Teacher shares how to stretch your paycheck

If you are having trouble doing your economic math, maybe you should seek extra help from a teacher.

More to the point, maybe you should get the same kind of advice that many teachers need to stretch their paychecks, suggests Danny Kofke. And he’s written a book about that challenge.

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Sean Drakes/Special

Danny Kofke loves teaching special-needs students at Gum Springs Elementary School. ‘You have to have a lot of patience,’ he said. ‘I have the patience.’

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“How To Survive (and Perhaps Thrive) on a Teacher’s Salary” is the story of financial choices he and his wife have faced and their strategies for getting by.

He says he came by his expertise the old-fashioned way: wrestling with reality.

“I’m not a financial expert. I’m not a financial adviser. But if I can figure it out, other people can, too.”

With his wife, Tracy, now at home with their two young daughters, he is writing what he knows: Kofke teaches at Gum Springs Elementary School in Jefferson, where his salary is “a little over $37,000.”

That is above the official poverty line for a family of four — about $22,000 — but below the state’s median income of roughly $47,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Now, if Kofke’s goal were just to make more money, he wouldn’t be the teacher responsible for six “profoundly and severely” impaired children. But his focus is not on a paycheck — except how to stretch it.

“I want teachers to be able to do what they love,” Kofke said. “A study in 2006 showed that 50 percent of teachers quit within five years, partly because of the pay.”

“You can still live a fulfilling life. My wife gets to stay home with our kids. I’ve got a job I love.”

Q: The book is about saving more and spending less. But haven’t you ever wanted to simply earn more money?

A: A friend offered me an opportunity to double or triple my salary selling flooring. I was in it for a couple of months and wanted out. A job opened up teaching autistic kids and I went back. After you do teaching, I think no other job can compare.

Q: Why did you write the book?

A: I had a lot of colleagues tell me, “You and Tracy have it figured out. You should tell others what you’ve done.” It frustrates me when I see the news and there is all this negativity. It scares people. I think it doesn’t have to be that way.

Marketing the book is almost like having another job. I am looking for contact information — newspapers, magazines, television, radio. You are kind of your own best publicist. I have been on 15 radio shows.

Q: It sounds like you weren’t so bad at sales after all.

A: Maybe for something that I am passionate about. I guess I wasn’t passionate about flooring.

Q: So how do you tell people to handle their finances?

A: You don’t need an elaborate spreadsheet. You don’t need an elaborate budget. Our first budget we did on a scrap of paper, kind of how our grandparents did. And they didn’t use debt. They didn’t use credit cards. And they ended up pretty well off.

Q: Where does your attitude come from?

A: Starting when Tracy was working, we put money away. You need to invest — doesn’t have to be much — every month. Even $100. I was lucky growing up that my mother stayed home with us. We didn’t have much, but we had a real good family. If you place your worth and your happiness on things you have, they get old.

Q: What have you done to save money?

A: We went from a 30-year to a 20-year mortgage, from 6.75 percent to 5.5 percent. We pay $10 a month more because of that. And we will save $50,000 over the course of the mortgage. People don’t realize with a mortgage how much interest you are paying.

Q: You sound a little like [radio host] Dave Ramsey. …

A: I did a lot of what he said to do before I knew who he was. He can be tough on people, but I like his message.

Q: So where does somebody start?

A: First, you have to know where your money is going. A lot of people don’t realize. If you spend $5 a day on coffee, that’s $25 a week. That’s $100 a month.

Write down what you spend. If you don’t know where the money is going, then it’s not working for you, you are working for it.

Q: Speaking of work, you jump through hoops to save enough money so you can do this work. But a lot of people would look at this job and wonder how you can love it.

A: In 2006-07, I started with these guys [nods toward the kids]. They were a little lower functioning than I was used to. I got used to it — they are wonderful kids.

They do make progress. You have to have a lot of patience because you don’t see them achieve goals very quickly. With other kids, they come in and they can’t read and they are reading chapter books by the end of the year. These guys’ growing takes a little longer.

I have the patience. I feel like this is where I am supposed to be.