Posted on 09/12/2024 6:47:04 AM PDT by mikelets456
I didn't know how to post without having a link so I apologize. I have to be honest, for most of my life (in sales), the harder I worked, generally the more money I made....more on that later. We are savers---putting in 401K, stocks, mutual funds, some precious metals, have property. We had no debt (except our mortgage----2.3% and under $100K). Recently we had a few things---our son's wedding, property taxes (up another $800 this year) car tires needing to be replaced, air conditioner crapped out, cost of food, gas, utilities, etc. We ALWAYS pay off any debt immediately but now finding it harder and harder....I actually got a credit card with 0% interest for 15 months just to give us some breathing room.
Back to work---I have been at this company for 38 years. Have been in the top 3 in sales every single year. The past several years we had layoffs, are on 4 day work weeks (20% less pay) and our sales are off literally 50%.
We have had some rough times in the past but this is, by far, the worst----and it gets even darker---I see no end to this downward spiral. In past times, there was always a light at the end of the tunnel. However, I don't even see a tunnel to find the light.
I know our entire industry (manufacturing---Chemical, plastics and oils companies) are all complaining and not spending any money. I don't get political with customers but they're all stating "They're waiting for the elections before initiating projects".
My question is---are any of you, or people you know going through this as well? If Kamala gets in there I don't know how we can survive if we continue in this direction....
(Excerpt) Read more at sheridanmedia.com ...
You have to understand that if Kamala wins, the people pulling the strings do not want you to prosper and survive. They want you on your knees.
This is their plan. Everything they do is working for that goal.
I understand you though. Things have been rugged for me too,
Not me personally, but my cousin shut down the family meat packing business that had been open since the 40s. This is in Chicago.
He said that all of his usual buyers just have no business. One huge one is just buying meat to freeze for later so they can keep their boners (knife guys) working since they are hard to find.
He closed up because of 90 clawbacks on bankruptcy. He was afraid one of his customers would file, and the courts would come to him demanding cash he didn’t have anymore.
I don’t understand how his business is slow if everyone is still consuming.
And I see that same issue in your post. If we are all still consuming, why are sales in your industry down?
My circumstances are such that finances are not really an issue. However, my son is in his early forties and has two children. He is a CPA and a good money manager. He would like to buy a house but can’t do it. He went through a divorce a few years back and shares custody of his two children. He had a house when he was married but I think it takes two incomes nowadays to have one.
My son went to Walmart for me and literally picked up 10 items (vitamin supplement/generic allergy med/ a few groceries) which he was able to carry in his arms without a bag. It cost $100.
If KumAllah is “elected”, it will not be more of the same, it will be worse. Shortages. Debt default. Gun confiscation.
At that point, 2024 will be considered the “good old days”.
If it is any consolation, even if Trump wins, the country is still going to crash at some point. The debt is unsustainable.
“If Kamala gets in there I don’t know how we can survive if we continue in this direction....”
We won’t survive, but that’s the plan.
“We are savers-—putting in 401K, stocks, mutual funds, some precious metals”
Retire if you can. Spend down your assets. Kamala’s Communists can’t steal from you what you don’t have.
When everything cost twice what it used to, and paychecks do not rise over twice the amount, then yeah, things are gonna be tough. Apparently though there is a vast amount of people that love being much poorer than they were when pres Trump ran the country, people who would rather have “free oblama phones” than to have their previous $1500 a month or so on average to spend on themselves and family.
Democrats are simply illogical creatures!
We have always put a little away monthly for emergency but haven’t been able to in a while.
“Property taxes for me have doubled in the last four year”
Fighting now in Congress to send a middle-class property taxation cap constitutional amendment to the states would add the electors of several deep blue states to Trump’s total and make Congress turn deep red come November. My suggested text:
Levies on any residential property of less than 2799 square feet of finished living space shall be no higher than the 2019 dollar amounts on the property, or for a newer or since resold property no higher than what it would have been levied at for 2019 if it lacked owner specific tax breaks, increased by 3% per calendar year since 2019 and by any percentage increase to its finished living space.
Drop a constitutional amendment proposal bill in two congressional hoppers and fight to limit the ability of Democrats to buy votes at the expense of the middle class.
Good post.
On the personal level—you need to adjust your spending to reflect your new (lesser income).
This may be very difficult.
The way to do it is create a budget—you can do this by identifying all of your expenditures in the past year and separate them into “unusual” and “routine” categories.
Then you can go through your “routine” expenditures and divide them into “must have” vs “like to have”.
Then rank the “like to have” list from the most important to you to the least.
Then nuke a few of the “least” on that list.
“Property taxes for me have doubled in the last four years, car and home insurance jumped dramatically in last few months, cost of electricity and food much higher now. The value of my 401k and IRAs have been steadily eroded by inflation. On top of that, my pension will never increase for the rest of my life.”
I just renewed my RV insurance with Progressive, and it’s gone up by $75 compared to last year. My car insurance with USAA (covering three cars) has jumped from $1,200 a year to over $2,100. To save $1,500 annually, I switched to Progressive, though I suspect they’ll raise their rates as well.
My long-term plan is to de-tag two cars, put them in storage, and drop down to minimum insurance coverage since all the cars are fully paid off. I plan to do the same for my house and RV once they’re paid off. I’m also starting to think it might be better to put the money I’d spend on rising insurance costs into a savings account and self-insure, rather than continuing to hand over so much to the insurance company.
Hey, but you’re “employed,” so you go into the “low unemployment” statistics.
That’s how it works.
I supply to the gas utilities. Mostly the compressor stations. I have had 7 pipelines cancelled or permits put on hold. Some of these were to run gas pipelines to MA. where they still use a lot of heating oil. Note: Heating oil skyrocketed.
I’m too young to retire and cash out-—56 YO. However, we have a few options:
#1-—Sell the house, cash out but that means we have to move away from family and friends (mom and dad are 82 and MIL is 90). Staying in the area is simply not going to change the dynamic much.
#2—Covert the downstairs and rent it out to offset costs or taxes and mortgage. However, that’s $20K-$30K and then the problem with renters and our leftist inspectors.
#3—Stay the course, for now and wait until November and visit the other options again.
We’re leaning toward #3 right now but we have to get some of this CC debt paid somehow.
Our property taxes have gone up because our house is way overvalued. And our home owners insurance has gone up 2400 a year the last two years.
“Hey, but you’re “employed,” so you go into the “low unemployment” statistics”.
First time in our lives my wife and I are working 2 jobs each and selling crap on FB for extra cash and STILL sliding backwards...
Homeowners for everyone has gone up to “stupid” levels-—I believe it’s all by design of “you will own nothing...”
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