Looking for sob stories

"onCampus," the faculty/staff newspaper at Ohio State, is looking for a few OSU faculty or staff who have gone through a tough financial situation and were able to rebound from it. onCampus will choose two or three people and conduct interviews with those willing to share their stories. Please respond to Associate Editor Adam King at king dot 1088 at osu.edu or 292-8419 by Monday (11/10) if you are interested in helping others in a financial crunch learn from your experiences.

I don't think they'll want to hear from me. I've been in four of the five quintiles and have no complaints. I was bounced around by PERS and STRS when I started planning for retirement each saying my time off for children (you can buy a year I think) was the others responsibility so I didn't get it. I was passed over for one position because it was given to the wife of a OSU faculty member, and spent my years there in a department whose average salaries were less than other big 10 institutions. Oh well.

Besides, I'd just give them some ideas on being pro-active not re-active. For instance

1) save one salary and live on the other if you have 2 incomes
2) max out the 403-b (which until September was a good idea, maybe still is, we'll see how long Obama can extend this recession to make people dependent on him)
3) tithe your income
4) learn to say NO to yourself and the kids
5) don't take vacations until you're over 40
6) pay off the credit card in 30 days
7) live below your means
8) don't borrow from friends or family
9) keep your car for 8-10 years
10) one of you stay home when the children are little

There. I'll wait to hear from them.