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The debt did come first. If I said otherwise Then I miss wrote. The income to sevice the debt went away. And she has talked about serving coffe instead of doing what she went to school for what 6 or 8 years to be able to do. The hart brake in that. Yes if she had lead a simpler life she would have been in much better shape to ride out the storm. But this storm will brake anyone no matter how responsible they are.
No matter how responsible? Now why does that sound silly?
There are still some of us who have saved enough to not work for 2 years and stay in our houses. If the worst happened.
The debt did come first. If I said otherwise Then I miss wrote. The income to sevice the debt went away. And she has talked about serving coffe instead of doing what she went to school for what 6 or 8 years to be able to do. The hart brake in that. Yes if she had lead a simpler life she would have been in much better shape to ride out the storm. But this storm will brake anyone no matter how responsible they are.
You focus on the income loss being their downfall and I focus on their extravagant lifestyle and high debt load. True enough, you HAVE to have the income to service the debt but that is the end of the equation that we can not always control. We CAN control how much debt we have and that is where the writer of the article went wrong. She misplaced her trust in the one thing that she does not control and assumed the rest would take care of itself. It's a foolish way to live and many fools are revealing themselves in this recession. Some of them will learn and be wiser next time around, some of them will recover only to repeat past mistakes.
That is not to say that some people who are not fools are not being caught up in the economic turmoil but anyone would fare better if they had been better prepared beforehand. The story presented here is not one of innocence and victimization.....just a clear view from a fool's perspective.
I have yet to see a story about a truly innocent and victimized family, who did everything right and still lost it all. I'm sure they are out there...but I haven't seen it and I haven't witnessed it IRL either. Those who were prepared for the worst are able to ride it out, maybe getting knocked around a little bit but certainly keeping their ships afloat.
Quote:
Originally Posted by carterstamp
Try living on 1/10th of your income, and see how fast your savings disappear.
The family featured is a dual income family. I doubt her income represented 90% of the family income although the article doesn't specify.
Personally speaking, we are working hard to pay off our house early (that is well below our budget) and didn't fall for they hype in the middle of the bubble. You know....when everyone was telling us that we were being stupid to pay off the house instead of using that money elsewhere. Seems to me there are a heck of a lot of people who would like to be in our shoes now, we can live on minimum wage if we had to, still keep the house and not touch the savings much. Once the house is paid for we can make do on even less....without touching savings...just living bare bones and being frugal. It's surprising how little it takes to live without a mountain of debt to service. My grandparents and likely your grandparents lived that way and yet now people think it isn't possible. It's remarkable how quickly the mindset changed over just a few generations.
The ant hill is being taken over by a bunch of foolish grasshoppers.
No matter how responsible? Now why does that sound silly?
There are still some of us who have saved enough to not work for 2 years and stay in our houses. If the worst happened.
Good for you and what happens if you are out of work for three years? Or can't replace enough of your income? The only way to kleep something is to pay cash for it. This is very popular in China.
You focus on the income loss being their downfall and I focus on their extravagant lifestyle and high debt load. True enough, you HAVE to have the income to service the debt but that is the end of the equation that we can not always control. We CAN control how much debt we have and that is where the writer of the article went wrong. She misplaced her trust in the one thing that she does not control and assumed the rest would take care of itself. It's a foolish way to live and many fools are revealing themselves in this recession. Some of them will learn and be wiser next time around, some of them will recover only to repeat past mistakes.
That is not to say that some people who are not fools are not being caught up in the economic turmoil but anyone would fare better if they had been better prepared beforehand. The story presented here is not one of innocence and victimization.....just a clear view from a fool's perspective.
I have yet to see a story about a truly innocent and victimized family, who did everything right and still lost it all. I'm sure they are out there...but I haven't seen it and I haven't witnessed it IRL either. Those who were prepared for the worst are able to ride it out, maybe getting knocked around a little bit but certainly keeping their ships afloat.
Income loss is what did them in. Getting out of debt instead of not getting into debt when everyone else was headed in the other direction is very hard to do. (I did it) People are sheep. We tend to go with the flow. It is very hard to not go with the flow. What I am saying is nocking someone for doing what everyone else was doing is being a bit hard. That is all. (Front Page This person does his own thing and it pays very well for him.)
We are headed for a big economic upset. When this one comes along we will be seeing those people that did everything right go under.
Another side to the foreclosure crisis. As much as we'd like to label all those who are facing foreclosure as irresponsible, not all fit into that neat little cubbyhole. An example of "There for the grace of God go I."
When the first wave hit, I shook my head at irresponsible Americans. Then I lost my income -- and my home is next
By Christy Corp-Minamiji
This is the story of a home with red doors. A home where a family has unpacked wedding crystal, changed new diapers, buried pets, watched far too many DVDs, fought over space on the bed/couch/floor, picked the weird green stuff out of the soup, listened to the moan of the reluctant cello, eaten popcorn, thrown popcorn, and unwrapped birthday presents. This is our home. Technically, I guess it isn't anymore; our home goes up for public auction next month. The house belongs to the lender – another statistic for the death lists.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lifelongMOgal
Yes, I read it. Did you?
The writer admits taking on more than they could afford, living a lifestyle above their means, and adding 3 children to the equation in 12 years following purchasing a home/acreage that was beyond their means. Yes, I read it. Poor decisions and the assumption of a steady income in buying above their means rather than well below it lead to the foreclosure, not the downturn in business.
" "I was thinking" led us to purchase a century-old house marginally beyond our budget on two more acres of land than either of us (city brats, both) was prepared to handle in a town 30 miles from anywhere. "I was thinking" has resulted in extravagant birthday parties with days spent on hand-painted murals, themed food, cakes with marzipan palm trees, pyramids and pirate ships. "I was thinking" caused me to begin the first major attempt at renovation..."
^^^This person is writing that she lived a naive and unrealistically extravagant lifestyle and that the foreclosure is a result of their poor choices. What part of irresponsible is unclear?
lijelingmogal is absolutely right. when people spend far beyond their means, and hope that the economy wont turn south, they are living irresponsibly. a house that is way above budget, and has a long commute to get to work, extravagant parties, big spending, and generally living above their means is the epitome of irresponsibility. how many cars did they own? how many times did they trade one in even though there was nothing wrong with the car, except that they still owed money on the car, and how far upside down were they with their car loans? how far upside down were they with their mortgage? sorry but you fail with this one, again, carterstamp
lijelingmogal is absolutely right. when people spend far beyond their means, and hope that the economy wont turn south, they are living irresponsibly. a house that is way above budget, and has a long commute to get to work, extravagant parties, big spending, and generally living above their means is the epitome of irresponsibility. how many cars did they own? how many times did they trade one in even though there was nothing wrong with the car, except that they still owed money on the car, and how far upside down were they with their car loans? how far upside down were they with their mortgage? sorry but you fail with this one, again, carterstamp
Noooo, because you didn't read the rest of the article.
You got as far as the first few paragraphs then gave up. The author is a large animal vet. When the recession hit, she lost a huge chunk of her income, which resulted in them not being able to meet their mortgage obligation. Try reading it all the way through.
Try living on a fraction of your income and see how you fare. No failure here.
Income loss is what did them in. Getting out of debt instead of not getting into debt when everyone else was headed in the other direction is very hard to do. (I did it) People are sheep. We tend to go with the flow. It is very hard to not go with the flow. What I am saying is nocking someone for doing what everyone else was doing is being a bit hard. That is all. (Front Page This person does his own thing and it pays very well for him.)
We are headed for a big economic upset. When this one comes along we will be seeing those people that did everything right go under.
Saying that it is hard to do is a weak argument. We've been there before....lost income and it DIDN'T do us in because we didn't live our lives on the edge of a financial cliff as these people did.
It's not an easy choice to go against the flow but it is still a choice. "Everyone else is doing it." is something I expect to hear from irrational children, not grown adults with responsibilities. Seriously, it's lame. Like lemmings they ran toward the financial cliff but didn't expect to fall?? Come on....
You focus on the income loss being their downfall and I focus on their extravagant lifestyle and high debt load. True enough, you HAVE to have the income to service the debt but that is the end of the equation that we can not always control. We CAN control how much debt we have and that is where the writer of the article went wrong. She misplaced her trust in the one thing that she does not control and assumed the rest would take care of itself. It's a foolish way to live and many fools are revealing themselves in this recession. Some of them will learn and be wiser next time around, some of them will recover only to repeat past mistakes.
That is not to say that some people who are not fools are not being caught up in the economic turmoil but anyone would fare better if they had been better prepared beforehand. The story presented here is not one of innocence and victimization.....just a clear view from a fool's perspective.
I have yet to see a story about a truly innocent and victimized family, who did everything right and still lost it all. I'm sure they are out there...but I haven't seen it and I haven't witnessed it IRL either. Those who were prepared for the worst are able to ride it out, maybe getting knocked around a little bit but certainly keeping their ships afloat.
The family featured is a dual income family. I doubt her income represented 90% of the family income although the article doesn't specify.
Personally speaking, we are working hard to pay off our house early (that is well below our budget) and didn't fall for they hype in the middle of the bubble. You know....when everyone was telling us that we were being stupid to pay off the house instead of using that money elsewhere. Seems to me there are a heck of a lot of people who would like to be in our shoes now, we can live on minimum wage if we had to, still keep the house and not touch the savings much. Once the house is paid for we can make do on even less....without touching savings...just living bare bones and being frugal. It's surprising how little it takes to live without a mountain of debt to service. My grandparents and likely your grandparents lived that way and yet now people think it isn't possible. It's remarkable how quickly the mindset changed over just a few generations.
The ant hill is being taken over by a bunch of foolish grasshoppers.
It's a wise choice to pay off your house early. The purpose of the article is to get an inside view of what it's like to lose something you worked for. These people didn't buy at the height of the "bubble" they bought in 1998, 12 years ago.
The point is, this kind of thing can happen to anyone.
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