I nearly spit out my coffee reading this part:
"And they've made cutbacks: trading in Kent's Corvette for a Suburban and getting rid of the gardener, for example. But the couple also has learned that it didn't need everything it used to spend money on."
Wow, life is lot harder for people making six figures than I thought.
But they are learning what we're all learning: just because you've got a fistful of dollars in hand today doesn't mean you should spend them. We've all got to be serious about putting some aside for that potential 'rainy day'.
Yesterday I saw a woman on TV essentially saying the same thing as the people in this article. Her husband started making money like crazy, so they spent like crazy, feeling as if they "had to have the best of everything" as she put it. Now they're in deep financial trouble too.
I'll be the first to admit that I haven't always put away as much as I should, but I don't make 6 figures either, and I'm a bargain hunter by nature. I never just go out and buy stuff just because it might be nice to have it. I heard the family stories about relatives losing their homes, jobs, everything during the Great Depression. It made an impact. People used to pride themselves on 'making do, or do without'. At least a couple generations have grown up since then with a false feeling of security and entitlement. They're learning a hard lesson now.
But yeah....since they made their wealth in sub-prime lending, it's hard not to be reminded of the saying, "what goes around, comes around".
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