BuzzSugar

How Much Would Those Jobs on TV Pay in Real Life, Anyway?

BuzzSugar — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:30:50 PDT

Being in the writing biz myself, I've always marveled at how Carrie Bradshaw pulled off such a fabulous lifestyle including that spacious, beautifully furnished, ideally located apartment on a newspaper columnist's salary. I know later in the television series she confronts some financial realities but for the most part, being a columnist looks especially lucrative on TV!

It's things like that (remember that huge, awesome apartment Rachel and Monica shared on Friends even though Rachel was a waitress for a while?) that make this story on the salaries of TV characters so fun.

CareerBuilder.com asks what I think a lot of us think every now and again, "Would our favorite characters' lavish lifestyles make it on the other side of the TV screen?" and comes to some pretty interesting conclusions:

Samantha Newly, of Samantha Who? is a vice president at a real estate firm whose real life salary would likely be $145,051. Dang! And she lives at home so pretty much anything she buys or wears is completely plausible.
Head pie maker Ned of Pushing Daisies would probably make about $21,241 in the real world, but they figure he's financially solvent due to the reward money he earns bringing murdered people back from the dead on the side.

Are there any TV characters whose lifestyles don't seem to match up with their jobs?

Source

4 Things Not to Discuss With Co-Workers

SavvySugar — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 05:07:05 PST

Friendships with your co-workers are inevitable - and a great way to connect to your workplace - but it's important to set a few conversation boundaries. Avoid these four topics to maintain a sense of professionalism and keep your office relationships work-appropriate.

Dollars and cents: It's no secret that salary talk should be avoided, but it's not just paychecks that ought to remain private. Debt, mortgage, and loans - yours or anyone else's - are a personal concern, and if money matters come up, the best thing to do is sidestep the subject and steer the conversation elsewhere.
Office rumors: There will always be cubicle gossip, but that doesn't mean you need to participate. You want to be known for your work, not your rumor radar. Even if you trust a co-worker and your intentions are good, there's still a chance that you'll be misunderstood, overheard, or otherwise caught up in the drama. Use your wit to comment on last night's TV highlights instead.

Keep reading for more topics to avoid with co-workers

Real Talk With TV Broke Girl Beth Behrs

LearnVest — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:59:07 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

Since when is being broke funny?

Since CBS released its new sitcom 2 Broke Girls, in which actress Beth Behrs plays a recently humbled heiress, Caroline, who moves to Brooklyn to hide out after her father loses their family fortune in a Ponzi scheme.

Caroline winds up living with her perpetually poor fellow waitress, Max, played by Kat Dennings, and the two hatch a plan to save their wages and start a cupcake business.

Recession-era cupcake businesses have been all the rage lately (see: Bridesmaids), but shows addressing personal finances - or lack thereof - with humor and honesty is something we don’t see very often. Caroline and Max manage to plan for their future while hustling for their present - and survive on a shoestring with admirable grace. We love that these characters live richly, even on a tight salary: After all, that's what LearnVest is all about.

And, of course, any show where the leading ladies discuss interest rates is right up our alley.

Check out our exclusive talk with Behrs on her penny-pinching past, her first pair of Louboutins - and why she still chooses to live with a roommate in real life. It turns out that we can learn something from celebs about money.

LearnVest: As a 26-year-old in Hollywood, how much of Caroline and Max’s financial struggle can you relate to?

Beth Behrs: Literally up until we shot the pilot, I was working as a nanny five days a week and then as a bartender and concierge at The Geffen Playhouse on the weekends. So, I can definitely relate to being broke, right out of college and working tons of odd jobs to just pay the rent.

Real-life waitress stories and more from Behrs.

7 Personal Finance Basics For New Grads

Kiplinger — Mon, 16 May 2011 00:15:50 PDT

We're thrilled to present this smart Kiplinger story here on Savvy!

My daughter is about to graduate from college. What are the key personal finance issues she needs to consider during her first year on her own?

Congratulations to your daughter! If she tackles these personal finance basics, she’ll be off to a great start:

1. Make the most of new health insurance rules. If your daughter is lucky enough to get a job with health insurance, that’s usually her best bet. But if she doesn’t have a job with benefits, you no longer need to worry about finding new coverage after graduation -- adult children can now stay on their parents’ policies until age 26. If you already have family coverage to cover younger children, then you may not have to pay extra to keep your daughter on your policy. But if you’d have to pay extra to keep her on your policy (or if your daughter lives far away from your policy’s in-network providers), it might be worthwhile to compare the cost of buying her own policy. In most states, a healthy person in her early twenties can buy her own health insurance for less than $100 per month. She can reduce the premiums by raising the deductible, yet still have free preventive coverage. See How to Keep Recent Grads Insured for details. Also see Health Insurance for Adult Children about the rules for keeping her on your policy if she gets offered a job with inferior coverage.

2. Get free money from the boss. If your daughter’s employer offers pretax savings through a 401(k), 403(b), Thrift Savings Plan or another employer-provided retirement account, she should sign up right away. Her contributions will lower her taxable income and grow tax-deferred until retirement. Because retirement plan contributions are made with pretax dollars, they reduce her take-home pay less than the full amount of the contribution. For example, if she’s in the 25% tax bracket and contributes $1,000 to a 401(k), her paycheck shrinks by only $750. And if her employer matches her contributions, it’s one of the rare opportunities to get free money! Say, for example, she earns $50,000 per year and her employer contributes 50 cents for every dollar she contributes up to 6% of pay. If she contributes $3,000 to her 401(k) for the year ,then she’ll get a $1,500 match from her employer. See Retirement Savings Tips for New Grads to learn how to make the most of your 401(k) and how the savings can grow significantly through the years.

Read on for some personal finance tips for new graduates.

Sugar Shout Out: Put a Modern Spin on Your Summer Food Favorites!

PopSugar — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 23:55:00 PDT