How long would you last, realistically, if you lost your job?

[Singular73]

By "last", I mean living in your current residence, having utilities turned on, and keeping a moderate lifestyle?

Just curious what some DU'ers are planning to do during the coming depression.

For myself and my family, we could probably last about a year without going into credit card debt, while cashing in about 50% of my 401k, which I wouldn't be too concerned about considering I'm relatively young at 35 years old.

What about you?

[Generic Brad]

1. Right now I have three years or more.

Just as long as hyperinflation does not kick in, I should be all right.

[Singular73]

2. Hyperinflation...

Would only kick in during an artifically inflated upswing right now. I can't see that happening.

I do, however, see major inflation when the economy starts to recover, dampening that recovery and stretching it out over years.

Kinda like the Bush "recovery"

[Vickers]

3. Around 6 months without dipping into the 401k...

...maybe 28-30 months with the 401k (at today's value).

[lumberjack_jeff]

4. four years now and counting. being adaptable is useful. n/t

[Gwendolyn]

5. I can answer that...

...one year. :)

[chalky]

10. Same here.

One year. But my 401k would take one heck of a beating.
That is, if I still have a 401k by then.

[elocs]

6. With absolutely no income coming in I could probably last a year,

but my living expenses are so incredibly small as well as my needs that I could survive quite easily on a very, very low paying job.

As far as things like a 401k or an IRA, what is the point of holding onto them if cashing them helps to keep you off the streets? That's like storing food for the future and then starving because you haven't reached the future yet. Today is yesterday's future.

[XOKCowboy]

7. Quit my job last year and went freelance..

No choice really but I have marketable skills. My industry has taken just a little smaller hit than 9/11 with the financial crisis and gas prices and business is way down. I'm doing OK but sure could be doing better if the economy was more stable.

[Cleita]

8. How about rephrasing this about just losing your income whether it's from

a job or retirement. In my case it's retirement. In the last two months I have lost $15,000 principle from my paltry little life savings that provided me with an extra $500 a month that supplemented my social security check. I already have found myself putting medication on a credit card three times now this year. I won't renew the prescription anymore. It's a sign to me that I'm living beyond my means. I have recently gotten a part time job and I'm a 68 year old widow. I'm trying. There are drum beats that Social Security might crash. I probably could survive on savings a year or so, but that's it. However, if my savings become worthless through inflation or a complete crash in the financial markets, I'm done.

[Singular73]

11. Social Security.

Cleita, Social Security is not going to crash, so don't worry about that. If anything, Obama will reduce military spending and borrow in order to meet and even extend all social obligations.

There are many things to worry about, fairly, but Social Security is not one of them.

It is sad that in this country, buying medicine means you may be living beyond your means.

Don't worry - you will be fine.

[sandnsea]

13. Did you try for a $4 prescription?

I know that isn't always possible, but I took the list to my doctor and told her she'd have to get me well with what was on it. And that's what I take. My husband has Plavix and a few others though, so I know that doesn't always work.

[Cleita]

17. I talked to my doctor and she suggested Secure Horizons the Medicare HMO.

You can imagine how I went ballistic because as a person who knows how evil Medicare privatization is I couldn't believe this was my only option. I then challenged her because I know most doctors in the whole state of California are not accepting it. It does have a cheap prescription benefit. I think they maintain it by not paying their participating doctors very much so as a result they refuse to participate anymore. She told me as an old patient I would be kept on but it was true they weren't accepting new ones. I then told her that was just very nice of her medical group, but what do I do when I need to go to a specialist? So I have decided that I really don't need that pill. My choice. I already went through the whole Medicare D thing since enrollment is up again. It's such a rip off when you do the arithmetic that I'm off that med just out of protest. Also, it occurred to me that it doesn't really cost that much to manufacture that pill, that other countries get the same pill for a half or even a third of the cost. I don't need to make those bastards any richer than they are. It isn't a pill that I need to keep me alive. It's only one that might have given me a better quality of life much longer in the future. I don't really need it if I can't afford to live to enjoy it.

[Horse with no Name]

30. I've switched every prescription we have to th e$4 list

at Kroger.
There were a couple of exceptions but I switched them to 90-day scripts.
I hated to do that but we did a complete household cutback a few months back and figured out how to save $600 a year by that one measure.
Not sure what you are on or if there is a cheaper alternative.
Good luck to you.

[dysfunctional press]

9. 10 years and counting, so far.

i had to retire when i was 38, due to disability, because of the onset of an autoimmune arthritic condition.

i'm even getting a 5.8% raise come january.

[happychatter]

12. I haven't had a job in many, many years

I knew an old guy that owned a laundromat once. He kept the place nice and clean.

He was in there one day while I was doing my wash, so I asked him....

"You still charge 25 cents to wash and ten cents to dry, while everyone in town has raised their prices. Why?"

He said "If it gets to where I have to charge much more, then I'll close this place up and we'll ALL GO DOWN TO THE RIVER, and wash our clothes the way we used to."

[Trajan]

14. One month without income ....

And I am done for ....

MAJOR dislocation would be the order of the day .... sell most of my furniture ... Find a cheap room ... Live on unemployment for 6 months ....

I have other prospects, but in this environment, those prospects could have already dried up ...

[NRaleighLiberal]

15. It is reality for us - got laid off in April. At age nearly 53, we think

about 2 years with what we have, but occasional consulting is keeping a bit coming in. Scary, though - and we realize we are very fortunate to have received a year salary plus lifetime health. Problem is 401K (now an IRA), which we were counting on at 59 1/2, is going backwards rapidly....so who knows what the future brings....

[Thor_MN]

16. A couple weeks ago, I would have said assuming I would get unemployment, over a year.

However, my brother-in-law was just diagnosed with liver cancer at age 46. No short term disabilty, he's out of sick and vacation time and it's into his lymph nodes. I forsee a big dent in my safety net, since family is family. Doesn't help any that he is a Rush-bot, but I didn't get to pick the guy my sister married.

[ecstatic]

18. I was thinking about that today... First

I'd have to rent out some of the extra space I have. I'd have to ask for my college loans to be deferred.

I'd also probably get rid of extras like cable and maybe even do a combination of dialup internet and bandwidth theft.

Those cutbacks would get me through a year but I'm sure I'd be able to pick up a menial job if I became super desperate. If not, I still have about 10k in available credit card funds as well. It's a scary thought, nonetheless. :(

[alarimer]

19. One month.

I have enough savings for one month. I have been in my job 11 YEARS and that is all I have saved. I work for the state so I make shit wages (so for all you who think government workers are overpaid and underworked, you can kiss my ass).

[lapfog_1]

20. Let's see...

The first time I lasted about 3 years, to be fair, I was doing my own startup and had investors plus I borrowed from family members.

After my startup got going (and was sold), I paid back the loans and made sure that all of the investors made money... which didn't leave that much left over for me.

So... I did another start up, only using all of my own money. After that went down the tubes, I lasted about 1 year.

Since then I've had two jobs, one that lasted about a year and that basically got me back to just having nothing again.

I borrowed more money from my family and lasted another year before I got another job (this one paid about 1/2 of my previous job.

that lasted a whole 5 months (until about 6 weeks ago). I wasn't able to save anything from that job as I had to start paying back my family members again. So... right now I have a few hundred bucks left. I've never filed for unemployment in my life (I'm now over 50) but am doing so this Monday. I can probably get another $1000 from my family, but my B-in-L has been out of work for like a year and they don't know how they are going to pay the mortgage next month. Part of me paying them back was sending them $1300 from my last 2 paychecks so they could pay their electric bill and car payment.

Fortunately, I don't own anything or owe anyone (like credit cards, car payments). I live with relatives and it's free. No car payments. My total monthly expense is around $400 (cell phone, internet, groceries for one, gas... but I don't go anywhere, so that is actually quite cheap).

Anyway, I figure I can live on vapor until Christmas... maybe through to Feb. Then, I don't know.

[MrSlayer]

21. I would be fine. I'd just go back to the street,

Flipping pounds and keys. One must do what one must do.

[Broken_Hero]

22. two weeks, nt

[CrispyQ]

23. Five years.

Paying off our little house instead of buying a newer, bigger one, was the best thing we ever did. All those house payments have gone into a savings account & we have no other debt. My friends all have much nicer houses, cars & furniture but most are living paycheck to paycheck. I've come to love my itty bitty house, my old worn furniture & my little Toyota truck.

on edit: We lost a house in the S&L crisis in the late 80s. Our house dropped 25% in value. We couldn't get an offer that would cover what we owed. Some of the offers we got were stunningly predatory. One offer even stated that all the belongings in the house were included in the sale. I'm sure the person making the offer wouldn't want much of what we had, but if he had, it was in the offer. :eyes: I feel so badly for those who are losing their house. I know just what it feels like.

[mnhtnbb]

24. Hubby and I live on one income. If his 3 clinic days and two 1/3 days

dried up, we'd be left with his pension from the VA system and his newly begun social security.
I can't draw from my IRA for two more years (which is down 30% from its high this year)and I'm not eligible for reduced social security for 4 1/2 years--if they don't change the age 62 eligibility which I've been planning to apply for.

We still own the lot where our house burned down last year, and have no obligation on it other than to pay taxes. If we couldn't sell it, we could probably rent the studio apartment above the garage for about $550/month. Right now my son's drums are there. Push came to shove, we could put up a fence (to keep deer out) and grow a pretty fine garden in the vacant space where the house once stood.

We'd get by. The mortgage on our new house is 30% less than the one we were paying on the house that burned down. My parents left me some money; I had always hoped to be able to leave most of it to my boys while only drawing interest from it, but if we were forced to draw down principal we'd live quite
comfortably--barring runaway inflation--for the rest of our lives.

On edit: hubby is a psychiatrist who works for county mental health clinics, a drug rehab clinic, and has a small private practice.

[Le Taz Hot]

25. About 6 months.

My husband was unemployed for 14 months after his start-up failed. At the time, all I could find was secretarial work which pays shit and wasn't enough to pay our monthly obligations. We re-financed the house to keep it and paid off almost all the debt (luckily we didn't use all the equity) but our house payment went up by $500.00 a month. We used up most of the savings and all 401K's and retirement during that 14 months.

[mondo joe]

26. If *only* my partner or I lost a job, we could get by indefinitely but life would

look very different than it does now.

If we both lost our jobs and did not get another - maybe a year.

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

27. my family is living the nightmare right now

husband's job was eliminated* in July, we have burned threw our savings, and now we have his severance and unemployment, and my salary. We should be ok until Summer, and if nothing turns up for him by then, we have major major decisions to make regarding our house and retirement savings.

*by eliminated i mean all higher paid well benefited jobs were replaced by contract workers with no benefits.

[cherokeeprogressive]

28. Barring any major health issues, about 4 years I'd think

[marknovota]

29. 3 months

Well, not too long, but hope that I could pick up some other gigs out of my day job. I am web/graphic designer, photographer, etc, so there should be some opportunity now and then...

[BlooInBloo]

31. I would melt like the Wicked Witch Of The West.