Teacher who lived in a car puts spotlight on teachers’ low pay
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9 replies
$54,000 a year in Austin.
It really sounds like more of a "guy sucks with money" problem than anything else.
$54,000 / 12 = $4,500 a month.
No more than 1/3rd of your income to rent, so $4,500/3 = $1,500 a month rent.
https://www.apartments.com/marquis-at-barton-trails-austin-tx/evn7ezp/
$1,219, $1,239, $1,339, $1,359, $1,389, $1,399.
This is all do-able on his income.
This is all back of the envelope math, but yeah, I've made it work on less money than that in a more expensive market both in terms of taxes and cost of living.
If you make $54,000 a year and can't find a place to live other than your car, that's a "you" problem.
I'd also be super worried about what he's teaching kids, hope to god not Personal Finance.
As an adult who has made a living on less money in a more expensive market without being forced to live in a car, yeah, I do know what I'm talking about.
No, you were lucky.
False consensus says what?
Now let's add chaos:
That's a thousand- to a million-dollar hit. What's the plan for absorbing that?
Teachers in Canada make less, but don't have the spectre of financial ruin from injury or illness hanging over them.
I was making $50,000 a year when my spine tried to kill me and I ended up taking 10 vicodin a day just to survive. 2 to get out of bed, 2 when I got to work, 2 at lunch, 2 when I got home, and 2 to be able to sleep. I didn't miss work. I made my rent payments.
I was miserable, but I figured it out.