Are you better off today?

Againsheila

Gold Member
Nov 1, 2008
17,201
3,817
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Federal Way WA
Just got my tax statement on my house, it's dropped even further in value. It's lost nearly $200,000 in value in the past 4 years, and trust me, that doesn't leave much value left. It's almost down to what we paid for it more than 25 years ago. \

Once upon a time, I thought buying a house was an investment that we could sell when we got older to help with our retirement, now it's pretty clear that our retirement is gonna be a bust. Oh, we'll have money due to other investments but my dream of moving to a retirement community is gone now.

Is anybody here really better off than they were 4 years ago? 8 years ago? 12 years ago? IMO our country has gone downhill since the changes in corporate law in the 70's. Now we are slaves to our masters and the only people really better off are those in the top 1%.
 
I am.

I've been promoted twice the last four years and closed on my first home a month ago at a great price with a sweet rate.

Life is good.
 
Without that 1% however, things would be far far worse than they are.

But no. Our investments that we depend on to supplement our social security have had lack luster perfomance over the last four years and are not earning enough to cover the mandatory distributions. Our house also is losing value year by year though our taxes continue to increase year by year. Our deductibles on our Medicare continue to incease and there are more and more restrictions on what it will cover. The government posts artificial inflation number but any of us who buy groceries or gasoline or any other necessities can testify inflation is alive, well, and a serious problem for those on fixed incomes.

The hopey, changey stuff has not been working out for us and they have had four years to at least improve things and they have not. It is time to give the other guys a shot at it.
 
Without that 1% however, things would be far far worse than they are.

But no. Our investments that we depend on to supplement our social security have had lack luster perfomance over the last four years and are not earning enough to cover the mandatory distributions. Our house also is losing value year by year though our taxes continue to increase year by year. Our deductibles on our Medicare continue to incease and there are more and more restrictions on what it will cover. The government posts artificial inflation number but any of us who buy groceries or gasoline or any other necessities can testify inflation is alive, well, and a serious problem for those on fixed incomes.

The hopey, changey stuff has not been working out for us and they have had four years to at least improve things and they have not. It is time to give the other guys a shot at it.

We've only given the prez 4 years to fix a problem that took what some may argue anywhere from 8-30 years to create.

Well, maybe I should say only given him two years. Since after 2010 there have been some who absolutely won't compromise on anything.
 
I could forgive obama if he did not fix all the problems all at once. I cannot forgive him for making things worse by his own asinine policies. I cannot forgive him for ignoring what he doesn't like, wasting money, his replacement government of czars, his growth of government. Had he simply left it all alone we'd be better off.
 
Without that 1% however, things would be far far worse than they are.

But no. Our investments that we depend on to supplement our social security have had lack luster perfomance over the last four years and are not earning enough to cover the mandatory distributions. Our house also is losing value year by year though our taxes continue to increase year by year. Our deductibles on our Medicare continue to incease and there are more and more restrictions on what it will cover. The government posts artificial inflation number but any of us who buy groceries or gasoline or any other necessities can testify inflation is alive, well, and a serious problem for those on fixed incomes.

The hopey, changey stuff has not been working out for us and they have had four years to at least improve things and they have not. It is time to give the other guys a shot at it.

We've only given the prez 4 years to fix a problem that took what some may argue anywhere from 8-30 years to create.

Well, maybe I should say only given him two years. Since after 2010 there have been some who absolutely won't compromise on anything.

In four years however, we should be seeing some progress on the most important critical issues. We aren't. That should be the measure. No President is going to make everything perfect. But every President should be able to promote policies that should make some things better. This one hasn't. He avoided virtually any mention of Obamacare or the stimulus package or the big ticket bailouts in his big campaign speech last week? Why? Because these were dismal failures and the public is now not liking them much. That is what he 'accomplished' when he had a Democratic majority in Congress and could have made a huge difference. But instead, they made things worse.

It is time to give the other guys a chance to improve things.
 
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I am.

I've been promoted twice the last four years and closed on my first home a month ago at a great price with a sweet rate.

Life is good.

great, that's one, let's here some more....

personally?

i'm better off... both hubby and i were promoted, him twice... my second was more in the form of title than it was in the area of money.

although my health care, dental and optical benefits went down b/c they keep cutting the federal budget which is impacting on the states.

oh... the rest of my family is doing well, too. thanks for asking.
 
Just got my tax statement on my house, it's dropped even further in value. It's lost nearly $200,000 in value in the past 4 years, and trust me, that doesn't leave much value left. It's almost down to what we paid for it more than 25 years ago. \

Once upon a time, I thought buying a house was an investment that we could sell when we got older to help with our retirement, now it's pretty clear that our retirement is gonna be a bust. Oh, we'll have money due to other investments but my dream of moving to a retirement community is gone now.

Is anybody here really better off than they were 4 years ago? 8 years ago? 12 years ago? IMO our country has gone downhill since the changes in corporate law in the 70's. Now we are slaves to our masters and the only people really better off are those in the top 1%.

Nope. My net worth is about 25% of what it was in 2008. Half of that decline is in 2 houses, the one I live in and the one I can't sell The other half is in the value of my business, which is worth maybe 1x earnings now that small business equity has ground to a halt.

Thanks, Obama!
 
I am.

I've been promoted twice the last four years and closed on my first home a month ago at a great price with a sweet rate.

Life is good.

great, that's one, let's here some more....

personally?

i'm better off... both hubby and i were promoted, him twice... my second was more in the form of title than it was in the area of money.

although my health care, dental and optical benefits went down b/c they keep cutting the federal budget which is impacting on the states.

oh... the rest of my family is doing well, too. thanks for asking.

Your health and dental benefits are that much of your compensation? That's rare for a lawyer.
 
Lost my job, wife had a stroke, the last 4 haven't been so good. Not Obama's fault though, shit happens. As far as the country goes, the bleeding has stopped since he took office but we have not recovered much. IMHO, the liberal agenda has not worked well enough; not saying failure, but not as effective either. Somewhere north of 60% of the people surveyed in this country think we're headed in the wrong direction, and that stands in poll after poll for the last couple of years. I'm in that camp too, I think we need a change in leadership. Or at least it's like firing someone for not doing good enough, maybe the next guy will not do any better but we should not accept an inadequate performance from the incumbent. And yes, I will be saying that if Romney is elected and does no better than Obama did.
 
My retirement was dependent on interest on savings and IRA's, and also in my property values. On the other hand, I quit eating out so much and cooking at home more healthy meals. Also I made my self availabe for part time work which kept me more active than before. So money wise I'm definitely worse off but health and attitude wise, I'm probably better off.
 

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