My hubby just decided not to go for tenure-he has been treated an unimportant as he teaches military history. They want a women’s studies teacher- it is popular right now. It’s a shame- he has 2 books out, did a signing at Barnes and Noble, and writes reviews and articles for the top journal in his field. His opinion is sought out internationally, and he has a top British honor for his work, even though he is American. He is a strategy genius, and has done fellowships at West Point. All this, when he was still making 25K. Blows my mind.

We will hopefully be done paying off his 60K in student loans before his contract is up in 2013. Where we live, private AP tutors make about 150/hour. So the best educators are giving private lessons to the incredibly wealthy, and that high college tuition goes I do not know where, but not to the teachers.

I love teaching, but I refused to work for the new department chair, the Wicked Witch of the West for $1/hour.

He got paid 17K to teach full time at a 2nd tier private Univ, with a raise to 25K with his new PHD. Once he went on-staff- he got a raise to 60. Univs use as many adjuncts as possible, and pay them taco bell wages. It’s obscene. And ubiquitous.

One person said: “If the work warranted pay than it would give pay”. Why? Out of conscience? Why pay when people offer up labor for free, just because they buy into it that it is expected?

Internships are now being used to cut the bottom line, and eliminate staff jobs. “Paying your dues” used to mean working late hours and getting the crappy assignments. Now it means doing the same thing, for free, at the expense of someone who used to get paid for the grunt work. Great for employers, bad for the workers. I have seen it; I have had interns.

ALL WORK warrants pay. Otherwise call it what it is- an apprenticeship, much more similar to the system post-surfdom under monarchies, except that once you know your craft well, you are cut loose, your place taken by another free laborer. Companies used to train new employees- this shifts the training cost to the worker, even if you get a job at the end of it.

So, the bottom line is this: just where ARE your tuition dollars going…?

I think he has even italicized do not seek a therapist, but I can’t remember. I could try and find the mailbags but they were from last year.

But his previous stance of advising against seeking mental health professionals for help is why I took the “not for medication” to be against medication for mental health specifically.

In other words, don’t ask your GP for medication, ask him/her to refer you to a professional who specializes in this kind of thing. I’m not seeing the anti-medication bias that others are seeing. What I am seeing is the suggestion that treatment is better left to a specialist (who could prescribe medication if that is the best course of treatment).

Actually Des said : “a federal sales tax in lieu of some or all of the income tax”.

So I guess the idea is that they might get rid of income taxes and instead have a sales tax. That would in fact remove the entire benefit of Roths. I don’t think we have to worry too much about the US government abolishing income taxes though.

Q3 Kelly : I’d go with the 30 year. She can keep more money in the bank for flexibilities and emergencies. The 4.8% rate is really low by historic standards. The 15 year may drain her monthly cash flow a little too much, she has no rush to pay it off faster and it won’t save her much in interest really.

Q4 Ashley : It is not a given that taxes are going up. Especially for Low/middle income people. No politician anywhere is advocating tax hikes for low/middle income families. BUT if you still think taxes are going up in the future then that would make a Roth IRA better choice. With the Roth the idea is to pay taxes to day and not have tax liability tomorrow. So if the rates go up in the future then that makes paying today even better than paying tomorrow.

Q5 Amy : Get dad to pay up.

“I am a college graduate (1995) with a computer degree.” … “I’ve been thinking about going back to school and get my masters in therapy”

I’m confused. What do you mean by “a computer degree”? DO you mean computer science or IT or something? Or do you mean online degree? Why would you go for a masters in therapy? Are there good paying jobs in that field and hows it relate to your “computer degree”?

Q9 Karen : Pay off the 2nd mortgage. 7% is a high rate. Plus if you pay off the 2nd you’ll no longer be underwater.

I agree, a good diversification of sources is important.

I was comparing Roth to Traditional in my comment, although I didn’t explicitly state that. A Federal sales tax would have the same/similar impact on a Traditional as on a Roth, I think.

Congress might not make explicit retroactive changes to Roths, but (as an example) if they ever passed a federal sales tax in lieu of some or all of the income tax, that would effectively negate the tax savings of the Roth. Just one more reason we should all have a combination of pre- and post- tax retirement savings.