Post by meshaliuknits on Sept 16, 2012 19:46:39 GMT -5
Me personally, yes. H & I both have higher salaries than we did 4 years ago and my house is almost worth what I paid for it.
This time next year I might have a different answer if H can't find a gig before his site shuts down. Damn Germans.
ETA: even with the kid being added to the mix, we've felt no financial impact from the additional costs & in fact have considerably more disposable income.
Post by laurenpetro on Sept 16, 2012 19:49:42 GMT -5
No, but I don't blame Obama for my having twins.
Seriously, I'm not "better off" than 4 years ago. I know for a fact that my company is doing well (I see the books) but they seem to forget that when they tell me we're not getting raises because of "the economy". My wages have been stagnant.
Post by megalicious on Sept 16, 2012 19:54:27 GMT -5
Yes and no. We ended up having to walk away from a house we couldn't sell after paying rent in one state and mortgage in another for 3 years. Now we don't have the option to buy for a few years. OTOH, we moved so that H could take a new job where he is now making about twice what he was making two years ago. ETA: I also finished grad school almost 4 years ago, and had no problem finding a job, so our net income is well more than double what it was.
In fact, Obama has done things that have directly helped DHs business, so I can also credit him. That's why my H is voting for him even though he didn't vote for him in 2008.
Post by rugbywife on Sept 16, 2012 19:57:17 GMT -5
Yes but we aren't American and have really stable teaching jobs that involve guaranteed pay increases (until this year). We don't live beyond our means either, which helps. In the past 4 years we have paid off a student loan, 2 cars, gotten married, bought a house and managed to save some $$. We are doing just fine.
In strictly economic terms, I'd say we're in exactly the same place which is effectively a loss since we should be progressing. We have more in savings, but higher debt on a smaller house. Slightly higher salaries, but in a less desirable state and working more hours for it.
Yes. We are in relatively recession proof professions and we were able to make a little on the sale of our home. We've decided to rent because we feel the market is not a great place to be. And, even with the addition of lt, and cost incurred of adoption, we are in a very happy place with our family now. But, none of this has to do with who is in the white house...just our fields.
I mean, MH's salary is higher, but it's also been 4 years - I would hope his salary would be higher. We had to move out of state because of the economy causing MH's job loss. Obviously the legal market is not that great (my degree), and because we had to move out of state, my job prospects were pretty much non-existent, which has worked out okay, because we both wanted me to SAH w/ our kids but it wasn't our plan at the time.
But for us, there's no way to say whether we are better off because things changed so much for us in 2009. If things hadn't gone shitty in 2009 for us, maybe I could say for sure we're better off. Just because his salary is higher doesn't mean we're necessarily in a better position than we were 4 years ago.
Yes but DINK in an economy/country which wasn't significantly impacted by world events (I took a pay cut for 1 yr 2009, but I have made that back in the years after, and I was still earning more in 2009 than I did in 2007).
Well, yes, but 4 years ago I was in law school. I had a job but I still make a lot more today. We still rent but in a nicer house in a nicer area of the city, we have great health insurance, we are saving for retirement, we can afford nice vacations, etc. we are both lawyers who graduated in 2009 and have been very lucky overall with our careers.
Interesting to read that the majority of posters are better off now than 4 years ago. I'd be curious to know for how many of us, that had to do with age as much as anything (ie used to be in school or just graduating) or just our particular fields. I don't know if its possible to find out WHY most of us are better off, but its certainly interesting to me.
Based on HHI alone, no. But, I was working like a dog in Wall Street 4 years ago too. When I quit my job in 2009, I cut our HHI in half. DH makes more on base salary now but his bonuses have fluctuated enough that the average is the same for the last 4 years. I just started a new career and my annual gross income is less than the taxes I paid that last year I worked. However, I am happy! We also didn't "suffer" financially despite a lower HHI and I consider ourselves very fortunate.
I suppose so, on a technicality, since we both make more than 4 years ago. However, I have more student loan debt than I did then, and we have a third kid. Also, I pay significantly more for less health insurance coverage. Our house is worth what we paid for it, but we finished the basement.
Averaging it all out, now we're not, but it's because of our own choices, not because of the economy or the POTUS.
Post by kadams767 on Sept 16, 2012 20:36:13 GMT -5
Yes. Four years ago, both DH and I were basically waiting to lose our jobs due to the economic crashes (worked in real estate and finance, respectively). Neither of us were getting raises and we were afraid to move forward on any major life decisions due to the uncertainty.
I managed to keep my job, though DH was laid off. He found a better job, though, 6 months after being laid off, and my firm reinstated raises and bonuses. So together, we now make about 35% more than we did 4 years ago. We bought a house with a 20% down payment and have paid off one car, with the second to be paid by the end of this year. Our retirement accounts are healthy.
Sort of. In 12/08 DH lost his job, in 01/09 I lost mine. We almost lost our house shortly after that. We had to get rid of one of our cars and drastically change our lifestyle. We were making $100k+ year and had to live in about $30k.
Now we make half of what we were making 4 years ago, but live much better. We make smarter financial decisions, have money in savings and aren't living paycheck-to-paycheck. We have learned to budget our money and not blow it out our asses like we were.
I'd say that I miss the $100k salaries, but without going through all the shit we went through we wouldn't have learned to manage our money. So I guess we are better off now.
Post by statlerwaldorf on Sept 16, 2012 20:51:57 GMT -5
Not at all. Both of the companies DH and I were working for 4 years ago have closed. We had to relocate for DH to find a job and I haven't been able to find a job in my field. Our HHI is less than 50% of what it was 4 years ago.
Post by ladybrettashley on Sept 16, 2012 20:57:54 GMT -5
Yes, but four years ago I was in grad school. However I was very worried about my prospects for job offers during the recession. Luckily I received an offer from the Company I work for now. Part of the reason it is still in business is because of the president's actions.
Yes. But four years ago we both had just graduated from grad school and were starting new jobs as the economy crashed. We've both been promoted since then. There were some tense moments - my job is funded through a government contract that we briefly thought could be in jeopardy - but we were renewed for 10 more years so no concern there. And DW's office is expanding like crazy. So, yes.
But I think that the POTUS has almost no impact on the individual answer
Post by josieposy on Sept 16, 2012 21:15:32 GMT -5
Yes and no. I had two babies when we planned for one. They were also born 10 weeks early, hence a lot of NICU time and a LOT of preemie formula that first year.
This all happened after I walked away from my 43k/year (and going nowhere) job to go back to school. I was kind of having a quarterlife crisis. I took a retail job that paid $8/hour for awhile so I could concentrate on college, then I spent nearly 4 years making just under 30k because I couldn't find a better job, and got pregnant with the surprise twins during that time. Just recently I started a new job at 40k plus quarterly bonuses and we are finally getting back on track financially. I am still in school for another year or so and then hopefully my income will improve even more with a new job (hopefully).
My income is better than it was 4 years ago. We are slowly climbing out from under a mountain of debt. We have two kids that are doing remarkably well given the circumstances of their entrance into this world. I am much happier with where my career is headed.
I think I'm on a much better track then I was 4 years ago. I don't attribute that to politics. I attribute it to my own personal mistakes and experiences and learning from them.
Post by lyssbobiss, Command, B613 on Sept 16, 2012 21:18:19 GMT -5
In a word, no. I was still pregnant, XH had just gotten a loan forgiveness check that went to pay for our delivery bills and little did I know the rest of it would end up spent on pills. But at least we were a two income household.
"This prick is asking for someone here to bring him to task Somebody give me some dirt on this vacuous mass so we can at last unmask him I'll pull the trigger on it, someone load the gun and cock it While we were all watching, he got Washington in his pocket."
Post by StrawberryBlondie on Sept 16, 2012 21:30:21 GMT -5
Yes. Significantly.
Four years ago, I my job got cut to half-time and I was about to get laid off and my firm was about to close. I was unemployed for 4 months, and then a week before I started my (current) job, my DH got laid off.