What Recession? Fooey! (pay, million, rent, credit)
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Okay I know we are in a recession however as a 26yr old in the financial industry and married to an accountant this recession hasn't even touched us yet and won't is my opinion. We rent and rent hasn't gone up at all, we have no debt, a small car payment, and I just landed a great job for a very reputable financial company rated the best in the industry about 3 months ago. I'm making a ton more money I used to in the auto industry, my wife just got a promotion and a raise. I have the VA home loan so buying a house right now isn't even a worry for me, credit crunch ? we also just bought a new car.
We are taking vacations to Las Vegas and New Orleans and San Diego this year. So are young people with immune from this recession? are we just lucky? I don't even know anyone laid off or lost their job. I feel bad for you out there but I haven't felt this recession at all. My wife and I are looking at a summer cottage in Florida for 100k that used to cost 200K.
Is any one else out there not feeling the recession or are we just the lucky?
My wife and I still have our jobs, and we just bought our first home last April 2008. We're both 38. However it's not a matter of "IF" the recession hits us, it's "when". She works in management consulting and I work in book publishing. Our businesses are off -15% in revenue YTD and we both survived our most recent layoffs (14% for her firm, 20% for mine). However there are rumors at both companies that more layoffs are pending as soon as May or June. The projected revenue is simply not there. Yes, we have been simply lucky.
We are paying down our remaining debt. Choosing not to take on any new debt. I can't imagine spending on a vacation right now given the financial responsibility we have. We'll plan some trips maybe when this dark cloud passes, however all of our expenses are going toward debt, and necessities. And we're trying to sock away 10-15% of our take home into savings. Next month will be our 1 year anniversary on our home and right now we have a little over 8 full months of mortgage payments saved. We won't feel comfortable until we have at least 12 months saved... and even then I wonder if it will be enough. The problem is, neither of our fields are creating jobs, and each are heavily affected by the recession. I see real recovery 2-4 years from now.
The area where I live has not been hit with massive job loss or noticable foreclosures. However it's coming.... people and businesses are pinched all over. Just the loss of a spouse's job or a reduction from full-time to part time can send anyone into a financial tailspin. We have had close friends make some serious financial choices and even relocated based on where they fit in with the current economic crisis. My wife's co-worker recently short sold her house and moved her family to live with her parents. Her husband, an attorney with Citibank, had been laid off 11 months. Between their debt, student loans, 3 children, and 0% equity on a flexible ARM mortgage they had no choice but to cut their losses. And she continues to work. People have cut back on all types of things... and mostly small business are affected.
Granted... not all businesses are affected by recession periods... in fact some even thrive. I recently read when denistry goes up 17-18% during recessionary periods because people either put off getting their teeth cleaned while others try to cash out their dental insurance by gettiung as much work done at once. Bars and niteclubs may even increase as people are more apt to spend money drinking their sorrows away rather than sitting home and worry. Still, this recession is affecting people of all generations, race, color and creed.
Last edited by ocnymonty; 03-23-2009 at 06:04 PM..
It's no doubt people's bad choices in the past are really hurting them now, people should have a 6month salary of emergency fund, my wife and I have this. Our first 3 yrs of marriage all we worked on was paying college debt(done) and building up our er fund(done). We were making great money and drove a crappy car, now in this recession things are really paying off now. I believe this is the bottom of the recession these next 4 months. The bottom is usually 6 months long. Call your emergency fund a self insurance plan. Nobody should be buying a new car or house till they have a savings to take a hit, and no debt. I drove crap cars my whole and made fun of it b/c of it by my friends. Now I was able to buy a really nice car with a ton of money down.
The turtle and the hair analogy is so true in life or the ant and the grasshopper. Save more spend less and you will be able to spend more when you want to not when you have too!!!
You are insulting about 4.4 million Americans who have lost their job. Many of those jobs are educated professional jobs. You are actually bragging and acting blind to what is going on around you. If I were married to an Accountant I would have no money worries either.
Recession my azz. Much of the country is in a depression by all respected definitions. Places like Vegas, Detroit, Miami and Pheonix are in a deep depression. These people have lost more then half the value in their homes. I am certian you have lost some too though probably not half.
I just feel you are bragging in a hurtfull way even if that is not your intent. Why dont you open your eyes and look outside. Read the paper, look at the posts here. Things are real real bad out there and we ain't seen nothing yet. Dont say no. Every month and every year that goes by the experts say it cant get worse but it does...and does....and does again. Dont say it cant get worse. This year is going to be a blood bath.
My DH and I are in great shape, but you're not going to see us bragging in some online forum. I think your post crossed the line from pondering how the recession hasn't impacted you to downright bragging. Many good, hard-working, smart people have had their lives ruined by losing their jobs. The world is not you-centric.
I viewed the post as gloating as well. That may not have been the intent but it sure came across that way. The "fooey" is what did it. A lot of people are suffering and they were not all irresponsible.
Be thankful for what you have and have some compassion for those going through a rough time.
It's no doubt people's bad choices in the past are really hurting them now, people should have a 6month salary of emergency fund, my wife and I have this. Our first 3 yrs of marriage all we worked on was paying college debt(done) and building up our er fund(done). We were making great money and drove a crappy car, now in this recession things are really paying off now. I believe this is the bottom of the recession these next 4 months. The bottom is usually 6 months long. Call your emergency fund a self insurance plan. Nobody should be buying a new car or house till they have a savings to take a hit, and no debt. I drove crap cars my whole and made fun of it b/c of it by my friends. Now I was able to buy a really nice car with a ton of money down.
The turtle and the hair analogy is so true in life or the ant and the grasshopper. Save more spend less and you will be able to spend more when you want to not when you have too!!!
Dude... no offense, but you're 26! Slow Down. When I was 26 I was living with roomates and sifting through the couch to save enough coins for happy hour on Friday. While I commend you on your thrift, and your fiscal sensibility, you are still in the 'wee' years of your professional employment and adulthood. It's good that you have learned early on to never borrow what you can't pay for, however this recession has hit and hurt people in ways they would never expect. Yes, many people made bad financial decisions that put them in the path of an oncoming train. Yet others have been realively prepared, only to lose their job, business or source of income without any clear path to recovery. My example of co-workers who lost their house was to show that even an attorney (a relatively recession proof career), isn't immune to this current economic crisis. Yes they made some bad choices finacially however, with an MBA & a JD, you would think they would always be employed. The recession we're in right now is a game of domino's... firms laying off workers now aren't doing so because they can't meet operational expenses... they're doing so because they can't project where they will be at the end of 2009. The next rounds of layoffs will likely happen without severance benefits. Unless something changes significantly in the next six months, it will take a few years for job growth to significantly occur again.
I graduated college on the tail of a recession in the 90's and lost my job in 2001. It's been like riding a nasty wave. When I lost my job in 2001 I was unemployed for 13 months. When I did get a job it was at relatively low pay. A year later I scored the job I'm currently in. It took me nearly three years to recover financially from the debt I accrued and it taught me what I needed to survive during this one. That's why I'm saving like a squirrel.
Again... no offense over your age, but at 26 I could move back in with my parents if times were tough... at 36 I could lose a house and worse, alot more. At 46, I can't imagine what it must be like to lose your job, be unemployed for months, possibly years and watch everything you've worked decades for just fade and crumble. You can spend your entire life planning for that moment... the question is, after it hits... how soon will you ever recover.
REMEMBER THIS: In your 20's you are inexpensive to an employer and are at little risk of a layoff. Your risk increase expotentially each decade that you are employed.
I posted about how I wasn't affected by the recession either (at this moment) in the work forum. Still, I'm so sorry for those who are experiencing hard times. No one I know personally has be laid off so far. I still count my blessings that I have a job, have paid all of my bills, and have an emergency fund. Just because I'm not affected doesn't mean that I don't realize how real this recession is. Is the OP MUD?
It's no doubt people's bad choices in the past are really hurting them now, people should have a 6month salary of emergency fund, my wife and I have this. Our first 3 yrs of marriage all we worked on was paying college debt(done) and building up our er fund(done). We were making great money and drove a crappy car, now in this recession things are really paying off now. I believe this is the bottom of the recession these next 4 months. The bottom is usually 6 months long. Call your emergency fund a self insurance plan. Nobody should be buying a new car or house till they have a savings to take a hit, and no debt. I drove crap cars my whole and made fun of it b/c of it by my friends. Now I was able to buy a really nice car with a ton of money down.
The turtle and the hair analogy is so true in life or the ant and the grasshopper. Save more spend less and you will be able to spend more when you want to not when you have too!!!
I agree w/ the other posters, your post comes across as gloating especially with the 3 places you are going on vacation.
6 months of an emergency fund may seem like enough to you, but is it really? Would if you get laid off for over a year? Did you include COBRA health insurance in that emergency fund? Also once you start buying a cottage and a home, will that 6 month emergency fund turn into 3 months instead?
You also don't have kids, would you had kids, then how would you survive. How about getting sick? Maybe you'll have health insurance, but do you know how much copays add up to be? It adds up to a lot!
Anyway, it's not good to be so arrogant, it might bite you in the butt later.
Okay I know we are in a recession however as a 26yr old in the financial industry and married to an accountant this recession hasn't even touched us yet and won't is my opinion. We rent and rent hasn't gone up at all, we have no debt, a small car payment, and I just landed a great job for a very reputable financial company rated the best in the industry about 3 months ago. I'm making a ton more money I used to in the auto industry, my wife just got a promotion and a raise. I have the VA home loan so buying a house right now isn't even a worry for me, credit crunch ? we also just bought a new car.
We are taking vacations to Las Vegas and New Orleans and San Diego this year. So are young people with immune from this recession? are we just lucky? I don't even know anyone laid off or lost their job. I feel bad for you out there but I haven't felt this recession at all. My wife and I are looking at a summer cottage in Florida for 100k that used to cost 200K.
Is any one else out there not feeling the recession or are we just the lucky?
Sounds to me ;like you and your wife have something on the ball;as they say. But I would caution not to spend it all because you never know what the future brings. We are likely to see more unemployment and IMO a slow flat curve in many areas of the economy. Regions that have been and will be especailly hurt;may take years decades to get back to anything like normal times.Some jobs will never some back as many inductries bascially get alot smaller and have to be streamlined.
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When I was 26 I was living with roomates and sifting through the couch to save enough coins for happy hour on Friday. While I commend you on your thrift, and your fiscal sensibility, you are still in the 'wee' years of your professional employment and adulthood. It's good that you have learned early on to never borrow what you can't pay for, however this recession has hit and hurt people in ways they would never expect. Yes, many people made bad financial decisions that put them in the path of an oncoming train. Yet others have been realively prepared, only to lose their job, business or source of income without any clear path to recovery. My example of co-workers who lost their house was to show that even an attorney (a relatively recession proof career), isn't immune to this current economic crisis. Yes they made some bad choices finacially however, with an MBA & a JD, you would think they would always be employed. The recession we're in right now is a game of domino's... firms laying off workers now aren't doing so because they can't meet operational expenses... they're doing so because they can't project where they will be at the end of 2009. The next rounds of layoffs will likely happen without severance benefits. Unless something changes significantly in the next six months, it will take a few years for job growth to significantly occur again. 
