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 ...
I am a straight commission lumber broker/trader. I started straight out of college in 1985(39 years).
Most experienced traders incomes in the lumber business are down substantially from what we made during the wild market swings in covid. I am on about the same pace as last year.
I have zero debt. Paid off the mortgage three years ago, I am glad I build up a large cash reserve.
I also sold out of ALL of my stock mutual funds for the first time in my investing life in July 2024. I am 100% invested in money markets/TBills.
However, EVERYTHING I buy costs a lot more. On Tuesday I needed a emergency root canal. After Delta Dental paid $1100 I still owed $1394.20 to the Endodontist. I paid for it out of my Health Savings Account. That I have been putting pre tax dollars into ever since Obama F’ed up health insurance.
My 2012 Tacoma needs a new Smog/Emmissions pump. Who knows what that will cost. I will find out next week.
IF you go out to dinner with your spouse it rarely costs under $100. My wife doesn’t even drink.
You may have to consider what ways you can cut your expenses. These are real decisions people like you and I have to make in recessions. In 2008 I had to sell my Lexus SC400 I had bought the year before. It was $13K taking up a spot in the garage. I sold it on EBAY. I needed the money.
You have to look at ALL of your expenditures. Get rid of cable TV first. If you have not. Look at Cricket Wireless.
Buy Peanut butter instead of roast beef.
Turn OFF the AC.
Do not go out to dinner.
Bring your lunch to work everyday. It is healthier anyway.
I’d like to know his voting habits first, if he were a Biden supporter in 2020, this is what he voted for - and deserves.
He is laying out what is going on in most middle class homes these days, our salaries (and retirement savings) aren’t keeping up with inflation - had to have the car in for regular service yesterday and it was over $600, and it needs new tires.
Cloward-Piven is coming to fruition.
This is what Leftists have desired and worked for for at least 50 years.
Also, IF you have never read the book:
“Who Moved My Cheese?”
I would suggest you pick up a copy. It is the only sales book you ever really need. IMHO.
“This is not a Federal issue.”
Amendment II and others apply to the states too.
Think out of the box or get taxed out of your home.
The water supply to my house and my air conditioning are federal matters.
Now I'm a steak guy and my wife and I used to go to steakhouses a lot. Not any more. A decent steakhouse will now charge you upwards of $55 for a single 14-oz steak!
This is where I managed to save a lot of money. Our dining expense used to be more than what we were paying for groceries.
I learned to master making steaks at home using cast iron. A little butter, some chopped garlic, a few mushrooms, and I can make a steak as good if not better than anything you get in a restuarant. I get my steaks from a butcher shop and I'm still saving a lot of money over going to a restaurant for it.
But I can make a quality meal out of ground beef as well. Once of my favorites is an 8-oz homemade patty. Five minutes each side and it's perfectly medium-rare. Then I slide a fried egg or two on top. I just eat it as is, with a fork (no bun as I try to avoid carbs).
Usually I can figure out acronyms, sometimes with the help of urban dictionary. This one stumped me. PM = ? Post meridian, personal messaging?
Companies are dying to find great people with experience and character.
You can likely raise your salary by moving to a different company - maybe by +20%
Feels disloyal to do this?
Companies will eliminate anyone they can these days with no loyalty.
You have a lifetime of skills and industry knowledge.
It is worth more than they are paying you.
Start with Zip Recruiter and also network with companies that employ great salespeople.
Good luck.
“Our property tax in FL can’t go up by more than 3% a year.”
The cap is on the assessed valuation. The tax rates applied to that valuation may be changed by statutory law.
In fact, it should cost less. The danged grass grows for free!
Use cash or write checks for in-store purchases. Cut online purchases as much as possible.
Yes, cash & checks are less convenient but every dollar you charge is another dollar you are paying high interest on every month.
The people in Taxachusetts know that they want Democrats in office, so they deserve to get what they want good and hard.
“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.”
This is a huge problem for millions of older people. The media won’t talk about it because it makes their team look bad.
Imagine saving all your working years to only have 30+% (value) of your retirement going up in inflationary smoke.
THE CRASH WILL NOT BE TRUMP’S FAULT.
IT IS COMING-——
I WOULD MUCH RATHER SEE TRUMP IN CHARGE WHEN IT HAPPENS THAN KAMALA.
“Warren Buffett...constitutional amendment...any time there is a deficit of more than 3 percent of the Gross Domestic Product, all sitting members of Congress will be ineligible for re-election”
Rumors of a 2.5 % Soc Sec increase ===ABOUT $36 for me.
NOT even a half tank of gas for me.
I’m guessing Property Management.
Yes. They want to decimate the economy while they are in charge. “Never let a crisis go to waste”. This is the crisis they are trying to create so that they can use it as an excuse to eliminate the Constitution.
We are crawling. Worked very hard since graduating college in ‘06 with a worthless degree, married straight out of college and went on to have 6 kids. Wife is a stay at home mom and homeschools our kids.
2017-2021 under Trump were the best financial years of my adulthood. I began to get ahead, even while having additional children.
Biden-Harris inflation has effectively wiped out every salary gain I made in the last 6 years. We have no debt other than mortgage and 1 car.
Groceries and consumables are killing us. We don’t spend lavishly and hardly ever eat out (partly due to the constant stares at our kids by pricks and childless cat ladies). The official inflation rates are complete bull$#!÷. Wife has done numerous, identical year-overr-year comparisons: everything is at least 30-50% more expensive for our family.
Obamacare destroyed my company’s private health insurance offerings. It has only gotten worse the last 3 years. Monthly pre-tax withdrawals became insanely expensive for families, deductibles went way up, and convoluted “co-insurance” rules leave me wondering “why not just save and take the risk of no insurance? They don’t pay for anything anyway.”
Property taxes jumped unexpectedly last year. No warning from the county.
And I’m sure this is just the start of the economic utopia the Left has planned for us. Unaffordable for the families they pretend to support, begging at the public trough.
I don't believe we will survive, not as a free Republic. Because of heavy taxes the big investors will live the markets and our economy will collapse.
The government (Obama) will began taking over our major industries such as the oil, natrial gas and food production. From there it's only a short ride to social tyranny..
Obama's new 10 million man army will see to it that those who resist will be goose-stepped to the gulag.
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