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How much more money did you have in retirement accounts plus taxable accounts from the the start of 2008 to the end of 2008. This is not about houses, cars, boats, or debt. I want cold hard cash, whether deposited in banks or invested in stocks, bonds, CD's, etc.
Pretty decently...I saved a ton. I am worried about this year though because my expenses are going to be much higher and I probably will make less than I did last year.
My wife and I economized with every purchase or repair we had to make. Instead of buying a new car we purchased a one year old like new vehicle and saved $13k. We put off doing any expensive modifications or upgrades to the house and only replaced items like windows and doors. Xmas we shopped at stores which offered good quality clothing like Kohl’s and except for buying a Wii for the kids we stayed away from expensive electronic goods and purchased a number of board games. We stopped shopping at the local supermarket and now shop regularly at Costco. Instead of booking a seven day cruise with two cabins, we booked a five day one cabin vacation. Best of all we stopped driving and cut our gas expense by 60%. We made few trips to the malls and to see friends. These days the phone works both ways during an economic crisis.
Our retirement accounts are worth less than they were when we originally opened them years ago. That's a real loss, not a paper decline. Poof, our hard earned wages gone.
In 2007 we were a family of 3 with 3 jobs. We are now a family of 3 living on ONE job. We are also less than ten years from retirement, there is not time left to make up for a year of lost wages and the loss of the retirement funds.
We own no house. We own no car. Essentially we have nothing. After 30 years in the American workforce we are pretty much high and dry.
Why didn't we save? We did. Our savings have been wiped out (as I just explained). We are still paying off college loans for one kid and are supporting another one still living at home.
The vanished American dream for this family.
Oh but wait, we're baby boomers.....the ones who reportedly lived so high on the hog for decades (not) and bought luxury homes and boats and cars (not) and who are called the selfish gimme generation.
Most of our money is in industrial commercial property with long leases. Our IRAs and money markets took a hit, to be sure, but the bulk of our net worth has remained safe (Knock on wood).
My consultancy took a huge hit in 2008, with billings at least 40% off 2007. It was a strange year, where I was not busy when I should have been (1Q, 3Q) and busy when I usually am twiddling my thumbs (2Q).
However, that being said, I am actually seeing a marked pickup in business already in 2009. Part of it is new clients I made in the past year, and part of it is existing business picking back up again. My theory is that companies are realizing that just rolling up in a ball isn't going to work.
My gdaughter got married after high school graduation. She works full time and goes to college at night. She contributes to her 401k and gets company matching. Her husband goes to college full-time.
Just reviewed our annual corporate financial statement. Our practice saw a 26% increase in gross revenue, and 20% increase in net income. This offset the 30% drop in my personal portfolio. Net worth is flat for the year.
We're giving a 2% increase to our employees' salaries for 2009. No one is getting fired. In fact, we're recruiting.
Inflation was 0.8% last year.
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