# Are you better off than you were four years ago? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 29, 2011, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-better-off-than-you-were-four-years-ago/587211 "2011-06-29T00:23:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-better-off-than-you-were-four-years-ago/587211/81 "2011-06-30T02:48:49Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > Nope. Talking about the coming Teapublican onslaught\*. “ **Taking Our Country Back** (ward)” > > \*[onslaught](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/onslaught) . . . which is the exact right direction to go when you are standing on the brink of fiscal ruin. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-better-off-than-you-were-four-years-ago/587211/82 "2011-06-30T03:19:34Z")
Pretty much the same. We have the same jobs. Live in the same house. With the same kids who are now both tweens. As me in four more years when I have one driver and one almost driver and we have boyfriends and girlfriends… Standard of living hasn’t changed. We are four years older, I’m ten pounds heavier (again, I have to drop it), and have four more years worth of money stashed for retirement. ---
**Author:** ![pendgwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3da27b/32.png) [@pendgwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pendgwen)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-better-off-than-you-were-four-years-ago/587211/83 "2011-06-30T12:34:38Z")
Definitely better. Graduated from school so I now have actual income. And as of today I have half-way through residency. Also my depression is now adequately treated. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-better-off-than-you-were-four-years-ago/587211/84 "2011-06-30T13:08:08Z")
Yes definitely, both in a financial sense and a personal sense. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-better-off-than-you-were-four-years-ago/587211/85 "2011-06-30T13:08:32Z")
Well, four years ago I was a single airman living in the dorms. Now I’m a married airman who is living in the dorms (again), but these dorms have a _kitchen!_😃 Aside from that, I have been promoted since then, so I am making more money. And I’m finally on what appears to be a steady debt payment schedule, so there’s that. ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-better-off-than-you-were-four-years-ago/587211/86 "2011-06-30T16:43:00Z")
With the exception of having lost my mother earlier this year, I am MUCH better off now than I was 4 years ago, in every way. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-better-off-than-you-were-four-years-ago/587211/87 "2011-07-01T05:02:18Z")
Yes and no. If you mean financially, yes (but I was a senior in college 4 years ago, so moving up wasn’t too hard but I’m not where I want to be). Personally it is a draw, in some ways yes and in others no. So there is no clear answer. The benefits and the losses seem to be a draw over the last 4 years. I will say though that the Affordable Care Act created pre-existing condition plans, and the rates have recently dropped enough that I decided to try to buy into one. So I may have health insurance now. So on that front, I’m better off than I was before 2008. ---
**Author:** ![AntiCoyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a587f6/32.png) [@AntiCoyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AntiCoyote)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-better-off-than-you-were-four-years-ago/587211/88 "2011-07-01T21:27:36Z")
Much better but I saw the recession coming in August of 2006. I said, “this is gonna be problematic,” so I started cutting back to the bare bone in Sept of 2006. Had I not done that I would not be retired now, I would probably be in a bit of a mess 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-better-off-than-you-were-four-years-ago/587211.md?page=4)