Reply #25: All I can add is a hearty "Amen" to all of those who have [View All]

[Adsos Letter]

lauded the idea of living within or below one's means. About 25 years ago my wife and I found ourselves very deeply in debt due to some unusual circumstances not related to over spending.

We scrimped and did without in order to retire that debt. It took us about 5 years. Coming out on the other side of the whole thing we found we had developed whole new spending habits and value considerations. Once we had more money (our incomes went up, and no more debt) we were actually able to save and buy a newly built, but modest, home (1990)...and keep saving.

In the end it didn't make us "miserly"...it just forced a reassessment of what were necessities in our lives. We have taken some very nice vacations since then; put one daughter through 4 years at UC Davis and getting ready to do the same with another at NYU.

We still have 2 credit cards which we use for convenience and pay off the balance monthly.

What I am getting at is that I realize that what is coming is going to hurt a lot of people (it could include us...no one can see the future, we've all seen jobs go away which aren't likely to return in our lifetime...), and not everyone who has debt is there because of mismanagement; some people no doubt found credit necessary to sustain the basic necessities of life. This is one of the areas government has failed our society, imho.

But, as has been often said on these boards, many, many people are in trouble because of giving in to society's pressure to have the material goods of "wealth" which are no wealth at all, simply "things" to be paid for, and which become a burden on finding real "life".

Perhaps when we come out on the other side of this thing (and I remain optimistic that we will set our country aright, although we face enormous challenges at home and abroad) perhaps the majority will have developed some new (or returned to some old) ways of valuating what is important in life.

I certainly hope so; and I wish us all the best of luck.