[jennyo]

“However, I NEVER got myself in the kind of shithole you both appear to have. Maybe it was because I paid my way through college? Maybe it was because I worked from the time I was 15? Maybe it’s because my dad died when I was 18 and I knew that no support whatsoever was forthcoming from my mom if I screwed up?”

Or maybe it was because someone taught you about finances? People aren’t born knowing this stuff, so someone must have along the way. That did not happen in my life. I also paid my way through college, working crap jobs the entire time. And I am by no means the only person I know who screwed up with credit card debt. The only good thing about it is that it happened when I was relatively young and I learned from the experience.

[jennyo]

“However, I NEVER got myself in the kind of shithole you both appear to have. Maybe it was because I paid my way through college? Maybe it was because I worked from the time I was 15? Maybe it’s because my dad died when I was 18 and I knew that no support whatsoever was forthcoming from my mom if I screwed up?”

Or maybe it was because someone taught you about finances? People aren’t born knowing this stuff, so someone must have along the way. That did not happen in my life. I also paid my way through college, working crap jobs the entire time. And I am by no means the only person I know who screwed up with credit card debt. The only good thing about it is that it happened when I was relatively young and I learned from the experience.

[jennyo]

“However, I NEVER got myself in the kind of shithole you both appear to have. Maybe it was because I paid my way through college? Maybe it was because I worked from the time I was 15? Maybe it’s because my dad died when I was 18 and I knew that no support whatsoever was forthcoming from my mom if I screwed up?”

Or maybe it was because someone taught you about finances? People aren’t born knowing this stuff, so someone must have along the way. That did not happen in my life. I also paid my way through college, working crap jobs the entire time. And I am by no means the only person I know who screwed up with credit card debt. The only good thing about it is that it happened when I was relatively young and I learned from the experience.

[jennyo]

“However, I NEVER got myself in the kind of shithole you both appear to have. Maybe it was because I paid my way through college? Maybe it was because I worked from the time I was 15? Maybe it’s because my dad died when I was 18 and I knew that no support whatsoever was forthcoming from my mom if I screwed up?”

Or maybe it was because someone taught you about finances? People aren’t born knowing this stuff, so someone must have along the way. That did not happen in my life. I also paid my way through college, working crap jobs the entire time. And I am by no means the only person I know who screwed up with credit card debt. The only good thing about it is that it happened when I was relatively young and I learned from the experience.

[jennyo]

“However, I NEVER got myself in the kind of shithole you both appear to have. Maybe it was because I paid my way through college? Maybe it was because I worked from the time I was 15? Maybe it’s because my dad died when I was 18 and I knew that no support whatsoever was forthcoming from my mom if I screwed up?”

Or maybe it was because someone taught you about finances? People aren’t born knowing this stuff, so someone must have along the way. That did not happen in my life. I also paid my way through college, working crap jobs the entire time. And I am by no means the only person I know who screwed up with credit card debt. The only good thing about it is that it happened when I was relatively young and I learned from the experience.

[jennyo]

Dharmagirl – your story sounds exactly like mine! Other than a class in high school where we were taught how to write checks from a checkbook, absolutely no education on finances was provided in the public school system in the 1980s. As soon as I got to college, Citibank and many others signed me up and I couldn’t really understand why they would give me a card without having a job. Four years later at college graduation, my credit card accounts had all been turned over to collections and I was even on that “nazi list” chexsystems thing that the banks use so I couldn’t have a checking account. I was totally clueless! My parents had always made me get jobs but had never given me any advice about what to do with the money I earned. So I would promptly spend it all at the mall on clothes and CDs.

Finally when the chexsystems issue started to affect my parents’ bank accounts (because they were on a joint one that I had ruined), they bailed me out but my credit was ruined at age 22. I took a couple of years off to work before grad school, but the debt kept me from entering the Peace Corps, which is what I really wanted to do. I managed to clean up my credit, account by account, by using my credit report and challenging the accuracy of the listings (many of which were wrong). And then I waited for the 7 years to pass. It didn’t take long, within a year of reconciling my credit report with reality, Citibank was back at my door offering me a card. I learned my lesson bigtime, the hard way, and now only use credit cards when I can afford to pay the bill at the end of the month.

I don’t know that much has changed in the public school system. My younger sister graduated from high school in 2002, and she is just as clueless as I was, having had the same parents and presumably, the same public education.

[jennyo]

Dharmagirl – your story sounds exactly like mine! Other than a class in high school where we were taught how to write checks from a checkbook, absolutely no education on finances was provided in the public school system in the 1980s. As soon as I got to college, Citibank and many others signed me up and I couldn’t really understand why they would give me a card without having a job. Four years later at college graduation, my credit card accounts had all been turned over to collections and I was even on that “nazi list” chexsystems thing that the banks use so I couldn’t have a checking account. I was totally clueless! My parents had always made me get jobs but had never given me any advice about what to do with the money I earned. So I would promptly spend it all at the mall on clothes and CDs.

Finally when the chexsystems issue started to affect my parents’ bank accounts (because they were on a joint one that I had ruined), they bailed me out but my credit was ruined at age 22. I took a couple of years off to work before grad school, but the debt kept me from entering the Peace Corps, which is what I really wanted to do. I managed to clean up my credit, account by account, by using my credit report and challenging the accuracy of the listings (many of which were wrong). And then I waited for the 7 years to pass. It didn’t take long, within a year of reconciling my credit report with reality, Citibank was back at my door offering me a card. I learned my lesson bigtime, the hard way, and now only use credit cards when I can afford to pay the bill at the end of the month.

I don’t know that much has changed in the public school system. My younger sister graduated from high school in 2002, and she is just as clueless as I was, having had the same parents and presumably, the same public education.

[jennyo]

Dharmagirl – your story sounds exactly like mine! Other than a class in high school where we were taught how to write checks from a checkbook, absolutely no education on finances was provided in the public school system in the 1980s. As soon as I got to college, Citibank and many others signed me up and I couldn’t really understand why they would give me a card without having a job. Four years later at college graduation, my credit card accounts had all been turned over to collections and I was even on that “nazi list” chexsystems thing that the banks use so I couldn’t have a checking account. I was totally clueless! My parents had always made me get jobs but had never given me any advice about what to do with the money I earned. So I would promptly spend it all at the mall on clothes and CDs.

Finally when the chexsystems issue started to affect my parents’ bank accounts (because they were on a joint one that I had ruined), they bailed me out but my credit was ruined at age 22. I took a couple of years off to work before grad school, but the debt kept me from entering the Peace Corps, which is what I really wanted to do. I managed to clean up my credit, account by account, by using my credit report and challenging the accuracy of the listings (many of which were wrong). And then I waited for the 7 years to pass. It didn’t take long, within a year of reconciling my credit report with reality, Citibank was back at my door offering me a card. I learned my lesson bigtime, the hard way, and now only use credit cards when I can afford to pay the bill at the end of the month.

I don’t know that much has changed in the public school system. My younger sister graduated from high school in 2002, and she is just as clueless as I was, having had the same parents and presumably, the same public education.

[jennyo]

Dharmagirl – your story sounds exactly like mine! Other than a class in high school where we were taught how to write checks from a checkbook, absolutely no education on finances was provided in the public school system in the 1980s. As soon as I got to college, Citibank and many others signed me up and I couldn’t really understand why they would give me a card without having a job. Four years later at college graduation, my credit card accounts had all been turned over to collections and I was even on that “nazi list” chexsystems thing that the banks use so I couldn’t have a checking account. I was totally clueless! My parents had always made me get jobs but had never given me any advice about what to do with the money I earned. So I would promptly spend it all at the mall on clothes and CDs.

Finally when the chexsystems issue started to affect my parents’ bank accounts (because they were on a joint one that I had ruined), they bailed me out but my credit was ruined at age 22. I took a couple of years off to work before grad school, but the debt kept me from entering the Peace Corps, which is what I really wanted to do. I managed to clean up my credit, account by account, by using my credit report and challenging the accuracy of the listings (many of which were wrong). And then I waited for the 7 years to pass. It didn’t take long, within a year of reconciling my credit report with reality, Citibank was back at my door offering me a card. I learned my lesson bigtime, the hard way, and now only use credit cards when I can afford to pay the bill at the end of the month.

I don’t know that much has changed in the public school system. My younger sister graduated from high school in 2002, and she is just as clueless as I was, having had the same parents and presumably, the same public education.

[jennyo]

Dharmagirl – your story sounds exactly like mine! Other than a class in high school where we were taught how to write checks from a checkbook, absolutely no education on finances was provided in the public school system in the 1980s. As soon as I got to college, Citibank and many others signed me up and I couldn’t really understand why they would give me a card without having a job. Four years later at college graduation, my credit card accounts had all been turned over to collections and I was even on that “nazi list” chexsystems thing that the banks use so I couldn’t have a checking account. I was totally clueless! My parents had always made me get jobs but had never given me any advice about what to do with the money I earned. So I would promptly spend it all at the mall on clothes and CDs.

Finally when the chexsystems issue started to affect my parents’ bank accounts (because they were on a joint one that I had ruined), they bailed me out but my credit was ruined at age 22. I took a couple of years off to work before grad school, but the debt kept me from entering the Peace Corps, which is what I really wanted to do. I managed to clean up my credit, account by account, by using my credit report and challenging the accuracy of the listings (many of which were wrong). And then I waited for the 7 years to pass. It didn’t take long, within a year of reconciling my credit report with reality, Citibank was back at my door offering me a card. I learned my lesson bigtime, the hard way, and now only use credit cards when I can afford to pay the bill at the end of the month.

I don’t know that much has changed in the public school system. My younger sister graduated from high school in 2002, and she is just as clueless as I was, having had the same parents and presumably, the same public education.

[jennyo]

The bigger issue is that even if the pension funds go under or just underperform, the government entity is liable for paying the pension costs, unless (as in the case of San Diego) some malfeasance or fraud can be proven as the basis for increasing pension benefits.

So if CALPERS has a bad year in terms of earnings, the state General Fund makes up the difference in the actual cost of funding pensions for beneficiaries. At least for the state government, payments to retirees are protected in the state constitution so these costs are a must pay, like debt service, and cannot be cut from the state budget. The only way to reduce state pension costs is to promise new employees less, it is an entitlement to existing retirees as well as those making their way through the system now.

And I don’t see state court judges (who are essentially state employees) allowing those benefits to be taken away.

[jennyo]

The bigger issue is that even if the pension funds go under or just underperform, the government entity is liable for paying the pension costs, unless (as in the case of San Diego) some malfeasance or fraud can be proven as the basis for increasing pension benefits.

So if CALPERS has a bad year in terms of earnings, the state General Fund makes up the difference in the actual cost of funding pensions for beneficiaries. At least for the state government, payments to retirees are protected in the state constitution so these costs are a must pay, like debt service, and cannot be cut from the state budget. The only way to reduce state pension costs is to promise new employees less, it is an entitlement to existing retirees as well as those making their way through the system now.

And I don’t see state court judges (who are essentially state employees) allowing those benefits to be taken away.

[jennyo]

The bigger issue is that even if the pension funds go under or just underperform, the government entity is liable for paying the pension costs, unless (as in the case of San Diego) some malfeasance or fraud can be proven as the basis for increasing pension benefits.

So if CALPERS has a bad year in terms of earnings, the state General Fund makes up the difference in the actual cost of funding pensions for beneficiaries. At least for the state government, payments to retirees are protected in the state constitution so these costs are a must pay, like debt service, and cannot be cut from the state budget. The only way to reduce state pension costs is to promise new employees less, it is an entitlement to existing retirees as well as those making their way through the system now.

And I don’t see state court judges (who are essentially state employees) allowing those benefits to be taken away.

[jennyo]

The bigger issue is that even if the pension funds go under or just underperform, the government entity is liable for paying the pension costs, unless (as in the case of San Diego) some malfeasance or fraud can be proven as the basis for increasing pension benefits.

So if CALPERS has a bad year in terms of earnings, the state General Fund makes up the difference in the actual cost of funding pensions for beneficiaries. At least for the state government, payments to retirees are protected in the state constitution so these costs are a must pay, like debt service, and cannot be cut from the state budget. The only way to reduce state pension costs is to promise new employees less, it is an entitlement to existing retirees as well as those making their way through the system now.

And I don’t see state court judges (who are essentially state employees) allowing those benefits to be taken away.

[jennyo]

The bigger issue is that even if the pension funds go under or just underperform, the government entity is liable for paying the pension costs, unless (as in the case of San Diego) some malfeasance or fraud can be proven as the basis for increasing pension benefits.

So if CALPERS has a bad year in terms of earnings, the state General Fund makes up the difference in the actual cost of funding pensions for beneficiaries. At least for the state government, payments to retirees are protected in the state constitution so these costs are a must pay, like debt service, and cannot be cut from the state budget. The only way to reduce state pension costs is to promise new employees less, it is an entitlement to existing retirees as well as those making their way through the system now.

And I don’t see state court judges (who are essentially state employees) allowing those benefits to be taken away.

[Author]

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