I didn’t want to post in the other thread(s) because you don’t go in a thread about “how much does your life suck right now?” and post about how yours is great.
Not that mine’s great.
But I am optimistic. I’ve just started a new job, and I’ve got my budget planned out for the next year (we’ll see how accurate it is). I won’t be able to put back nearly as much as I’d like to save, and I won’t be living in luxury, but I’m not hurting all that badly either. I have a bit of an emergency fund, which I’m going to continue building.
Some things that are helping me out: [ul][li]I’ll be walking to work. I found an apartment close enough to make that doable, even in bad/cold weather, so I’ll be saving a ton of money on gas. []I enjoy cooking. I enjoy finding bargains on groceries. Put the two together, and I’m saving by not going out to eat frequently (as well as the gas to get to and from the restaurant, though I will need to drive to the grocery store). []I live in a city. There are a ton of free things to do. Parks, museums, people-watching, architecture-appreciating, exercising (at the parks, or in my apartment’s gym). The Internet provides a near-endless source of relatively cheap entertainment and information.[/ul][/li]
I’ve been thinking about taking on a second part-time job if one comes up, but all-in-all, I’m not doing too badly. I hesitate to post this for fear my car blows up tomorrow or I come down with some rare, debilitating and extremely expensive disease, but here it is anyway.
We’re doing decently well here too. Not great, but comfortable. My husband was fortunate to get a good job right out of college, and is making enough to support us both (although I plan to get a job myself when I can, if possible, more for something to do than anything). We don’t have any major expenses (beyond the upcoming wedding–anyone wanna help me look for accessories?), he owns his truck, we live five minutes from his place of work, and not far from downtown or the nearest grocery/gas station (which provides discounts on gas, another plus). We are going to be looking for another vehicle soon, and then maybe a house, so that might cost us a bit, but cost of living here is fairly cheap, so I don’t have any worries. We can certainly put off buying a house if necessary–and frankly, all the stories I’ve heard here about the market makes me think the next couple years will be a good time to buy.
Whatever happens, it’s unlikely my husband will lose his job anytime soon–about half his department is set to retire by 2011–and it pays decently well, so as long as we go overboard on spending I think we’ll be fine for the foreseeable future.
We bought a house the right way meaning what we could actually afford and it can even be afforded on one of two salaries. We also bout the mother of all fixer-uppers and our house and 2 1/2 acres are worth far more than our mortgage after 6 years of major cash renovations. We have a much nicer situation than most yet less debt than people living far beneath we do.
I all all for fiscal responsibility to my core. I always wondered how people that I know make less than we do afforded more mortgage debt than we did by over $100,000 or much more. The answer is that they couldn’t. Oh, well. Screw them. The level of math that it takes to understand this stuff isn’t beyond the 7th grade level. I have zero sympathy for those that overextended themselves no matter what the circumstances. You always have to plan for the worst even if it means relocating to a depopulating town in North Dakota. No sane person in this country is starving and you just have to live and learn.
We’re fine, we’re putting money away for retirement, we only have a mortgage for debt and the mortgage is for maybe a third of the value of the house. We could live on either salary for an extended period, but if things got too bad, we would have to sell and downsize. We could live on one salary but choose not to.
Our cars are inexpensive, but we buy them in cash. We have the cash to take our vacations. This year is a Dude Ranch and then Disney World later in the year.
We are fairly frugal by nature, this helps. I see many couples that make less money and spend so much more. A pair of car loans for 40K per and mortgages over $400K. They are one setback from disaster and will be working until they are 70.
We’re doing very well- 11 years left on a reasonable mortgage (on a house that hasn’t depreciated much at all), no car payments (but DAMN do they guzzle premium), and we are somewhat overpaid for our work. No revolving debt (just a bit of student loan at 0% left over from hubby’s law school), credit cards used for most things but balance paid in full every month. May be going halfsies on a rental property with my MIL this week. Got most of the college $ for the 6 & 8 year old kids in place. We travel pretty much wherever we want, and do it in style when we care to.
What keeps me from feeling doomed by the economy is remembering all the other times the economy seemed disposed to doom people–and remembering all the subsequent upswings.
'Cause it always does upswing, yanno. The gloomy 70s were followed by the booming “greed is good” 80s, and the gloomy late 80s were followed by the Clinton years 90s boom, and the dotcom boom was followed by the dotcom bust was followed by the Dow breaking 10,000.
Really, it’ll all change back in a couple of years. Just sit tight.
Things are going pretty well over here. Advertising is still a brisk industry and all our clients are still going strong and giving us plenty of work. Projections for this year look good. I have a skillset that’s in high demand and short supply locally, so even if I leave this job, it’s unlikely to be a disaster.
Our home is paid off, so there’s no mortgage to worry about, and local real estate values have been shooting upward.
Dollars can be bought really cheaply right now, so I’m investing more in the US than I was before. Things are moving down at the moment, but that’s not going to go on forever.
When a vulture circles a lost hiker, one faces doom and one faces opportunity. I’m lucky enough to be the one with wings this time around.
Decades ago, when I was a sophomore in college, my Econ 101 professor said the state of the economy was nothing more than a state of mind. After explaining how “bad news” could start regional and even national panics, he then explained about how flawed all of the “economic indicators” are. For example, the real estate and mortgage debacle? Actually, it’s pretty good news, outside of the hermetically sealed atmosphere of the financial world. It means a major correction in real estate prices, and a major smackdown on “flippers,” who were partly responsible for driving real estate prices into the stratosphere.
The thing is, the media have this addiction to “experts” and the experts all say the same things, and the media are always … and I mean ALWAYS … attracted to experts with bad news.
The recession we’re going into? I dunno, it shows up in the news media all the time, but not in my wallet.
the economy doesnt scare me. its been said that the press has predicted 46 of the last 2 depressions. right now i work 2 jobs but could cover all my bills with one of them. I took the second so i could attack some debt with a bigger shovel and am about to take a promotion to mae what i’m making at both jobs at one of them. from what i understand the big “economy problem” is just a slow in the growth rate, not even a negative growth (please correct me if i’m wrong. heard it on dave rmsey) so its not even REALLY a problem, espeially as low on the totem pole as i am.
Spain is supposed to be having a recession, too, mostly due to a downturn in the building industry (sometimes it seems as if we’re trying to concrete over the country).
Unemployment in my province is 3% in general, twenty-something% for women; most entrepreneurs have been women for several years (can’t figure out why). People my age ('68 vintage) would have been willing to commit murder for unemployment rates like those, back when we finished our schooling.
My brother works in construction. Things are looking bad. He just finished a building and was sent to take over in another that’s having a lot of water-related difficulties; a coworker who’s more experienced but apparently less good at figuring out how to kick water out of the way has been sent to the building Bro was to be starting. Once he’s done pumping water, he’ll take over “his” new building. There’s two more in the pipeline for him. This is with things looking bad…
My flat isn’t in the same town Mom and The Bros live in. It’s in a town nearby, at the mountains, close to our capital. I figured if the job I had at the capital didn’t last, it was still a good place to have a “vacation home”. Two weeks ago, the government announced that the Navarrese Sailing School (whose installations have been in bad shape for years) will be moving… to the reservoir 3km from my house. Forget what this does to my house’s value: Bro The Sailing Man was floating a foot above the floor when he heard it, cooing and speaking of taking his 2yo kid out (The Nephew’s taking swimming lessons).
I decided to go freelance after a couple jobs where the company completely failed me. If I need a work permit and have a permanent employer, I have this stupid notion that they should help me get the permit, not just say I have to get it. I’m loving my agent. The project leaders at the place where I’m now assigned seem to be confused about what to do with me but they pay me to wait while they figure it out.
My car is small and has several scratches, but it chugs along happily so long as I don’t overload it, and it can be parked on a coin.
I have enough in the bank to live on for a year, with more coming in.
At this time I foresee no problems. I am in a job that is still in demand and I met with a headhunter yesterday who had several positions I could fill.
My job is secure. My take home pay each month is 4x my house payment. My wife’s business is doing all right, but we’re worried that it might slow down this year because of what the economy is doing to others.
If I wanted to, I could liquidate my portfolio and pay off my house twice, so I’m not in any sort of position to worry.
My portfolio is getting atomic-bombed, however. I’ve lost 4+ months salary in value over the last several months.
So far so good. Stopped using credit cards a few years ago and no car payments. Just a mortgage and utility bills.
One income (mine) and three children and a wife at home. Plus child support for my oldest who lives with his mom.
The thing that helps me out right now the most is the sky-high price of copper. I dabble in the scrapping of copper which brings in quite a bit of extra income.
I don’t want to appear insensitive, but overall, the economy is doing fine. I know that there are specific pockets of recession and maybe even depression. But the national unemployment rate is well below 5%, which is historically low. Certainly better than the average for the 1990s. I think a lot of it has to do with people who just want to make GWB look bad, so no matter what happens they complain.
And to respond to the OP, we’re doing fine. I earned more in 2007 than in 2006 and if I have the energy I’ll earn more this year.
I don’t want to appear condescending, but there’s just no way for you to make that statement as if it’s a fact. But, I’ll go out on a limb, too. You’re plain wrong – don’t respond to me now because that’s meaningless; get back to me next March.
Check out, for instance, this article at Calculated Risk about the effect of declining house prices on consumption. Do you understand the scope of what this melt-down is doing to lending? The feds only response to bail people out has been to cut rates, and every major action they’ve taken since last september has been met with fanfare, and then reality has sunk back in with investors.
Job losses in February were terrible.
I haven’t heard anyone blame the economy on Bush. Almost all the blame had been directed at the loosened standards in credit over the last 5+ years. More an issue with the Fed than anything Bush has done.
Really, for you to bring him up indicates your political bias more than anyone elses.
Check out this Krugman column from a week ago. Tell me where anything he says has anything to do with a political axe to grind. He’s an unabashed liberal. But he knows this is serious and goes way beyond whoever happened to be in office when the meltdown started.
(knocks on wood) Things seem to be OK for me. My house and my pickup aren’t fancy, but they are paid for. I’ve replaced the roof, the furnace and a/c, and water heater over the last few years, so hopefully they’re all ok for a while. I currently have no debt, and DO have insurance, in case the house, the truck or my health explodes. In fact, being able to afford insurance in the future is probably my biggest concern, but it isn’t really a problem right now. My income is low, but (more knocking on wood) reliable, and I can afford my utility and grocery bills. Oh, and whenever I’m in town and the Powerball lottery is over $150 million, I throw caution to the wind and spend a buck on a ticket.
Most important, there are people I can rely on if I need to amongst my family, friends, and neighbors - and they know they can count on me. We sometimes joke that if the economy REALLY goes south, all my sisters and their families come out here; I have the crummiest house of the bunch, but I also have the deed. Nobody’s going to starve or be homeless around here.
I remember the last economic downturn in 2001-2002. Mostly I was unemployed, living in an $1800 a month studio in Manhattans East Village and spending most of my time bar hopping and clubbing with my other unemployed buddies while sleeping until noon. I make a lot more money now and spend a whole lot less on rent.
