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In this week’s Ten Money Questions, we speak with Kim Ponders. Kim is a pilot, writer and has authored two works of fiction, The Last Blue Mile and The Art of Uncontrolled Flight… apparently art imitates life. During the Gulf War, she became one of the first American women to fly in combat and later spent several years flying missions throughout the Middle East. I asked Kim to share her thoughts about the economics of war, making a living as a writer and a few personal memories about money. Enjoy!
1. After college, you started out as a small-town reporter before attending Officer Training School. Back then, did money have anything to do with your decision to pursue a different career path?
Yes, a little. I was making next to nothing as a journalist, and even the relative step up to a second lieutenant’s pay looked appealing. That wasn’t the primary reason, though. I was looking for a life change.
2. What is your most significant memory about money?
My father always had money when I was growing up, but he didn’t spend it on his family. He kept reinvesting it in the stock market, and he got paper-rich until the stock market crashed in '87. After that, he went gray around the collar for a long time. All for a paper profit. I promised myself I wouldn't let that happen to me.
3. What is your worst habit around finances?
Credit cards. I’m lazy. I buy whatever I think my family needs whenever I feel like it, and we’re always in debt. I don’t spend lavishly, but my kids are dressed well, we travel, and we drink good wine.
4. Which career is better -- being a pilot or writer? Is there truth to the saying do what you love and the money will follow?
Yes, yes, yes! Follow your dreams, and the money might come. Enough of it will come, and you’ll be so happy doing what you love that you won’t notice. Oh, and being a writer is better. I get to make stuff up and people read it!
5. If you could buy one thing right now what would it be?
The services of a full-time housekeeper.
6. In a recent post for BlogHer, I mentioned that a soldier volunteered for duty in Iraq so he could eliminate his credit card debt. How did war become the *best* economic possibility for our young soldiers?
The army isn’t exactly an appealing place to work right now unless you have killing in your blood. But to those on the lower end of the economic scale, it’s almost irresistible -- a steady salary plus tax-free hazardous duty pay. Their lives, in some cases, are so desperate, that risking them for money to pay for basic essentials for their families becomes a viable choice. It’s a sad, terrible state of affairs.
7. In another interview you describe your father as a grandiose man and a mystery to you. What did he teach you about money?
See the previous answer. But he also taught me the secret of compound interest, and I’ve been maxing out my IRA for many years.
8. Do you and your husband see eye-to-eye on money?
Yes, for the most part. We save money, but we also live.
9. I understand that you are starting a nonprofit program, called Vets Write Now! Tell us about it. Also, how are you funding its launch and what’s needed to sustain it over time.
I really want to start this program to help vets talk about their experiences in Iraq. Writing can be cathartic, and I want to do something to help these men and women returning from such a traumatic experience. I thought getting them together into writing workshops might be a good avenue to release some of those emotions. That said, I have no idea how I’m going to raise the money for it -- got any ideas?
10. How have your two young boys learned the value of a dollar?
A dollar to them is a trip to the dollar store. No, they’re too young (4 and 6), but we’re putting money in their educational IRAs, and I hope we’ll pass a little money sense into them as they grow.
More about Kim Ponders
Kim Ponders grew up near Boston, Massachusetts and graduated from Syracuse University. In 1989, she was commissioned into the Air Force as a second lieutenant. She flew as an air weapons controller on the E-3 AWACS during the Gulf War, becoming one of the first American women to
