My (not so) Cheap Wedding

When I turned 18, my parents threw me a Debut Party, which is essentially the Philippine version of a quincinera. It was a lavish event held in a local hotel ballroom and attended by 200 of my closest family and friends.

While I am thankful for the experience, I've known since then that if I were to get married, I'd want a smaller, simpler, and less costly wedding. What I didn't realize was the amount of work it would take to accomplish that.

According to costofweddings.com, the average wedding in the United States costs $26,645, with couples in my area spending between $31,112 and $51,853. While not enough for a house down payment in the Bay Area these days, this is money that could easily be spent on vacations, house renovation, and college tuition for any future children. My husband, who still isn't a fan of the pageantry and societal expectations surrounding marriage, preferred to elope or have a courthouse ceremony.  Coming from a culture that places extreme importance on marriage, I knew my family would never forgive me if we did either.

Thus, we went ahead with planning a "standard wedding" (I use the word "standard" loosely because we did not adhere to my culture's tradition of getting married in a Catholic church). Through it all, we kept the following in mind:
1) Keep to the budget as much as possible, but don't stiff the guests and vendors
2) Treat this as a thank you party for family/friends who've supported us through the years and are willing to attend (see #1 below)
3) Stay true to ourselves, only compromising on things we don't care about much

How did we manage this without blowing our budget? Here are some (sometimes controversial) cost saving measures we enacted:


Wedding Cost Saving Measure #1: Have a destination wedding outside the Bay Area
Recently, I was lucky enough to attend a relative's wedding in the Philippines. This relative had a wedding at a resort and rented rooms for the guests. It was more like a mini-vacation with my family, and I wanted that sort of feel for my own wedding.

After vacationing there two years ago, we opted to have our wedding in a mountain town roughly 4 hours away from the Bay Area. Thanks to the lower cost of living, we were able to find an affordable venue/caterer that would have easily cost twice as much locally. The other plus was cabins on site!

Wedding Cost Saving Measure #2: Cut the guest list
Next to having a low-cost wedding, what was important to my husband and I was that we had a wedding with no more than 100 guests. While my parents advised me to simply "not invite people", we knew that this was completely unrealistic and a local wedding would likely result in 200+ guests.

Having our wedding 4 hours away helped keep our numbers well below 100. The only down side is that the guest list was heavily skewed to my side, while only a few of my husband's family could make the drive. I suppose having a destination wedding may have worked too well in cutting the guest list!


Wedding Cost Saving Measure #3: DIY (Do It Yourself) everything
When I first started planning the wedding, I was told that details and decorations were how I could really personalize everything. To be frank, elaborate decor was the least of my priorities and wanted to spend as little as possible on it. Since my mom loves that sort of thing, I purchased artificial flowers in bulk and let my mom take over the decorating.

This freed up time for my husband and I to focus on details we cared about, like printing our own invitations and making personalized favors for our guests. While ambitious and time consuming, there was definitely a sense of accomplishment knowing that we were able to pull it off. In the end, my mom did a wonderful job with the decor and our guests seemed to appreciate the personalized favors.

Wedding Cost Saving Measure #4: Buy instead of rent.
Wedding planning opened my eyes on the costs of renting things like table linens, chairs, and tables. While doing some comparison shopping, I realized that it was cheaper to buy cloth table napkins than to rent them, plus I get to keep the napkins. I am now the proud owner of 100 burnt orange cloth napkins to use for future Thanksgiving and Halloween dinners!

Wedding Cost Saving Measure #5: Shop early and shop around!
Next to crafting, most of my time was spent comparison shopping. I would definitely recommend booking venues and vendors as soon as possible, as you'll likely be competing with other couples with the same wedding date. Though my husband and I started looking less than a year before our wedding, we were fortunate enough to find a reasonably priced photographer, videographer, cake maker, and DJ. Make sure to check multiple sites as we found our videographer through WeddingWire.com and our photographer through Craigslist.

Once our venue and vendors were booked, it was time to focus on clothing and decor. Bridesmaids dresses were ordered from Weddington Way during a sale. We watched Slickdeals regularly waiting for sales on gift cards and wedding necessities. One trick we used was to buy gift cards for places like Macys, Ebay, and Sephora at a discount, then use said gift cards during a sale. My parents and I lost track of the number of times we visited various craft stores, each with a 50% Off One Item coupon in tow.


Wedding Cost Saving Measure #6: Take advantage of cash back websites and credit cards.
We not only purchased things on sale, but also made sure to use cash back sites for additional savings. To decide which cash back site to go through for a particular online store, we used CashBackWatch.com, which compares rates at the major cash back sites.

Credit cards often offer cash back as well. My husband was fortunate enough to have a credit card which offered 5% cash back on all restaurants during our wedding. This saved us a decent amount on rehearsal and wedding dinner costs.


Wedding Cost Saving Measure #7: BYOB (Bring your own bottle)
When deciding what wines to get, we realized that bringing our own wine and paying the corkage was cheaper than using the wine provided by the venue. Shopping for wine was one of the funner parts of the wedding planning process as we would hunt for bargain wines at places like Bevmo and Grocery Outlet and try them with our dinner. Bringing our own wine worked out pretty well since all our wines cost less than $5 each, including a Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi Moscato which proved to be a hit with our guests.


Wedding Cost Saving Measure #8: Pay for what's important to you, not for what is expected
When we first started wedding planning, we were frequently told that we "needed" things like a wedding planner, wooden dance floor, chair covers, ceiling drapes, doves (the birds), aisle runner, 10 appetizers per person, open bar, etc. We had none of these and didn't miss it. Every wedding is different, but if you find that the sole reason you've paying for a service is because you think it's expected, then you can probably put that money towards something else.


Wedding Cost Saving Measure #9: Ditch the wedding planner
Early on, we were advised to get a wedding planner so we could be "relaxed" on our wedding day. Unfortunately, even the most affordable wedding planner started in the 4 figures. Could we justify the cost?

I'm a social worker and a discharge planner. I like to help and the type of person that would prefer to do things herself instead of burdening other people. I wanted to find my own vendors, come up with a timeline, delegate tasks, and be involved during my own wedding day. These things make me happy.

One of the most hilarious parts of my wedding day was the look of horror on the vendors' faces when I tried to do something like move a chair or pick up trash off the ground. Like I said, it's the social worker in me. Would hiring a wedding planner and making our wedding party do more work have been less stressful?  Of course, but I would have felt immensely guilty about the extra money spent and making others do work I could have easily done myself. Plus with the money saved we were able to hire a videographer and get extra beer/appetizers.


Wedding Cost Saving Measure #10: Know your guests
Lots of wedding websites have calculators on the amount of alcohol and appetizers to serve. While they were valuable for planning purposes, what's most useful is knowing your guests' preferences and habits.

For instance, the calculators advised us to get 6-8 appetizers per person. I was also advised to up the appetizers because "people overeat at weddings". My parents - knowing that our family does not eat a lot - advised me to serve fewer appetizers to avoid paying for wasted leftovers. In the end, we cut down to about 4 appetizers per person and even had some leftovers.

When deciding whether to have open bar, we looked at our guest list and realized that most of our family and friends are beer and wine (specifically sweet wine) drinkers. We opted for having a beer/cider/wine-only bar with a variety of choices. No one seemed to miss the liquor and our guests seemed to especially like the sweet wine.


In the end, our wedding cost well below the United States average. While this isn't saying much, considering I know people who've had weddings for under a thousand, our guests were well-fed and seemed to genuinely have a blast, which was most important to me. Of course we could have saved much more by eloping or having a courthouse ceremony, but ultimately, there's still something to be said for throwing a party for all your favorite people.

Social Workers are Ridiculously Underpaid

I try not to gripe about my salary too much. As a medical social worker in California, I know my salary is above average compared to the rest of the country, allowing me to do things that many other social workers cannot do. While I make nowhere near what people with engineering, medical/nursing, and business degrees make, with the exception of housing woes I am actually doing alright.

However, I find it hard to stay quiet when it comes to unfair pay disparities within my profession. Social workers are mandated by their Code of Ethics to combat social injustice. One platitude frequently touted by the profession is "Equal Pay for Equal Work". While this statement is typically used to advocate for gender pay equality, I feel that it can also be applied to pushing for fair wages for social workers, especially those in the hospital setting.

As many medical social workers know, our jobs overlap heavily with nurse case managers. In fact, I perform many of the same discharge planning duties as RN case managers. With the exception of a few variations (i.e. RN case managers having to perform insurance review tasks and social workers handling most crisis situations), RN case managers and social workers are so similar that they are often grouped into the same department. Unfortunately, their pay is vastly different.

According to payscale.com, the average RN case manager salary is $66,000. The average medical social worker salary is $49,992. Or course, this varies on location. In the Bay Area, medical social worker salaries are higher and nursing salaries are much, much higher.

Recently, a coworker disclosed that a nurse case manager friend at another hospital recently received a five-figure bonus for good work. On top of that, she quoted a six-figure base salary that is more than double my hourly salary

Later I was looking at a complex case manager job postings which require either an RN or MSW degree. In a discussion with another coworker who works at other hospitals, I found out that MSWs still get paid significantly less than RN case managers despite performing identical duties and having the title "case manager".

I'd be lying if I said that I didn't feel somewhat demoralized, especially compounded with my family support. I realize that nursing school is difficult, but so is getting a masters degree in social work. What continues to baffle me why a masters in social work deserves half the salary of an RN case manager with an associates or bachelors degree, especially when our job functions overlap so much.

I definitely understand why nurses earn what they do, and their salaries are fair given the cost of living around here (but ridiculously low everywhere outside of California). As I was writing this, I went back and reread my past post on nursing salaries to remind myself of the rationale behind why nurses are paid so much more. To be honest, until social workers unionize or our leadership stands up for us, then I'm not sure what can be done to fix our wages. On an individual level, if I demand an RN case manager salary for the work I do, I'm sure I'd get replaced by a social worker willing to work for much less.

So how do I cope with this on a daily basis? In the words of Peggy Carter, "I know my value". Going into social work, I knew that I would be overworked and underpaid. Even though others are getting paid much more for doing the same work, I find satisfaction in the work I do and the people I help on a daily basis. Making less does not make social work a lesser profession, nor does it make me a lesser person. I am much more than my paycheck.

The Costs of Moving Out (2015 Edition)

As many of you are aware, I've been trying to move out of my parents' house for several years. Back in 2011, I ran into barriers with the rental markets and couldn't justify the costs. In more recent years, I've lost numerous bidding wars in my failed attempt to buy a house/condominium in the Bay Area thanks to bubbling prices. Now, I've decided to try out the rental markets again and had set a goal to move out by this August. Unfortunately, I'm now having serious second thoughts over whether I can afford to live on my own without sacrificing my retirement and living paycheck to paycheck. Here's a rundown of expenditures should I choose to move:

Rent: $1100 for a studio (one of the cheapest in the Silicon Valley)
Utilities: $0 (included with the studio)
Internet: $50 (no cheaper options)
Food: $100
Cell Phone: $30 (T-Mobile prepaid plan)
Health insurance: $250
Car insurance: $100
Gas/Car Maintenance: $300
Hygiene, cleaning supplies: $20
401K Contribution: $1500
Roth IRA Contribution: $458.33
Monthly Grand Total: $3908.33 
Annual Total: $46899.33
State and Federal Taxes: $15588 (if making $60000) to $21881 (if making $75000)

According to this calculation, I basically have to make roughly $65000 a year pre-tax to cover shelter, food, basic necessities, taxes, and retirement without going into debt. This does not account for an emergency fund or entertainment. Really not a lot of wiggle room here.

Possible solutions:
-Contribute less to my retirement funds
-Get some roommates
-Move in my boyfriend (and risk getting disowned)
-Continue living at home
-Eliminate all travel, shopping, and entertainment
-Get a higher paying job, or work multiple jobs
-Move out of the Bay Area

I definitely have a lot to think about over the next few months.
--------------------------------------
*UPDATE* It looks like I forgot to add my HSA contribution to my initial computation. Here's the updated budget breakdown:

Rent: $1100 for a studio (one of the cheapest in the Silicon Valley)
Utilities: $0 (included with the studio)
Internet: $50 (no cheaper options)
Food: $100
Cell Phone: $30 (T-Mobile prepaid plan)
Health insurance: $250
Car insurance: $100
Gas/Car Maintenance: $300
Hygiene, cleaning supplies: $20
401K Contribution: $1500
Roth IRA Contribution: $458.33
HSA Contribution: $279.17
Monthly Grand Total: $4187.50 
Annual Total:  $50250
State and Federal Taxes: $15588 (if making $60000) to $21881 (if making $75000)

Looks like I have to make more than $70000 now. Decisions, decisions.

New Year, New Goals

Happy New Year (though a few weeks late)!

Between family illnesses, deaths in the family, a house robbery, the economy, and near social work burnout/disenchantment as a result of aforementioned family illnesses, 2014 was not the best year for me.  Of course, there were a few bright points, such as the love of my friends/family/coworkers, several fun vacations (which I will write about later), and the SF Giants winning yet another World Series.  With a new year comes a clean slate and the hope that this year will be even better than the last!

I'm not one to make New Year's resolutions because I never keep them.  However, looking at my finances, I really did not do well when it came to making/saving money last year.  While part of that was due to unforeseen circumstances (such as an emergency trip out of the country and unexpected medical expenses), I also made the conscious decision to not cancel my pre-planned trips and dip into my savings account.  Additionally, I cut back on my work hours in the latter half of 2014 due to job/life burnout.  With the new year, I've upped my work hours again and plan to keep working as much as I can to pay for a family trip this spring and travel in the summer.  My main goal for this year is to make more than I made last year and save significantly more.

Late last year, I found out (to my chagrin) that despite being told otherwise, I do qualify for my one of my job's 403b program as a per diem employee.  I immediately signed up for an account and am putting in 80% of my earnings to make up for several years of missed contributions.  Currently, my savings goals for this year are as follows:
-Max out my 403b contribution
-Max out my IRA contribution
-Max out my HSA contribution
-Recoup the money I took out of my savings account last year

It's not going to be an easy task, but I certainly think it's doable.  Working to my advantage are the fact that I'm still stuck at home (as per cultural expectations) and probably won't be buying/renting anytime soon as a result of ridiculously inflated prices in the Bay Area.  I realize that despite where I live, I'm probably in a better financial position to meet my goals compared to social workers in other parts of the country, and hence consider myself really lucky.

As always, I have every intention to travel, though I'll probably have to budget my money a little better than last year.  More on that later!

I really hope to do more writing this year as I'm out of practice!  Thank you again for your continued support of my blog, and please come back soon! 

Joking About Low Social Worker Pay

While perusing the internet for social work news, I found an old video of a Vice President Joe Biden speech.  In this speech, where he addresses an Urban League conference in Cincinnati, Ohio, Biden jokes that he wishes he had a “Republican kid to go out and make money.”  This is so he could get a "window view" when placed in a nursing home.  Biden then states, "But my daughter’s a social worker.. Graduate school at Penn and runs an at risk program — at risk youth program — for kids getting out of prison and young men getting out of prison.”

You can watch the video here: Joe Biden: I wish I had a ‘Republican kid to go out and make money’ 

When I first entered graduate school, my classmates and professors frequently joked about how we were entering a field where we would make no money.  In one lecture, my a professor joked that we ever wanted an Escalade and a house in a gated community, social work was the wrong field.  As years passed, I've lost count of the number of people who've joked that "I hope you marry someone rich" upon hearing what I do for a living.

It's not funny.  Really, it isn't.

It's a safe bet to say that many social workers cringe when they hear racial/cultural jokes or jokes about disabilities.  Why?  These jokes are mean, tasteless, and reinforce stereotypes about particular groups.  When people make jokes about social workers being poorly compensated, "do-gooder baby snatchers", it not only perpetuates falsehoods about our profession, but normalizes our poor wages, poor reputation, and stressful working conditions.  While I understand that social workers joke about their wages to relieve frustration over getting paid so little, such humor also seems to imply an acceptance that this is what it means to be a social worker.  Sorry, I became a social worker to help the poor and disenfranchised, not to become part of them.

So shame on you, Vice President Biden. Instead of focusing on the good your daughter is doing and advocating for the social work profession, you make a cheap joke about her wages as if it's okay.  Because the world would be such a better place if there were more Republican sons focused on making money...

2014 Spending and Savings Goals

Yesterday, I was looking at my Mint.com account, which I signed up for over the summer to better track my spending.  Let's just say that after getting the account, I probably visited the site a total of 5 times between then and yesterday.  Looking at the charts from the past six months, I was horrified to find out that in the span of half a year, I had spent over 35% of my annual pre-tax earnings.  I know I'm not cheap, but I didn't realize I had spent that much!

Fortunately, upon further inspection I noticed that Mint.com was adding my total credit card charges to the totals on my credit card statement, making it look like I spent a lot more than I did.  Mint.com also counted several transfers to savings accounts as spending.  In the end, I computed that I actually spent 29% of my pre-tax earning in the span of a WHOLE year.  Still not that great, considering I live at home, but not as terrifying as the idea that I spent more than I made.

Here are a few more things I pondered as I worked on my 2014 budget:
-Due to the ACA I am now paying $3000/year in healthcare premiums, double what I paid last year.  I am also budgeting $200/month for gasoline, and due to my long commute to work I will likely go over that amount.  Adding the two, it looks like I will be spending over $5000 on healthcare premiums and gas alone!
-Reading through an old post about the costs of moving out (written before studio prices rose above $1000) and number crunching, I know for sure that I would be broke if I moved out in 2011.  I suppose this is one perk of being part of a family who believes in living at home until you 1) get married or 2) buy a house.  Since 2011, I've been able to travel extensively, shop, help my family, donate to charity, contribute to a retirement fund, and set aside a down payment to be used when the housing market calms down.  Absolutely no way I could accomplish all of that living in a shabby studio.
-My cheap boyfriend told me that I should be only be spending $1000 a year on non-essentials (i.e. shopping, travel, eating out) because I live at home.  Considering my travels plans alone for this year, I conclude that he's crazy.
-I spend WAY too much money on shopping and need to work on this... maybe.

Anyway, here are my main spending and savings goals for 2014:
1) Spend no more than 25% of my projected pre-tax earnings.  This basically covers shopping, food, drink, presents, travel, health insurance, gym membership, gas, and a $708 emergency fund.  I plan on using Mint.com to track my monthly spending.
2) Max out my Roth IRA ($5,500) and HSA ($3,300) contributions, a total of $8,880.   Since I work several per diem jobs I don't get a 401K.  Fortunately, my HSA provides a helpful deduction for my federal taxes.  I really need to do some research and look into alternatives to 401Ks so I can start another retirement account, though.
3) Split the leftover money between retirement savings, house down payment, and rainy day fund.

That's pretty much it!  I think these goals are definitely achievable, though my boyfriend might complain that 25% is way too high.  Hey, I'm a social worker, and 25% of my salary is lower than 25% of his tech salary!  Overall, I hope that setting these goals will help me be more cognizant of my spending, yet leave me some breathing room to enjoy my money as well.  We'll see how the year goes!

Why Nurses Make More Than Social Workers

On social worker blogs and among my peers, I often hear about how unfair it is that nurses get paid more than social workers. A common catchphrase is, "Social workers have twice the education, but half the salary!" A while back, this same issue came up on a social worker salary post on SocialWorkersSpeak.org. I wrote a rather long comment in response and thought it would be good to repost it here. It's my take on this controversial and recurring issue in our field.

I can only theorize as to why nurses make more than social workers. While I don’t necessarily agree with everything on this list, here’s what I’ve brainstormed:

-Liability: Perhaps nurses are paid more because they directly impact the lives of patients. Injecting the wrong medication dosage, not using proper sanitation methods, and other such mistakes can severely hurt of kill a patient. Furthermore, nurses face many occupational hazards such as direct exposure to diseases, bodily fluids, needlesticks, etc. I did not go to nursing school because I did not want to handle wounds, clean bodily waste and commodes, and whatnot. I’m willing to pay the nurses to let them deal with that.

-Curriculum: My social worker friends me that they cannot handle nursing curriculum because it is too difficult and rigorous. I do not know if this is true, but I can attest that curriculum-wise, my MSW program was significantly easier than any science class I took as an undergrad (though my brain is probably just not wired for science). At work, I am frequently impressed by the breadth of knowledge the nurses have, even the ones with an AA degree. These nurses are individuals that make recommendations to doctors as to how to treat the patient. Even with an MSW, I find myself feeling like an idiot at work due to my utter lack of medical knowledge compared to nurses. Furthermore, I feel as if I apply very little of my grad school curriculum at work.
Where I work, RN case managers lead the discharge planning process. This seems to make sense to me because RNs are capable of obtaining psychosocial information while also being knowledgeable about the medical aspects of the patient. It’s much more efficient, as social workers like myself often have to defer to RN case managers when getting insurance authorizations, explaining why a patient needs a certain treatment, reading lab/PT/OT/x-ray results, and even determining if a patient is discharging. When coordinating care between the various allied health fields, I’d trust the nurse to do it over myself because I simply don’t have the medical knowledge a nurse does. I feel I work best when brought in as a consultant to handle the psychosocial aspect of care affecting discharge.

-Unions: Nurses have a very powerful union and are able to bargain for their wages. I know of hospitals with nurses that threaten to strike every year unless their demands are met. If social workers were to do the same, I’m sure the wages would go up.

-Economics: Nursing schools are severely impacted. At some schools in my area, there is a 5 year wait list to get in. By keeping nursing schools capped, this keeps the number of nurses entering the workforce low. With such a high demand for nurses, these hospitals with snatch up these new nursing grads and pay pretty generous salaries too.
Unfortunately the field is saturated with social science type majors who can get hired to perform “counseling” type work. Until social workers can ensure national title protection, we’ll have high school/college grads doing our work for cheap and driving down our wages. Nursing does not have this problem.
It seems like the high paying jobs these days are in health and hard sciences: engineering, computer programming, technology, medicine, etc. If you look at salary figures, those who studied the health/hard sciences tend to make more than humanities/social sciences. That’s because those in the former tend to work in profit-driven companies. Most social workers on the other hand end up in the non-profit sector.

I’m not trying to say that nursing is better than social work. However, I don’t think we should be talking about an AA in nursing like it’s cake. Many RNs I know with AA degrees are as knowledgeable than BSNs. Also, nurses should be our allies, not our rivals. At my job, the bedside nurse spends significantly more time with the patient than the social worker, and is hence an excellent resource when it comes to psychosocial issues.

Instead of comparing ourselves to other professions, we should look without our own field and see how we can improve. If we must compare ourselves to nursing, remember than decades ago, nurses were as overworked underpaid as social workers. By unionizing, advocating, and empowering themselves, they have grown to be a powerful profession in the medical field. Nurses have worked their way up since the days of Florence Nightingale. Social workers have the capacity to do the same.

Hope this explanation helps!

Thoughts?

Salaried vs. Hourly: Which is better?

In my travels, I've had the opportunity to work in and observe places that pay their social workers either hourly (typically non-exempt) or salaried (typically exempt). Here's my analysis of each one and my thoughts of which I'd rather work.

Hourly

Pros:
-Time and a half overtime pay after working 8 hours
-Guaranteed lunch and break periods, with overtime pay if they're not taken
-Time and a half pay for working holidays
-Time and a half pay for working more than 40 hours a week
-Going home after 8 hours so management doesn't have to pay overtime

Cons:
-Strict rules regarding lunches (i.e. no answering phones, no talking about work, no lunch interruptions, etc.)
-Required breaks and lunch negatively impacting a busy day, resulting in having to stay at work later
-Management getting upset when overtime is used too often
-Loss of paid time off or wages during holidays and sick days
-Loss of wages if your hours are cut from low workload

Salaried

Pros:
-Guaranteed pay, regardless of hours worked (which means no pay reductions for going home early due to low workload or sometimes illness)
-Option to not take lunches or breaks if you have too much work to do
-No worries about clocking in and out

Cons:
-Having to stay at work until it's finished (which may mean having to work more than 8 hours, weekends, and holidays)
-No extra compensation for working overtime, weekends, holidays, and during lunch
-Higher probability of burning out from long hours

Personally, I would never take a salaried job that doesn't pay anything for overtime. One you work more than 8 hours, your average hourly salary begins to drop. I've seen many co-workers stay 9, 10, even 12 hours at work, sometimes without taking a single breaks. I don't think it's healthy, and I can't help but wonder how much personal/family/self-care time my co-workers get after pulling these long hours day after day. Social workers are underpaid as it is. No need to bring down your wages further by working for free after 8 hours.

What are your thoughts on salaried vs. hourly positions? Which one do you work, and what do you feel are the pros and cons?

Should We Pick Majors Based on Pay?

Happy New Year, everyone! As I wrote on my other blog, I resolve to post at least once a week this year. Hopefully I can accomplish this goal!

For my first post of 2012, I wanted to expand on discuss an issue I touched on in a previous post - the profitability of our college major. Lately, I've been seeing news agencies and blogs post articles about individuals, including social workers buried in student loan debt and working low paying jobs. I'm sure these issues have been around for years, but I speculate that these news articles have increased in frequency as a result of the recession, high unemployment rates, and indebted college graduates participating in the Occupy Wall Street movement.

As usual, the comments contained as much vitriol as previous articles on unemployed college graduates. I've heard similar statement among my own circle of acquaintances (many Silicon Valley engineers) with statements like, "Teachers are dumb; that's why they're teachers", "I aced my humanities classes easily, getting better grades than actual humanities majors", and "I worked hard in college while people in [insert major here] partied all the time". With so much negativity against social science and humanities grads, I sometimes can't help but wonder if such stigma will impact these fields in terms of job prospects and student interest.

In China, it seems like social science and humanities majors are already being impacted in terms of funding. While I was out of the country last November, the Wall Street Journal published an article called, "China To Cancel College Majors That Don't Pay". The title is somewhat misleading, as China plans to phase out college majors based on employment rates, not salaries. Now imagine if the U.S. were to implement a similar policy. According to the WSJ article, clinical psychology, fine arts, and U.S. history would be some of the first majors to go. If cuts were made according to median salary, social work would be on that list. Imagine the type of society we would have if subjects like these were eliminated from our schools because they were simply not profitable enough. Maybe the elimination of social work programs would create a severe social worker shortage that would finally raise our salaries to respectable levels!

So, should we pick majors based on pay? Sure, if your goal in life is to become independently wealthy. However, realize that education, as with any other investment, comes with risk. While a job may be profitable now, there's always a chance that things might not turn out as expected. Regardless of what field you decide to pursue, know what you're getting yourself into, and consider the monetary and emotional costs of each major.

Did I pick my major based on pay? Yes and no. The reason I got my MSW had to do with my college experiences and the fact that I wanted to make a living counseling people. I never expected to become rich, and if I wanted to make more money, I probably would have picked a career in nursing or engineering instead. Now if I had the opportunity to study something out of pure passion, I would have majored in music. Fortunately, I do have a job that pays decently and gives me the flexibility to go back and study music if I desired. We'll see how that goes.

How about you? Did you pick your major based on pay? Should college students consider potential pay when picking a major?

The Non-Monetary Costs of Commuting

Sorry for the lack of updates! I've had one day off this past week and haven't had much time for anything else but working, commuting, and sleeping. I'll try to post a more substantial update when I actually have more than one day off.

In the meantime, I'm going to use this post to talk about commuting. Currently, I commute between 25-50 miles one way each day to get to a given hospital. This allows me to continue to live at home and save some money. However, I've concluded that there are a number of non-monetary expenses associated with long commutes. These include the following:

-Time: I spend roughly 2-4 hours each day commuting. By the time I get home, I don't have much time to do anything other than eat, shower, watch baseball/exercise/blog/surf the net/work on hobbies/talk to my boyfriend online (more or less simultaneously depending on my energy level), and sleep.

-Sleep: I try to get about 8 hours of sleep a night, but normally I only manage 7 hours or less because there's simply too much I want to do once I get home. Typically, I have about 4 hours of time after getting home before having to be asleep. Either I have to rush to get everything done, neglect a few items off my "to do" list, or stay up a few extra hours. Depending on how little sleep I get during the week, I spend a good portion of the weekend sleeping.

-Housekeeping: My room is a mess. My bathroom is certainly not as clean as I want it to be. While I probably should prioritize housework, I'd rather spend my free time after work doing something fun and/or relaxing.

-Exhaustion: Long commutes are tiring. Most days, I'm too tired to do anything once I get home from work. In fact, my typical routine is to get home, change my clothes, eat some dinner, and flop down on my bed.

-Safety: Driving is scary. More than once I've seen near accidents occur. Additionally, there have been times when I've had to pull over to nap because I've started to doze off behind the wheel. While riding the subway is less scary, it also doubles my commute time. Furthermore, I've been harassed by people on the subway demanding money or use of my cell phone. On top of that, I worry about the bacteria on the plush subway seats and sometimes wonder if I'll ultimately contract MRSA that way.

While I do saving lots of money by commuting, it seems like I am sacrificing a lot more. I suppose in come cases I am putting myself at risk for some steep monetary expenses, such as health bills and accident repair costs. The more I think about it, the more moving makes sense to me. Currently, I am in the process of looking at apartments closer to my multiple jobs. I'm definitely looking forward to the shorter travel times! In the meantime, I think it's time to go to bed.

How to Book a Cheap Trip to Las Vegas

Since I'm fortunate enough to have flexible per diem jobs, I've managed to schedule a week of vacation at the end of this month. So far, my plan is to fly to Las Vegas with some friends and spend a few days relaxing and having fun! I didn't want to spend too much on this trip, and thanks to some shopping around and early planning I'm spending less than $150 on housing and airfare!

Here are some tips on how you can save money on a trip to Las Vegas (which can also be applied to other locations):

-Shop around and book early: I cannot stress this enough. When I decided I wanted to go to Las Vegas, I immediately started searching travel websites like Expedia, Priceline, Kayak and comparing rates. My friends and I decided to book a room at a hotel located in the middle of the Las Vegas Strip for $24.50 a night. The next day, the price went up to $27.00. Today, the same room is $33 a night. By booking early, you ensure you have a room and extra spending money to spend on money and shopping! I'm pretty pleased that I'm paying less than $7 a night to stay in a themed Las Vegas hotel after splitting the cost with my friends.

-Schedule your vacations during weekdays and non-holidays: Weekday hotel room rates tend to be significantly cheaper than weekend and holiday rates. When booking my hotel I noticed that the Friday night rate was $125, a whopping $25 more than the total cost of the four weekday nights I'm staying. Weekends and holidays also tend to be more crowded at popular tourist locations, which can be good or bad depending on your preference. Personally, I'd prefer to save some money and not wait in line when I use that said money on shows and buffets!

-Use budget airline companies: Search Slickdeals deals being offered by major airlines. Southwest, JetBlue, and Virgin America tend to offer reasonable fares, and Spirit Airlines offers low cost ticket prices for people who travel light and don't mind skimping on certain services. I'll be writing a review of Spirit Airlines at a later date.

By using these tips, I've managed to book a trip to Las Vegas that leaves me extra money in my budget to spend on other things. Knowing this definitely leaves me more relaxed, as opposed to worried about paying for the whole thing. I can't wait for my vacation!

How the Debt Ceiling Deal Affects MSW (and other Graduate) Students

After much political drama, the House of Representatives has finally passed the Budget Control Act of 2011, meant to stop the U.S. government from defaulting on its payments to U.S. government bondholders. This bill is bound to have many impacts, but for this particular post I will focus on Title V and its affects on graduate students, especially future social workers.

Title V consists of several parts:

$17 Billion to Save Pell Grants: According to a report released by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the Budget Control Act of 2011 will allocate $17 billion towards the Federal Pell Grant Program in the next 3 years. The Pell Grant Program provides financial aid to low-income undergraduate and certain graduate students who likely would not be able to afford college otherwise. Unlike loans, these grants do not need to be repaid.

Elimination of Federal Direct Stafford Loans for Graduate Students: Currently, college students with financial need are allowed to receive $8500 in subsidized loans a year. These are loans where interest is paid for until 6 months after graduation. Starting July 12, 2012, graduate students will only qualify for Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans, which accrue interest while students are still in school. According to the CBO report, this will save $18.1 billion in the next 10 years.

Elimination of Incentives for On-Time Loan Payments: Subsidized and unsubsidized loans have a 1% origination or activation fee. Currently, students only have to pay 0.5% - half the fee - which is refunded if they make 12 on time monthly loan payments. Under the new bill, this fee will no longer be refunded. According to the CBO, this will save $3.6 billion in the next decade.

As a social worker, I find myself asking many questions. Is saving the Federal Pell Grant Program worth the financial hardship that will inevitably be faced by numerous graduate students as a result of higher loan payments? How will this affect the social work profession in the long run? Considering that an MSW's salary is much lower when compared to other professions with the same training/education level, will increased loan payments cause those interested in social work to pursue careers in more lucrative fields?

Seems like there might be some hard times ahead for students. The amount of barriers students face these days make me thankful that I was able to finish school when I did. My thoughts are with those who will be seriously impacted by this new budget bill.

A Newbie's Take on Airline Rewards Programs

Apparently, I'm going to Las Vegas next month! With ridiculously cheap weekday hotel room rates and soon to be expiring deals from airlines like Southwest and Virgin America, it's prime time for a cheap Vegas vacation (if you can handle the heat)! More on this in another post.

After booking my tickets, I spent several hours signing up for and redeeming mileage points from various airline rewards programs. It was actually my first time dealing with airline rewards since I don't fly on my own that often. Here are a few things I learned in the process:

1) Sign up for the rewards program before booking the flight: I booked my flights before signing up for the programs, and hence wasted a good amount of time trying to figure out how to get my flights retroactively credited.

2) Don't wait too long to get your points credited: Most airlines will only credit points up to 3 to 12 months after your flight. Don't wait or you may lose your points forever!

3) Don't hesitate to ask for expired points: Call center representatives have a lot of power. When I called United Airlines asking for points that expired 9 months ago, they credited my account. Airline companies want your business, and will do what it takes if it means you'll fly with them again or enroll in their credit card program. Unfortunately for the kind United call center rep, I declined the credit card. However, I'll definitely fly United again at some point!

4) Don't pay to be part of special airline discount programs: Unless you plan on traveling a lot with a single airline company, then it's probably not worth paying to be part of airline rewards or discount club programs. Make sure to read all the fine print so you're not surprised with a bill. The same concept applies for a credit card - not worth it unless you fly regularly with a single carrier.

Traveling is fun, so why not make the most of your money by getting some rewards points! Thanks to these programs, I hope to someday earn myself a free flight or two!

Social Work and the Laws of Economics

In an older post, I discussed why other majors seem to make more money than others. While this article focused mostly on the surplus of humanities and social science majors relative to job demand, I briefly touched on social work and how its altruistic nature results in less profit and hence lower salaries.

What differentiates social work from other humanities and social science fields is its increasing demand. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, social worker employment is expected to grow faster than average in the next decade. Contributing to this trend are the aging baby boomer generation, growing student enrollments in schools, and prison systems increasingly requiring substance users to participate in rehab programs as part of their sentence.

Now, a demand for social workers combined with a shortage of social workers due to retirement or burnout should result in higher wages, right? Unfortunately, many of us working in the field know that this is not the case. Why is it that basic economic rules seem to ignore the social work profession entirely?

While exploring some online forums, I came across a relevant blog post by fellow social worker Dr. Lynn K. Jones. In "Better Wages for Social Workers...Why Not, Dr. Jones further elaborates on points I've made in the past regarding why social workers are underpaid, such as lack of title protection and self-advocacy within the profession. I won't attempt to summarize here, as her article essentially speaks for itself.

The only part of Dr. Jones' article I will discuss here is the "Career Strategy" section, which tells readers to take control of their careers and not leave it up to "chance". As a first year MSW student, I also told someone that I was led into a social work career as opposed to choosing it. However, I also went into my masters program with the intention of obtaining a decent paying job upon graduation, exploring options within my targeted wage and areas of interest. While I'll never make as much as an engineer, my current salary is pleasantly higher than what I had expected. Indeed, by doing some research and having a game plan for what to expect from a social work career, one can definitely obtain a job that is both financially and emotionally fulfilling. I feel this is the best way for social workers to improve their wage prospects while waiting for our advocacy efforts to produce results on a macroscopic level.

Anyway, check out Dr. Jones' blog post. It's a must read for all social workers concerned about the future of their wages.

The Costs of Moving Out

Hello, and once again, my apologies for not posting for so long! For a quick update, please check out my post here.

Currently, I'm working towards moving out of my parents' house. Given that I have fairly reliable work hours and a decent sum of money saved, I feel that I can support myself on my own. However, while the ideas of independence and self-sufficiency are appealing, I'm somewhat pensive about the fact that I won't be able to save much, if any, once I move out. Here's a sample budget I've drafted showing my monthly expenses:

Rent: $850 for a studio (Bay Area housing is expensive)
Utilities: $50
Internet: $50
Food: $250
Health insurance: $250
Car insurance: $100
Gas/Car Maintenance/Commuter checks/BART (subway) parking: $150
Hygiene, cleaning supplies: $50
Grand Total: $1750

Eeep! While my estimates look pretty scary, they are a little on the high side. I know I can cut down on some of the costs by conserving energy (using energy saving bulbs and skimping on heating and A/C), taking advantage of cheap internet deals, downgrading my health insurance plan, and cutting down on food. Here's an updated budget accounting for this:

Rent: $850
Utilities: $30
Internet: $20
Food: $150
Health insurance: $200
Car insurance: $100
Gas/Car Maintenance/Commuter checks/BART (subway) parking: $150
Hygiene, cleaning supplies: $30
Grand Total: $1530
Annual Cost: $18,360

The above budget does not include retirement savings, rainy day fund, vacation spending, entertainment, shopping, and future home savings. If I were to move out, I would have to make some sacrifices when to comes to my remaining expenses. For instance, I could choose to max out my IRA and 401K, but that would leave me no vacation money, no rainy day fund, and a small sum for a future house down payment. Most likely, I'll choose not to max out my 401K (since none of my jobs offer one anyway) and delegate that money towards other things.

I suppose other methods I could employ to save even more money include finding a cheaper apartment, getting roommates, finding a part time job with health benefits, and/or settling into a full time job with benefits. Another option is to stay with my parents. However, I feel that the non-monetary benefits of moving out outweigh the money I'd save by staying at home.

The apartment hunt will likely continue over the next few weeks/months. I'll try to keep everyone updated on my progress! Wish me luck!

Opening a Roth IRA

Today, I opened a Vanguard Roth IRA thanks to some help from my boyfriend. It was a fairly simple process that took me less than 10 minutes. While I am roughly six years behind my peers who opened accounts after receiving undergraduate degrees, it's never too late to start saving for retirement.

What makes a Roth IRA different from a Traditional IRA is that you're taxed when you deposit money as opposed to when you withdraw it. Since I'm an entry level social worker working per diem, my income and tax rate is not very high. A Roth IRA seemed like the practical choice as I'd rather pay taxes now than have to pay more later.

I feel that as a social worker, I should be especially conscious about saving money. I'm not only saying this because of my profession's reputation for being underpaid. By being knowledgeable about money issues and applying money saving tactics to my own life, I can better counsel individuals and families with their own money problems. One tip I will definitely suggest is to open an IRA and put as much money as possible each year. As of today, I have maxed out my IRA contribution for 2010 and plan to max out subsequent years.

This is not to say that I don't like to shop and have fun, as I've been doing a considerable amount of shopping lately and have a few excursions planned for the immediate future! However, there should always be some balance between spending now and saving up for more fun down the line. I suppose I will (hopefully) see the money I deposited today again in 35-40 years!

I'll post another update later about the different funds I picked and why. This is all new to me, and I have a lot to learn about the investing process!

Balancing Financial Needs With Becoming a Social Worker

Let me preface this article by stating that no one goes into social work thinking that they will become rich. Similarly, no one becomes a social worker thinking that they will have to struggle financially for the duration of their careers. There must be a balance between doing what one loves and having the money to pay the bills, feed the family, and engage in some quality self-care. While many social workers live within their means and are happy with their lifestyles, there are some that ultimately burn out and switch careers to earn better wages. This article provides advice on how one can balance becoming a social worker with wanting a higher standard of living. I'm sure some of these tips could be extrapolated towards other careers as well.

Tip #1: Evaluate the standard of life that you hope to have. There's nothing wrong with wanting a big house, luxury car, fancy wardrobe, private jet, and vacation house in the South of France. However, if you're expecting to fulfill all of these dreams on a social worker salary, then you may want to reevaluate your college major and career aspirations. Please read my article on why certain majors are more profitable than others.

Tip #2: Get your degree from a public school (unless you're offered a generous scholarship to a private school). I obtained my masters degree from a state university. Currently, the only difference between me and my co-workers who attended private schools is the amount of debt we have to repay. Given an average social worker's salary, it just seems unwise to spend $50,000 a year to get a bachelors or masters degree. Even if a more prestigious school were to offer a slightly better education than a state university, I don't think it's worth having to repay student loans until I qualify for Medicare. Those hundreds of dollars a month could be better used on a car, house down payment, or vacation in the South of France.

Tip #3: Get paid to receive your degree. There are several ways to accomplish this. One way is to work for an employer that will pay for you to go back to school for a degree. Another way is to choose paid internships while in school to offset tuition costs. Additionally, scholarships and grants are a great way to lower education costs. In California, the Title IV-E offers generous stipends in exchange for two years work at a child welfare agency upon graduation.

Tip #4: Target higher paying social work jobs in government or the medical setting. These jobs typically pay significantly higher salaries than positions at smaller non-profit agencies. If you have a social work license and enjoy counseling, consider opening a private practice.  However, if you happen to enjoy your current setting then by all means stay.  The happiness and quality of life brought from working somewhere you love simply can't be purchased with a higher salary.

Tip #5: Obtain your social work license. Not only will you be able to privately practice therapy, you will open the doors to a number of new social work positions which require licensure, hence increasing your income potential.

As stated above, if you are hoping to become exceedingly wealthy as a social worker, then you might want to consider changing your career for your sake and the sake of your clients. For everyone else, it is more than possible to have a rewarding and financially stable career as a social worker with some careful financial planning. I suppose part of the beauty of my field is that I get paid for following one of my passions in life, and I consider myself lucky in that respect.

The name of this blog

It's the weekend! For this post, I figured I should discuss the story behind the name of this blog.

Ironically, I am actually not that cheap. Just like everyone else has a weak spot for something, two of my weaknesses are shopping and eating out. Given that I'm in school right now and don't have much income, I try to do the two aforementioned activities while spending the least money possible. My friends have commented that I always seem know when a particular store has a sale, and can list where all the cheap restaurants are and times and locations of places that have decent happy hour specials. Knowing what my field pays and my personal goals in saving up and having some financial security, I doubt my current shopping and eating out habits will increase much once I graduate and have an actual job. In fact, I should work on eating out and shopping less anyway.

The name of this blog is inspired by my boyfriend, who completely blows me out of the water in terms of cheapness. He is so cheap that his ex-girlfriend wrote a prize-winning blog titled "My super cheap ex-boyfriend" (which I won't link so as not to embarrass him). Having a general idea of what my blog was going to be about prior to creating it I knew I had to incorporate "cheap" into the title, even though it didn't necessarily describe me. In fact, upon showing my blog to my boyfriend for the first time he commented that I was indeed not cheap at all. I wholeheartedly agreed, stating that I should probably take more lessons in cheapness from him. I'm sure his tips in saving money will wind up on here at some point, the first being to cook more and shop less.

Why certain majors are more profitable than others

The other day, I read an article on the San Francisco Chronicle website which discussed the increasing phenomenon of college graduates having to move home due to being unable to find a job. This particular article focused on three struggling recent graduates - a sociology major, an English major, and a double-major in economics and political science. These individuals expressed their frustrations at not being able to find a job and thankfulness that their parents allowed them to move back home.

Now, what struck me about this article was not the article itself, but the comments section. Many readers had no sympathy for these students, claiming that their humanities majors had no practical use in finding a job. Some claimed that if these students had majored in the hard sciences instead of merely fooling around during college, they would have jobs right now. Others stated that their situation was a result of not being intelligent enough to study the hard sciences. A commonly recurring theme was that those who chose majors such as sociology or psychology were epitomes of sorority girl, fraternity boy, and student athlete stereotypes.

I suppose none of this is new to me, coming from a school where sociology and mass communication majors were stereotyped as the partiers and underachievers. In actuality, I never thought much about until it I went to grad school and realized that most of my classmates were indeed sociology and psychology majors. From having interacted with a number of them, I know firsthand that these people are extremely intelligent, driven, and hardworking, hardly fitting of the aforementioned stereotypes. Additionally, I have a number of classmates who were science majors as undergrads, including biology and computer engineering. In fact, I found out recently that one of my friends has done work on particle accelerators. While I don't know the reasons as to why they didn't choose to pursue a more science-related career, I highly doubt that lack of intelligence is one of them.

Why am I talking about this? I suppose part of it is a little bit of transference because I admit I had a rather negative reaction to this comments left on this article. Another reason is to process my thoughts, which is one reason I like to blog. Similar to these undergrads, social workers are generally frustrated due to lack of pay and stressful working conditions (or lack thereof). Many people do not understand or even see the value of the work we do, with our academic field being grouped with the other fields that are notoriously underfunded and under appreciated. To some level, many negative stereotypes are applied to the academic portion of our field because it is not perceived as rigorous as hard science curriculum.

Fact of the matter is that appreciation and more pay would be nice, but the fundamentals of the social work field prevent this from happening due the nature of our society. In our capitalist market economy driven world, more jobs are going to be available in sectors where there is a demand for workers. In recent history, this has been the science and tech industry and not the humanities or social sciences. Additionally, today's economic world is heavily driven by production and profit. While social workers help many people with whatever issues they may be facing in life, they do not exactly produce a tangible and profitable product. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine asked, "How exactly do you measure productivity among social workers?" Indeed, it is quite difficult to quantify the end results of what we do on a mathematical or economic scale.

I don't think the problem is that social workers, social science majors, and humanities are unimportant. The issue is that the worth of our profession/degree is defined in terms of the world market. Sociologists and psychologists study the plight of the disenfranchised. While admirable, the surplus of these majors does not bode well for one looking for work. English, philosophy, art, film, and music majors are important in furthering culture in our society. Unfortunately, the important of culture in the past few centuries has been greatly diminished by advents in science, greatly increasing competition among artists, writers, and thinkers and hence decreasing the amount of money and job opportunities in these fields. As for social work, social workers oftentimes work with undesirable populations in situations that generally do not produce profit. In today's world, there is certainly a need for social workers to pick up after the mess society leaves behind. Unfortunately, the nature of what we do and who we work with may not lead to prestigious jobs with high salaries. Despite constant talk among social workers and social work organizations about advocating for more respect and better pay, I'm skeptical to think that any big change is going to happen unless there is a major paradigm shift away from the current economic philosophies that run this world.

I suppose when choosing a career, one must evaluate what is important to them. If you want to study sociology, but place more importance in making money, realize that with your degree you'll probably have to do more work in the long run to achieve wealth as opposed to if choose more lucrative field in the hard sciences instead. Hence, if being wealthy is important to you, then it's best to think about the profitability of your future career. Essentially, it's what you value in life. If one feels that being wealthy is the only way to achieve happiness, I'm not opposed to them pursuing a lucrative career. However, there are some things simply cannot be measured in terms of supply, demand, profit, and monetary worth. Life is temporary, and money can only take you so far and buy you so much.