I feel surrounded by employed people "not making it" lately.

[Silent1CB]

Seems like everytime I go out, I'm being approached by people asking for money. Outside the coffee shop or lunch spot. Bus stops. Actually walking up & asking for handouts.

More & more people on intersections with signs asking for money or work or food.

One relative recently had to rent out her house and move into a very tiny apartment because she can no longer afford her mortgage payment. Works in real estate, but not making many sales lately.

Another just got off the phone with us and going to be doing Obama's Making Homes Affordable Program although I'm not aware that they are behind in any payments. Neither has had a job loss or income loss. Actually one got a raise. Both have full time jobs. One works 5 days a week at evening part time (specialty) job that pays more than full time job. They are just in too much debt and looking to lower their mortgage payment. Even went thru debt counseling years ago. Guess that didn't really work out for them as they are also in some credit card help program too.

Seems like everyone wants or needs a handout or a hand-up. I can't imagine what would happen to these people if they actually lost their jobs.

Its just so sad to see that we live in a country with at least 1 generation, probably more, that does not save for a rainy day.

I wish all these people the best and really hope everyone can learn something from the troubling times we are going through so this never gets repeated in the future.

I learned from my parents hardships. Hardships that were long before I was born. I can only hope their kids learn from what their parents are going thru now. I wish them luck not to repeat past mistakes.

 

[Robinrs]

Wow, like my Dad always used to say.."keep on living"...

We're in a recession. You sound young so I can guess you've never seen cycles like this before.

I've seen up and down, I've BEEN up and down, it's life.... wow, that's a Frank Sinatra song, isn't it?

The bottom can fall out at anytime, and sometimes that rainy day can be a flood.

Count your blessings.

 

[Silent1CB]

Not young. Older than you. Matter of fact, the 2 people I mention are even older than me.

And counting my blessings, and very thankful to not be in the situation they find themselves in. I don't need that stress. Very glad for the lessons I've learned in my life. Just wish more people would learn them.

You have to wonder how these people are going to be when they retire or hit 65 in about 15 yrs. I predict a majority of a generation being on some heavy public assistance more than ever before.

 

[JR6ooo4]

Hey Silent1cb! What is the significance of the survey marker in your sig?

Mikeeee

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I learned from my parents hardships. Hardships that were long before I was born. I can only hope their kids learn from what their parents are going thru now. I wish them luck not to repeat past mistakes.

I think this statement is key. My parents lived through the depression. Consequently, they were always saving, clipping coupons, doing without certain things. They both made decent incomes but chose to live below their means so they could invest what was left. We still had plenty when I was growing up - nice house, cars, etc. But we did without expensive vacations, designer clothes, etc. All of their saving and investing really paid off because they're doing exceptionally well in their retirement and helped all of us kids make down payments on our homes.

I learned a lot from my parents' experiences and how they managed their money. My husband and I also choose to live a little below our means. We save a lot. When we took our Disney trip, we could have stayed in a deluxe but we chose Pop because it would suit our needs and save us tons of money. I'm so glad I was able to learn from my parents and their experiences. This recession has been tough on many, many people but I'm hoping we can learn from it too.

 

[FireDancer]

There are a lot of people who do live above their means so a slight hiccup causes an avalanche.

I have never been comfortable without enough savings to support me for at least a couple of months and makes sure that is taken care of before any unnecessary expenses.

We were told that next year we have to take a 5% pay hit until some things turn around. I am not pleased but I am fortunate that my job is safe. There are people in a panic because they live so close to the edge that that 5% could ruin them. I am even considering taking a small part time gig just to stay ahead of the game. I don't want to wait until the 5% sticks around too long or grows before I deploy some sort of safety net. I am also going to look at ways I can cut back just to be safe.

I know a lot of people who have to drive the fancy car and live in the fancy house that are relying on credit cards to pay for essentials. I think this is the kind of person the OP was talking about. Living above your means is not a good idea and a lot of people live like the lows will never come. The time to save is before you need to, not when you need to.

I don't think the OP was talking about someone who has something truly unfortunate happen to them. I think they are talking about the person who neglects to plan. The grasshopper as opposed to the ants.

 

[themilesfamily]

I am really concerned for the middle class. I heard this on a TV show the other day:

Since 2000 --
healthcare has gone up 95%
higher ed has gone up 43%
housing has gone up 45%
and so on,

and salaries have stayed flat.

How are families supposed to keep up with these costs? Families are killing themselves trying to make ends meet.

And then you have greedy CEO's. In the 1950's the average CEO made 30-times what their average employee made. Today they make 300-times what the average employee makes. They're keeping their workers salaries flat and taking obscene amounts of money for themselves. How sad to keep others poor so that you can be super-wealthy.

I don't know how the average family can make it these days. The cards are definitely stacked against them.

 

[PurpleSurfer]

I read this a while back and was floored!

USA Today: Ninety-seven out of one hundred sixty-five year-olds can't write a check for $600

I really thought all people at least saved for retirement?

 

[Plannin'Shannon]

I really thought all people at least saved for retirement?

Everyone's situation is different. When you live paycheck to paycheck, how in the world are you supposed to save for retirement?

 

[Pin Wizard]

I am really concerned for the middle class. I heard this on a TV show the other day:

Since 2000 --
healthcare has gone up 95%
higher ed has gone up 43%
housing has gone up 45%
and so on,

and salaries have stayed flat.

How are families supposed to keep up with these costs? Families are killing themselves trying to make ends meet.

And then you have greedy CEO's. In the 1950's the average CEO made 30-times what their average employee made. Today they make 300-times what the average employee makes. They're keeping their workers salaries flat and taking obscene amounts of money for themselves. How sad to keep others poor so that you can be super-wealthy.

I don't know how the average family can make it these days. The cards are definitely stacked against them.

It's sickening!

 

[IDoDis]

I read this a while back and was floored!

USA Today: Ninety-seven out of one hundred sixty-five year-olds can't write a check for $600

I really thought all people at least saved for retirement?

Wow, that's old! I didn't such a large percentage of people (97 out of 165-year olds) could even live that long.

ETA: OP, what makes you think people asking for cash/food are employed? When the economy tanks, charitable giving tanks, too. Just read my signature and you'll know my stance on this topic.

 

[bumbershoot]

I think this statement is key. My parents lived through the depression. Consequently, they were always saving, clipping coupons, doing without certain things.

I learned a lot from my parents' experiences and how they managed their money.

Very lucky.

My FIL was a child during the Depression, and sold newspapers for pennies per day, because his father was too busy gambling away what money he made.

He grew up into a person who liked the illusion of money, and when he died, he had NO life insurance despite being 79 (they thought MIL would die first, so there was no point in his having life insurance), he had NO savings, he had no money to pay for the cremation and Korean ceremony a month later...and we found out that he had forged MIL's signature to steal almost all the value of MIL's insurance policy, with nothing to show for it, AND he hadn't filed taxes in 6 years. He did have a union pension, thank goodness, and SS, so MIL isn't destitute. MIL has been held responsible for the taxes and fees, because 7 years before she had signed the TurboTax form (subsequent years it's all electronic, so no signature is needed...this has been our experience too...so he just TOLD her he'd filed and she believed him) and is busy paying 50K to the IRS.

Just having lived through the Depression didn't make everyone financial geniuses, or savers, or anything like that.




We've been SO lucky...in April events happened in such a way that we realized that we were living on the edge, then got some money from severance then signing bonus, and the way things happened seriously saved us and our futures. Hubby had learned all the bad from his parents, and my own mom was so busy living day to day that she never had any time to teach me anything about money...then just as she finally got some stability she died before I could learn...so we're really learning as we go. So glad things happened in the order they happened (if we'd gotten the money BEFORE realizing how close to falling off the edge, we would have done really really really stupid things), or we might have been one of the people you feel surrounded by. Whew.

 

[shortbun]

Everyone's situation is different. When you live paycheck to paycheck, how in the world are you supposed to save for retirement?

Exactly! My parents just died and even though most in their generation were able to plan for retirement, there were some who could not. My parents had to pinch their pennies until they screamed to save what they did. The odd thing was that when the 'rainy day' came, they found it hard to spend their hard saved money to make themselves comfortable. They had scrimped for so long that actually spending for health care in catastrophic illness came with huge guilt. It was painful to watch and reassure them that they had enough money to care for themselves. My husband and I are following their example but we don't want to end up afraid to spend in the end, kwim?

As far as people today are concerned, the huge losses in investments and property value have left many who thought they were prepared ill equipped. those with no plan at all, no savings or investments, have lost the least. Pretty weird.

 

[kilee]

We are another family that lives paycheck to paycheck......not because we want to nor because we live above our means.

There is NO money left to put into savings or to save for retirement. One hiccup and we'd be those families looking for a hand-out or up, whichever way you want to slice it.

The poster who mentioned the lack of salary increases while everything else continues to rise hit the nail on head.

Almost 3 yrs ago my husbands work closed. We depleted almost everything we had to get by. Then our house burned down in 2008 and insurance covered very little.

Fast forward to today---he works 2 jobs only making 1/2 of what he was making total. I work a decent job and grab as much overtime as possible. Together we are lucky if we bring home $4000 a month.

We live in a small 900 sq ft rental house, we have a 2002 Taurus we're still paying on and my husband drives my grandfathers 1993 old sedan. So, we only have 1 car payment. We have no "toys" that we're making payments on. We have NO credit card debt (that got paid off in 2002 and thank goodness we've managed no matter what to incur no more). I pay my utilities for gas and food....and I guess our 1 luxury is cable TV and internet. We don't have cell phone plans-- we use prepaid that costs us an average of $30.00 a month total for 3 phones. We only had 1 child. We haven't been on vacation in 5 years.

Yet we scrimp to get through each payperiod. There is no more "fat to trim" and nothing left to put away. So, here we get put under your blanket statement and we have not wasted 1 thing and work really hard.

I have a $5000.00 family deductible on my health insurance plan-- and that doesn't include the premium I pay. I clip coupons and only buy sale items-- and yet to feed my family of 3 it costs me $150 weekly in groceries. Nobody is home all day and yet my utility bills keeping going up. My $99 cable bill w/ all the "taxes" is almost $150.00. I pay $90.00 a week in gas for us to get back and forth to work.

If businesses would pay reasonable wages, maybe then we'd all be able to do a little better.

Sorry your statement made me really upset. Blanket statements shouldn't be made unless they truly apply.

 

[Carly_Roach]

I have been surrounded by employed people not making it for over 8 years now. That's nothing new here in Michigan.

Since 2000 --
healthcare has gone up 95%
higher ed has gone up 43%
housing has gone up 45%
and so on,

and salaries have stayed flat.

How are families supposed to keep up with these costs?

They are not keeping up with these costs. This is where the fallacy of the much touted "spending beyond their means" idea hyped by some media outlets is falling apart.

On the bright side, if there is a bright side to this: yes, what the OP is saying can be insulting. However, the law of averages will likely have that same person finding themselves in the same predicament that they're eschewing others for within the next 2 to 5 years. Perhaps then they will realize that disaster or pending disaster can happen to prudent people through no fault of their own.

Until then, the OP and people like them simply can't understand. They have to learn the hard way.

 

[luvsJack]

At this point we are some of those folks who have been living paycheck to paycheck too. We have a small house and one car note, utilities, cable and internet. All cc's paid off and accounts closed. We do have a small personal loan.

Not asking for a handout but have looked into the "making homes affordable plan" which, for us, is just re-financing and, btw, you can't be behind to do this.

But, I won't say that I think everything the OP is saying is being unfair. We should have done things a bit differently when Dh's income was better (its been cut in half or more). We should have put a bit more back every week and it would have helped considerably. There were things that we spent money on that could have waited or not been done at all. We weren't exactly "spending above our means" because we weren't using credit. Everything was cash, we were just a bit too free with that cash and weren't putting enough back.

We have definitely learned our lesson. Even at this cut rate of income, we put as much as we can in savings. If we get any kind of "extra" money, it goes into savings. It may come out a month later to help cover the bills we are short on, but at least its there.

We are fortunate enough that even with this cut rate of income we have been able to keep the bills paid and we are cutting expenses (like groceries) enough that we can make "extras" (like outings for dd) possible. And we are actually learning what is "enough" and what is extra. I would think a lot of people are learning that lesson right now.

All that said, if you are seeing people actually asking for money at the bus stop or the coffee shop; I just don't believe that these are some of those that "failed to plan". As a person who "failed to plan, I can tell you that they would have started realizing the need for change long before they got to that point. And why would someone that has a job be at the bus stop asking for money? That doesn't really make sense.

I think sometimes when we see people that are destitute, homeless or just plain needy; its easier to say "they should have planned better". It makes it seem that it can't happen to us. Admitting that maybe misfortune took away their choices and they got to this point through no fault of their own, is admitting it can happen to us.

 

[Carly_Roach]

We are fortunate enough that even with this cut rate of income we have been able to keep the bills paid and we are cutting expenses (like groceries) enough that we can make "extras" (like outings for dd) possible. And we are actually learning what is "enough" and what is extra. I would think a lot of people are learning that lesson right now.

Exactly. DH and I both work, but now we get things repaired rather than buy new. Mechanics and repair shops in our area are one of the few businesses that are becoming more successful again!

I'm enjoying my recent rediscovery of how much I love baking and coming up with ways to use McCormick's seasonings/marinades so we have leftovers for lunches that can be eaten cold. Homemade bread and rolls again! VERY economical!

 

[manning]

I bought my first car when I was 20 and now am in my 60s and am now buying fifth one. all of them got me where I went and boy did I save a ton of money. When I had my '77 ford a '77 lincoln parked next to me. I was basicly the same car with gingerbread added.

What I'm trying to say is you don't have to buy the most expensive something. The basics will get you thru life just fine.

I grew up poor and didn't realize it. We had a roof over our head and food on the table. we entertained ourselves with what we had and were happy.

I like what a relative said once "It is a waste of time trying to keep up with the Jones. They won't notice as they are too busy trying to keep up with the ....Jones".

 

[apirateslifeforme]

Something I saw in our local paper about a month ago...in my town, the median household (2-person) income is only $1,000 above the poverty line. I don't know how anyone can "make it" on that...

 

[disney1990]

Everyone's situation is different. When you live paycheck to paycheck, how in the world are you supposed to save for retirement?

I have a very good friend that that is 55 years old and doesn't have $1,000 to her name. Yes, she is employed and works everyday making a fairly good salary, but she says she can't afford to save after her mortgage and 2 car payments. I asked her what happens when she retires and her answer is, I'm never going to be able to retire.