When Being Smart Isn't Enough
Current Debt: $183,542.33
Current Income: $0/month
Bridget Jones always listed her weight and number of cigarettes smoked at the beginning of each of her journal entries. I don't have the luxury to worry about how much I weigh [not that I don't try]. I'm too busy figuring out how I'm going to pay the bills.
I graduated from law school in May 2007. I have yet to start working. I have finally found a job, but not in the state that I was originally planning, and so now I'm taking a second bar exam. Ugh! After the bar at the end of July I will be starting my new job at a small litigation firm.
My husband and I recently got married by a justice of the peace. We had no witnesses and no reception. I cried the entire day before our wedding. We didn't even know we were getting married until two days prior to we said I Do. Why? Because since I've been unable to get a job, I've had no health insurance. We were planning on getting married, but since I didn't have a job, we couldn't afford one. I had been sick on and off, but eventually I got so sick that I really needed to see a doctor, so our only viable monetary choice was to immediately get married. Once I got on my husband's insurance, I saw a doctor and eventually had my gallbladder out - damn thing was causing all of my problems. So now I've been married for two months. Now that we both will have jobs, we're decided to have a ceremony next year on our anniversary.
I really want to pay off my debt as quickly as possible. This year of unemployment has taught me how oppressive having so much debt is. I can't even afford to take a government job because it won't pay the $1000/month loan payments that I have [I couldn't even begin to think about a nonprofit job]. Last night my husband and I sat down and figured out a plan of attack on our debt. We will both be making $4000/month after taxes once we start working. It will be tight with our loan payments, but we should be able to live off of just one of our salaries [rent and loan payments alone are $3200]. Then we can take the other salary and use it to pay off debt. Living that way will mean that we can have all of our debt paid off by July 2013. That's nearly exactly 5 years. I guess that's not so bad. I'm just so happy that I have a husband to share expenses with. If I was single, I'd never have this debt paid off.
All of this has made me increasingly more liberal. I feel like I am feeling the brunt of all of the bad civilian decisions made by the current administration [although apparently I'm not the only one]. I have felt the [literal] pain of not having health insurance. My husband and I both had difficulty finding jobs due to the current recession. We're strapped by debt because of rising educational costs compounded by reduced government assistance. I lived in New Orleans whenHurricane Katrina hit and lost half of my stuff.
Kanye West was onto something, but the quote should have been "George Bush doesn't care about Poor people."
My husband and I move to the Big City in three weeks. When I get there I want to somehow get involved with politics. I've been particularly fired up about all of this FISA nonsense. I religiously read Glenn Greenwald's Blog. Even though I'm not working for a non-profit like a lot of my friends, I want to feel like I'm doing something. The first step I'm going to take is to join my local chapter of Drinking Liberally. Hey, I'm a lawyer. Drinking is always the first step!
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Comments
Please don't try to save me
I read on your profile that you are "highly interested in politics and one day want to do something grand with [your] life that somehow involves saving the masses from themselves".
Please don't try to save me.
I believe in personal responsibility and accountability for one's own choices. I think you are feeling like a victim of an institution (i.e. your law school) that took your money without giving you any realistic job prospects. You also sound like you are on the path to digging out of your own debt and getting your life in order. I don't think that my taxes should be higher in order to pay for healthcare for people with post-graduate degrees. I think you are dead wrong if you think that liberalism is going to save you from government oppression -- au contraire. A larger government means less personal liberty, less chance for people to break out of poverty and live the American dream, less opportunity for progress. Higher taxes (the sort needed to fund more law school education grants and universal health care) will certainly push this country into a recession.
Tongue in Cheek
Everything that I wrote was tongue in cheek. Who would ever in all seriousness say that they want to "save the masses from themselves?" No one. Well, not I, anyway. Although with your response, maybe you do need saving [are you catching onto the tongue in cheek thing, or are you just offended by that?].
Your response seems a bit on the reactionary side. I never mentioned that I want to raise your taxes in my post [actually universal health care would have so many cost savings benefits that it could pay for itself, but the piece wasn't one about the substance of the issues]. It wasn't about taxes at all. It was about being a young lawyer, which if you've talked to any lately - whether they're economic conservatives or liberals, I have friends which are both - all have the same complaint that I do: we feel like we're drowning in debt and are not in control of our own lives. I take it you didn't graduate in the last 5 years.
Congrats on landing a job,
Congrats on landing a job, AdversePossession! Do you have any tips for others looking? I feel your pain on the student loan debt issue. I too have been really constricted with my choices because of my loan payments. Thanks for sharing your experience--it helps to know others are dealing with the same issue!
Finding a job
Well, first for the normal advice that you probably already know, but here goes:
(1) Definitely check on the BYU site everyday in the areas that you want to find a job.
https://www.law2.byu.edu/Career_Services/jobbank/
(2) Check the bar website of the state that you're a member of
(3) Check USA Jobs for Federal Gov't positions
(4) Send resumes to every firm in the city that you want to work in
(5) Talk to any favorite professors to see if they know of anything
(6) Talk to your career services person to see if they can help you
(7) Talk to any friends of the family who might be able to get your foot in the door somewhere
*Mostly, though, my advice is to just keep trying. Originally my husband and I were looking in Kansas City, Missouri and there were just no jobs to be had there. Once we expanded our horizons to include other states, we found jobs. If you're willing to relocate, then that really helps. The crappy thing about that is then you have to take another bar exam, but studying for the second one is a lot easier than studying for the first [we just bought used Bar/Bri books on ebay].
The way that I got this job is that I literally sent a resume to every firm in the city that I'm moving to.
It's so hard, though. Good luck finding something!
Being able to relocate is
Being able to relocate is not as easy as people think. I did a number of moves before going to law school (I also left a law firm job in Atlanta to go to school in CT) where I knew no one. Living where I do now has been my dream & though the legal market is one of the toughest, I'm not leaving for anything. I'm also a new lawyer AND had to go through a fight in order to get admitted in 2 states. Because I wanted to work in entertainment, another hard thing to do, I took the advice of my entertainment law professor & got internships so I'd be doing something productive. One of them led to my being made a partner in the company as well as the chance to help out in all legal matters either solo or assisting the more seasoned outside lawyer.
The only downside is none of my experience is paying yet, I do not want to work in a traditional law firm, I can't stand being around the deafeated people you see in document review + the general climate & I can't do the long hours in an area I hate. I also can't move b/c my husband has a very good, though low-paying job as a public librarian in one of the busiest branches in the largest system in the country, possibly the world. Getting into that field is also rough. He's also a city employee & it's his dream job; no sane person leaves a government job unless they get better benefits.
Most of the time, you also can't find a job in an area if you have an out of state address/phone; I know from experience.
debt worries
I have concerns over my debt level already and I'm in my 2nd year. The best "how-to" I have found on getting out and staying out of debt is Dave Ramsey - he has very strong beliefs and although he calls Rush Limbaugh friend, I am truly devoted to his methods of money management.
I'd recommend at least taking a look. Even if you don't agree with his politics, he is passionate about helping people get themselves out of debt. While I am still borrowing, he inspires me to find other sources of funds and to keep myself on a really strict budget so that when I do graduate, I can have the loans paid off within a couple years.
Good luck with the new jobs