Are Teachers Doomed to a Broke Retirement? w/ Shaun Morgan #1112
How to Money
iHeartPodcasts
4.6 • 3.2K Ratings
🗓️ 11 March 2026
⏱️ 57 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Joel married into a family of teachers. His father-in-law has spent nearly 40 years in the classroom, his mother-in-law has taught for 30, and his brother-in-law is an outstanding Spanish teacher. While it’s clear that every one of them truly loves their work, we also know that passion alone doesn’t pay the bills. Teaching requires some real sacrifice, especially in today’s economy. And while no one enters the profession expecting to get rich, we believe that shouldn't mean teachers are destined for a life of financial stress or a mediocre retirement. In fact, our guest today argues that those assumptions are flat-out wrong. While educators face unique financial hurdles, they also have powerful, underused advantages. When those tools are understood, retiring comfortably isn't just a dream - it’s a reality. Shaun Morgan is a full-time teacher who is just as passionate about teaching personal finance to his fellow educators as he is about his work in the classroom. Some of the topics covered in this episode:
- How teachers can achieve financial independence with the right strategies
- Public service loan forgiveness is a significant advantage for teachers
- Overcoming the “teacher vow of poverty”
- Budgeting on teacher pay cycles
- Stop spending on classroom supplies
- Pensions vs defined contributions plans
- Understanding 403b and 457b plans
- The role of side hustles
- And plenty more!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.3 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:04.0 | Welcome to How to Money. |
| 0:05.7 | I'm Joel. |
| 0:06.5 | And today we're discussing why teachers aren't doomed to a broke retirement with Sean Morgan. |
| 0:15.8 | Welcome. Okay, so I'm married into a family of teachers. |
| 0:33.1 | My father-in-law, he's been in the classroom for nearly 40 years. |
| 0:36.6 | His wife has taught for, like, 30 years. My brother-in-law, he's been in the classroom for nearly 40 years. His wife has taught like 30 years. |
| 0:38.9 | My brother-in-law is an outstanding Spanish teacher and every one of them truly loves their work. |
| 0:45.3 | But loving your job, it doesn't always pay the bills or it doesn't pay as much as you hope it would sometimes. |
| 0:51.0 | Teaching, it requires real sacrifice, especially in today's economy. And sure, no one |
| 0:55.8 | becomes a teacher expecting to get rich, but that doesn't mean teachers should feel financially |
| 0:59.8 | stressed forever or assume a mediocre retirement is inevitable. My guest today says that the |
| 1:05.7 | assumption that teachers have to retire poor is flat out wrong. Teachers, yeah, they face some |
| 1:10.7 | unique financial hurdles, but they also have real underused advantages. And when you understand them, retiring well is absolutely on the table. Sean Morgan, he is a full-time teacher who's just as passionate about teaching personal finance to fellow educators. So that's why I wanted to bring him on the show today. Sean, thanks for joining me. Happy to be here. All right. First question I ask everybody who comes on the show, Sean, is, what do you like to splurge on? I call it the craft beer equivalent because some people would say, oh, you spend way too much money on craft beer. And it's like, no, no, no, I'm doing it intentionally while I'm saving and investing for my future in a smart, savvy way. What would that splurge be for you? |
| 1:45.8 | Oh, man, I've way too many things that I really like to splurge on. |
| 1:48.9 | That's part of the problem. |
| 1:50.9 | But, you know, I think that just getting like a nice, you know, travel experience is really what I like to spend my money on. |
| 2:00.2 | I just got to do a nice, you know, getaway trip for my 10th anniversary with my wife. |
| 2:05.5 | And first of all, it was great to be able to say, yes, I'm spending a ton of money right now, but it's in the budget. |
| 2:12.7 | So just like, you know, not skimping on that and really enjoying that experience, I think, is what I like to spend |
| 2:18.8 | money on the most. |
... |
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