clicky: Has the financial crisis impacted you?

camrude

[Poll]

r9stedt

Yes!!  Of course.   I have lost a tremendous amount of overtime over the past 3 months, and that is what keeps me afloat.   I have phenomenal credit (got out of my marriage *just* in time!), able to pay my bills monthly, paid off my credit carsdand  haven't had to file for bankruptcy or anything of the like, but it is tight. 

It is really tight.

And the only thing that saved me from using my credit cards to get by every month was the bf moving in. 

I wish I could put more money in savings.

I am constantly worrying about how we are ever going to pay for the things we want to do in life (if we don't start making more money)--- marriage, kids, house, boob job.

AnnapolisLari

We moved to a lower cost of living area and thanks to an inheritance from a relative we have a very small mortgage, so we're actually better off now than we were a few years ago. Still watch our money very closely, but lots more disposable income.

[Deleted User]

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eclaires

I voted SS.  In Feb 2009, MH was laid off from his job (that he JUST took mind you and they lured him away from his old, very stable job w/ $$$$$ - bastards), but even w/ that, we are better off than we were then.  We were able to sell our house w/in 2 weeks, for a profit and I think we got a good price on our new house.  I don't know how great it would sell when the time comes, but we're not underwater yet or anything (I worry about this since it seems the market is still tanking).  It's a good school district, nice lot, nice 'hood, etc... I just feel like in the current market you can't know what will eventually sell should you need to do so.

AggieCouple

Indirectly, yes.  My sales have tanked (mixed blessing, maybe, as it's hard to do much work with the baby), and I had recently invested in some new equipment right before that, which ate into a lot of last year's profits.  Bad call on my part.

H's bonuses and raises have completely sucked in the past couple of years, despite his company doing really well.  We are probably foregoing a big summer vacation this year.

And of course, we feel it at the pump and when grocery shopping.

karen6784

We have taken a beating the past 4 years.  Our house is worth $150,000 less than we paid for it.  MH is a contractor.  His business has dropped close to 70% in the last 4 years.  We are barely getting by.  This sucks.

We are working on a new business opportunity in addition to MH's other business.  The past four years have been draining financially and emotionally.  I pray for better times for everyone.  

 

REOM

I'm surprised at the number of people that voted no impact...Don't you have a 401K or investments? Or property in many areas? Of course, I realize it was a huge loss based on inflated values, but I would still consider that an "impact".

Other than that, I was laid off last year, although I was rehired before I actually stopped working, if that counts. My H doesn't get the bonuses or perks that he used to get, gas and home heating oil are high, and I now have to contribute to health insurance costs, which I never did before.

AggieCouple

REOM:

I'm surprised at the number of people that voted no impact...Don't you have a 401K or investments? Or property in many areas? Of course, I realize it was a huge loss based on inflated values, but I would still consider that an "impact".

Most people I know whose 401k's were impacted have had theirs almost or completely recovered.

eclaires

REOM:

I'm surprised at the number of people that voted no impact...Don't you have a 401K or investments? Or property in many areas? Of course, I realize it was a huge loss based on inflated values, but I would still consider that an "impact".

Other than that, I was laid off last year, although I was rehired before I actually stopped working, if that counts. My H doesn't get the bonuses or perks that he used to get, gas and home heating oil are high, and I now have to contribute to health insurance costs, which I never did before.

I wonder if people are taking it to mean no one big impact - as in no one big event - just based on the poll, it's easy to take it that way because all the yes answers are tied to a big event.

I think we are all affected by gas, investments, groceries, etc.  Not much has changed for us w/r/t our budget and what we can spend, but I still notice the prices.  For example, we have never gone over our gas budget - ever.  But for the past few years, we've been creeping closer to using it all but it hasn't raised the amount - yet.  So I notice it, but there's no real effect (again, yet).

Yodajo

I voted SS because while none of the yes responses fit us, we definitely have been affected.  We lost a ton of money with our stocks.  My husband is an engineer that does a lot of work for the automotive industry and we're in MI.  For a while, we spent everyday worrying if he would be laid off.  Houses in our neighborhood have been foreclosed on and while we're planning to be here for years, it sucks to see houses right next to you turn into piles of ***. 

ghm

Yes--it's been the economy on and off for a few years. We were doing fine again, and this time it's backlash from the Japan earthquake/tsunami. DH is back at work, but his pay was the least it had been in years and we're going to now work our way out of that.

Cbidt's girl

REOM:

I'm surprised at the number of people that voted no impact...Don't you have a 401K or investments? Or property in many areas? Of course, I realize it was a huge loss based on inflated values, but I would still consider that an "impact".

Other than that, I was laid off last year, although I was rehired before I actually stopped working, if that counts. My H doesn't get the bonuses or perks that he used to get, gas and home heating oil are high, and I now have to contribute to health insurance costs, which I never did before.

I would say no impact because it hasn't affected my day to day. Yes my retirement tanked, but that wasn't money I used or thought about and likely will rebound at some point in the next 30 years.

AnnapolisLari

401Ks have a lot longer time to recover any losses.

 

stacynikki

Yes, I was laid off right before Christmas. But things aren't bad yet. Our cars are paid off, we have no CC debt, DS still goes to daycare part time (DS2 stays home full time). I'm back in school to be a sonographer. Unemployment helps a ton to keep us afloat. When it runs out it will be super tight. Our house is a huge loss. We bought at the height of the market so we couldn't even sell it right now. Thankfully, MIL offered to help us out financially when the time comes until I'm done with school and employed. I have a Finance degree and apply for jobs daily and I have only gotten two calls since December. I consider myself fortunate even in our crappy situation. Our friend's wife was let go recently and they are hurting. She's pregnant, they have two brand new expensive cars, they have a lot of debt from all the IVF's they paid for to get pregnant. Not to mention all the remodeling on their home. She was the breadwinner and they are in crisis mode.

camrude

eclaires:

I wonder if people are taking it to mean no one big impact - as in no one big event - just based on the poll, it's easy to take it that way because all the yes answers are tied to a big event.

REOM - What E said is sort of what I was thinking...a major hit. I should have included investment losses too.

I'm pretty sure a lot of people could put a big 'ol check mark by the groceries, gas prices, etc.

stacynikki

My retirement accounts have actually done really well! And by that I mean they haven't lost anything and have actually increased marginally.

REOM

Major immediate hits - gotcha. I'm kinda obsessed with our investments. My DH yells at me for checking it daily, why I do, I don't know, so that's what came to mind.

Although I was laid off then rehired, we didn't lose any income so I guess no big impact on us rather than what everyone is facing.

shopgirl78

eclaires:

I think we are all affected by gas, investments, groceries, etc.  Not much has changed for us w/r/t our budget and what we can spend, but I still notice the prices.  For example, we have never gone over our gas budget - ever.  But for the past few years, we've been creeping closer to using it all but it hasn't raised the amount - yet.  So I notice it, but there's no real effect (again, yet).

 

This.  It's made things tighter but not paycheck to paycheck.   

firefightersgal

DH hasn't had a raise (merit or COL) in more than three years.  Our health insurance rate is going up, which means he is making less and less each year.  I'm thankful he has a job (and it is his dream job), but it makes things very tight, particularly since we are living on one very modest income.

I'm also worried that I won't have a job when I graduate.  School districts are crumbling. 

penguingrrl

I can say no, but there's a caveat to that. DH is in graduate school and I was never able to earn the cost of daycare around here (2K/month per kid) so we're poor students, but were before the crisis started. His timing was pretty good for returning to graduate school and we're very hopeful there will be more jobs available as he graduates.

ridesbuttons

We own a business which is heavily involved in the NA automotive industry.  While our salaries have been stable and we have not laid off any employees, the company profit and therefore our dividends have been affected in a negative manner.

So, the answer to the question is 'yes'.  But we cannot really complain.  We do ok.

EMT

DH's former company went out of business partially due to the economy. So he lost his job with no notice but found a better one within two months. I think if not for the economy he may still be with the other company so in some ways we are financially better off because of that. But our investments and house have taken a hit (we still have equity in our home but we had about 100-200K more equity before). And I have been without a pay increase for several years. We are not living paycheck to paycheck by any means but am super excited to have only one more payment on our car. That will allow us to beef up the savings again.

Unfortunately, I don't think this is anywhere near over though...

ali-1411

I always think of that song by Alabama, "Song of the South"

Somebody told us Wall Street fell, but we were so broke that we couldn't tell

Seriously.  When the economy tanked, we had no where to go but up.  We've done alright since.  But we have family in Michigan and they've suffered a lot.  We were lucky and left the state in 2007.

Carol*Brady2

Sort of DH's work is slow & they forloughed to 80% pay late summer (but went back in Fall) & his bonuses aren't great & no raise last year. But we haven't had any financial crisis or anything.

shouldbworkin

Yah, I work in the financial services industry.  I went from being irreplaceable to redundant in the span of a month in late 2008.  It's worked out for the best, but we had some rough years in between.  We modified our mortgage in the interim. 

We also own 3 rental homes that are now worth less than they were when they were built 40 years ago!  It became impossible to rent them out b/c they were foreclosing and short selling for $10k a piece.  We renegotiated with the bank and now own them outright, but it's taken a few years for that rental market to stabilize.

It's now finally trickling down to DH.  He cannot find a reasonable job in our market right now.  It's crazy.  Everyone loves his experience and wants it, but they want to pay him pennies and every company is a start up.  We're considering moving so he can find a more stable job.

shouldbworkin

AggieCouple:

REOM:

I'm surprised at the number of people that voted no impact...Don't you have a 401K or investments? Or property in many areas? Of course, I realize it was a huge loss based on inflated values, but I would still consider that an "impact".

Most people I know whose 401k's were impacted have had theirs almost or completely recovered.

That doesn't mean you're not impacted.  You still lost that money and would have been farther ahead by now if you hadn't.

 

Jaylea

My last day of work is next Friday, due to a reduction in force.

This may end up being a better thing if I get an offer from one of the 3 prospects I have been meeting with, but if not, we'll be in rough shape. So while I've lost my job, it's hard to say what the long term impact will be for us.

kaydee77

Thankfully we are still doing ok, well enough so I could quit my job to be a SAHM.  Our mortgage is very affordable, both of our cars are paid off, and neither of us have any student loans or outstanding debt of any kind.  But we are very careful with our money, saving as much as possible, and it's always in the back of our minds that DH could lose his job and I would have to go back to work.

DandRAgain

Not too much....my DH is in a business that actually profits from the bad economy, if you can believe that...so his job has been stable and he's been promoted to a position that should be very profitable.  I no longer work.  We plan on moving within a year. 

What's killed us are MEDICAL bills...holy hell.  This year has been a killer year and its not like anything THAT major has happened.  I did a $2k sleep study and bought a $700 (my cost after insurance) apnea machine.  I started allergy drops (to hopefully help with the apnea) which are costing about $100/month.  Tay had stitches, Audrey had a head x-ray and glasses.  I had a lump in my bubby scare.  Add the usual flu/strep throat/ear infection visits.  Oh and next month Tay is getting her tonsils and adenoids out.  We have insurance, but it pretty much sucks...so we are left with thousands of dollars to pay...we have a FSA account for that, but its pretty much drained now. Gah!  Fingers crossed that 2012 we can build back up our FSA account!  Oh well.......

 

Bellisimo

No, but once our taxes get hiked and that complete train wreck of the health care bill kicks in, shiit's going down the tubes!

shopgirl78

I also want to add that I want to switch jobs and that has proven difficult in this market. 

Bellisimo

AggieCouple:

REOM:

I'm surprised at the number of people that voted no impact...Don't you have a 401K or investments? Or property in many areas? Of course, I realize it was a huge loss based on inflated values, but I would still consider that an "impact".

Most people I know whose 401k's were impacted have had theirs almost or completely recovered.

This.  We've recovered losses and have a total new strategy of investing.  Naturally, we're all feeling the higher prices at the pump and at the grocery store, but I've adjusted the way I spend accordingly although MH thinks it makes no difference to him and it's a waste of time to do what I do like: collect and use coupons whenever possible, pretty much refuse to pay retail when I know I can get it for cheaper, drive to where the cheapest gas is being sold AND use the points on my grocery store points card to get like $1 p/gallon off which saves upwards of $17-$20 or more on a fill up.  He doesn't care, but I'm thrifty.  MH has always been a SUPER fiscally responsible person: puts away money for quarterly taxes before any income is spent; invests, invests, invests, refinanced when the interest rates dropped; pays off car notes, my student loan and almost has his entire med school student loan completely paid off....he always pays MORE than the minimum payments to chip away at the principal amount and avoiding paying interest; pays off any and all credit card charges monthly leaving us with a zero balance....again, NO interest; makes SURE that our "emergency fund" stays at a maxed out amount in case anything happens; maintains the "last of the mohicans" (meaning they no longer sell that type of insurance) type of disability insurance which ensures payment for life for his current job should he become disabled and unable to perform his current job; and has maxed out life insurance policies.  If it weren't for him, my finances would be a HOT mess!  I'm so disorganized and not fiscally responsible!