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It's been good for us. We started our own business in 1998, and we're finding janitorial pretty recession proof. Our income tripled (we were in banking and low end banking sucks pay wise, so we're by far NOT millionaires), and apparently we are pretty good at what we do.
Cleaning isn't hard, but it is very very very boring, and as such has a high burn out rate. Being owner operators we have keen interest in staying on top of things, rather than hiring someone who will eventually drop the ball. We do other things to make sure we don't burn out, and accept the mundane job. In other words, we don't live to work, we work to live...
The only thing that really got me is that my goal was to be able to retire at 50. I would have loved to stop working, hubby was way not ready to do so. But the economic meltdown shot that dream to pieces. Although we are champion savers, it was the house value that would have greatly implemented the plan... and our house value tanked.... we're down like 75% from the height. So I'm looking to 55 now -- four and a half years away... and this time it will be on all money saved. The house is what the house is....
The 2000's had their ups and downs for me. I went through a divorce in late 2000 that just about destroyed me financially. Embarrassing as it is to admit, I actually had to move back home for two years to dig out of that mess.
I was able to save up money and buy my first house in early 2003. I still have it as a rental property. I started making more money in my career, especially in 2004 through 2006, but I had a lot of expenses too.
I re-married in 2004 and we had twins in 2006 and then our youngest in 2008. There were complications in the delivery and the twins (and my wife) required extended hospital stays.
We have pretty decent insurance, but we should have selected a different plan with a lower maximum out of pocket limit. We could have paid for two new cars with what we had to pay in medical bills after all of that....
Thank God we got those paid off, but then in 2008 I lost my job and it has been a struggle to stay employed full time at the wage I was earning prior to this.
Fortunately for us, my wife's career has been trending steadily upward since late 2008. Her increased income has pulled us through.....
So, the last decade was a mixed bag. I sincerely hope for greater financial stability in the next.......
My brother and I bought a home in 2003, and I also own SFH rental property. I have equity in both properties.
I bought a new vehicle in 2004 and it's been paid off. I also own a used pickup truck and a motorcycle outright.
I have around 80k in various retirement funds
I have enough money in savings/checking to live about 2yrs without a paycheck or unemployment benefits.
I don't have any consumer debt (other than mortgages)
Granted in 2000, I was just starting off my career so I only had upward to go. I'll be 31 this year and I'm not expecting my salary to increase as fast in this decade, but I'm more than comfortable with what I'm making now. Any increase would just be added to my retirement/investing funds.
So what do you do for a living, that pays you 6 figures??
I was lucky enough to have purchased a townhouse as my residence in late 2001, just before the insane run-up in real estate prices. (At least that's when it started in Los Angeles - different locations will differ.) People who bought real estate in, say, 2006 (more or less the top of the bubble in Los Angeles) are mostly in a world of hurt right now and most of them are underwater with their mortgages. Also, many people lost their jobs in the late 2007 through 2009 time period - for them the decade ended on a miserable note. I was fortunate to retire from full-time work in 2005 so I missed out on the agony. Just pure luck in my case, both with the home purchase and with the retirement date - I did not foresee the economy tanking in roughly 2007/2008.
Based on this economy, do you, and/or your wife, expect to be vulnerable to losing your jobs anytime soon?
Well, my wife isn't working...so she has only upside if we need her to start looking for work, but I feel pretty good about staying employed. I know nothing is a sure thing, and I have been let go from a job in the past, but I have worked to build skills in a lot of areas over time, so I am pretty marketable.
I'm in IT. Even in bad economies, there is still plenty of work as a beltway bandit.
I figured that you were either in IT, law, health, or had your own business. I am not at all cut out for any of those fields, except having my own business. Had I started my own business early in the 2000's, I think that I would've much better off, than I am now. But I still believed that I could do fine, just holding down a full-time job. Boy, do I regret not having a business of my own now!!
The 2000s were actually pretty good for me, granted in 1/1/2000 I was 17 and a high school senior. So I wasn't even in college. During college I had a bunch of jobs, wages started out low $6.50/hr, but by senior year I was making $12/hr. My first full time job paid $24K/yr in 2004, after that I started grad school, my first internship during grad school paid $5K/mo, and I was getting a stipend of $2K/mo during school.
In 2006 I took a leave of absence and worked full time as contract employee at $25/hr with minimal benefits, I moved up fast and within 9 months I was making $39/hr. I went back to finish my Masters, and graduated in 2007, and started a good job making 90K/yr, starting out then I had a lot of debts, and traded my 13yr old car for a 5yr old car adding to it, at the beginning of 2010 I had paid off almost all my debts, and really started to save. It seemed that my salary had plateaued, but I decided to look for a new job, and now make over 6 figures, I have about $25K in savings, and $93K in retirement savings, and only $4K in student debt locked at 1.65%.
I have to say though until about last year it would've been out of reach to even buy a 2 bd condo were I live, when I was finishing my MS it was very expensive so even the cheapest of condos were out of reach for those making 5 figure salaries, nowadays it is much more affordable.
So all in all the 2000s were a good decade for me, I would've probably done better if I had been born 10 years earlier though, I could've easily purchased a condo, and given the rapid appreciation of stocks in the 80s and 90s I could've been further along in my retirement plans, but that would've just been luck. I can't count on that to reach my financial goals.
I figured that you were either in IT, law, health, or had your own business. I am not at all cut out for any of those fields, except having my own business. Had I started my own business early in the 2000's, I think that I would've much better off, than I am now. But I still believed that I could do fine, just holding down a full-time job. Boy, do I regret not having a business of my own now!!
Trust me I don't want to do IT forever either. I'd like to start my own business at some point too. For now, I started doing investment real estate. I hope to own a 2 more income producing properties by 2020.
It was great for me- graduated from college and making 6-figures now (4X my starting salary). I've changed companies once and have earned 4 promotions.
Bought a condo which is basically still worth what it was in 2007 when I bought (God Bless Texas!), maybe down $5-10k....no big deal.
Paid off my student loans.
Invested heavily in 401(k) and managed to move most to cash by the time Dow hit 7,500...so the 5,000 days didn't hurt me as much as it did others.
Paid off credit cards from my living in NYC years.
Traveled extensively in US and abroad.
It was a very good decade, financially and personally.
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It all depends on the timing of things.
