Rochelle Sparko, 28, loves her job and couldn't think of doing anything else. So it's pretty much out of the question that she'd leave her position as staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society of Hawai'i for a higher-paying post.

Increasing her income would solve a nagging worry for the 2004 graduate of Georgetown University's highly ranked law school. She's carrying about $147,000 of student loan and credit-card debt and is concerned she won't be able to pay it off on a nonprofit attorney's salary.

"That's kind of a problem," said Sparko, who finds great satisfaction in her job helping low-income people with their public benefits.

"It just bothered me since I started working."

She's also facing a roughly $500 increase in her monthly housing expenses in October, when she hopes to close on the purchase of a $425,000 three-bedroom home in Kalihi with her boyfriend.

Sparko scoured the nation for a public-interest law job and arrived in Honolulu in the summer of 2004 having obtained a hoped-for position with the Legal Aid Society. She'd never been to Hawai'i before but now hopes she never has to leave, having started with a paddling crew and frequenting O'ahu's hiking trails.

While her job is rewarding to her, it doesn't pay the six figures earned by Georgetown graduates going into corporate law.

WHAT SHE SHELLS OUT

Sparko's salary is $38,000 a year. She also will get $4,200 for teaching two weekly children's classes at a religious school. That translates into about $2,500 a month of take home pay.

Her debt consists of a $131,000 loan for law school, $13,000 for her undergraduate education and $3,000 of credit-card debt racked up when she moved here.

She doesn't have to worry about the law school loan repayment for now since Georgetown, under a program promoting careers in public-interest law, will forgive her loan if she remains employed in public-interest law for the next several years.

She shares a house in Kalihi with her boyfriend, two rabbits and four turtles, paying about $900 a month for her half of the rent. If the couple is successful buying a house, her housing costs will go up to about $1,400 when the mortgage payments, insurance and property taxes are considered.

Sparko estimates she spends about $400 a month on food, $25 a month on entertainment ("We go to the beach a lot") and has a $50 per month expense for her cell phone and Internet access. In addition, she makes a $178 payment on her undergraduate loan and is trying to whittle down her credit-card balance by paying $500 a month.

There's also $25 a month she estimates is saved for vacations. She also places about $100 a month before taxes into the Legal Aid Society's 401(k) retirement plan.

The irony of her situation isn't lost on Sparko. "I have to save something, and I work in a field where all of my clients are poor."

Enter Roberta Lee-Driscoll, a Honolulu-based certified financial planner, who has helped hundreds of people get a grip on their finances, explaining skills and routines that clients can use to cut expenses, pay off debt and increase retirement savings.

"For me this whole financial- planning thing is teaching skills," said Lee-Driscoll. "My favorite line is 'I'm not your mother, I'm not your fairy godmother. I am a financial planner.' "

THOSE RED FLAGS

The message is clear: No wave of a wand (even though Driscoll keeps one in her office) is going to cure clients' financial problems. They need to roll up their sleeves and get to work.

Lee-Driscoll had Sparko fill out a seven-page questionnaire detailing her finances before a meeting. A review of the worksheet led to what Lee-Driscoll said is a common discovery by her clients — their expense estimates often aren't grounded in reality.

With Sparko, Lee-Driscoll quickly determined the projected housing expenses were low because hurricane and homeowners insurance and property taxes weren't being considered. That raised the total by about $140 a month.

Red flags also went up on Sparko's strategy of paying down her credit-card debt by sending in $500 a month. Sparko continues to use the credit card, meaning the more she has to cover for new charges each month, the less of her payment goes to paying off the $3,000 balance.

Lee-Driscoll had several suggestions, including Sparko cut back on use of the credit card. Instead she recommended writing checks, and importantly, balancing her checkbook with each entry.

LARGER PAYMENTS

Another register could be used to record payments with the credit card. Sparko should stop paying a flat $500 a month on the credit card if she's going to continue charging things. The balance needs to be divided into 10 payments so it can be repaid in the next year.

"I need her to pay everything she's charged plus 10 percent to pay it off in a year," Lee-Driscoll said.

While misfiring on the credit-card payment strategy, Sparko has taken other steps to keep spending down, including little things like switching from buying quarts of soy milk to getting it in a cheaper powdered form and mixing it. She subscribes to a Web movie service instead of going to theaters and rides the bus much of the time to cut down on buying gasoline.

She's also salting away $25 a month into a rainy-day account and is making the maximum contribution to her 401(k) to take advantage of her employer's matching contribution.

"That's a terrific thing," Lee-Driscoll said.

She's tried to do budgeting on Quicken software, but got frustrated when she stumbled trying to use the program's many features.

Lee-Driscoll admits not liking the complexity of Quicken, which is designed to help people manage and plan their finances. Yet she recommends people use it, though only at a basic level to compile a list of income and expenses. That way clients don't get caught up in the program like Sparko did.

Generally, people who follow these instructions get a wake-up call on expenses. They discover they're paying more for food, entertainment and vacations then they thought they were.

"It's a reality check," Lee-Driscoll said, noting many people don't have a clue on precisely where their money goes. "It really is about trying to get a firm grasp."

People typically should set up 10 to 15 expense categories to get a handle on what they really spend. Lee-Driscoll suspected Sparko might be paying more for entertainment, gifts and her pets than she had estimated.

ITEMIZED REPORTS

She told Sparko to enter several months of expenses into Quicken and run reports for income and expenses, and another for each category's itemized expenses. The itemized report can provide a list of discretionary items to be cut.

If someone is spending too much on dining out, Lee-Driscoll suggests they create a budget and stuff that amount of cash into an envelope. Each time they eat somewhere, the money comes from the envelope. Once it runs out, they're done eating out for the month.

For someone who eats out daily, "it really is a shock when their envelope is empty by the 10th," Lee-Driscoll said.

But each month thereafter, people usually get better at parceling out the money, she said. Eventually, they develop better skills at budgeting and spending.

"It's not rocket science," said Lee-Driscoll, who met with Sparko to start hammering out a financial plan. "I really believe financial planning is a series of good habits."

Reach Greg Wiles at gwiles@honoluluadvertiser.com.