How many folks do you know that are in finacial distress right now?

[Echo2]

I have been in and out of the hole more times than I care to think about..... But there is quite a few folks that I know that are running pretty lean right now.

I recently made an arrangement with a friend...(he didn't want to borrow money)..to take a few items in and hold for cash. I know these items...they are family heirlooms....and are intended for his kids. He is headed to North Dakota for a new job that will last about 1.5 years....and needed traveling $$$. Wife and kids are staying here.

The guy who brings me some of my wood for winter.....asked if I had a old hunting rifle I wanted to part with....due to the fact he had to sell the one he has been using for the last 5 years.....I gave him a old 303 British and a couple boxes of shells (got it for $100 at a yardsale)....he in turn promised to bring me a couple yearlings already processed and one load of wood. This guy dosen't eat store bought beef....he always harvest enough deer to live off of til next season...how tight would it have to be to sell the one item that puts a large portion of food on the table.

A neighbor down the road...just found out that his job will be going the way of the Dodo....his wife makes pretty good....but they are expecting a baby in January....she'll be out of the game for at least a month.

A fellow I have working for me part time....lost his job at Wally world (he was the 8th highest paid employee in the store)....due to "modification of his department"....is begging me for hours...I have none to give right now.

What have you noticed in your AO? Is it the same slow motion train wreck every where?

[Gunfixr]

Me personally. We only survive due to my father. If he stops, we're done.

[Taz Baby]

People are losing jobs left and right. Even if they have been there the longest because they are close to retirement. Not to long ago we were at a restaurant and one of the waitresses was at least retirement age, she was a little hunch back and walked with a limp. I felt so bad for her because she should be able to sit back and enjoy her family and grand and great grand kids but she has to work. She was struggling just to keep up. But she is one of the lucky ones who have a job. This weekend there were more yard sales than have seen in a long while. and it is sad that people have to sell what they have to use just for money to buy food. The choice is getting bad, things or food.

[ladyhk13]

We were asked not long ago to loan a friend some money in exchange for holding her father's WWII .45 She has 2 kids and depends on an oil royalty out in TX every month as her income. One of the big companies out there has been side drilling under her property and so she hasn't been getting any money due to non production on her land. She has had to sue the other company and in the meantime there is no income. She is disabled so can't work.
My son just graduated college in May and can't find a job doing anything. He went to school for Polysomnography (sleep study, disorders) so you would think he could find something but nope, nothing. He is 21 and never had a job (just a college kid) and can't even get a job at BAM. Every place he goes to they say they want experience, how are you supposed to get experience if they won't give you a job? Luckily he is frugal and saved his money from graduation but is almost totally broke. I don't know what he is going to do if he doesn't get work this month.
My sister lost her job as a school bus driver due to county cut backs, hopefully she can get on with another county but school starts soon and still no word. She has to have health insurance which means she would have to go on COBRA and that is over $900. a month and without a job it would destroy them finacially.
The middle class is disappearing. The rich are not getting richer I don't believe (most people consider small buisness owners 'rich') and our poorer are not getting poorer with all of the welfare available, it's the people in between who are suffering.

[Echo2]

The bread lines of the 30s have been replaced by little plastic cards.

[Vodin]

We are keeping our heads above water. It isn't easy but what else can you do. I own my own business for the last 15 years. And the government wont help me if I fall down so I don't fall.
My business has lost a large % of income. I have lost about 50 clients due to bankruptcy or closing the doors permanently. The rest don't place a service call as often as they used to.
I provide service to businesses and when I go there I see a large amount of For Lease signs next door. I see beggars that are the norm and now nicely clothed beggars on the street corners. For long trips I use http://gasbuddy.com/ to plan my gas route. to find the cheapest gas.
I help those that I am able to help but I am by no means in a good spot. I am the only one that can improve my situation and this is why I don't have time to fall down.

[ak474u]

My pay is down, I'm running fewer appointments, but the company is busy. I trained a new guy to do my job, and I'm not exactly splitting my appointments with him, I get first dibs on all appointments, but he's single and can work evenings, so he's gotten some REALLY good jobs for the company lately. Maybe I trained him too well? Lol. I'm still doing well, just not killing it like I was last year this time. My company changed hands suddenly in May, and while I was worried at first, I'm really glad it did. The guy who started as superintendent the day I started with the company actually purchased it from the founder and took ownership April 1st. We've grown 20% per month since then, I was getting a little worried after the first of the year because I'd be told "don't cash your check till tomorrow" on payday. The founder's wife liked to shop on the business account, and the office manager had to deposit money into other accounts,to keep her from cleaning us out when paychecks were due. They sold the company, and moved on, and everything is great there now. The economy is definitely taking its toll on my customers. Since I do energy efficiency upgrades on homes, lots of people that I would think cant afford the work are starting to come to us to get the bills down on their homes, sadly so they can afford to keep them. Its kind of a pay now or pay later kind of thing, so I'm glad I can help. Even some of my super wealthy customers seem to get sticker shock when they get my ballpark estimates of the work I'm proposing, they don't really call and say "damn that's expensive" they just don't call. This tells me that the rich are definitely not getting richer. I used to go to homes with 4-6 car garages full of exotic cars, jet skis, atvs, grocery getter range rovers, hunting trucks etc. now I go to big houses with big garages, and 2 cars. I see lots less preventative maintenance taking place now on homes as well. I'm just thankful to have a job, I'm not likely to be replaced anytime soon, I sorta earned my job security by pretty much working 65 hours a week, buying my own gas, and doing what it took to save the office ladies, and my former superintendent, now owner's job(s) last year, and while it wasn't just for them, they all know who kept the company afloat long enough for a financially responsible person to buy it, and bring it to its potential.

[Gunfixr]

Oh, I got loads of work, at least 2 months backlog. Work isn't the problem.
I started out at the shop charging pretty low rates, so I could build work faster while I got my name out. I been slowly pushing it up some, gotta make a living, but can't go too far or I'd lose work. That custom stuff pays the best, but it's not a big percentage. I work as a contractor, paid on a 1099 basis.
My wife is only working 20hrs a week (instead of 40) since Jan, due to the fibromyalgia. She and the doc want to increase her hrs, but work refuses to follow the docs orders, so that won't happen. She's in management in a retail store. She needs to stay moving, since when standing still for long periods (much more than 1/2hr) the muscles in her legs lock up. Those idiots station her at the cash register almost exclusively, for 5hrs or more at a time. Per company policy, management isn't even supposed to be on registers, unless covering someone's break or something. All she does is come home, pop a handful of vicodin and lay down. Yesterday she had to pop some at work, it got so bad. Her doc is going to drop her hrs back next week when she hears that.
My dad has been helping out with the difference. If it weren't for that, we'd been out on the street months ago.

[bacpacker]

I know several folks who are stuggling to make it. My last job, the whole plant shut down and moved. They shut it down by shifts and the last shift left I know of 12 out of 21 that are still out of work or making substantially less than before. I was so blessed to find a decent job about 2 months before they finally closed. But there have been a lot of cut backs over the last 2 years there to. I don't feel too worried about the department I'm in right now, but who knows about the future.
Another family I know, lost there small business and had to move out of state for a job, that was 3 years ago and they are still not back on their feet. The hubby's job cut back to 4 days a week. Although this year the wife was able to get on full time at her daughters school.
I totally agree with the middle class getting takin out. And to me that has been by design. NAFTA, GATT, and all the programs passed to make a global economy has taken most all the manufacturing jobs out of this country and that is where the bulk of the income in this country came from, taxes as well. The only ones doing better now days are the super rich. What I would have called rich before, were folks like Dr's, lawers, small bis owners, ect. They all are flat to losing ground now. The poor have stayed where they are for the most part. Just a lot of the middle class moving down into that catagory now. I really feel bad for kids getting out of school now, most of them have had to take on huge debt to get through school and there is just not much out there to go into right now. Certainly not what they studied for. I hear of this all the time.

[msomnipotent]

We are finally to the point where we can buy something extra without losing sleep over it. Our credit card debt will be completely paid off by the end of the year, if not sooner. Our personal debt should be paid off by March. That is if everything goes according to plan. If people realize that they don't need internet and cable, then my husband might get laid off. Lucky for us, people around here refuse to change their spending habits, so we are pretty secure right now. I am still adding to our emergency savings because nothing ever goes according to plan.

I have a feeling that my family will throw a wrench in our plans. My sisters are not adjusting their spending (one has a crappy job and good taste, one is going through a divorce, and one is pregnant and just lost her job), and my parents are dipping into their retirement savings to help out. Not that I am complaining. They helped us out, too. But we are paying them back and I have heard that the other ones are not. I can foresee finally getting out of debt and then getting right back into it because of them.

[ladyhk13]

Great job MrsO!!!!! That is exciting news! What a relief it will be when you are out of debt. As far as your sisters go, if they don't change their habits and your parents have already spent their retirement money helping them then why do you feel it is your responsibility to give them even more money???? I'm sorry and don't mean to soung crass but they are adults, they are borrowing money they do not intend to pay back and you are willing to throw good money after bad once you have dug yourself out of a hole only to put your own family back into a hole for someone else? I hope you rethink that decision and remember how hard it has been on you and your family to be in debt and broke and think...do you want to go back down that road? If you start giving to one of them you have to give to all 3 or you will be in the middle of a shitstorm. Can you afford that? the point of getting out of debt is so you can begin to prep and make plans for your future so you will be secure if shtf. If you are giving your money away how can you do that? Girl you have worked soooooooo hard!!!!! Ok, I'm done now :) hugs.

[Grumpy Old Man]

If I was anywhere else but Kommiefornicastan, I would be making good money; out here not so much. I feel the pinch daily. I worry about my job daily as I am one of the top wages in the company. That puts a target on my back. Fortunately I can live out of my larder somewhat, my fishing trips were paid for in January, and I've been eating out of my garden as well. BUT, that can change at any time with job loss. I could sell off enough stuff while drawing unemployment to get out of here, but where does someone my age and with my experience and job position go to get work? I'd have to rely on contacts in the industry and we're all hurting right now!

A telling point: I had lunch with a Sales Manager, A V.P. of technical services, and a Regional Sales Manager recently.All of us from different companies. I laid it out,"I'm not actively looking, but if you hear of anything, don't be afraid to throw my name in the hat". I received three identical responses: " If you hear of anything don't forget to put me out there too". Telling, isn't it?

[Onestep]

The wife's company gave every employee a 35% pay cut last year. That was out of the blue and unexpected.
I have not had a raise, even cost of living, in 7 years and took a 15% pay cut when I was hired. We are both thankful we are still employed. My position is pretty stable but the wife's isn't as she works for a sub-contractor. They lose the contract, she's looses her job.
Add to that we are both in our 50's (I'll be 60 next year) and the prospects of finding another job will be slim. We have scaled back our cost of living to where we are living on my income plus a portion of hers and are banking the rest. We only have our home morgage debt, so we are doing better than others but both cars are showing their ages (165K & 135K miles) so there's that expense on the horizon.
I have a lot of friends in the construction industry and most of them are struggling.

[msomnipotent]

Great job MrsO!!!!! That is exciting news! What a relief it will be when you are out of debt. As far as your sisters go, if they don't change their habits and your parents have already spent their retirement money helping them then why do you feel it is your responsibility to give them even more money???? I'm sorry and don't mean to soung crass but they are adults, they are borrowing money they do not intend to pay back and you are willing to throw good money after bad once you have dug yourself out of a hole only to put your own family back into a hole for someone else? I hope you rethink that decision and remember how hard it has been on you and your family to be in debt and broke and think...do you want to go back down that road? If you start giving to one of them you have to give to all 3 or you will be in the middle of a shitstorm. Can you afford that? the point of getting out of debt is so you can begin to prep and make plans for your future so you will be secure if shtf. If you are giving your money away how can you do that? Girl you have worked soooooooo hard!!!!! Ok, I'm done now :) hugs.


Yeah, it will be a tremendous relief to get all the bills paid. Both of us are used to paying all of our bills in full, so it has been a big strain on us emotionally and financially. We would have paid them off sooner if the dog didn't get sick and the cars didn't break so often! It has been a challenge to pay the bills, rebuild my food stores that we used up, and try to fund emergency savings but we are getting there.

Personally, I only feel a responsibility to my parents and one of my sisters, because we owe them money. They should be paid off by March. I can already see my parents really pressuring me to help out my sisters, especially after the debts are paid, because that is what they usually do. All I hear is my parents bitching about my sister wasting her money on clothes and toys, and yet they still give her money to pay her mortgage and divorce attorney. That is how it has always been, though. But once the bills are paid, we are going to really accelerate our savings so we can move. I want to move out of the state, or even the country. I'm not sure where we will move, but it will be farther away from my family and they will not be so readily able to pop by and ask for favors. But then again, you are supposed to help out family, just as my parents and sister helped us out. So they will get some help and the other two will only get it if we can easily afford to. I just really, really hope that they don't show up on our doorstep homeless, because I just can't live with them without trying to choke the life out of at least one of them.


I'm worried about my husband losing his job and trying to get another one, too. He is almost 50 years old, which is ancient in the technology field. I really hope he will be able to retire from this current company, but who knows.

[cwconnertx]

I know a lot of people with financial stuggle, a few short sales, a few business bailouts, etc. I've counseled a few to try bankruptcy.

Myself, I went bankrupt several years ago, but thankfully have turned it around. I wasn't in a good position to begin with, but was financing a business startup with a business line of credit and got cut off before the equipment was all purchased and ready to go. Since I've turned it around and am solidly back into a six figure income. I didn't do everything right, but lucked into a few key right moves, which I'll share. The key thing is it can get better, but there are a few things people can do to minimize the damage.

A few lucky moves and suggestions:
1. One very lucky move is that I refinanced my 7% car loan with a 0% credit card offer. I did this well before I had even the slightest idea I would run into trouble. The lucky part is that my income dropped so low I would never have been able to pay the car note and would have had the car repossessed. The credit cards were angry, but they couldn't take my car. Two lessons, unsecured debt is better than secured, avoid car loans.
2. I was able to keep all my retirement money, which is exempt and can be kept in bankruptcy. Many people deplete it in a attempt to stay afloat and pay credit card bills for a few months which in all likelihood they won't be able to afford to pay anyway. Keep your retirement, only use it to keep your house, car, or things you need like food, not to pay credit card bills.
3. You can't rely on credit lines, I had a very large line set up and it got cut off mid project. There were several alternatives, I could have borrowed all I needed at once, or saved cash, or one of many other options. Instead I got cut off before I was able to get off the ground. Credit lines were being cut left and right during the time period, and I wasn't the only one, but it will never happen to me again.
4. Bankruptcy is not the end of the world, it was actually a very easy process, I kept my stuff, got rid of debt that I would have never been able to pay off anyway. There is no way I would have been able to get back on my feet if I hadn't taken control of the process. Take control, admit a temporary setback and get back on your feet. You can struggle for years and likely end up in the same place, or start the process, the sooner you take control the sooner the recovery can start.

[Gunfixr]

Bought the house 12yrs ago at 8%, refinanced 3yrs later at 6%. Bought before the bubble, so at least have a realistic payment, and loads of equity.
No car loans.
No credit cards, or signature loans.
No cable tv, house phone, newspaper or magazine subscriptions.

Started selling guns, but about down to where I won't go past.

[realist]

There are lots of people out there who are hurting. Lots have lost their jobs so they take another job at a substantially lower amount but still pay their bills. Construction guys you get laid off all the time, I know that I did. However when I was in construction as soon as the sun started to shine it was back to work, now it is not that way anymore, I know guys who are traveling hundreds of miles just to keep being employed. Plus their pay is substantially less.

There are a lot of people that I know that have lost their houses. These people have good jobs, have never been laid off. They may have taken a little cut in pay but not what Middle America is experiencing. They all bought roughly at the peak of the housing bubble after turning over their previous homes. The thing that bugs me is all these people all had played the game, living on the edge having a high mortgage, buying boats and cars that were leveraged to the max, living on credit. They were all living pay check to pay check, to pay for their toys, then things took a crap. Now many of these people have gone out and purchased new homes. The houses they are buying are roughly the same size of their old ones but at far lower price than when the market dropped. They do it just before their credit tanks and then they just walked away from their old home into their nice new one. All of them figure their credit will have rebounded after the economy recovers. They have not learned a thing; they are still buying their toys and living on credit.

We have about 4 years left to pay off our house because we paid it down each month rather than buy toys. We drive older cars that we try to replaced every ten years, I'm not getting rid of my 96 Infiniti. I retired a couple of years ago and have to work part time to keep my kids in school. We refuse to take out any loans to pay for school. At the same time our buying power has dropped substantially, taxes have gone up too. We pay our bills and live within our means. It just pisses me off when people take advantage of the system and shirk their responsibilities.

Okay I'm done with my rant.

[Katrina]

We were on track 2 years ago to having everything paid off by the time DH retired 2 years from now (2014) but due to our "wonderful" governor, DH HAD to retire in 2010. It was either that or lose a 3rd of his pay, which by the way wasn't that great despite what most people say about government employees, AND a third of his retirement. We refinanced in 2009 to lower house payment. Then Pop died and I have taken most of the inheritance I received to pay off everything but the house and add the pantry, replace the rotting deck on the back of the house. Now we are putting some of the money saved into savings but DH had to replace his truck this year, thought it would "limp" along for another year or so. So now we have a car payment again. If it ain't one thing it's another.

[realist]

Katrina we are looking at the same situation for my wife. They only want to take away 12% this year and 5% next year. It would be easy for her to make that up in say 20 years........ So after 35 years she will probably retire this year. Now we also have a Governor that wants to increase the income tax 3 % but then there is the county that only wants a 1/2% increase in sales tax, it just goes on and on. If we were to move to a neighboring state we would have a cash increase of at least 10 to 12% from tax savings. I have spent a good majority of my life building what I have here and do not want to leave. However we are definitely looking at that option when the kids are out of school.

[Katrina]

I know realist. My bro out in Vegas was VP of the biggest home builder in the west, lost his job 4 years ago. His wife had been laid off 2 years before. Then market really dropped out they lost their home and a couple of other properties that he was renting out (for his retirement). Then his daughter got into a bad car accident (she wasn't driving), NO insurance or very little, Well I think he still has some military medical but it's not enough to pay all the medical bills. Daughter is on disability now. They are barely scraping by doing rehabs on repossessed homes. But at least he gets his military pension, they can rent a small house for the 7 of them and eat and pay utilities. But they've been thru the savings. Of the 6 of us he's the one that's been employed consistently and he saved his money, well he's so tight if you pinch him he squeaks, LOL. SO if he had to declare bankruptcy I worry about the rest of us out there.

[Echo2]

This will help the situation.....

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/us-bridges-roads-built-chinese-firms-14594513?tab=9482930?ion=1206853&playlist=14594944

[GunnerMax]

we are running close to the sharpening stone right now with the wife not working. But we will be fine in a couple of months.

[The Stig]

Honestly not really.

Then again, I don't really socialize much and we're still new enough here that we don't really *know* anybody beyond family.