Post by hopenotlost on Sept 17, 2012 12:16:26 GMT -5
Absolutely. We just got married, our oldest daughter was a year and a half old, we had credit cards, no savings, etc. It was awful. We have really turned our lives around.
Yes, much. But like I said in that thread, four years ago we were only 27/30. We're young and have advanced in our careers (well DH has anyway, I've since left mine) so we make more than we did then, but that's normal and to be expected to some degree even with a recession.
We're also fortunate that our real estate market didn't tank so we never lost value in our house.
I have no idea how to assess this. We made more money and had fewer kids four years ago, so our cash flow was better. But the decrease in income was voluntary and came with a better lifestyle, and we are quite fond of the additional kid, so I would say its a net gain. Plus our long-term savings and net worth has continued to rise, so I think it's all good.
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 voted no because 4 years ago is when we bought our house and things spiraled out of control with our debts. If we hadn't bought the house we wouldn't have a lot of the debt we now have.
We are better off in the terms of income though. DH got a promotion about 3 years ago which increased our income tremendously but we are still struggling to tackle the debt from the house. It was an older house and we got in way over our head how much work needed to be done.
I think these polls on here are misleading. Most of us were on the knot and in college or young 20s, 4 years ago. Most of us will be better off now just due to where we are in life, not the economy.
I don't know why this makes me sad, but it does. LOL.
I think these polls on here are misleading. Most of us were on the knot and in college or young 20s, 4 years ago. Most of us will be better off now just due to where we are in life, not the economy.
Well, I was neither of those things 4 years ago and I can still answer a resounding yes.
4 years ago we had just gotten married, and DH's business was in the shitter (construction). We lived in a 1 bedroom apt in a high cost of living city. DH then got laid off 3 times by 3 different construction companies after beating out 300 people for the jobs. I was waitressing to keep us afloat and we were rapidly spiraling into credit card debt to survive, no e-fund.
Today we have 2 kids, rent a 3 bedroom house in a MCOL city which we relocated to. DH has worked 1
I think these polls on here are misleading. Most of us were on the knot and in college or young 20s, 4 years ago. Most of us will be better off now just due to where we are in life, not the economy.
Well, I was neither of those things 4 years ago and I can still answer a resounding yes.
4 years ago we had just gotten married, and DH's business was in the shitter (construction). We lived in a 1 bedroom apt in a high cost of living city. DH then got laid off 3 times by 3 different construction companies after beating out 300 people for the jobs. I was waitressing to keep us afloat and we were rapidly spiraling into credit card debt to survive, no e-fund, no insurance.
Today we have 2 kids, rent a 3 bedroom house in a MCOL city which we relocated to. DH has worked 1 really good full time job since 6 months after we moved here. We have amazing health insurance and benefits - $2500 in an emergency fund, we've paid off over 10k in cc debt (w/ more to go...) and we pay all our bills on time. I'm a SAHM and a student retraining for a financially rewarding career to bring us back to a full 2 income household in about a year from now. Thanks to unions, student loans and ridiculously hard work by both of us.
Post by zacksbride on Sept 17, 2012 12:53:09 GMT -5
well, i make much more than my salary 4 years ago, but that has nothing to do with obama, and everything to do with the fact that i finished my residency a year ago.
we are no longer home owners, and we took a big hit to sell our house when dh changed jobs.
Between the 2 of us we make 60,000 more/year than we did 4 years ago, which is a significant portion of our income. So yeah, we're better off. The only downside is that we are pretty under water on the house, not much to be done there.
I responded there already but I'll post again. Yes. Mainly bc of my H.
I personally was laid off in 2010 and benefitted from the 75% payment of COBRA at that time. I found a new job in 4 months, earning more. DHs income has doubled. His business has benefited from federal govt spending.
Our house is probably worth more than it was worth in 2008 but definitely less than what we paid in 2005.
I think these polls on here are misleading. Most of us were on the knot and in college or young 20s, 4 years ago. Most of us will be better off now just due to where we are in life, not the economy.
I don't know why this makes me sad, but it does. LOL.
I also don't think this is true. At least not the MM regs I talk to. I've been on MM since 2006 and graduated college in 2002.
I also don't think this is true. At least not the MM regs I talk to. I've been on MM since 2006 and graduated college in 2002.
I understand that some of the regulars might not fit this, but there are probably a ton of newbies/lurkers that answer polls, but don't answer questions.
Post by moolarkey on Sept 17, 2012 13:50:01 GMT -5
no. Husband lost job, can't find job. Gets temporary contract work at less than 1/2 what he made. I work 2 jobs. We've had to take some of his retirement funds out, he hasn't been able to put any money in to retirement. We've barely hung on to our house. We both drive 10 year-old vehicles. We have no savings left.
Financially, sadly no. We've had over 6k in car repairs in the past 2 years, started paying for daycare, and my husband was unemployed for 6months last year. His new position doesn't pay as well. I would say we're better off in the sense that our finances are now combined, we have a clear budget, and we've set goals for paying off our debts and re-building savings. But our e-fund has been decimated, we're down to one car for our household (not sure when we could afford a second one, due to concerns for savings/future emergencies), and if we had any future crises it would be very tough for us. One month at a time is our motto for now.
I made the decision to freelance exclusively between 4 years ago and now and haven't regretted it at all. While I'd like to think that the reason I've had a constant flow of work is that I am awesome, I think the economy probably has something to do with it.
We are much better off - both of us had promotions with serious pay increases, I left my temp position, we left a crap apt for a house in a nice 'hood, and we've started a family. So both in the numbers and the actual, emotional side of living we are much better off.
Though living through rounds of layoffs is no fun. I'll admit that some of the past four years were hairy.
I'll give you that, but two years is a long time! Who knows how many new people are here? I'm not saying that it is a lot, but who really knows anymore!
Just because there are new people doesn't make them automatically younger.
I don't think this is the board the bee bee brides flock to after the Knot.