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All I know is it is smaller town just out of commuting distance to one of the larger cities. Too far away to live there and work in the city, but close enough to take a massive shopping trip once a month or so.
Texas must be chock full of cities like that. Get out a map and start checking rentals in the small towns. I don't know what size her houses are. A one bedroom house would be pretty unusual.
Miss two mortgage payments and they foreclose on you. Miss rental payments, and a landlord will file a FED against you. I do not know where you are from, but no one I know can live a year without a regular pay cheque unless they have one heck a huge savings account.
Filing and getting a person out are two different things.
So, you know no one with a 401(k), credit cards, equity to downsize, IRAs, etc. Do you only know people that live from pay to pay?
Most people have assets that grow over time. A year out of work is a bump in the road for the average person. Their assets will drop, and they may have high credit card balances when it is over, but they will survive.
Filing and getting a person out are two different things.
So, you know no one with a 401(k), credit cards, equity to downsize, IRAs, etc. Do you only know people that live from pay to pay?
Most people have assets that grow over time. A year out of work is a bump in the road for the average person. Their assets will drop, and they may have high credit card balances when it is over, but they will survive.
I have know plenty of folks with these assets who still ended up in trouble. The poor and the middle classes are much larger than the rich. Even some people who are considered rich would tell you that their finances could not withstand a long period of no income. The poor and the middle class carry a lot of debt for housing, education, medical, transportation, etc. It only takes one big crisis, such as medical expense, to wipe out a lifetime's savings, too. Pay cheques stop coming in, or someone can no longer work, and savings are drained very quickly. The majority of people in this country are poor to middle class. The truly wealthy make up 3-4 percent of the population. These are facts not myths.
There is no finer documentary researchers and reporters than are on Frontline in my opinion. Learn something about poverty and housing in America.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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We were close in 2008-09, when our house was in foreclosure due to loss of a business in the recession. It's quite a shock to get 14 certified mail notices about once a week addressed to me, my wife, and John Doe #1-12 (only 3 of us there but a big house). It was only two weeks before the auction date when I got a good job and was able to do a forbearance with the bank.
Since then after promotions and raises I'm making 3 times what I made starting here in 2009, and starting next month will get SS on top of that until I retire next year. Despite being so far in the whole, no more savings, maxed out credit cards, and juggling late payments, we're better off now than ever before. We have good savings, and are back up to 781 credit score.
We were close in 2008-09, when our house was in foreclosure due to loss of a business in the recession. It's quite a shock to get 14 certified mail notices about once a week addressed to me, my wife, and John Doe #1-12 (only 3 of us there but a big house). It was only two weeks before the auction date when I got a good job and was able to do a forbearance with the bank.
Since then after promotions and raises I'm making 3 times what I made starting here in 2009, and starting next month will get SS on top of that until I retire next year. Despite being so far in the whole, no more savings, maxed out credit cards, and juggling late payments, we're better off now than ever before. We have good savings, and are back up to 781 credit score.
That is wonderful news. I am very happy to hear it. I wish everyone could find this sort of stability.
Why should some people have several homes, and even use real property as a "business" whilst others struggle to find any place to live or pay up to 50% of their income toward putting a roof over their heads?
Because I am entitled by right to have it! It's my right to live in a gated guarded community. It's my right to drive a car that cost more in gas than some get paid in a year! It's my right to have several businesses that puts money in my pocket. It's my right to be able to buy what I want when I want. And it's my right (despite whinny sods who cry to government to infringe on my business rights) to own property that commands high rents and charge the rents people are willing to pay.
I'm amazed that people cry "entitled to" but can't comprehend that those with money are also entitled to luxury apartments commensurate with their standard of income and stature.
Because I am entitled by right to have it! It's my right to live in a gated guarded community. It's my right to drive a car that cost more in gas than some get paid in a year! It's my right to have several businesses that puts money in my pocket. It's my right to be able to buy what I want when I want. And it's my right (despite whinny sods who cry to government to infringe on my business rights) to own property that commands high rents and charge the rents people are willing to pay.
I'm amazed that people cry "entitled to" but can't comprehend that those with money are also entitled to luxury apartments commensurate with their standard of income and stature.
Not what this topic is about.
A very dear friend died in the mid-90's. She was married to a police officer and had been a widow for fifteen years. She never had children. She was pretty much alone. By the time she died, she was effectively penniless.
Her saving grace was her rent controlled one bedroom apartment. It was a nice prewar building. The NYC apartment was in a nice German/Irish neighborhood (1950's) which changed to not so nice poor immigrant neighborhood.
She was frugal, person who lived thru the Great Depression. She never lived in a gated community, own a car, or a business or any luxuries.
She is much more common than your example.
What gutted her retirement/widowhood was government inflation. If the value of the dollar had stayed stable, her life would have been easier.
So, it looks like renting your whole life is a stupid decision, then. Makes sense. If you buy a house, eventually, it gets paid off. Once a retirement/limited income deal rears it's ugly head, you need to have your $hit paid for, so you can still live in the situation to which you've become accustomed. Easy to spot a product of the public school system...
A very dear friend died in the mid-90's. She was married to a police officer and had been a widow for fifteen years. She never had children. She was pretty much alone. By the time she died, she was effectively penniless.
Her saving grace was her rent controlled one bedroom apartment. It was a nice prewar building. The NYC apartment was in a nice German/Irish neighborhood (1950's) which changed to not so nice poor immigrant neighborhood.
She was frugal, person who lived thru the Great Depression. She never lived in a gated community, own a car, or a business or any luxuries.
She is much more common than your example.
What gutted her retirement/widowhood was government inflation. If the value of the dollar had stayed stable, her life would have been easier.
I thought Germans and Irish people were immigrants to the US, too. Or maybe they’re the “nice” ones, not those nasty nonwhite kind of immigrants...
What gutted her retirement was expecting that COL would never rise.
I thought Germans and Irish people were immigrants to the US, too. Or maybe they’re the “nice” ones, not those nasty nonwhite kind of immigrants...
What gutted her retirement was expecting that COL would never rise.
Wow. It was a middle class area with second generation Americans vs poor immigrants. The immigrants played loud music into the early morning, threw trash in the street, and increased crime and drugs. Better?
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There is no way to account for an increase in inflation from 1960's to 2000.
Quote:
$2,000 in 1960 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $19,749.73 today, an increase of $17,749.73 over 62 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 3.76% per year between 1960 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 887.49%.
If you are lucky to live along enough, then inflation/col is out of your control.
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