Are you worried about the future and the economy?

[CButler]

With all this Wall St. crashing and the bail-out, etc., I am worried about the future. My husband is a real estate agent and auctioneer, and I worry that the housing market will get even tougher. He has another job-a state legislator, but it is not full-time pay. At least he has insurance through that to cover diabetes supplies. I fear for other people, too

Are you as worried as I am?

[Sarah Maddie's Mom]

Yes and no.:rolleyes:

I'm trying not to freak out...but I think we are in for some really rough months (lets hope it's just months) ahead. My HD is a university prof and has pretty good job security but as for my re-entry into the job market, well that's feeling pretty bleak.:(

I think it's happening at a level so beyond most people's control that it's really hard to get one's head around how the situation might play out. Let's just hope that the credit market eases and things don't freeze up. Correction, that things don't stay frozen. :(

[momtojess]

Not really.. I work for Edward Jones Investments (full service broker). THey do a great job at breaking things into layman terms ( so I can undetstand) with out all the media hype-up.

I am just wishing I had more money to invest right now, while everything is "on sale"

With that said, my boss (the financial advisor) was on a cruise this week. Our phone never stopped ringing from clients wanting to know if they should freak out.

[KelliTwins]

I try not to freak out, but I do. Do we have enough money in the bank? How will be pay for x,y, and z? Ugh. I could go crazy with worry! :o Our jobs are very secure, as we work for a private special education school. We have worked there for years, and are always getting a new influx of students, so I really don't think we have to worry, but I still do!

[TerpSteph]

Since my son will be heading off to college next year, I am starting to worry a bit. Things we were counting on to pay tuition are losing value and I worry about how difficult it will be to secure student loans. :(

[WestinsMom]

I am going out on a limb to share this with you but we are getting ready to file bankruptcy. Our business (we are self employed) has really dropped over the last year and a half. We have held on as long as possible but we just can't do it anymore. We are letting everything go, including our home. We have made some stupid decisions, trying to hang on, and it just hasn't paid. We can't afford our home, especially. So, we meet with an attorney next week. We are in our early to mid 30's and have no retirement. In order to have any chance, we have to file and get a fresh start so we can afford to live off our lower income.

Then, with D, we basically need to make sure we keep our income low enough to qualify for MI Child (a low income insurance in Michigan). I think the cut off is around $48,000...I need to check. Being self employed with a child with a chronic illnesss (or a few) leaves us no choice. Then we can atleast get ourselved covered for a reasonable price.

So the plan is to really downsize our life and enjoy it and quit worrying all the time :) Actually looking forward to it.

[frizzyrazzy]

yes and no. Dh is currently on active duty with the National Guard and there will always be some sort of job there. Even if that means going back overseas. Plus, he's still on leave from his civilian job so even if the military were to dry up he could go back to that job (which he hated and which the benefits were pretty bad)

Financially, I wish we hadn't done a major remodel to our house last year. Had I known that housing values were goign to drop I would have thought twice. The only saving grace is that we bought our home for less than 90k back in 1994 so even with all our additions and refinances we're still paying less than what our house is worth so in that sense we're ok, if for some reason we had to sell. But had I known things were going to get so tight in the economy I would have thought twice about increasing our financial obligations. I would have felt better with a better cushion.

[CButler]

I am going out on a limb to share this with you but we are getting ready to file bankruptcy. Our business (we are self employed) has really dropped over the last year and a half. We have held on as long as possible but we just can't do it anymore. We are letting everything go, including our home. We have made some stupid decisions, trying to hang on, and it just hasn't paid. We can't afford our home, especially. So, we meet with an attorney next week. We are in our early to mid 30's and have no retirement. In order to have any chance, we have to file and get a fresh start so we can afford to live off our lower income.

Then, with D, we basically need to make sure we keep our income low enough to qualify for MI Child (a low income insurance in Michigan). I think the cut off is around $48,000...I need to check. Being self employed with a child with a chronic illnesss (or a few) leaves us no choice. Then we can atleast get ourselved covered for a reasonable price.

So the plan is to really downsize our life and enjoy it and quit worrying all the time :) Actually looking forward to it.


Thanks for your honesty and sharing that,and I'm sorry it has happened. You're young enough to build back up. I hope things get better for you soon. We have seen a lot of people have foreclosures on their homes and that alone is scary to see. People struggling without health insurance is rampant too.

[robinseggs]

I am going out on a limb to share this with you but we are getting ready to file bankruptcy. Our business (we are self employed) has really dropped over the last year and a half. We have held on as long as possible but we just can't do it anymore. We are letting everything go, including our home. We have made some stupid decisions, trying to hang on, and it just hasn't paid. We can't afford our home, especially. So, we meet with an attorney next week. We are in our early to mid 30's and have no retirement. In order to have any chance, we have to file and get a fresh start so we can afford to live off our lower income.

Then, with D, we basically need to make sure we keep our income low enough to qualify for MI Child (a low income insurance in Michigan). I think the cut off is around $48,000...I need to check. Being self employed with a child with a chronic illnesss (or a few) leaves us no choice. Then we can atleast get ourselved covered for a reasonable price.

So the plan is to really downsize our life and enjoy it and quit worrying all the time :) Actually looking forward to it.

Michelle, hang in there...we are here for you! I think your plan does sound more stress free...in fact I am a little jealous! My husband's job is secure, yet we have so much going on here/there...bills/money....it just sounds refreshing to start over! I wish you the best of luck...Robin

[bgallini]

I am going out on a limb to share this with you but we are getting ready to file bankruptcy. Our business (we are self employed) has really dropped over the last year and a half. We have held on as long as possible but we just can't do it anymore. We are letting everything go, including our home. We have made some stupid decisions, trying to hang on, and it just hasn't paid. We can't afford our home, especially. So, we meet with an attorney next week. We are in our early to mid 30's and have no retirement. In order to have any chance, we have to file and get a fresh start so we can afford to live off our lower income.

Then, with D, we basically need to make sure we keep our income low enough to qualify for MI Child (a low income insurance in Michigan). I think the cut off is around $48,000...I need to check. Being self employed with a child with a chronic illnesss (or a few) leaves us no choice. Then we can atleast get ourselved covered for a reasonable price.

So the plan is to really downsize our life and enjoy it and quit worrying all the time :) Actually looking forward to it.

I'm sorry things are so rough for you money-wise. But it sounds like you have a good attitude about it. Simplfy and move on with life, don't stress over the past.

[bgallini]

We're doing ok personally. Both dh's and my jobs are pretty secure. Alex's college is expensive but we're surviving that so far. We have good insurance and the flexpay plan at dh's work. I have investments thru Edward Jones and momtojess is right...they are very good at explaining things. In fact my guy (I call him my money guy) called me on one of the first bad days and tried to politely encourage me to invest more. But I don't have it right now. I later ran into him while he was walking around my neighborhood trying to drum up more business and he gave me some papers and explained more about what is going on.



The things I'm doing now to not make things work is leaving my investments where they are, spending a bit less where I can, and trying to figure out how much money I can invest so I can put more money in soon. I also have great HOPE that things will CHANGE soon.

[Mama2H]

Terrified :( My job depends on other people keeping their jobs and I have seen more and more large businesses lay off and close that it makes me really nervous. If it gets to the point that most families have to go down to one family income I am going to be in dire straights :( I have no job skills other than child care and I pay more than 50% of all of the bills and buy all of the food :(

[CButler]

I wanted to add in this article. It says women are more likely to worry!
http://rismedia.com/wp/2008-10-08/its-a-fact-study-finds-financial-worries-contributing-to-stress-among-americans/

[jacobandhannah]

I work for a large company and I would like to say I feel secure. But, there has been alot ging on and i worry every night about the what ifs. I carry the insurance so it would be bad if our company does not make it. There is also the possibilty that the company I work for will be bought out. I then worry about what kind of benefits we would have. I worry way to much. My DH tells me that all the time.

[SamsMom]

I do worry because my daughter recently graduated college. She is completing an internship with a large company and they want to hire her on after she is finished. She may have to take a position she is overqualified for to ride out the economy and wait for a better position to open up. It blows~she worked so hard to get her degree and living in California is hard enough especially if she has to take a lesser position in the interim. But, she is grateful that they want to hire her in this economy.

[Lisa P.]

I'm so sorry to hear about hard times. I hope the fresh start is a really, really good one.

I'm on the lunatic fringe and have been sure for ten years at least that a big crash is coming. I'm a history student, and I guess i just have the perspective that everybody around thinks it will always be the way it is now, and that's not the way it works. Things get better and worse, and then every once in a while they get much better and every once in a while they get much worse. Nothing stays the same.

I also think the whole country has been living in a house of cards, we consume ten times more than ever before and physically produce almost nothing, I don't see how that can not collapse.

But, I haven't necessarily lived that way. Now we're making some changes, going to move to a cheap house and try to work for ourselves and can and have eggs. If everything goes well with the economy we will be living a slower, happier life (in theory) and if it doesn't we will have resources to fall back on (though in reality we will probably just be the first ones shot for our chicken and basement full of beans! :eek:)

Wish me luck!

[Momof4gr8kids]

I am very concerned about the state of the nation, and the stock market. I am also a bit peeved that we helped wall street, but did nothing for main street in the bailouts, and the whole thing with the CEOs from AIG just grrrr :mad: frustrates me to say it politely.

Also, our local economy is in a very bad way currently. That worries me, and I am already thinking about moving back to where I came from.

One of our largest employers in the area announced a 15% layoff this morning, which will be around 1,300 people who will loose their jobs. This company has been doing mass layoffs about every 6 months for a few years now. Right now it is hard to find a job that amounts to anything, and it seems like it only continues to get worse.

[mom2kenny]

If i knew i could rent a house in the same neighborhood that we are in now, i would be filing bankruptcy too. When a family income provides for buying a house, having a decent car, some savings, and you end up losing 60% of your income from job loss, your obligations outweigh assets. This is what happened to us. Unemployment in our town has hit 12%. We live in rv, mobilehome producing area. I would love to get out from under what has now become a lot more bills than income. It makes you feel like there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

[WestinsMom]

We live in rv, mobilehome producing area. I would love to get out from under what has now become a lot more bills than income. It makes you feel like there is no light at the end of the tunnel.


Let me guess, Northern Indiana? We are only an hour or so from the border.

[Beach bum]

We're ok, but I worry about other family members. We've seen our daughters college savings plan take a big dip, but luckily they are only 7 so we have time to regain what we lost (hopefully).

I saw a really scary story on GMA today. It was about this company in Riverside CA that basically goes in to houses that have been foreclosed on. They pull up with a dumpster and just start tossing. The owner and the workers actually have a heart and if they find things like pictures they do everything possible to get them to the people. They even found an urn with someone's ashes. One worker, a young father, said he thought of his kids when he's picking up toys. Was this their favorite toy? The owner said that these people have gotten themselves in so deep that they leave with the clothes on their back and that's about it.

I can see people who are living well beyond their means, but when it's someone who goes to work everyday and is just trying to make ends meet, this just isn't fair.

[Lee]

Yes - yes- and yes! I thought I had a secure job - I mean - I had it for 10 years before getting laid off last year! Now - people at work tell me this is a secure place - but I don't know - it sure doesn't feel secure... I am a trainer - and training is often one of the first things to go :(

The economy sucks, it is bad, they knew it would be bad, and it just keeps getting worse and worse and worse...I have been living paycheck to paycheck now for 5 years, ever since becoming single - and it is tough - my kids, my bf, my mom, no one understands how having to find $5 for a school dance, or tp, or food, or gas, can feel...I mean, when loosing a $20 makes you cry because that was all your extra 'emergency' $ for the week - it is bad. And I have a good job, and a cheap car, and no debt, but I still have a rent, and insurance, and utilities, etc... ***sigh***there is just never enough $

[frizzyrazzy]

hey, just when I got done saying how secure we feel, dh informs me that the state of MA hasn't funded his job past oct 15 - it's supposed to happen but they're being a little slow with orders and money and so the national guard told him that him (and all his guys) might not get paid ont he 15th. !!!!!!!!! WTF WTF WTF

my big worry, if dh doesn't have actual orders past oct 15 then we have no actual insurance past oct 15. !!!

[CButler]

hey, just when I got done saying how secure we feel, dh informs me that the state of MA hasn't funded his job past oct 15 - it's supposed to happen but they're being a little slow with orders and money and so the national guard told him that him (and all his guys) might not get paid ont he 15th. !!!!!!!!! WTF WTF WTF

my big worry, if dh doesn't have actual orders past oct 15 then we have no actual insurance past oct 15. !!!

Oh no! How can they DO that?

[hrermgr]

The news is not good but I think our family will be okay. I keep telling myself with regards to our 401(k)s--buy low, sell high--and this definitely a 'buy low' time and that's good, right..??? I can't even look at my 401(k) account because I know it'll be ugly.

My DH and I have good jobs in stable companies. My biggest concern about the economy is the availability of student loans--our oldest DD is off to college next year!!!

[Tigerlilly's mom]

I am a bit worried - My husband is a self employed landscaper. His regular customers are pretty well off so I am not afraid of losing that income, BUT those extra jobs he gets tree jobs, fall cleanups etc, that help with extra expenses (Christmas, etc) may not be there this year, I think that people are afraid to spend extra money and will put off taking down trees and will do there own fall cleanups instead of paying someone else to do them.

[saxmaniac]

I worry even when times are good. No change here!

[frizzyrazzy]

Oh no! How can they DO that?
because he works for the military and the military basically owns us. lol. I know, it sounds archaic and in many ways it is. The way it works for him is that he's what's called ADSW - which is Active Duty for Special work. So he's different than say a regular active duty soldier, he's only active duty to do one special job that has a start point (which was last feb) and it should have an end point. It's not meant to be a permanent job. However, since his job involves troop equipment leavign and coming from overseas it's a pretty stable job for the time being. It will eventually end, but not any time soon. But every year the national guard has to fund the job and then the budget has to be voted on by congress, and then that gets sent to the states. Because the national guard is run by the state and not the federal government the state then has to approve the budget. oct 1 was the start of the fiscal year and national guard in DC approved it but MA hasn't yet. So dh's group got a 15 day extension knowing that in 15 days MA would get their act together. However, they haven't yet. And he was told yesterday that MA may not get it together in time because there's some sort of big miscommunication between DC and MA right now.

It's so messed up it's unbelievable.

[momtojess]

[QUOTE=hrermgr;291018]The news is not good but I think our family will be okay. I keep telling myself with regards to our 401(k)s--buy low, sell high--and this definitely a 'buy low' time and that's good, right..??? I can't even look at my 401(k) account because I know it'll be ugly.

QUOTE]

Just throw out a postive note, history shows that after a down market, we have the biggest up markets.. an average of for every $1 lost, you get back $2.50.

[hrermgr]

[/QUOTE] Just throw out a postive note, history shows that after a down market, we have the biggest up markets.. an average of for every $1 lost, you get back $2.50.[/QUOTE]



I have heard this, too. Crossing my fingers that it happens again!!!

[mom2kenny]

Let me guess, Northern Indiana? We are only an hour or so from the border.

Yes, Northern Indiana. Just had another business lay off 78 people yesterday. My daughters' employer just layed off 140 people. My brother lives in MI. He is in Niles.

[ScottB]

For me directly I'm not sure. My employer is all about structural steel, at the moment we have more work than we know what to do with but future jobs are at risk because if the customer can't get a loan to fund a project then there is no project for my employer to bid on. At the same token my employer has so far been excellent at finding work to keep us busy even if the economy is bad.

I am worried about our boys future because I often worry about the kind of world we've brought them into and the challenges they will have to face.

[Sarah Maddie's Mom]

I just saw this on another site, said to be from the BBC

If you had purchased $1000.00 of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now be worth $49.00. With Enron, you would have $16.50 left of the original $1000. With WorldCom, you would have less than $5.00 left. If you had purchased $1000.00 of Delta Air Lines stock you would have $49.00 left. If you had purchased United Airlines, you would have nothing left. But, if you had purchased $1000.00 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, and then turned in the cans for recycling, you would have $214.00. Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle. This is called the 401-Keg Plan.
Daniel, Calgary, Canada
:D:eek:

[buggle]

I don't think this is or has been over-hype by the media. In fact, I believe the media has underplayed it. There's a site called bank implode I've been watching for a while. When I'd say all the banks were going to fail, people thought I was being silly. I've been worried for a long time that the FDIC didn't have the funds to cover the deposits of American banks that were going under.

I think we're in for a rough time for a very long time. We're all going to have to readjust our living standards and expectations. My hubby took a job making 40% less than he'd make in industry because we saw this coming and we were trying to get as much security as is possible in this environment. It's been tough to be so low on money, but I'm glad we made this decision. I just hope he's able to keep this job for a while until things get better (if they do). I think the economy and our country are in a much bigger hole than anyone wants to believe. We can't even borrow enough money to pay the interest on our national debt anymore. If nothing else, it makes for interesting times. I just try not to obsess about it, because there's nothing I can do about it. I do read about it each and every day, though.

[Jacob'sDad]

I'm worried, yes, but because I am in skilled labor I figure there will always be a need for me SOMEWHERE so I should be able to have a job as long as I'm flexible. My wife is a nursing assistant and a support service aide for the elderly so she should always have work too.
Health insurance is the big one for me. I don't want to lose my health insurance or end up with worse coverage than I have if I have to switch jobs.

We have many expenses we could cut. We have things we could sell. Our mortgage isn't TOO high. Actually, replace the word "could" in the last couple of sentences with "will". I think the time has come.