Community Chat

[scatcat]

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@Firefly901 wrote:

That is great for you and your family.  When I tell young people to work hard to pay off their mortgages and cars, they look at me like I am crazy.  You can have a smaller house and a used car, but own them.  To stabilize yourself you MUST own where you live and your transportation.  Ownership as in you have the deed to the house, and title to the car.  Then you can build wealth and play around with other things.  After this mess we are in now, I am am sure some will see the light.  It is a struggle but if you live way beneath your means during good times and in your young years, it will pay off in difficult times like these and as you grow older. Every generation has some kind of economic downturn.  When the music stops you want a chair to sit in.

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Paying off your mortgage isn't always the best financial move. Your interest rate among other factors play into it.  I know it can be a huge peace of mind for retirees though 

[mimomof4]

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@Shanus wrote:

@springers   Oh, to answer your question more directly, heck yeah, we're having to make adjustments. Our retirement plans went downhill. Will they recover in time for  DH to stop working? Who knows. My businesses only counted for supporting my business expenses, personal expenses and we worked it out as income grew, I'd also cover some household expenses. Well, we'll have to re-budget all that. I'm not buying anything that isn't essential. He isn't either. My luck, maybe yes or maybe no, he's also a financial advisor, investment counselor, etc., so knows too much and micro-manages. 

Hey, anyone who says they're not affected by the economy is either full of BS or it just has not hit them hit yet. Words from horse's mouth. DH is my horse of reason. 

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I totally agree with your DH.  I was saying that 4 weeks ago people would be out of work a long time and many will not be going back to work.  I read a comment last week somewhere, the person indicated that everyone would be back to work once everything clears - that will NOT be the case and its scary.

While DH and I are still working we are very worried about what the future will be.

[gardenman]

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@novamc1 wrote:

@gardenman 

Just don't forget how much of the rebound  foundation is now being  underpinned and  funded with taxpayer money.

I don't know what the eventual  impact will be, but the rebound probably won't be free and will come at a cost.

Headline from ABC news (and just about every other news source)...............

<<Treasury requests $250 billion more for small business relief

Tens of billions for loans were gone in a few days.>>

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Politicians always find ways to spend our money. At least now they're spending it on us. That's kind of a nice change. With this being a global event, the dollar should remain strong, maybe stronger than before, and invite investment here. Every country around the world is more or less doing the same things right now which gives none of them an advantage over us.

China has largely been our biggest economic rival in recent years, but their handling of this mess and the bad test kits and supplies they're distributing won't be forgotten by other countries. If you're Spain and need to buy test kits or supplies in the future, do you go back to China or call upon the US? 

The Italian PM was recently very grateful for the assistance provided to Italy by the US. Britain is getting our help as are other allies. They'll remember we were there for them even as we were dealing with the situation here. 

Realistically, every good and service we needed before this will be needed afterward. The jobs to provide those goods and services will come back. China will have lost influence. We'll have gained influence. We'll be more attractive to investors. Things will look up pretty quickly. As long as everyone is willing to absorb a little pain, we'll come out in very good shape on the back end of this and probably stronger than we were before.

This being a global event helps us a lot. The economy will revive and bounce back in very short order, assuming no one in charge does anything too stupid. So far, I like the moves that have been made. I think those in charge are doing the smart thing. It would be easy to refuse to assist our allies at this time, but helping them while we're wounded helps cement alliances. Things will be okay as long as everyone is willing to absorb some short term discomfort. The numbers may look really ugly for a bit, but they'll rebound quickly.

[teganslaw]

@ gardenman, I like your posts. We all need some optimism right now. Things aren't good right now, but it has to improve. We just aren't sure how long that will be. 

[esmerelda]

I haven't heard the sage advice "have 3-6 months of living expenses saved" very often during this...whatever we're calling it.   Maybe once or twice.

People will say they can't afford to save.  It's a rare situation that someone can't save SOMETHING.  Anything saved on a monthly/weekly/regular basis is something. 

[Cinecalidad]

The situation that is being seen today in the world is not easy. My husband works selling cars and because of this situation they have been left without work because he is independent, on the other hand, I spent months working remotely on the computer and this situation has not hit me economically but it worries me a lot because it has cut our expenses a lot

[novamc1]

@gardenman 

I hope your optimistic predictions pan out  quickly, but I used to work for the federal agency charged with protecting American workers and figure a better outcome from our current situation  could take a while.

In almost no time at all, the U.S. has gone from one of the lowest unemployment rates ever recorded to a loss of businesses and jobs that  can't possibly come back with a "bounce".

Consumers are changing their habits and modes of operating, too, and it remains to be seen what that does to more traditional businesses and the people they employ

 The strain on federal and state budgets won't  subside quickly, either.....at least not without a lot of pain for ordinary taxpayers.

I do think people will go on a renewed  spree of eating out at restaurants, attending large events, and going to the beach and other vacation spots, but they will need the income to do it.

Or will they be more cautious about spending so freely now that we've all learned lessons from the pandemic???  Not sure.