and 15 complete basket cases whose financial lives  and debt levels were simply out of control.

And these are the intelligent, well paid , professionals shaping our children's futures........mmmmm???

[chicagomeg]

Dianas Report- Yes any profession can be hopeless with money. No argument there. BUT...... in my experience ,and I've worked with hundreds of teachers , there seem to be a disproportionately high number who lurch from pay day to pay day.
In my last job of 60 staff there were 5 who I would consider to be financially astute and  in charge of their finances, another 40 who lived hand to mouth and 15 complete basket cases whose financial lives  and debt levels were simply out of control.

And these are the intelligent, well paid , professionals shaping our children's futures........mmmmm???

I think that's about the breakdown anywhere.

[BPA]

Dianas Report- Yes any profession can be hopeless with money. No argument there. BUT...... in my experience ,and I've worked with hundreds of teachers , there seem to be a disproportionately high number who lurch from pay day to pay day.
In my last job of 60 staff there were 5 who I would consider to be financially astute and  in charge of their finances, another 40 who lived hand to mouth and 15 complete basket cases whose financial lives  and debt levels were simply out of control.

And these are the intelligent, well paid , professionals shaping our children's futures........mmmmm???

I am a teacher and don't ask about how financially astute my co-workers would be, but I do not get the feeling that my co-workers are living paycheque to paycheque.  However, they might think that about me, because I don't participate in the lottery pool or spend time out spending money with them.  I have to wonder how well you really knew all of your co-workers and their most intimate financial situations.  I suspect you are making huge assumptions and that last sentence is rather smug and insulting.

Most teachers I know are good with money, I'd say. Not necessarily MMM frugal but not irresponsible either. 

[Honest Abe]

Great job Ed!

Another teacher here.... I've noticed that many of the colleagues I've spoken to, while may or may not be bad with their money, do not take advantage of their 403b, 457, etc.. I think this comes from a false belief that their pensions will be enough for them to live off of in retirement. (Ask an 85 year old teacher who retired in 1983 if their check kept up with inflation.)

[nz]

BPA - Over the years I became a sort of unofficial 'budget advisor' in my staffroom and spent many hours helping a number of my colleagues get themselves out of financial holes. I became privy to an awful lot of personal information that made my hair stand on end. Even yesterday I was contacted by a former colleague about a banking matter. I remember the following case in particular.
 Our economics teacher had children everywhere and was paying hundreds a week in child support. He bought every gadget and toy on credit and was furious at the bank for not extending him more money to buy a house. And every day he trotted off to talk finance/money/economics to teenagers.

Smug? That's not how I feel , but I do feel 'deeply concerned' and even' fearful'. Deeply concerned that the our rampant consumerism is not being addressed in schools and 'fearful that many of our young folk are  growing up without sound financial knowledge and habits.

[BPA]

BPA - Over the years I became a sort of unofficial 'budget advisor' in my staffroom and spent many hours helping a number of my colleagues get themselves out of financial holes. I became privy to an awful lot of personal information that made my hair stand on end. Even yesterday I was contacted by a former colleague about a banking matter. I remember the following case in particular.
 Our economics teacher had children everywhere and was paying hundreds a week in child support. He bought every gadget and toy on credit and was furious at the bank for not extending him more money to buy a house. And every day he trotted off to talk finance/money/economics to teenagers.

Smug? That's not how I feel , but I do feel 'deeply concerned' and even' fearful'. Deeply concerned that the our rampant consumerism is not being addressed in schools and 'fearful that many of our young folk are  growing up without sound financial knowledge and habits.

Perhaps that was the case at your school (although if I had an idea in the least that someone would be trashing me on the internet for my spending habits, I sure wouldn't have agreed to have them look at my finances), but it sure isn't the case where I live.  You are stereotyping an entire profession worldwide based on your perceptions.  That is rather arrogant, don't you think?

Besides, every single person has a bias of how education should be shaped.  I know vegans upset that we aren't educating students to be vegan and environmentalists who think teachers are setting a bad example by not living as green as they think we should be living.  Once I had someone chide me for drinking a caffeinated beverage at work on my lunch because the students could see me and I was not being a good example. 

If you want to criticize curriculum, go right ahead if you find it lacking where you have taught, but it is really unfair to blame teachers for the ills of the world.  I will admit that I am fed up with the teacher bashing I've been enduring thanks to our provincial government right now.  But teachers are fallible human beings and should not be expected to be 100% virtuous 100% of the time in 100% of what others perceive they should be or do.  If they genuinely care about children and deliver the curriculum that they've be given (as per their job description), and leave the world a little better of a place than they did before they started teaching, I think they've done a fantastic job.  No need to mourn for the human race because the teachers you know might not be great with money (according to your expectations).

[arebelspy]

No need to get indignant or self-righteous, BPA.  We're all friends here, and most of us in this thread both teachers and Mustachians.  None of us are teacher bashing, or holding up teachers to an unreasonable standard, just sharing an observation we've each independently made. 

[Honest Abe]

No one is more pro-teacher than I... I'm even in one of them fancy teacher's unions. :-D

[nz]

arebelspy- my thoughts exactly.

[Ed Mills]

I just wanted to weigh in on the teachers and personal finance thoughts here.  Some of my co-workers love what I'm doing and others view me as a Martian.  However, it seems to me that many teachers have a streak of financial fatalism in them; many view teaching as taking a vow of poverty.  Obviously, I reject this notion.  Teaching can be a very good living...especially if you like the job.  Just my 2 cents.
Ed

[Ishmael]

Count me on the pro-teacher bandwagon. I think the job is difficult, and deserves to be paid well. It entails an enormous amount of responsibility and stress, and they need to be compensated well for it (which I think they are in Canada, no?). I also understand why teachers should have the summer off - it enables them to do a better job teaching kids the rest of the year!

As it is a super critical role in society, though, the whole system needs to be managed keeping the welfare and education of the kids as the number one priority. I've seen some bad teachers stay in a role they really shouldn't be in for far too long, and seniority play a little too much of a role in teaching assignments. For example, my kids school just lost one of the best teachers I ever saw because although she had years of experience, it was in another province and didn't count for seniority so she got bumped. Not in the best interest of the children, for sure.

Luckily, this type of thing seems uncommon and the vast majority of teachers I've seen are diligent professionals. As with everything else, a few bad apples spoil the [reputation of] the batch.

[mm1970]

Hey, I'm an engineer and I'd say that there's the same breakdown in engineering (particularly the new ones) as there is in teaching.

Some of my engineers are very savvy and are saving the bucks.  Others complain that they cannot afford a house but drive new Ford F-250's on an 8-mile (one-way) trip to work.  Now, So Cal is expensive and yes, they very likely couldn't afford a  house anyway, but may be able to afford a condo.

I think kids get used to living the way their parents did.  I know personally, I was poor.  College was just like high school (shared rooms, cheap food, not a lot of money).  The Navy was a small step up.  The kids (22-25 yo) I know today?  Well, they have more money in college, their parents help them buy their first car, and they are still on their parents' cell phone plans.