My company does a lot of work in Newark, New Jersey

For example, at my cousin’s wedding last month an old high school friend of mine said, “Hey, so what are you doing now? I heard you’re a nurse practitioner, right?” A nurse practitioner… really?

While I don’t get mad or upset at whatever profession my friends and family insert into the brackets, I do get a kick out of what they think I’m doing. Over the last year or so I’ve heard that I’m a full-time lawyer, university administrator, teacher, website guy, state employee, writer, and – of course – nurse practitioner.

None of these professions – while exciting and interesting – are correct. So I thought I’d take a minute to explain what it is that I “do” at my full-time job.

I work for a nonprofit loan fund – a Community Development Financial Institution (a CDFI). The company I work for focuses on what we term “underserved” communities throughout New Jersey. In other words, we do a lot of work in underserved geographic areas like Newark, Camden, Asbury Park, Trenton, etc. However, we have a broad definition of “community” to include groups of people such as folks with physical and developmental disabilities. From that perspective, we’ve done a lot of work in areas that are traditionally considered affluent like Manalapan, Budd Lake, Eatontown, East Hanover, etc. And we also help traditionally underserved industries such as charter schools, early care centers, the supportive housing industry, etc.

Two quick definitions before I talk about what I “do” at my job. First, when I suggest that my company “works” in an area or an industry, it means that we offer competitive or low-cost financing for development projects. For example, when we work to provide supportive housing for folks with developmental disabilities, I’m suggesting that my company provides a loan to an on-the-ground service organization to purchase a home and use it to provide housing for the developmentally disabled. Second, when I say that an area, group of people, or industry is traditionally “underserved,” I’m suggesting that there has been – historically – a disinvestment of private money from that area, group of people, or industry. Not a disinvestment of public money (i.e. taxpayer dollars); a disinvestment of private money.

That’s a very important distinction. My company receives no taxpayer dollars nor does it seek taxpayer dollars. Instead, we take investments from private organizations, individuals, and like-minded nonprofit organizations and utilize those dollars to make loans to the underserved.

Make sense? I hope so. Back to what I “do” on a daily basis.

My current title (though it’s supposed to change in the coming weeks) is Lending Officer. If I worked at a traditional bank, most would assume that a Lending Officer translates into being an underwriter or Relationship Manager. In the CDFI industry, Lending Officers are so much more… Yes, I’m the guy who underwrites loans. However, I also manage relationships with our borrowers, close loans, act as a new business development officer, manage a multi-million dollar federal grant, serve as a communications and public relations officer, act as the company’s charter school specialist, seek out new investment and grant opportunities for the company, make presentations on behalf of the organization, work with researchers on finding new ways to solve community problems, serve as a problem loan work out officer – I could go on.

So what do I “do” on a daily basis? Well, a little bit of everything, really. Yesterday, I spent a lot of time reviewing submitted material from a possible client who wants to borrow over $4 million to purchase an old Catholic school building and use it as space for a charter school. This information includes test scores, the school’s financial history, operating projections, resumes and bios of the major staff members, awards won by the school, and so much more.

The day before, though, I spent the bulk of my day contacting attorneys and asking them to finalize different legal documents for loans that my company closed (i.e. funded) over the last twelve months. Many people don’t realize this, but there are an enormous amount of documents that need to be executed before a house can be purchased, a construction job can take place, or any type of financing can be advanced. Well, one of my jobs is to make sure that all of those documents are signed and in order before funds go out the door. The problem, though, is that once the documents are signed, they typically take between six and twelve months to work through the different attorneys’ offices and recording areas. So when I close a loan, I have to make sure that those documents are in order and, eventually, on their way to my office.

I hope that this entry gives my friends and family who read my blog a brief example of what it is that I do all day. Sure, I could get into all of the ancillary jobs that I’ve set up for myself outside of my day job (the websites, the teaching, the consulting, the volunteer work), but that’s for another entry. If I wrote this entry correctly, then the next time I see someone who reads my blog and the topic of professions comes up, they’ll have an idea of what it is that I do… and it won’t be nurse practitioner!

If you are interested in a job in which you can also make a difference, check out online social work courses.

People need to realize that the current economic issues are all linked together. One of the reasons why there are so many houses for sale on the market is because graduating college students simply can’t afford to pay the crazy prices that are being asked. This is a two-headed problem – first, the prices are way out of sync with the value of the homes and second, college students aren’t graduating with a few thousand dollars of student loan debt any more. In today’s world, college students are averaging $20,000 in student loan debt. Some of us have broken six figures in these debts! From the article:

When Melissa Norelli graduates from Fairleigh Dickinson University three years from now, she’ll owe about $129,000 in student loans.

Her private loan officer told her to consider it like a car payment — for a BMW. Norelli, who is studying to be a teacher, said she’ll probably have to walk to work because she’ll have a $900 monthly student loan bill.

“I was naïve to the fact it would be so much money,” said Norelli, 20, of Langhorne, Pa. ” I love my school and my major. But, I didn’t think it was going to be so scary, so overwhelming.”

An annual study on student debt shows that the average debt of college graduates with loans grew by 6 percent in just one year from 2006 to 2007. The average debt rose from $18,976 to $20,098, according to the Project on Student Debt. The report also points out that the debt is rising faster than starting salaries for graduates, which only grew 3 percent in the same time period.

It’s all related. Ms. Norelli graduates with a six-figure debt in a really tough job market which cannot offer her enough compensation for her to buy a home so she spends more time living at her family’s home after graduation, which returns a small financial burden on the family. You have a home that cannot be sold, a college graduate that may not be able to find a high enough paying job, and a family that now has to spend money instead of putting it away for retirement. It’s a vicious cycle and the scary thing is – it’s only one, small cycle in this incredibly crazy market.

I wish all of my best to Ms. Norelli in her future endeavors. As I said in the previous entry, no one should be projecting their personal situations on the brave young people who are profiled in these articles. A few years ago I had the honor of being on the front page of USA Today as a profile in student loan debt. The most annoying thing to come out of that experience was the amazing amount of people who thought that because 50 years ago they could join the military and get a free education, that I should have done the same thing. Or the arrogant jerks who said that I should have worked through college to pay down my debts (I did). These people just LOVED to talk about their success in the wake of another person’s concerns – truly the lowest of the low.

There is only so much of a person’s story that can be told in a USA Today (or in Ms. Norelli’s case – Daily Record) article. And I, for one, wish Ms. Norelli the best and hope that she can find a great job which allows her to pay down her student loan debt quicker than the analysts think is possible. Good luck!

Capitalism. What a country we live in, huh? You have the opportunity to do anything that you want in America. Some folks are fortunate that they are born into wealthier families and thus they have less financial pressures. Other people are born into highly religious families and they are usually happier and more content. Yet some still are born into poor families with strong family bonds and they learn the power of relationships. We have it all in America including an economy where you can either make it on your own (Bill Gates) or climb up the corporate ladder to find success. That’s what a capitalist system is based on!

But in a capitalist system, you can also fail. There are many reasons for failure, not the least of which is greed, deception, and bad decision-making. Many of the failing financial institutions were marred by these characteristics and – in a capitalist system – this will lead to failure. Whether it’s a loan officer who is closing a loan that he knows is not good for the borrower so he can make some extra income (greed), an internal manager who fudges the numbers so his bosses won’t get mad at him and his division for under-performing (deception), or a company hiring the wrong people to the wrong positions (bad decision-making) – this is what happens in our system!

And in a capitalist system when you fail – YOU FAIL. Imagine if the casinos in Atlantic City and Las Vegas gave you your money back after you blew it throughout the night. Unacceptable.

The Smell Test. I don’t know about you guys, but when I hear that the people who already proved that they are not good at running their organizations will be getting government dollars (i.e. taxpayer dollars) to bail their companies out, that pisses me off. This country was not founded on bailing out greedy scumbags with taxpayer dollars. In fact, you can make a case that taking money from taxpayers and using it for ignoble purposes is what spurred the American Revolution. What the hell am I paying taxes for? To pay the $20 million payout package of the CEO who failed at WaMu?

This bailout idea does not pass the smell test. How can you give money back to the people who squandered it? NO ONE in their right minds would do that! Would you give a murderer a gun while he’s in the courtroom? Good grief!

Consumer Debt. This one pisses me off the most. A portion of this $700 billion is supposed to go towards a housing trust fund to help bailout those mortgagees who are in over their heads. What a crock of shit this one is!

What about those people who have already lost their homes? How are they supposed to be helped from this bailout? They already lost in this game! What about those punks who knowingly went out there and bought up too much house for their income? They are to be rewarded for not living within their means?!? Well what the F is that all about!? Maybe I should go out and buy a million dollar mansion really quick since I know the taxpayers are about ready to pay it off for me.

And why are we only looking at mortgages? I heard a rumor that some of this bailout will be aimed at those with high consumer debt. So if you’ve overextended yourself with credit cards or other loans, you might not have to worry about making the payments! Do student loans fall into that category? I doubt it. What a bunch of bullshit that is??! I go out of my way to spend money on a venture that increases my knowledge and is a proven method of making society “better” (it’s a cost-benefit analysis thing) and yet I’m now being asked to spend MORE money for those who make bad decisions? Are you out of your f’ing mind?!

What if all of us who have ridiculous student loans start bitching and moaning? Will we get a bailout, too?

Artificial Timelines. Why does a bailout bill need to be reached by midnight tonight? Why does something need to be done before the markets open on Monday? This is crazy. The market will do what the market does. Do we really have to take $700 billion in taxpayer dollars and spend it on bailing out the system? NO!

This entire bailout thing is such a complete joke. There is no way to make everyone happy. The real shame, though, is that there are real people in this country who were duped into making the wrong decision and their situations are different. They are being lumped into this bailout mess and it’s not right. Those people who were out there scamming homeowners and new homeowners should be found and prosecuted to the greatest extent possible. It’s a disgrace.