Weekend Cooking and Drinking Thread

[FISHDAWG]

Money's not that bad. In MS the cash value of a teacher's retirement package at 53 after 30 years of service is going to be around $450,000 if they don't get an inflation adjustment on their pension. You put two teachers together and you end up with both of them retired at 53 with $1M or more in value in their pension in a state that doesn't have a particularly generous state pension compared to other states. And that's ignoring the potential healthcare benefits that some retired teachers get. Lots of couples have jobs that people think are higher paying and realistically aren't going to be able to generate that kind of stash by age 53, even if they lived on a teachers salary the whole time.

Of course this is assuming the teachers actually get those pension payments which could be an interesting question in some states going forward, but just pointing out that teaching is a lot better compensated than people realize, and shouldn't be discouraged from going into it because of money. It's true that your cash compensation up front won't make you feel rich and you probably won't be taking european vacations on two teachers' salaries, but it's still a plenty good financially and will make you a millionaire in lots of states.

give me a break ... an educated professional with 30 yrs experience still at 50K ..... that's a hard sell to someone like me ... and as far as the discouraging others to different fields of endeavor - it's not just the money, half the problem is the bureaucracy

[Esmerelda Villalobos]

thanks Hack .... the best part about the whole thing is I just sent a resume to Ocean Springs ...I'm so ready to get away from Atl & go home ... home is Jones County but I'm looking to go coastal or maybe even Mobile .... been here the last 30 yrs my sentence is up !!

Youre from The free state of jones?

[I seen it dawg]

Palace cafe for lunch Friday, Jacques Imos dinner. Pierre Maspero brunch and Bourbon House dinner Saturday. Prejeans with a crop dusting on the way out the door of OM douches on the way home Sunday from Nola.

[Political Hack]

Palace cafe for lunch Friday, Jacques Imos dinner. Pierre Maspero brunch and Bourbon House dinner Saturday. Prejeans with a crop dusting on the way out the door of OM douches on the way home Sunday from Nola.

Court of Two Sisters was my favorite spot the last time I went. Missed Jacques Imos, but plan to hit that up next time. Irene's was also very good.

[I seen it dawg]

We haven't hit the court or Irene's..we get in ruts. Need to branch out more which we are trying to

[Johnson85]

give me a break ... an educated professional with 30 yrs experience still at 50K ..... that's a hard sell to someone like me ... and as far as the discouraging others to different fields of endeavor - it's not just the money, half the problem is the bureaucracy

Lots of college graduates do that without the value of a pension. And while there are plenty of individual teachers that put in a ton of hours, on average they don't work that much compared to other people. No doubt there are other considerations than just the money, just pointing out that financially, teaching isn't as bad as people make it out to be and when you break it down per hour, it's on average very good, although how good will depend on what state a teacher works in and how much time they actually put in.

[FISHDAWG]

Lots of college graduates do that without the value of a pension. And while there are plenty of individual teachers that put in a ton of hours, on average they don't work that much compared to other people. No doubt there are other considerations than just the money, just pointing out that financially, teaching isn't as bad as people make it out to be and when you break it down per hour, it's on average very good, although how good will depend on what state a teacher works in and how much time they actually put in.

I agree there are definite advantages to teaching but rest assured none of them are financial .... I'm not going to expound on it here, but typically here in Georgia the teacher pay / benefits are better than in Miss .... your math doesn't even come close - first off, the pension is good but if you want to cash it in it's only worth about 85K ... over the long haul it's worth more than that (80% of her salary) til death .... 2nd, 50K wont get you to 2nd base around here.... 3rd, insurance was no longer paid by the employer for several years now ... 4th, she put in way more than 40 hrs a week.... 5th, we paid a lot of money out of our own pockets for her classroom supplies, treats, ect ...... if you want to promote a career in education that's fine, just don't do it from a financial perspective

[FISHDAWG]

try Herb Saint next time you are looking for something different

[Johnson85]

I agree there are definite advantages to teaching but rest assured none of them are financial .... I'm not going to expound on it here, but typically here in Georgia the teacher pay / benefits are better than in Miss .... your math doesn't even come close - first off, the pension is good but if you want to cash it in it's only worth about 85K ... over the long haul it's worth more than that (80% of her salary) til death .... 2nd, 50K wont get you to 2nd base around here.... 3rd, insurance was no longer paid by the employer for several years now ... 4th, she put in way more than 40 hrs a week.... 5th, we paid a lot of money out of our own pockets for her classroom supplies, treats, ect ...... if you want to promote a career in education that's fine, just don't do it from a financial perspective

It's insulting that they would offer teacher's $85k for a pension that would pay 80% of a salary for life for a 53 year old. Unless you've been diagnosed with a terminal illness or you have 24 hours to pay off an $85k debt to the mob, that's several hundred thousand too low. Although I guess if a teacher doesn't recognize how ridiculous it would be to take the cash payout, they probably didn't have the critical thinking skills to do much educating over their career.

No doubt if you're a go getter and capable, teaching is a financial sacrifice, and becomes more of one the more you dedicate yourself to it. One of the many reasons we've screwed up our schools is that how good a deal teaching is financially is pretty much inversely related to how capable you are and how much you care. If you're not smart enough to do much else and don't really give a shit, it can be a phenomenal deal financially if you get in the right school district. But that's a different subject.

I was just pointing out that if you feel called to teaching, it's not a vow of poverty. It will be less lucrative than your best option and potentially a big sacrifice if you have high earning potential, but as I said, a lot of jobs that people think of as decent paying actually have lower compensation than teachers; it's just they come with the option to not save for retirement at all versus a job where basically 1/3 if not more of your compensation is deferred.