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Sorry, we in America prefer a society where the self-reliant are revered, not the recipient-class.
The truly needy will be assisted, but providing a taxpayer-funded existence shouldn't be a way of life. That's just wrong.
It's bound to happen as technology eliminates all but the most high end jobs. Countries like Finland are already experimenting with a UBI.
Hello Everyone,
I hope this post is in the right place??? I will try to make this short....
I am a bit older and retired and have a fantastic friend that is a widower, late 40s and her deceased husband had a good middle class job and left NO life insurance ( stupid I know ) well, he passed suddenly and now my friend has to work so, she is a cna/ med tech and only earns 11.50 a hour !!
She was left with a mortgage she couldn't afford, funeral expenses and to make matters worse, she had cancer after he passed its now in remission, but she also has a heart issue and has a heart Holter monitor so she isn't in the greatest of shape but not awful but its a struggle for her.............
I dont think she can get social security disability because she only has worked about 2 years. she earns over poverty level>>>>11.50 x 40= 460>>> 460 x 52 weeks =$23,920 a year thats gross
she nets about $16,900.00 >>> thats after taxes and her health insurance she now has.....
she has bad credit now because of all the bills and her not working when she had her cancer. She lives in a small place with her 30 year old son and really has no where to go...
correction to what we posted below about the car issue
Our family got her a car for $3000 because her other car cost so much to fix and needed over 1000 in work so we got her a new car
shes trying to make good on the past debts and pay all the daily living expenses like food, electric, help with rent and fuel and other things it takes to live.
she also has a $65,000.00 hospital bill and STILL is paying slowly on that and paying off credit cards she had to use when her husband passed away... she is head strong on paying the credit cards and debts even slowly because shes a HONEST person and wants to pay what she owes.. shes just that nice!!!!
My question is what can be done to help her get her own place??? she said she tried for section 8 and food stamps but was told she earns to much. She is basically homeless she cant stay with her son forever she is a true victim of circumstance I feel for her I really do...........
She has no savings, NONE... she had to use it when her husband passed then once that went dry she had to use credit cards............... she is one car repair away from disaster!!! we allow her to use our credit card for car repairs and she pays it EVERY TIME!! she just paid off $1200 that accumulated for car repairs!!!
Is this what america has come to??? I feel helpless!!! she is so stressed, I want to help and we have with several thousand dollars ( not asking for it back) but now we cant do more and if she looses her place with her son because they argue and its not a decent place very dirty and in a bad end of town... before her husband died they were very comfortable and now look.................. any advice on what to do??? she is in the state of Florida...... any advice is appreciated.
I will stop here and not rant on how unfair her wages are.... she works to be poor................. very sad and it seems this is so common!!! I feel terrible for her but cant help anymore than we already do... If we could buy her a house we would!!! but we do not know where to turn and hope you folks that read this may have some good advice................... Thank You...
her parents are deceased and has no family that can help brothers and sisters are struggling too...
very sad .............. I guess this is America...............
This part of why I've always worked. As a woman, you have to protect yourself. I think she needs to improve her career prospects, maybe upgrade her CNA to an RN? It will take time and money, but be worth it in the end.
When I hit hard financial times, I did everything I could to get by. Worked as many extra jobs as i could, cut expenses - didn't run heat or ac, even when the temps were in the 90's in my home. Did odd jobs to cover expenses - worked at a dog daycare in exchange for them watching my dogs when I had to leave them to work other jobs, etc. Cut off cell phone, no cable tv, etc.
Looking at this from a social worker perspective here....is she getting her deceased husband's SSI benefits? Is she beneficiary to his benefits? It sounds like she needs someone to help her navigate and keep things straight. Regarding housing, are their any low cost/affordable housing options in your area? Call the United Way (211 in most states) and ask for housing resources. Section 8 is very hard to get into....but get on that list ASAP. Also the Council of Governments has dedicated case managers to assist with these types of things. Just search the city you live in and council for governments. The department that assists is most likely "department of aging" or something to that effect. She is a CNA...has she considered training for an LVN license? I don't know much of the difference but agree with many of the posters that she needs more training. The CNAs I know are overworked and aren't getting very far ahead.
The OP should have bought a policy.>>>>>>>>>I HAVE SAID THIS SO MANY TIMES PEOPLE.......................... LOOK PLEASE I AM NOT RELATED TO HER SHES A FAMILY FRIEND!!!! I POSTED OVER AND OVER HERE WTH>>
Many here don't seem to want to focus on your post but get sidetracked with what if's so as to blaming the victim.
They don't want to deal with today but obsess on the past and what if's
Another suggestion is that, since the lady has CNA experience, she look for a private job taking care of an elderly or infirm person. The pay might be better than the 11.50 or thereabouts that the agencies pay. Many people who do have means do not want to place their loved one in the care of some of the people who work as CNAs. Not trying to disparage a whole profession, because it wouldn't be true, but I had an aunt who was mentally and physically disabled, and my grandmother eventually needed help to take care of her. Through the local government agency, she had a series of losers coming to her home, people who got on her couch and took naps, people who spent the whole time on her phone talking to their friends, only doing the minimum care that was required and who were otherwise dismissive and rude. There are people out there with money who are not going to put up with that nonsense and will pay better to have better-quality help. Perhaps you could help her to advertise her services and print up business cards or something.
I have a friend, now in her 70s, who was in a similar spot. Husband died when she was still in her 40s and had three teenagers at home. She never graduated from high school. She also had a heart attack in her 40s after her husband died, probably from the stress. She worked over the years in various offices, a fish factory, and finally, as a CNA in an assisted living facility, retiring at 65 to collect her Social Security. It wasn't enough, though, and through word of mouth she got a job helping an elderly gentleman take care of his wife, who had dementia. She did that for eight years until the woman died earlier this year, and she got paid about $25 an hour. Wasn't full-time, of course, and it was off the books, but between that, the SS, and food stamps, she was able to be comfortable. She also took advantage of other programs that assist people like Comfort Partners, which is a NJ Department of Energy program that helps low-income people with heating and other energy issues. I am sure they must have an equivalent in your state.
Anyway, you are a good person for trying to help this woman. May it come back to you X 10.
No one can change the past, so the shoulda/wouldas in this thread are kind of useless, but perhaps if someone is reading this who is thinking about life insurance should move on it, and if there are women out there who think they needn't work or have an education or familiarize themselves with their own budgets because hubby will always take care of them, they might want to think again.
I have even seen women in my mother's generation (she is in her 80s) having difficulty when they ARE left with assets because they never wrote a check, don't know how to pay a tax bill, and had no idea what their own household budget looked like because the "man of the family" always handled all that...until he dropped dead and wasn't there to handle it. My mother (a high-school dropout who always handled the family finances) got a panicked call from her widowed friend when the first property tax bill came in. No problem--she had the money to pay, but she was very shocked and upset when an invoice for something in the thousands of dollars arrived in the mail, and she didn't know what to do with it. Yes, this is NJ, and the tax on your nice suburban home with the big yard is $12,000 a year. She had no idea.
THIS IS LIKELY THE BEST JOB SHE CAN HOPE FOR AND GET AT THE MOMENT-
With her CNA background, I am sure she could land it. These jobs are in every State
I work for a supportive living agency so this is coming from the horses mouth so to speak
Your friends housing & Utilities Covered & a little over $1600 mo. spending money after taxes are taken out. She can save alot of money to live on later in life, get many hours in per mo. increasing her own Social Security. Then at age 60, have most of her paycheck go towards her retirement plan and qualify for food stamps (yes its legal)
Job Hours- Paid to sleep10 hr shifts 5 days a wk from 10pm-8am. On call in case of emergencies
& Work 2 Weekends per mo. (48 hrs a stint -Fri 10pm-Sun 10pm)
Calif min wage is $10.50 per hr x 50 hrs week (10pm-6am Sun-Thurs)=$520 week
$520 week x 52 wks a yr=$27,040 yr or $2253 month gross pay or about $2000 month net (take home pay)
Working twice a month from Friday 10pm-Sun 10pm= 48 hr stints
48 hrs x 2x per mo=94 hrs a month. This part is at a federal 15% tax bracket, 9% Calif State tax+3% medicare=27% marginal tax bracket
94hrs x $10.50 per hr=$987 month.
$987 x .27% tax=$266.49
$987.00
-$266.49 taxes
---------
$720.51
$720.51+$1432=$2152
This is the LOWEST amount of money she could take home is about $2152 a mo. while having her utilities & rent covered. So that is $2152 to spend. More $$ because I forgot about holiday & overtime pay which is paid at time and a half. She'd have two selections of health benefit plans to chose from- The county and a Vendor of the State who is paid by California Alta Regional Center.
I didn't account for holiday pay-time and a half or overtime. Or the fact some hours are usually paid at $1-2 more per hr. So I rounded it up about $30, very conservative. Get a job between 3pm-10pm or just have an excuse to be gone as to not see your developmentally disabled roommate too much to get sick of them. A friend of mine would stay home until about 3pm by herself then leave to volunteer a few hours then hang out at the library or go to the gym. She also did alot of meetup groups where she hosted hikes and walks meeting alot of people. This opened up opportunities for her to work part time
Work until you are 62 or until she lands a man. Someone hopefully she meets while at work. People who have developmentally disabled children are more caring than most people.
Last edited by NancyDrew1; 01-12-2017 at 11:45 AM..
Here's another job found on Craigslist
She is only paid to sleep. 12 hr shifts it appears from 8pm-8am so likely just weekends Fri-Sunday.
Below is a graph of the benefits tot his job. https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/hea/5949968302.html
She really won't be paid to sleep the first few hours of each shift since the client is surely awake until 9 or 10pm
Looks about a 36 hr a week job x Calif minimum wage of $10.50 per hr=$378 week x 52 weeks a yr=$19,656 yr
She'll pay oh..10% fed tax+9% Calif tax+3% Social security/medicare leaving her about $17K per yr or $1416 mo,
She would then have the time to get some side gig going also, even if just working as a waitress on weekends like one of my co-workers does as an "extra" during just busy hours. She lives in a nice RV and showers at work 3 nights a week. She has guest passes to the gym (for when we have work meeting so she can shower) She used to have a gym membership but says showering Fri-Sun is usually enough. Our KOA charges $2 per shower for outsiders so that's an option she's used.
Another thing is there may be shifts that co-workers cannot do so can pick up some overtime here or there. But at these hours, you'd hardly be sick of your Client so working extra hrs wouldn't be nearly as taxing to the body and mind
Last edited by NancyDrew1; 01-12-2017 at 11:17 AM..
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These jobs are in every State
