Author Topic: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)  (Read 16469 times)

Metta

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 773
How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« on: July 01, 2015, 11:08:03 AM »
I would love to see someone do a detailed study on how much money many of these TV characters would need to afford their lifestyles.  The sheer size and niceness of the apartments in Friends and HIMYM; the Cosmos, shoes and fashion of Carrie; Lorelai's victorian home and need to eat out for every single meal despite being a struggling, independent single mom.  I'm guessing most were spending in excess of $100k/year if this were RL.

About the only recent scripted show I can think of which follows the lives of 20/30 somethings with any financial accuracy is probably Big Bang Theory; they all hold down university jobs but  they do little more than buy comics, play games and go to ComiCon.  Only one of them even seems to own a car, and their apartment is a walk-up (thanks to Leonard).

I saw Nereo's post and thought of this:

15 Sitcom Characters Who Might Be Broke If They Lived In The Real World

You may have wondered if characters on your favorite show could actually afford to live in their houses or apartments. Here's the answer.

http://www.movoto.com/blog/novelty-real-estate/sitcom-cribs/



vhalros

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 308
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #1 on: July 01, 2015, 11:13:31 AM »
Didn't they have like 47 different adults living in the same house in "Full House"? Did those guys pay rent or something?

CommonCents

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2363
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #2 on: July 01, 2015, 11:35:02 AM »
Yep,there was a friend and a brother-in-law who lived with him in order to help out with childcare - and presumably expenses.  My vague recollection is maybe the brother-in-law didn't have a lot of cash but the friend should have been able to pay some rent.

Similarly, How I Met Your Mother has Ted as paying the full costs of the apartment himself, when he was almost always rooming with someone in it - Marshall mostly, but also Robin.  He turned it over to Marshall and Lily in the end. 

fb132

  • Guest
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #3 on: July 01, 2015, 11:43:54 AM »
I am not surprised about Al Bundy,lol. They remind me of so many people I know, whatever credit they have, you know it has been all used up to the max.

EricP

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 477
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #4 on: July 01, 2015, 11:49:37 AM »
Yep,there was a friend and a brother-in-law who lived with him in order to help out with childcare - and presumably expenses.  My vague recollection is maybe the brother-in-law didn't have a lot of cash but the friend should have been able to pay some rent.

Similarly, How I Met Your Mother has Ted as paying the full costs of the apartment himself, when he was almost always rooming with someone in it - Marshall mostly, but also Robin.  He turned it over to Marshall and Lily in the end.

Agree with you on Full House, the whole premise was that the single dad needed help doing everything, but with HIMYM they only looked at housing.  Sure, if they added in Robin's salary or Marshall's salary (Lily seems to never do anything that actually makes money) it would bring it down to "affordable," but then you have to factor in their extravagant lifestyle: every evening in a bar, tons of new clothes all the time, going on dates with women at fancy restaurants every other episode, etc.  That's what would blow it out of the water.

Also, don't people use "Take Home Pay" when calculating the 30% figure?  Just from glancing at the numbers, they all kind of look like Gross Income.

shotgunwilly

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 548
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #5 on: July 01, 2015, 11:52:04 AM »
Homer Simpson makes more money than me?! Holy shit I just hit a new low.

fb132

  • Guest
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #6 on: July 01, 2015, 11:52:44 AM »
Homer Simpson makes more money than me?! Holy shit I just hit a new low.
and what is amazing is that he has no clue what he is doing, but yet he gets to keep his job.

forummm

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7374
  • Senior Mustachian
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #7 on: July 01, 2015, 12:02:26 PM »
Homer Simpson makes more money than me?! Holy shit I just hit a new low.

Nuclear test engineering pays well.

I'm a red panda

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8186
  • Location: United States
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #8 on: July 01, 2015, 12:13:17 PM »
They clearly forgot that Monica's apartment on Friends was an illegal sublet and rent controlled from her grandmother. 

The show at least tried to explain how they could afford that space.

EricP

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 477
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #9 on: July 01, 2015, 12:19:54 PM »
They clearly forgot that Monica's apartment on Friends was an illegal sublet and rent controlled from her grandmother. 

The show at least tried to explain how they could afford that space.

Didn't know that until you mentioned it, but that's just the one apartment, the identical one across the hall was not illegally sublet and thus would have been able to reset the rent when Joey and Chandler moved in (that is how these things work right?)

CommonCents

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2363
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #10 on: July 01, 2015, 12:22:03 PM »
Yep,there was a friend and a brother-in-law who lived with him in order to help out with childcare - and presumably expenses.  My vague recollection is maybe the brother-in-law didn't have a lot of cash but the friend should have been able to pay some rent.

Similarly, How I Met Your Mother has Ted as paying the full costs of the apartment himself, when he was almost always rooming with someone in it - Marshall mostly, but also Robin.  He turned it over to Marshall and Lily in the end.

Agree with you on Full House, the whole premise was that the single dad needed help doing everything, but with HIMYM they only looked at housing.  Sure, if they added in Robin's salary or Marshall's salary (Lily seems to never do anything that actually makes money) it would bring it down to "affordable," but then you have to factor in their extravagant lifestyle: every evening in a bar, tons of new clothes all the time, going on dates with women at fancy restaurants every other episode, etc.  That's what would blow it out of the water.

Also, don't people use "Take Home Pay" when calculating the 30% figure?  Just from glancing at the numbers, they all kind of look like Gross Income.

Lily was a kindergarten teacher...and later "art consultant" to a very rich guy.  Arebelspy has proven that while it may not be a wall street salary, teachers do have plenty of money.  I also think her clothes buying habits are why Lily went "broke" at one point in the show and had to sell her clothes.  If you recall, she and Marshall were denied a mortgage based on her debt.  So I think that's reasonably plausible.  Marshall and Barney would have made quite a bit in their jobs, and Ted when he wasn't unemployed/prof could be doing well.  And it was just Barney/Ted paying on dates - Marshall was mostly always with Lily (and they didn't show a lot of dates for them), and Robin had all of her dates and other things paid for her because she was pretty (near the end, she realizes NYC is expensive with an engagement ring on).

I'm a red panda

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8186
  • Location: United States
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #11 on: July 01, 2015, 12:37:02 PM »
Didn't know that until you mentioned it, but that's just the one apartment, the identical one across the hall was not illegally sublet and thus would have been able to reset the rent when Joey and Chandler moved in (that is how these things work right?)

Well, the article didn't address the one across the hall, so I only picked on the one they talked about.  But the identical one across the hall wasn't even remotely identical.  It was much smaller, both the living areas, the bedrooms, the bathroom- and it lacked a storage closet, and it didn't have a view or a balcony.
Chandler lived there for a long time before Joey became his roommate, so he possibly had some existing thing, though his was not rent controlled.

Chandler also had an excellent job at the beginning of the show - so he could probably afford that apartment. Monica was severely underemployed at the beginning of the show, and Rachel was an incompetent waitress who probably didn't make much more than Joey did as a mostly unemployed actor.


Now when Ross moved into his across the street apartment, well, he would have had to be really well paid to afford that on his own. It seemed VERY nice, a signifigant step up from the apartment he had previously, and he had no roommate.

EricP

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 477
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #12 on: July 01, 2015, 12:46:29 PM »
Yep,there was a friend and a brother-in-law who lived with him in order to help out with childcare - and presumably expenses.  My vague recollection is maybe the brother-in-law didn't have a lot of cash but the friend should have been able to pay some rent.

Similarly, How I Met Your Mother has Ted as paying the full costs of the apartment himself, when he was almost always rooming with someone in it - Marshall mostly, but also Robin.  He turned it over to Marshall and Lily in the end.

Agree with you on Full House, the whole premise was that the single dad needed help doing everything, but with HIMYM they only looked at housing.  Sure, if they added in Robin's salary or Marshall's salary (Lily seems to never do anything that actually makes money) it would bring it down to "affordable," but then you have to factor in their extravagant lifestyle: every evening in a bar, tons of new clothes all the time, going on dates with women at fancy restaurants every other episode, etc.  That's what would blow it out of the water.

Also, don't people use "Take Home Pay" when calculating the 30% figure?  Just from glancing at the numbers, they all kind of look like Gross Income.

Lily was a kindergarten teacher...and later "art consultant" to a very rich guy.  Arebelspy has proven that while it may not be a wall street salary, teachers do have plenty of money.  I also think her clothes buying habits are why Lily went "broke" at one point in the show and had to sell her clothes.  If you recall, she and Marshall were denied a mortgage based on her debt.  So I think that's reasonably plausible.  Marshall and Barney would have made quite a bit in their jobs, and Ted when he wasn't unemployed/prof could be doing well.  And it was just Barney/Ted paying on dates - Marshall was mostly always with Lily (and they didn't show a lot of dates for them), and Robin had all of her dates and other things paid for her because she was pretty (near the end, she realizes NYC is expensive with an engagement ring on).

I thought they ended up getting that apartment anyways?  Worst mistake ever or something like that?  And yeah, Lily does work as a kindergarten teacher and art consultant, but I always imagined she didn't actually make any money being an art consultant just used it to pretend to have a big girl job.  And Marshall spends half his time working for failing companies and still has his student loan debt (presumably).

Bob W

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 2942
  • Age: 65
  • Location: Missouri
  • Live on minimum wage, earn on maximum
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #13 on: July 01, 2015, 12:58:30 PM »
Breaking Bad does a pretty realistic job on the financial end, although the rest of the show is complete fiction.

LiveLean

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 887
  • Location: Central Florida
    • ToLiveLean
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #14 on: July 01, 2015, 01:10:16 PM »
The Brady Bunch was pretty mustachian. They crammed six kids into two bedrooms before carving out the attic for Greg. They shopped at Sears, spent nothing on clothes, drove modest cars even by early '70s standards, never ate out, took only the occasional vacation, and had just one TV, which they upgraded from black-and-white to color at one point. They also spent nothing on yard maintenance since it was artificial turf, which was always a joke until the 2000s when it actually became an option in places like FL, AZ, and CA. Clearly they were MMM trendsetters.

Admittedly, they ate red meat every night, which must have been pricey, and having an indentured servant sure helped, but they seemed to have their MMM priorities in line.

CommonCents

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2363
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #15 on: July 01, 2015, 01:11:04 PM »
Yep,there was a friend and a brother-in-law who lived with him in order to help out with childcare - and presumably expenses.  My vague recollection is maybe the brother-in-law didn't have a lot of cash but the friend should have been able to pay some rent.

Similarly, How I Met Your Mother has Ted as paying the full costs of the apartment himself, when he was almost always rooming with someone in it - Marshall mostly, but also Robin.  He turned it over to Marshall and Lily in the end.

Agree with you on Full House, the whole premise was that the single dad needed help doing everything, but with HIMYM they only looked at housing.  Sure, if they added in Robin's salary or Marshall's salary (Lily seems to never do anything that actually makes money) it would bring it down to "affordable," but then you have to factor in their extravagant lifestyle: every evening in a bar, tons of new clothes all the time, going on dates with women at fancy restaurants every other episode, etc.  That's what would blow it out of the water.

Also, don't people use "Take Home Pay" when calculating the 30% figure?  Just from glancing at the numbers, they all kind of look like Gross Income.

Lily was a kindergarten teacher...and later "art consultant" to a very rich guy.  Arebelspy has proven that while it may not be a wall street salary, teachers do have plenty of money.  I also think her clothes buying habits are why Lily went "broke" at one point in the show and had to sell her clothes.  If you recall, she and Marshall were denied a mortgage based on her debt.  So I think that's reasonably plausible.  Marshall and Barney would have made quite a bit in their jobs, and Ted when he wasn't unemployed/prof could be doing well.  And it was just Barney/Ted paying on dates - Marshall was mostly always with Lily (and they didn't show a lot of dates for them), and Robin had all of her dates and other things paid for her because she was pretty (near the end, she realizes NYC is expensive with an engagement ring on).

I thought they ended up getting that apartment anyways?  Worst mistake ever or something like that?  And yeah, Lily does work as a kindergarten teacher and art consultant, but I always imagined she didn't actually make any money being an art consultant just used it to pretend to have a big girl job.  And Marshall spends half his time working for failing companies and still has his student loan debt (presumably).

Yeah I think they did get the other apartment...it was slanted downhill and downwind of the sewage treatment center...although they got rid of it in the end of the episode I think (because they later took the apartment from Ted and had the house from Lily's grandparents).  I don't remember how they managed it - perhaps because she sold enough of her clothes?  Maybe that was also the episode where she tried to sell her art (and discovered animals not people liked it).  I also thought part of it was that she just didn't want Marshall to know.  Re art consultant, no, I thought that The Captain paid her a lot for doing not much.  But of course, that was pretty much just the tail end of the show.  In regards to the student loan - but of course!  That's the American way.  (In fairness though, I still have mine because at 2.5% and 2.75% I prefer my money in the market.)

EricP

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 477
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #16 on: July 01, 2015, 02:02:36 PM »
Breaking Bad does a pretty realistic job on the financial end, although the rest of the show is complete fiction.

Hmm, I always thought they cast Walter as being too poor.  Sure, he was only a teacher, but as smart as he is I don't see why he wouldn't have life insurance, investments, etc.

Were their son's med bills really that big of an issue?  I thought teachers had great health insurance.

AZDude

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1296
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #17 on: July 01, 2015, 02:12:10 PM »
Lived in the southwest. Starting teacher salary is like $31K a year.

bostonjim

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 37
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #18 on: July 06, 2015, 12:37:48 PM »

Hmm, I always thought they cast Walter as being too poor.  Sure, he was only a teacher, but as smart as he is I don't see why he wouldn't have life insurance, investments, etc.

Were their son's med bills really that big of an issue?  I thought teachers had great health insurance.

The show (intentionally) never really fleshed it out, but the implication was that Walter had ended up relatively poor as a result of his own pride and pigheadedness. (He walked away from the company he cofounded because he thought he wasn't getting enough credit)  And it wasn't his son's medical bills that were the problem, it was his:  there was an experimental procedure that his insurance wouldn't pay for, so he had to pay himself.  (basically a plot device...)  The whole "medical bills" thing came later anyway - his original reason for getting into meth cooking was to make enough money quickly before he died to leave a legacy to his family...

iris lily

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5671
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #19 on: July 06, 2015, 12:54:44 PM »
Breaking Bad does a pretty realistic job on the financial end, although the rest of the show is complete fiction.


Breaking Bad used two major financial fictions to fuel plot:

1. Walter white as a teacher had poor or minimal,health insurance. That is bogus.

2. Walters brother i law, a federal employee, had poor insurance that wouldn't allow him access to  "the best physical therapists. " Also, bogus.

But still an excellent show, these minor plot devices not with standing..

iris lily

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5671
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #20 on: July 06, 2015, 12:58:12 PM »
What about Tony Soprano? How much did he actually have? How much did he earn annually? It boggles my mind about all he had to payout to relatives, employees, etc.

Paulie was careful with his money. He had a nice, but modest, well appointed apartment.

MoneyCat

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1752
  • Location: New Jersey
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #21 on: July 06, 2015, 01:18:00 PM »
Breaking Bad does a pretty realistic job on the financial end, although the rest of the show is complete fiction.


Breaking Bad used two major financial fictions to fuel plot:

1. Walter white as a teacher had poor or minimal,health insurance. That is bogus.

2. Walters brother i law, a federal employee, had poor insurance that wouldn't allow him access to  "the best physical therapists. " Also, bogus.

But still an excellent show, these minor plot devices not with standing..

I can see that you aren't a teacher.  Yes, health insurance for teachers and other government employees is absolute garbage.  I have to pay way too much for it and it doesn't cover much of anything.  The prescription coverage is also shit.  My prescription plan makes me pay 100% out of pocket and then submit bills to them to get different amounts reimbursed, depending on whether the insurance has sweetheart deals with the various pharmaceutical companies.  Sometimes, it's 80% of the cost.  Sometimes, it's 60% of the cost.  That doesn't help much when the medication costs $1000/mo.

Our pension plan is also about to be outlawed and tenure has already been outlawed, so there really isn't much point to being a teacher anymore.  You have extremely long hours for low pay and terrible benefits and you don't even get a retirement package.  No wonder teacher college enrollment is way down right now.

fat-johnny

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 58
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #22 on: July 06, 2015, 01:59:48 PM »
The Brady Bunch was pretty mustachian.

<snip>

Admittedly, they ate red meat every night, which must have been pricey, and having an indentured servant sure helped, but they seemed to have their MMM priorities in line.

Ummmm......Alice the housekeeper was schtupping Sam the butcher.  You dont think theres SOME kind of discount in that?!?  ;)

FJ

nobodyspecial

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1464
  • Location: Land above the land of the free
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #23 on: July 06, 2015, 02:15:21 PM »
health insurance for teachers and other government employees is absolute garbage.
That's because long term sick leave/disability is a common solution to bad employees that you can't fire.
The insurance company knows this and doesn't want to be paying 30years of salary for a teacher that you can't let near kids or a cop that is one step ahead of internal investigation


MoneyCat

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1752
  • Location: New Jersey
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #24 on: July 06, 2015, 02:20:03 PM »

health insurance for teachers and other government employees is absolute garbage.
That's because long term sick leave/disability is a common solution to bad employees that you can't fire.
The insurance company knows this and doesn't want to be paying 30years of salary for a teacher that you can't let near kids or a cop that is one step ahead of internal investigation

What do you mean "employees you can't fire"?  Tenure was outlawed in my state.  I can get fired for my supervisor not liking the color of my tie.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

nobodyspecial

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1464
  • Location: Land above the land of the free
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #25 on: July 06, 2015, 02:39:07 PM »
What do you mean "employees you can't fire"?  Tenure was outlawed in my state.  I can get fired for my supervisor not liking the color of my tie.
In most states, cops or firefighters if you are running for re-election. Or teachers in states with strong unions.

If you are running a small company you fire anyone who isn't performing, in a large company you fire anyone who isn't performing who won't make too much political trouble. In government, it isn't your money why should you stick your neck out to fire anyone not performing ?


MoneyCat

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1752
  • Location: New Jersey
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #26 on: July 06, 2015, 03:11:54 PM »
What do you mean "employees you can't fire"?  Tenure was outlawed in my state.  I can get fired for my supervisor not liking the color of my tie.
In most states, cops or firefighters if you are running for re-election. Or teachers in states with strong unions.

If you are running a small company you fire anyone who isn't performing, in a large company you fire anyone who isn't performing who won't make too much political trouble. In government, it isn't your money why should you stick your neck out to fire anyone not performing ?

You seem to misunderstand what "tenure" is.  "Tenure" means that you can only fire an employee for not doing their job, such as by being insubordinate, committing fraud, stealing, inappropriate sexual conduct, etc.  It doesn't mean that the employee has a job for life and can just do whatever he or she pleases.  When you do away with tenure, you do away with all job protections, so you end up with what we have in our state, which is government employees being fired constantly because an administrator has a relative or friend who needs a job.  Government jobs aren't based on producing profits like private jobs, so job evaluations are pretty much based on however the administrator feels about the employee.  People who don't work government jobs don't understand this, because they have no frame of reference.

nobodyspecial

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1464
  • Location: Land above the land of the free
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #27 on: July 06, 2015, 04:13:24 PM »
Yes "Tenure"  in its academic sense means you can't fire the staff at will, it's handy because otherwise every economics prof would be fired everytime the government changes political hue

However many "government" jobs, especially at the local level, are very well protected by unions and vested interests. This combined with a very risk averse management means that many jobs are independent of actual performance. So when it becomes absolutely necessary to remove somebody from their day-day job - putting them on long term sickness is a convenient face-saving solution. Unfortunately this inflates the rates for health/disability insurance in these jobs.


(Officers are occasionally fired for poor performance http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/28/oregon-police-dog-fired_n_6236432.html)
« Last Edit: July 06, 2015, 07:20:49 PM by nobodyspecial »

iris lily

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5671
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #28 on: July 06, 2015, 04:31:03 PM »
Breaking Bad does a pretty realistic job on the financial end, although the rest of the show is complete fiction.


Breaking Bad used two major financial fictions to fuel plot:

1. Walter white as a teacher had poor or minimal,health insurance. That is bogus.

2. Walters brother i law, a federal employee, had poor insurance that wouldn't allow him access to  "the best physical therapists. " Also, bogus.

But still an excellent show, these minor plot devices not with standing..

I can see that you aren't a teacher.  Yes, health insurance for teachers and other government employees is absolute garbage.  I have to pay way too much for it and it doesn't cover much of anything.  The prescription coverage is also shit.  My prescription plan makes me pay 100% out of pocket and then submit bills to them to get different amounts reimbursed, depending on whether the insurance has sweetheart deals with the various pharmaceutical companies.  Sometimes, it's 80% of the cost.  Sometimes, it's 60% of the cost.  That doesn't help much when the medication costs $1000/mo.

Our pension plan is also about to be outlawed and tenure has already been outlawed, so there really isn't much point to being a teacher anymore.  You have extremely long hours for low pay and terrible benefits and you don't even get a retirement package.  No wonder teacher college enrollment is way down right now.
Nope. I was a government employee for 35 years across several states, including Walter White's New Mexico.,I will concede that the state of NM is generally quite poor and perhaps all of their  public employee benefits are not optimal,, but Walter White's cancer treatment would have been covered. As would hanks treatments.

As a public employee who fired people I am so very glad that another layer of bureaucracy did not hinder my managerial discretion, for that's what I believe tenure protection would have done.

My health coverage as a public employee was always perfectly fine, but I used very seldom. My colleagues who liked to "poor me" talk always lamented the lack of,this ot that, no dental plan, no eye care plan, but since I tend to see the glass as half full, I didn't share their sorrow at the difficult lot in life.

MoneyCat

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1752
  • Location: New Jersey
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #29 on: July 06, 2015, 07:17:46 PM »
Breaking Bad does a pretty realistic job on the financial end, although the rest of the show is complete fiction.


Breaking Bad used two major financial fictions to fuel plot:

1. Walter white as a teacher had poor or minimal,health insurance. That is bogus.

2. Walters brother i law, a federal employee, had poor insurance that wouldn't allow him access to  "the best physical therapists. " Also, bogus.

But still an excellent show, these minor plot devices not with standing..

I can see that you aren't a teacher.  Yes, health insurance for teachers and other government employees is absolute garbage.  I have to pay way too much for it and it doesn't cover much of anything.  The prescription coverage is also shit.  My prescription plan makes me pay 100% out of pocket and then submit bills to them to get different amounts reimbursed, depending on whether the insurance has sweetheart deals with the various pharmaceutical companies.  Sometimes, it's 80% of the cost.  Sometimes, it's 60% of the cost.  That doesn't help much when the medication costs $1000/mo.

Our pension plan is also about to be outlawed and tenure has already been outlawed, so there really isn't much point to being a teacher anymore.  You have extremely long hours for low pay and terrible benefits and you don't even get a retirement package.  No wonder teacher college enrollment is way down right now.
Nope. I was a government employee for 35 years across several states, including Walter White's New Mexico.,I will concede that the state of NM is generally quite poor and perhaps all of their  public employee benefits are not optimal,, but Walter White's cancer treatment would have been covered. As would hanks treatments.

As a public employee who fired people I am so very glad that another layer of bureaucracy did not hinder my managerial discretion, for that's what I believe tenure protection would have done.

My health coverage as a public employee was always perfectly fine, but I used very seldom. My colleagues who liked to "poor me" talk always lamented the lack of,this ot that, no dental plan, no eye care plan, but since I tend to see the glass as half full, I didn't share their sorrow at the difficult lot in life.

MOD NOTE: Personal Attack removed
« Last Edit: July 07, 2015, 03:55:31 PM by swick »

TheThirstyStag

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 303
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #30 on: July 07, 2015, 12:18:19 PM »
Tenure is certainly something that's mostly misunderstood by the public, but I'm sure it takes on various forms depending on where it's applied.

In higher education, tenure represents a shift in the burden of proof regarding an employee's continued employment;  pre-tenure, it is the responsibility of the professor to argue (usually annually) for the renewal of his/her contract.  Post-tenure, it now becomes the responsibility of the college/university to argue for their termination, something that becomes more difficult, but far from impossible.  This permits all kinds of academic freedom in research/publication and risks to be taken in advancing classroom pedagogy (adopting contemporary, but unpopular teaching methods like inquiry-based learning, for example). 

I am not sure how this translates to K-12 teachers, but I would imagine it's quite similar (sans research/publication protections). 


fartface

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 402
  • Age: 49
  • Location: Wisconsin
    • money apple
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #31 on: July 07, 2015, 01:23:05 PM »
Modern Family: talk about conspicuous consumption!

EricP

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 477
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #32 on: July 07, 2015, 01:57:59 PM »

Hmm, I always thought they cast Walter as being too poor.  Sure, he was only a teacher, but as smart as he is I don't see why he wouldn't have life insurance, investments, etc.

Were their son's med bills really that big of an issue?  I thought teachers had great health insurance.

The show (intentionally) never really fleshed it out, but the implication was that Walter had ended up relatively poor as a result of his own pride and pigheadedness. (He walked away from the company he cofounded because he thought he wasn't getting enough credit)  And it wasn't his son's medical bills that were the problem, it was his:  there was an experimental procedure that his insurance wouldn't pay for, so he had to pay himself.  (basically a plot device...)  The whole "medical bills" thing came later anyway - his original reason for getting into meth cooking was to make enough money quickly before he died to leave a legacy to his family...

They couldn't have fleshed it out because it never would have made sense.  Needing to work a second job just to pay the bills, and not the cancer bills, just the normal bills.  Seems unlikely if he's been teaching for 15 or so years.

I brought up the son's medical bills because that's my only possible explanation for why he would be so dirt poor that he would need a second job to cover the bills and still not be able to afford life insurance.  Yes, he turned down the free cancer treatment, but he was originally planning on not having the treatment done at all and was still selling meth as his life insurance policy.

I'm not very interested in a debate about the various benefits of teaching and such, but having three months off in the summer seems like a pretty good gig to me, regardless of if you're working 53 hours a week the other 9 months.

clifp

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 890
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #33 on: July 07, 2015, 03:10:54 PM »
In the White's case I always assume that it was medical treatments for Walter Jr. cerebral palsy, essentially trying find a good treatment for him..

TheThirstyStag

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 303
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #34 on: July 07, 2015, 06:06:26 PM »
I'm not very interested in a debate about the various benefits of teaching and such, but having three months off in the summer seems like a pretty good gig to me, regardless of if you're working 53 hours a week the other 9 months.

I'm not a K-12 teacher, but I've never met one that has had a full 3 months "off" in the summer. 

It's even more misunderstood in higher education.  Summer time is for research, and during the semesters, 60 hour work weeks are the norm. 

Walk a mile in his moccasins...

Dee

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1795
  • Location: Ottawa, Canada
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #35 on: July 07, 2015, 07:59:30 PM »
The show that came to mind for me as most unrealistic spending on housing and conspicuous consumption was the King of Queens.

Mrs.LC

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 226
    • Loose Change Living
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #36 on: July 07, 2015, 11:26:52 PM »
Pretty sure the Douglas family could afford their farm on Green Acres. So could the Clampett clan on The Beverly Hillbillies.

nirvines88

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 79
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #37 on: July 09, 2015, 04:44:11 AM »
What's up with Spongebob and that multi-room pineapple house?!  On a fry cook's salary?  Yeah, right!

Don't even get me started on his neighbor to the left... No job and is still a rock owner?  That reeks of government handouts!

I'm a red panda

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8186
  • Location: United States
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #38 on: July 09, 2015, 06:27:31 AM »


I'm not a K-12 teacher, but I've never met one that has had a full 3 months "off" in the summer. 


I've met ones who have their whole summer off. I don't know if it is 3 months, but from when their contract ends to contract begins they check out of school entirely.

Of course, a teacher is only PAID for the months they work.  Many schools offer to lower paychecks each pay period and distribute them evenly through the year; but that summer off is not actually a paid vacation. 

TheThirstyStag

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 303
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #39 on: July 09, 2015, 06:44:30 AM »


I'm not a K-12 teacher, but I've never met one that has had a full 3 months "off" in the summer. 


 I don't know if it is 3 months,

It's not

sabertooth3

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 109
  • Location: MD
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #40 on: July 09, 2015, 07:03:28 AM »
Modern Family: talk about conspicuous consumption!

Yeah, but I think it's actually pretty justifiable:

  • Dunphys- Phil is a real estate agent in a seemingly expensive part of Southern California. If you're selling million dollar homes and get a 2.5% cut (5% split between buyer and seller agents), that's $25k per home sold. Sell 4 homes like that a year and you've got $100k, which would probably support their spending even with 3 kids and a (mostly) stay-at-home wife. Nice house, but not 5,000 sqft with servants' quarters. Helps that the oldest (Hayley) is living at home and working on her own.
  • Jay Pritchett- Owner of (I think) the largest closet company in the SoCal area. Could definitely believe that he makes enough money to live in what's clearly the nicest house in the show. Also only has 1 kid to take care of. Yes, I ended that sentence in a preposition.
  • Cam and Mitch- If there's any conspicuous consumption in this show, it's these 2. Cam is a high school teacher (part time?), so he probably doesn't make much money even with a bump from coaching the football team. Mitchell is a lawyer, but he bounces around from firm to firm dealing with issues that typically aren't too high paying. They also have a very young child, who probably cost quite a bit in having babysitters and adoption expenses and others. But, they currently rent so they may be saving money over owning property in the area.

CommonCents

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2363
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #41 on: July 09, 2015, 07:49:42 AM »
Modern Family: talk about conspicuous consumption!

Yeah, but I think it's actually pretty justifiable:

  • Dunphys- Phil is a real estate agent in a seemingly expensive part of Southern California. If you're selling million dollar homes and get a 2.5% cut (5% split between buyer and seller agents), that's $25k per home sold. Sell 4 homes like that a year and you've got $100k, which would probably support their spending even with 3 kids and a (mostly) stay-at-home wife. Nice house, but not 5,000 sqft with servants' quarters. Helps that the oldest (Hayley) is living at home and working on her own.
  • Jay Pritchett- Owner of (I think) the largest closet company in the SoCal area. Could definitely believe that he makes enough money to live in what's clearly the nicest house in the show. Also only has 1 kid to take care of. Yes, I ended that sentence in a preposition.
  • Cam and Mitch- If there's any conspicuous consumption in this show, it's these 2. Cam is a high school teacher (part time?), so he probably doesn't make much money even with a bump from coaching the football team. Mitchell is a lawyer, but he bounces around from firm to firm dealing with issues that typically aren't too high paying. They also have a very young child, who probably cost quite a bit in having babysitters and adoption expenses and others. But, they currently rent so they may be saving money over owning property in the area.

Agree on the general assessment, but I think Cam & Mitchell own - there was an episode about Mitchell having borrowed the downpayment from Jay (and another questioning if they'd buy the upstairs apartment).  It's a pretty small place though. 

I don't think I noticed Phil & Claire being particularly consumerist (compared to other TV families).

nobodyspecial

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1464
  • Location: Land above the land of the free
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #42 on: July 09, 2015, 09:01:04 AM »
The $6M Man - no way could that be done for $6M on a military budget.

ps. can you tell I haven't had a TV since I was a kid ?


EricP

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 477
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #43 on: July 09, 2015, 09:18:35 AM »


I'm not a K-12 teacher, but I've never met one that has had a full 3 months "off" in the summer. 


 I don't know if it is 3 months,

It's not

It's 9-12 weeks depending on what state (IE number of days required of school), how long of a spring break and where Christmas falls in the calendar.  No need to get all particular about the number, especially when it was the refuter who added the "full,' not me.  I purposefully didn't use "full" because I knew I wasn't being precise and that someone would him and haw about it and didn't feel like looking up a school calendar to get the exact number.

TheThirstyStag

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 303
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #44 on: July 09, 2015, 09:37:51 AM »
The $6M Man - no way could that be done for $6M on a military budget.

ps. can you tell I haven't had a TV since I was a kid ?

A remake is in the works and they're calling it the 6 billion dollar man.  Planet money did a podcast on how this figure is nowhere near what inflation and changes in medical care would predict :)

CommonCents

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2363
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #45 on: July 09, 2015, 09:41:06 AM »


I'm not a K-12 teacher, but I've never met one that has had a full 3 months "off" in the summer. 


 I don't know if it is 3 months,

It's not

It's 9-12 weeks depending on what state (IE number of days required of school), how long of a spring break and where Christmas falls in the calendar.  No need to get all particular about the number, especially when it was the refuter who added the "full,' not me.  I purposefully didn't use "full" because I knew I wasn't being precise and that someone would him and haw about it and didn't feel like looking up a school calendar to get the exact number.

From my perspective, 9-12+1-2 at Christmas+1 Feb break+1 April = a whole lot of time off.
Although I note, not enough to get me to quit my job and be a teacher, getting up early and all.  (Why don't they have classes starting at 8:30 in the morning and going till 3:30 instead of 2:30?  That I could get behind more easily.  9AM would be better.)

TheThirstyStag

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 303
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #46 on: July 09, 2015, 09:46:28 AM »


I'm not a K-12 teacher, but I've never met one that has had a full 3 months "off" in the summer. 


 I don't know if it is 3 months,

It's not

It's 9-12 weeks depending on what state (IE number of days required of school), how long of a spring break and where Christmas falls in the calendar.  No need to get all particular about the number, especially when it was the refuter who added the "full,' not me.  I purposefully didn't use "full" because I knew I wasn't being precise and that someone would him and haw about it and didn't feel like looking up a school calendar to get the exact number.


I apologize for getting snippy.  I inexplicably get defensive when I see "must be nice" types of comments directed at teachers, who work crazy hours and are underpaid on only a 9-month scale.  There are so many misconceptions about what they do it's unreal.  Especially when it comes to summers.  Many kids get 9 weeks off in the summer, but the teachers still work for the first and last of those weeks.

Yes, there are other times off (Christmas, etc.), but lots of people ignore weekend events (fundraisers, etc.), continuing ed, and lots of other work-related time that's done when the 9-5ers clock out.

I'll let the actual teachers defend themselves. 

EricP

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 477
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #47 on: July 09, 2015, 09:49:30 AM »


I'm not a K-12 teacher, but I've never met one that has had a full 3 months "off" in the summer. 


 I don't know if it is 3 months,

It's not

It's 9-12 weeks depending on what state (IE number of days required of school), how long of a spring break and where Christmas falls in the calendar.  No need to get all particular about the number, especially when it was the refuter who added the "full,' not me.  I purposefully didn't use "full" because I knew I wasn't being precise and that someone would him and haw about it and didn't feel like looking up a school calendar to get the exact number.

From my perspective, 9-12+1-2 at Christmas+1 Feb break+1 April = a whole lot of time off.
Although I note, not enough to get me to quit my job and be a teacher, getting up early and all.  (Why don't they have classes starting at 8:30 in the morning and going till 3:30 instead of 2:30?  That I could get behind more easily.  9AM would be better.)

I believe the reasoning is so that parents can get their kids out the door before heading off to work and then they can take care of themselves for 2 or 3 hours before the parents get home.  Also, pushing it later in the day hurts after school programs which will often run for 2-3 hours after school.

Chris22

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3770
  • Location: Chicago NW Suburbs
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #48 on: July 09, 2015, 09:50:37 AM »


I'm not a K-12 teacher, but I've never met one that has had a full 3 months "off" in the summer. 


 I don't know if it is 3 months,

It's not

It's 9-12 weeks depending on what state (IE number of days required of school), how long of a spring break and where Christmas falls in the calendar.  No need to get all particular about the number, especially when it was the refuter who added the "full,' not me.  I purposefully didn't use "full" because I knew I wasn't being precise and that someone would him and haw about it and didn't feel like looking up a school calendar to get the exact number.


I apologize for getting snippy.  I inexplicably get defensive when I see "must be nice" types of comments directed at teachers, who work crazy hours and are underpaid on only a 9-month scale.  There are so many misconceptions about what they do it's unreal.  Especially when it comes to summers.  Many kids get 9 weeks off in the summer, but the teachers still work for the first and last of those weeks.

Yes, there are other times off (Christmas, etc.), but lots of people ignore weekend events (fundraisers, etc.), continuing ed, and lots of other work-related time that's done when the 9-5ers clock out.

I'll let the actual teachers defend themselves.


I get crazy when I see teachers pretending they have a monopoly on hard work and long hours.  There was a post on Facebook for a while about "every day at 6PM you still see teachers' cars in the parking lot and they're not getting paid for working after hours" and blah blah blah.  My response was "welcome to what the word 'salaried' means." 


I get it, teachers work hard.  But every job has its own version of suck.  Even the guy lotioning up the Hawaiian Tropics models probably bitches about how he always smells like coconuts or something.  Pretending your job is the ONLY job where you work hard (which is something teachers, and also often nurses) tend to do is what drives the rest of us nuts.

Chris22

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3770
  • Location: Chicago NW Suburbs
Re: How Do TV Characters Afford Their Homes? (Just for Fun)
« Reply #49 on: July 09, 2015, 09:52:07 AM »


I'm not a K-12 teacher, but I've never met one that has had a full 3 months "off" in the summer. 


 I don't know if it is 3 months,

It's not

It's 9-12 weeks depending on what state (IE number of days required of school), how long of a spring break and where Christmas falls in the calendar.  No need to get all particular about the number, especially when it was the refuter who added the "full,' not me.  I purposefully didn't use "full" because I knew I wasn't being precise and that someone would him and haw about it and didn't feel like looking up a school calendar to get the exact number.

From my perspective, 9-12+1-2 at Christmas+1 Feb break+1 April = a whole lot of time off.
Although I note, not enough to get me to quit my job and be a teacher, getting up early and all.  (Why don't they have classes starting at 8:30 in the morning and going till 3:30 instead of 2:30?  That I could get behind more easily.  9AM would be better.)

I believe the reasoning is so that parents can get their kids out the door before heading off to work and then they can take care of themselves for 2 or 3 hours before the parents get home.  Also, pushing it later in the day hurts after school programs which will often run for 2-3 hours after school.

Where I grew up and where I live now, it's because they have a finite number of busses and so they stagger start times.  HS is at 730, middle at 830, elementary at 9, or something like that.  Otherwise you need 2-3x as many busses.