Important headlines for April 4th
Bottom Line: These are stories you don't want to miss and my hot takes on them...
Excerpt: South Florida apartment renters: If it’s time to renew that lease, or sign up for a new one, your bank account will feel the pinch of rising prices.
The average price of a Fort Lauderdale apartment rose by 5.9 percent in March compared to last year, rising to $1,858, according to RENTCafe.com, a national apartment search website. In the West Palm Beach-Boca Raton market, rents were up 4.8 percent to an average of $1,370, while Miami-Dade tenants saw rents rise by 2.9 percent to an average of $1,618. The national average rent was $1,371, or 2.5 percent higher than this time last year.
Hot Take: In a separate story today, I address the topic of renting vs buying. Generally, you'll find that it's cheaper to buy a home and make a mortgage payment on it, than to rent that same property. Moreover, if you have a fixed rate mortgage, you can protect yourself the ever-increasing rent rates. Too often people assume they can't buy (not having good enough credit, enough to put down, etc. are common excuses). Truth is the average person does have good enough credit to buy and there are mortgages available with as little as around 3% down. Generally, if you have enough for first, last & security - that'd be enough of a down payment to purchase. The most important point is to become informed. If you're going to be in place for 3+ years, it's almost always better to buy than rent. Rather than assuming buying isn't an option for you or your kids - find out what's real with a professional. There's a good chance you'd be pleasantly surprised.
Pay Teachers What They're Worth Bloomberg
Hot Take: The greatest misconception running is that somehow or another teachers are low paid professionals. Factually that's just not the case when compared to other professions. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics the average teacher earns $55,000 per year. That compares to $47,015 for the average full-time employed person in the US. That means that the average teacher earns $7,985, or 17%, more than the average tax payer who pays their salary.
From there you can decide what you think is appropriate or isn't. Obviously with summer break teachers average far more time off as well compared to the average full-time employed person as well. My point is simply that this narrative has existed for as long as I can remember but it simply isn't true that teachers, in general, aren't compensated favorably in comparison to other professions. Often new or early teacher salaries are used as the basis for comparison rather than real averages. Beyond the salaries I have an issue with public sector unions being able to collectively bargain against the taxpayers who pay their salaries. We don't have any say in whether we pay our taxes or we'll literally lose the roof over our heads.
Once again there are two sides to stories and one side to facts. At least now you have them to consider.
Until tomorrow...