FYInance

Posts Tagged ‘Recession’

Today we are going to share a story of a lady whom wrote in about her situation regarding the economy. We generally do not do this but this lady is very depressed and asked that we share her story. The story is below:

“For the first time in my life, I have been left totally alone.

My son grew up this year and spent his summer abroad, so the house consists of me and the old man.

The economy has affected us as he is a pipe fitter, and there is no work at all here at home. He’s working, 1200 miles away.

Our rent is paid in both places, but all the lonely is killing me, and depression has consumed my soul.”

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Recession, recession, recession… are you scared?

Today, we had a discussion about what the current economy is affection us, the banks, our finances, jobs, and everything else. The recession discussion tends to scare people and bring about many concerns and worries.

Don’t lose sight of your financial goals

But, no matter what the economy is doing, no matter how bad the economy is, we cannot let it get to us. We need to still work towards our financial goals. We need to follow our financial plan even though it may be harder than we originally anticipated.

Fortunately, at the end of the gloomy discussion, we managed to have a slightly more upbeat discussion about what if we had a lot of money on hand right now. So, again, we ask our readers what they would do if they had $50,000 in the bank account right now and one of them said:

The $50k question is back again!

So, what would you do if you had the $50,000 in the bank now?

“I would pay off my bills, this whole recession thing really scares me! Put some in savings to make sure I have emergency money. Spend some on my son who would never forgive me if I didn’t. And then I would take my best friend, who is also struggling financially, and we would go to a resort/spa for a weekend. We’ve both had some rough years lately. Both have gone through divorce, struggling somewhat financially, and we could really use the relaxation or get-away. Money is no fun if you can’t share it.”

Thank you for sharing your thought. It is nice to see that even in tough times, family and friends come first and of course you need to pamper yourself when you can. Don’t let the recession talk get the better of you. Have fun if you can while working towards your financial goals!

When the economy is slow, it is tough being a student. Not only tuition are expensive, books are expensive, lab equipments and other accessories are expensive, housing is expensive (and the list goes on) but there are other factors that makes being a student when the economy is recessionary very difficult.

A story from a student in the slow economy

Here is a story from a student whose life has changed because of the economy:

“Well, basically, I am going to school full time (online) so money was tight before, but now my family and I eat everything at home. We don’t go anywhere unless absolutely necessary and it is one big trip to many stores near each other. My husband and I are also now working online to make more money to just make ends meet. This takes away from my studies so I am having to stay up long nights just to do my courses. So basically it is school and work, no play at all.”

Thank you for sharing your story. There are so many other students in the same boat or in even worse situations. Money is hard to make when the economy is slow and anyone who is supporting themselves while going to school will have to work extra shifts to earn more money.

Financial planning helps students in slow economy

Some students are fortunate enough when their parents set up a college plan or a 529 plan for them. We will discuss collage planning and the 529 plans another day. But if you want to read about 529 plans, there are websites such as these ones http://www.sec.gov, http://www.morningstar.com, or http://529-plan.info for a more basic explanation of what a 529 plan is. A 529 plan, if a student has one, will usually help him or her throughout his or her college life so that he or she does not have to work extra hard, in the evenings and weekends to make ends meet and still have free time to study.

You may be wondering why we are discussing the effects of 9-11 when we were supposed to be discussing the slow economy and how it is impacting people. Well, we are going to start with the event of 9-11 and show you how the economy has not really recovered since.

9-11 was a shock to everyone. But since 9-11, America and the rest of the world have rebuilt confidence and the financial market has rebounded a bit. But, not for everyone. Many people are still trying to recover from the tragic event of 9-11 and I’m not just referring to the families that lost their loved ones. Even people who live far away from NYC are still suffering from that event.

One lady has a story to tell about how she is still suffering from 9-11 so this slow economy that we are experiencing right now is much harder on her than it would be normally. Recession or not, the slow economy is already making people’s lives hard. You can go to  http://en.wikipedia.org to read about the tragedy on 9-11.

Still recovering from 9-11, how is this slow economy affecting you?

“I’m a stripper. I’ve been a stripper for years. Before 9-11, I banked. Since then, it has never been the same. At best, it’s recovered to about half of what it was like before 9-11. In a nutshell, I work on commission. I make my money from the left over money in men’s pockets. If they’re not making money, they have no extra and I make no money.”

We thank the lady for sharing her personal experience of how this slow economy is affecting her life. Many people work on commissions. When people have more money, they seem to tip more and tips can be the sole source of income for some people.