We try to keep things classy here at Econ4U. But when gossip and finance cross paths, it’s hard for us not to indulge.

Today’s edition of When Celebrities Mismanage Their Finances – or, excuse me, When “Celebrities” Mismanage Their Finances – centers on Nadya “Octomom” Suleman.

Suleman – mother of 14 children, including the world’s only set of octuplets – recently signed a contract for her kids to appear on a reality TV show. Each child will receive $250 per day of shooting and “15 percent of the kids’ earnings will be placed in a trust account,” according to E! News.

Now while $250 per child per day may seem like quite a bit, it’s actually not very much. Collectively they’ll earn nearly $250,000. The show will only shoot for 71 days over three years, meaning that each child will earn $17,750 total. And 15% of that is just $2,662.50, the amount to be placed in each child’s trust, accessible once they turn 18 (in accordance with CA law).

In other words, the kids aren’t making very much money from this deal at all. They’ll be paraded about on a reality TV show and, assuming interest on the trust account is less than 8%, likely end up with less than ten grand.

One hopes that the $211,225 Suleman controls will be spent wisely. Feeding, clothing, and housing 14 growing kids can’t be cheap.