How many of us are *really* hurting financially?

[FirstLight]

I am asking this because I seem to see a lot of people just NOT acknowledging that MANY people are dealing with less in their pockets for Christmas, much less for essentials. Perhaps this can shed some light on the subject and open some eyes...

[Skittles]

1. you need to add one

"Employed, no problems now, but don't feel secure"

[FirstLight]

2. good!

don;t know if i can edit... will try

[Lorien]

22. And another: "I am working more but making less. Very stressed"

Many of us have taken huge pay cuts over the past eight years or so, or have gone from white collar jobs to minimum wage jobs-usually multiple part time gigs.

[spinbaby]

44. That would describe us

My husband and I are still working and doing well, but are approaching retirement age and are both ripe targets for downsizing. If we don't both continue working for the next six to ten years and manage to keep our health insurance until we qualify for Medicare, we're screwed out of our retirement.

[virgogal]

3. I voted "Other" because you didn't include fixed income people

like many retirees.

I'm feeling the pinch----badly.

[FirstLight]

8. d-oh!

i'm sorry...

[virgogal]

13. No problem---I admire anyone who can put a poll together. eom

[Boojatta]

49. Do you admire me?

[ZombieHorde]

51. I do. Your pair of glasses poll still makes me laugh when I remember it. nt

[virgogal]

56. I admire all of you poll folks. eom

[roguevalley]

33. you and me both. hunger isn't that big a stranger. Been there,

done that. probably do it again. its amazing how your joints hurt and you can't remember a damned thing when you can't eat decently. but I'm sure Obama has a plan for that. Somewhere. In a drawer. Uh, on a desk out back ...

[Ozymanithrax]

4. Unemployed but my wife is working...

Trying to spread what little discretionary funds exist to my mother and relatives who are in real trouble.

[tigereye]

20. scary how many people are in serious financial trouble

wish that the evil fuckers who created this mess and heartache were in jail. :grr:

[Stardust]

5. Working more, making less. Very stressed.

[InvisibleTouch]

16. Yup, same here.

I remember last year at this time, I was working like crazy and barely broke even. This year I'm slipping farther and farther behind. I've got a roof over my head, but don't know if I'll be able to pay the heat. Already behind on the utility bills, and it looks to be a harsh winter. Major stress!

[bobbolink]

6. Everything is terrific. I *LOVE* the opportunity to live in my car!

:nuke:

[Coyote_Bandit]

7. Other

Unemployed. Not eligible for any kind of assistance. Doing what I can to bring in a few bucks here and there. Meeting my bills. Depleting my savings and retirement funds. Very much aware of all the $$$ I must spend. Pinching pennies as much as possible. No Christmas cheer here this year.

[snappyturtle]

10. Me too....it's not where I thought I'd be at this age. nt

[Goldstein1984]

9. I'm employed with a decent income, but...

family members who are not doing so well depend on me and most of my disposable income goes to helping them.

We have stopped all nonessential spending.

[SheilaT]

11. I voted

I'm fine, which is actually accurate. But I have cut back on a lot of discretionary stuff, and most of the time feel as if I'm very poor. But when I look around I realize how very well off I am:
I have savings.
I was able to buy a small home about a year and a half ago. I can afford the mortgage payment.
I have excellent health, meaning no current medical bills. I don't take any prescription meds of any kind.
My two sons are grown and are living on their own, fully self-supporting.
I have many friends.
While I would not mind earning more money than I currently do (I'm only working part time at present) it is enough to get by on.
My car is paid for.

I think I have mainly benefited from a lifetime of always spending less than was coming in. It also helps me a lot that for the past two and a half years I've lived without a TV, which means I do not see the constant ads urging me to spend and buy. It really makes a difference not only in my sense of relative affluence, but in the whole competitive thing that so much advertizing leads to. By that I mean, when you see the constant ads for everything, it's easy to start thinking there's something wrong with you if you don't have a brand new car, if you haven't completely refurbished your home, if you haven't recently gone to Greece on vacation. I'm certainly able to envy those who seem to have more than I do, but I've noticed a huge difference in myself without TV. I'm not quite as aware that I might be doing without, simply because I just don't see all the ads for the things I don't have.

[msongs]

12. life without tv is very pleasant n when I need a fix I get 3 pbs stations on rabbit ears nt

[dkf]

18. If you can make a mortgage payment on a part time job that is pretty spectacular.

It's inconceivable here. One cheap 500sq ft condo is probably $250,000 here.

[SheilaT]

47. I also have a modest

(reduced by 60% from what was not to begin with an adequate amount) of income in spousal support from the divorce. It will end in four years.

I have always saved a decent amount of whatever has come in, and even when I had a TV managed for the most part not to fall for the BUY BUY BUY messages it sends out constantly. So I have the savings to manage for now. I am also starting up a hypnotherapy practice, which I expect will bring in a decent income inside of a year or so.

[jannyk]

14. Other: Both retired (early)

Doing ok, a lot better than some but am noticing there is a little more month than money these days.

[madrchsod]

15. social security 760 month and my wife works

right now we have our daughter and her boy friend who both work living with us. they help with the bills and they are saving to move out next summer. in the 80`s my wife, three kids, and i moved in to my parents home for almost a year. at various times we have had a lot of friends and relatives living here.

since my parents built this home in 1973 this home has seen a lot of people come and go...sort of like the grand hotel.

[Individualist]

17. Retired, single and *REALLY* hurting financially.

[Juche]

19. Cut down to part time. No benefits. No security.

However I am earning an income, but I am living with family since I don't know when I will be unemployed again, and I'd rather have savings for when that happens.

If I had a full time job with benefits and security I'd move out. But I don't have that right now. So I am struggling, but it isn't nearly as bad as being unemployed with tons of medical problems or responsibilities (kids, mortgage, debt, etc).

[customerserviceguy]

21. I have to say, I'm in good shape

Six months ago, I was working part time. Now, I'm getting my two-year raise next week, and our 3% increase in three months.

It's good to be union.

[eridani]

31. Indeed it is! We need a lot more of that kind of thing n/t

[Starry Messenger]

23. kick.

I'm actually "ok" for the first time in all of my life. Don't know how long it will last though. I have several family members who are jobless.

[AlabamaLibrul]

24. Other - employed, in the midst of EEOC investigation so not very secure or getting hours at all

living technically about $3,000 annually over the poverty line, the majority of which can disappear at any time.

[Horse with no Name]

25. We've both suffered pay cuts

I can make more if I drive to a bigger city--but my health won't permit that anymore.

[rainbow4321]

26. Stretched but doing OK

Had a full time job til a month ago...then was let go. Fortunately, I am a health care worker so I have been able to piecemeal together paychecks with a few shifts a week since then and just found out I have a full time job offer that starts next week w/ health insurance.

For the most part I've stuck with just spending money on essentials during the last month, I have no car payment, no credit cards, and everything in my apartment I paid cash for over the last six months.

Still will be happy to start full time next week, though.

[w8liftinglady]

27. getting sick nearly made me homeless...and I have benefits.

I can only imagine someone with a minimum-wage job....well,they wouldn't have had the brain surgery that saved my life.

I'm working again...benefits and money soon.there was a time there when I didn't know if I'd have rent or food.

[taught_me_patience]

28. How about an option for "financially thriving"?

I'm not better off than last year, but I'd probably consider myself to be financially thriving.

[FirstLight]

29. well i just realized how bad we are doing, too

relative to my other years of working... i haven;t worked FULL time since 2006, and haven't even had a steayd PT gig since my church laid me off in Jan 2008...my income went from $500 a week to 100 a week, to welfare...

and i guess I am one of those who are less likely to find a job now because it has been so long.
can't get discouraged, gotta keep trying because we need to have a *real* life one of these days, not just scrapping for survival.

but i wonder if it will ever happen

[eridani]

30. Retired. Modest comfort not allowing for any big ticket items

If the Dems fuck with Social Security, or if some out of the blue Expensive Bad Thing happens, that could go downhill very quickly.

[leftstreet]

32. "The prevalent fear of poverty among the educated classes...

...is the worst moral disease from which our civilization suffers." William James

[Withywindle]

34. other.

Got laid off from a job that paid a living wage (about 36k, which was pretty good to me once upon a time) and had benefits two years ago.

Have been working two part-time, hourly-just-above-minimum-wage, benefitless jobs ever since. It's only just enough to pay the rent and bills and groceries (I'm single--no dependents, but no one to share expenses with either), when you combine that with slow, judicious draining of funds from the 401k I built up back when I had a good secure job.

So I'm basically bumped back to where I was 20 years ago as a recent college graduate. But I'll tell you, having no health insurance and about $300 to your name is a lot scarier at 41 than it was at 21.


edit: I feel so guilty even venting about this. I am way luckier than many. I have an education, I have social skills, and I have parents I have a good relationship with who own a little house free and clear with a guest room. No doubt they will take me in if I need it, and I would be able to help out some by getting another hourly job where they live.

I just don't want to. I like the city I live in and don't want to leave it. I may have to, though.

[InkAddict]

35. Just how deep is this hole, anyway...likely to slide off the slippery slope soon.

The worst part is being unable to make a good, do-able, solid plan for the remainder of our days, especially since the way this is going is unsustainable for so, so many; and what comes to mind for what lies ahead seems so terribly bleak. Continuing grief stages bouncing all around; they say there's no timetable on when moving forward should begin...so it's mostly quite paralyzing.

Ride a painted pony; let the spinning wheel spin.

[Iggo]

36. Working less. Making less. Stressed tons.

[Lucian]

37. Living paycheck to paycheck.

[kentuck]

38. Are we in a depression?

Are things much worse than most of us realize?

[BlueIris]

40. Yep.

I keep meaning to find a link to an interview I heard on NPR a few weeks back, which confirmed something I've suspected for a while, namely that we are in an actual depression now. Can't remember the credentials of the guy who gave the interview, some financial education think tank, might have been at a University, I think.

He said that he doesn't believe the "recession" is anything other than a depression, which began after the collapse of the housing market in '06. He says it's part of our economic transition from the consumer-based economy of the '20s-'90s into...whatever's coming next. Apparently, these depressions are cyclical, and we (and most countries) will experience one after an economy sees a shift in focus, which it does every 100-150 years or so. Obviously, he thinks the consumer-based economy started to die out circa 1990. What made my blood run cold was his concluding comment, which was something like, "If we, in fact, do not experience a depression between now and the year 2020, it will be the only time in history that hasn't happened."

Off to try to find the link now...

[33Greeper]

39. Blessed

Both me and my spouse are working. Helping our adult kids and some families in our church who are hurting pretty badly. Pay it forward if you are able.

[seabeyond]

41. hubby income dropped significantly. not saying i am hurting, but not fine....

didnt really have a place to vote

[rucky]

42. Just laid off again yesterday.

I saw it coming this time and have been saving up. My benefits are currently in limbo, as I've been laid off two other times in the past year and a half, so I'm still going off my original claim.

Merry f-ing Christmas.

[guitar man]

43. Working my ass off

And not making enough. I have to take on all the extra work I can get outside my job to make up for what the family health plan premium is costing. Come 1-1-11, it's over, I dropped the health insurance. I found it ironic to be working myself to death for health coverage :(

[Broken_Hero]

45. Working, things are stretched tight....

If my wife and I were just taking care of our financial situation, we would be doing pretty good, but our income is being stretched to cover three other households beyond our own.

My brother/father/mother in law, and one of my wife's cousins are doing pretty badly, and we supplement their household income monthly. At least 700 for the cousin, 200 for the brother in law, and 300 for the mother/father in law. Things can change for the better, I hope...

eta:to change are, into "our"

[LWolf]

46. I'm working MORE and making less....very stressed. nt

[rivercat]

48. unemployed, no unemployment,

no savings. living with generous room mates. hanging on for now.

I'll be 40 soon.

[Tsiyu]

50. Life sucks, truthfully

Another Hard Candy Christmas. Except no money for the hard candy.... :shrug:

[MilesColtrane]

52. I live week to week, but I've always lived week to week.

So, while there's no change in my situation, I still don't have health insurance, and I'm still an accident or a serious illness away from bankruptcy.

[Delphinus]

55. In some ways,

I am right there with you (I chose working less, earning less, very stressed), but I look at it as one accident or illness away from death, not bankruptcy.

[Capitalocracy]

53. Self-employed and barely scraping by

Not in debt because I didn't go to college/don't own a car or any other property

Wife is studying (no student loans, cheaper than U.S. schools, we're in Argentina) and we have substantial help to make ends meet from her parents.

Still barely scraping by with all that. Future fluctuations in the freelance business directly affect our situation... could get much better any time, could practically dry up at a moment's notice.

And running out of time to have a kid :(

[DFW]

54. One of the fortunate few, I guess

It helps that we are in Europe most of the time, my wife is European, works here, and enjoys the full benefits
of the German system. BIG relief on that score. When she had cancer, I hate to think what that might have meant
financially if we were living back home in Texas. Here, it cost us nothing, and her employer was required by
law to take her back when she could work again.