Today Show story on doc/lawer couple debt..

[Laker]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp ... 2#26494902

This was pretty sad...very similar to DW and I in terms of degrees...but not debt fortunately...

It is pretty scary getting educated in today's world.

[GrayMatterWife]

Re: Today Show story on doc/lawer couple debt..

We're a doc-lawyer couple, too, although DH has the additional degree of a PhD and I do not have an MBA.

We count ourselves INCREDIBLY lucky. We didn't have any undergrad debt (DH was on scholarship and I paid my own way), DH was an MD-PhD so he got a full-ride, and we both feared debt so badly that we didn't accrue any CC debt. We ate like crap and lived like crap, but we didn't have kids, so it didn't matter. Then I went to work at a sweatshop after law school to pay off my law school debt. It wasn't necessarily my "dream job" coming out of law school (would love to have been an ADA!), but I used to wake up in the middle of the night, sweating, dreaming that I'd gotten sick and had to quit work. For my mental health, we had to get the debt paid off.

I really feel for that couple. $500K in unsecured, and non-bankruptcy dischargeable debt (assuming it's mostly school debt) seems insurmountable, no matter what firm you work for...

[Cumberland]

Re: Today Show story on doc/lawer couple debt..

I noticed there was no mention of their salaries, although it showed him in the OR. I wonder- if she is making say $75 and he is making $200K, is the debt that insurmountable, esp if they consolidated at a low rate?

And it showed her with a store bought coffee at her desk even though they mentioned twice that they bring their coffee from home.

[SuzySunshine]

Re: Today Show story on doc/lawer couple debt..

I saw it and thought it was about time that someone recognized doctor debt, as well as other "high paying" professionals.

[Vanquisher]

Re: Today Show story on doc/lawer couple debt..

I really feel for that couple. $500K in unsecured, and non-bankruptcy dischargeable debt (assuming it's mostly school debt) seems insurmountable, no matter what firm you work for...

What if you are an at-home mom?

We don't have 500K in unsecured debt, but it is high, and far too close to 500K considering that I don't bring home any bacon. Yes, it does feel like far, far too much. It is a huge burden to bear. Much of the time I try not to think about it, choosing to bury my head in the sand, with my fingers in my ears. Right now the loans are in forbearance, no longer eligible for deferment, with the interest just piling up.

I do feel for them, but sheesh, it's not like they are the only ones. The piece made it sound so rare, and only because she had her MBA and JD. I wish they would have gone into greater detail about the doctor's salary so that people could really see what the debt is all about.

Oh, and this isn't a work vs stay at home argument...I'm just feeling so trapped by all this, and I didn't appreciate the way it was so glossed over on the show. I felt that they could have done a greater service by showcasing that this isn't rare and showing more sides to this. You know people were sitting at home thinking, he's a doctor and she's a lawyer, why should we feel sorry for them?

[GrayMatterWife]

Re: Today Show story on doc/lawer couple debt..

I really feel for that couple. $500K in unsecured, and non-bankruptcy dischargeable debt (assuming it's mostly school debt) seems insurmountable, no matter what firm you work for...

. . . I felt that they could have done a greater service by showcasing that this isn't rare and showing more sides to this. You know people were sitting at home thinking, he's a doctor and she's a lawyer, why should we feel sorry for them?

I only said that I feel for them. I just meant that I empathize with their position. But I don't feel sorry for them--they've had some terrific opportunities. But I do think that the realities of debt and its effects on families should be better understood in general. You're so right: it is NOT rare.

Every day with my job at the bankruptcy court, I see people whose lives are absolutely devastated by debt, often due to circumstances that are beyond their control. They live their existence on the line between survival and devastation, and they are usually a half-a-paycheck away from being evicted. And their lives are a grueling cyle: they have little education and no way to get more; they get sick but can't go to the doctor prophalatically because they have no insurance and can't get time off work and don't have a car; so they get sicker then end up in the hospital with bills they can't pay; then they lose their job because they got sick; then they lose their housing and their instability makes their medical situation worse. It's awful--like quicksand.

Of course, the people profiled by GMA were not even close in comparison. But the emotional effects of debt--and the crushing feeling of it--isn't limited to people with the least amount of ability to get out of it.