Monday, February 20, 2012

A Novel Way to Pay Off Your Debt

Pondering my pesky law school debt the other day, I was reminded of the inspiring tale of Senator Claire McCaskill’s path to financial freedom.

Senator McCaskill graduated from law school at University of Missouri - Columbia in 1978 and, according to her appearance on NPR’s Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, she promptly went to southern California and auditioned for several game shows, ultimately making her way on to the game show High Rollers and earning $35,000—enough to pay off her student loans!

In a story closer to home, Professor Steve Calandrillo had similar success. Professor Calandrillo was a three-time champion on Wheel of Fortune and put his winnings toward his JD at Harvard Law School. I’d say this is the best use of an economics degree I’ve ever heard of!

If you think you have what it takes to be the next Senator McCaskill, Professor Calandrillo, or even Ken Jennings, check out this site or go to the Web site for the game show itself (like this page for Jeopardy!).

But beware! The financial rewards of game show success come with great responsibility.

The good news is that the IRS is happy to provide guidance on how to address your new-found success, whether your winnings come from the lottery, poker, or the game show circuit. So before you hop in the car and head to Hollywood, visit http://www.irs.gov/ and heed the cautionary tale of this infamous game show survivor.

Senator McCaskill's photo courtesy of mccaskill.senate.gov.
Professor Calandrillo's photo courtesy of University of Washington School of Law.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Can you provide information on how to get on game shows?