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Talking About Money


We didn't really talk about money in my family when I was growing up and the lesson I learned is that money is a private thing that should not be discussed. It seemed a great social faux pas to discuss things like salary, savings, etc.

Being silent on money is completely wrong. We need to learn from Lilly Ledbetter, who spent years unwittingly getting paid less than her male counterparts at Goodyear Tire & Rubber, and then lost her discrimination suit because she didn't sue within 180 days of the pay decision. Of course, she didn't know about the discrimination during those 180 days. She assumed she made the same as everyone else. It was years later before she discovered the discrepancy. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act helps to fix the problem by resetting the 180 day statute of limitations with every unfair paycheck. But even that won't matter if we don't talk about pay. How can you know that you're making less than your colleagues if no one will talk about money?

We need to get over the awkwardness our culture feels about money. We need to talk about money. Explicitly and openly and casually.

So, here goes.

My current salary: $67,500.
Benefits: Good healthcare ($10 co-pays, no referrals), Decent dental, very good retirement savings plan (I contribute 4.5% of my salary and Temple contributes 8%).
Checking: about $2000
Savings: $1100, 1.4% interest rate
Retirement: $40,000
FICO scores: 765, 765, 784
Credit Card Debt: $0 (but I had $24,000 a few weeks ago, before selling my house--credit cards are a struggle for me, but I hope to be done with them), 9% interest rate
Rent: $1550
Student Loan Debt: $32,000 at 4.5% interest rate
Am I missing anything?

For the record, I already feel really awkward and exposed about telling my readers (if they exist) about these things. But I insist that we need to get over that if we're going to have any kind of financial fairness. I suspect that we all think our silence protects us, but it really doesn't. It protects the people and services that want to treat us all differently based on home much money they can make on us. Pay fairness is one reason to talk about it, but financial intelligence is another reason. How can you know your interest rate is good on your credit card or loan unless we all talk about our rates?

Talk about money!

Subscribe to Suze Orman's video podcast from her CNBC show. It's free!

Ask a colleague what they make and have a conversation about it. I dare you.
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