Are you better off than you were four years ago?

[No Mandate Here.]

My wife just showed me one of our Mutual Fund balance sheets for the past year, and, although we put ~$1,100 in, we are only up ~$ 450 for the year. (Not sure quite how the math works, but we lost about $550) This is a very well established, reasonable growth fund, and it is about average for the several we have.

Are we typical?

[dr.strangelove]

1. I am - but I still want a change

I've been pretty lucky the last four years in the money department. I have gotten some nice bonuses at work and several stock picks worked out right for me. I don't give bushco any credit though. I worked my ass off to get where I am.

Besides, even if I am better off than I was 4 years ago, the country sure as hell isn't. We are the bad cop for the world right now, and that has got to change.

Good post though. I hope most DUers are in a good place financially, but I'm sure the job problems bushco has delivered has hit our ranks too. Don't worry, good times are around the corner (once Kerry wins).

[Nimrod]

5. In a way

Five years ago I took a heavy-responsibility white collar job. As of last month I had saved enough money to quit and move to a different state with a lower cost of living than Washington has.

The amount I saved? About 2,500 dollars over that five years. I'm back to zero, but I'm out of that worthless job and living in a place where I actually feel good.

I posted up a long rant awhile ago running down everything that had happened in the course of that five years to make my total savings amount to an average of about $40 a month, so there's no need to subject anyone to it again. Suffice to say, there's not a lot of retirement plans going on right now.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. Are we typical?

Sounds like you are one of the lucky ones. Others have had it worse.

[DarkPhenyx]

3. Yes, I am better off.

I don't have anything left in my investments since I pulled it all out to pay off Credit Card debt, but I have a lot less of that debt now. I am also working in a much better job and I am in the final stages of closing on my very first house.

however I do feel that the US in general is far worse off than it was four years ago. I know my roomie is worse off, as are my parents.

[The empressof all]

4. Hell No (eom)

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Tsiyu]

13. Nice Try

Ask School Teachers. Ask those working in hospitals. Ask the retired who must pay exorbitant amounts for meds because your beloved Bush is BJing the pharm companies. See ya sucker....

[Speed8098]

14. Slick Willy?????

Where do you think you are??

You don't come here and disrespect our last ELECTED PREISDENT.

This is a DEMOCRATIC forum, not that other board.

I am better off because I work hard, and many of you would be better off if you would make the effort rather than pass the buck on an administration that received the reigns of a nation on the brink of economic disaster

Why don't you go ahead and explain what you mean by this highly offensive statement. :puke:
You seem to imply that the people here are not hard working Americans.

Buh Bye :nuke:

[BiggJawn]

48. Same crap I heard from the Reaganfarians in the 80's...

"I don't know what YOUR problem is, I'm making money hand over fist. you must be lazy or something...."

Yeah, we who got fucked by those Yuppies are "lazy". That let them sleep at night, you see, because they were able to ignore that they "got theirs" off the backs of the rest of us.

[Vickers]

17. You're better off financially? What are you, a male prostitute?

C'mon, Deuce,let us know!

[wrate]

21. While it's good to know that you are doing better, it's sad to see you

disregard others as lazy only because they weren't as lucky as you were. I can guarantee you that the hardest working people in America are not the wealthiest. You might want to do a little research in order to gather real facts about economic well being in the Bush administration and how the great majority hard working Americans were left out of the "bonanza" you are a part of.

[Protected]

35. That's the Republican meme now

"Don't have a job? You're a lazy f---! Get off your ass and get a job. The economy is on steroids!"

Of course these people don't bother to differentiate between a "hamburger manufacturing" job at $6.50/hour and a professional career at $50k+/year.

[eissa]

6. No way

The cost of living in our area has risen dramatically, while wages continue to stagnate. The funds we set up for our children when they were born, which did well throughout the 90s, haven't budged in the last several years.

[Connie_Corleone]

7. I am financially,

but it has nothing to do with bush. I'm psychologically worse off.

[shtinkycat]

20. Ditto

That's just what I was thinking - my husband and I are better off financially, fortunate to have jobs, and received an inheritance. But my mental health is much worse, more worry, anxiety and fear. A new president will help fix this!

[La Lioness Priyanka]

9. i cant really compare (since i was in college during clinton years)

what i can say is that :

in 2000 i was hired for a data-entry position in a company for $12/hour.

in 2004 i hired people for the exactly the same position for $10/hour.

And there were people with Graduate degrees willing to take these positions. All is not well.

[yellerpup]

10. Totally down the chute

Four years ago my husband had a $72K job, with another 25-30K or so in freelance. We had mutual funds, ira, and owned a couple of stocks. My husband was laid off in June, 2001 (we lived in NY at the time in an apartment with a Hudson River view) and didn't work again until November. In the meantime, our iras & savings tanked along with the stock market and we had to cash out to meet our debt obligations. Now we're living in a double-wide and hubby is making 29K. How I wish I could trade that $400 tax rebate from B* so my hubby could get his good job back. BTW, we're celebrating our 25th anniversary this week. Beans 'n' franks again!!

[johncoby2]

11. Are WE better off than WE were four years ago?"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/04/07/06_better.html

"It may be hard for some people to admit, but George W. Bush does not deserve to be re-elected in 2004. Given his record on every issue facing Americans today and every issue used to determine the health of our nation, it will be hard to answer the question "Are we better off than we were four years ago?" "

[DaveSZ]

15. Quote

"an administration that received the reigns of a nation on the brink of economic disaster."


This disaster?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5474580/

Presidents and prosperity

Economy did best when Clinton was in office

Clinton's two terms in office, from 1993 to 2001, were marked by strong numbers that put him first among the ten postwar presidents.

-more


I'm not a Clinton fan for probably different reasons than you, but nonetheless you should get your facts straight.

[KayLaw]

26. Thanks DaveSZ

That quote is just obscenely stupid isn't it? We had so much more under Clinton.

[johncoby2]

46. Well according to Senator Hutchinson of Texas....

We are better off.

We are safer, but don't forget the orange terror alert.

Our stock market is strong.

Our country is creating jobs.

Our schools are better and so are Iraqs.

We are bringing peace and democracy to the world.



Senator Hutchinson must also be a dolt.

[madrchsod]

12. no

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

23. How do you figure? Your property taxes haven't skyrocketed in Newton?

you don't have kids that are screwed by the cutbacks in education and after school programs? I've never met a Mass Romney-lover, but I guess there's a first time for everything! :eyes:

[Ilsa]

18. No way.

Our income has risen marginally, but our cost of living has increased significantly, including cost of energy, medical, groceries, and state and local taxes. We are also having to provide more individually for our sons' school inorder for the school to meet fundraising goals. Our savings haven't recovered from 2001 yet either.

[Ladyhawk]

19. Hell no. n/t

[ProfessorGAC]

22. Actually, About The Same. But, This Election Isn't About Me!

Unlike conservatives, and the dumbass working stiffs who vote against their own interests, i don't vote based upon what i think will be best for ME, ME, ME!

I vote based upon what's best for the country. So, whether i'm better off, worse off, or effectively in the same place financially, is irrelevant.

The folks in power now, are thoughtless, compassionless, criminals and they need to go, no matter my fiscal conditions.
The Professor

[LeftHander]

24. No....

Income down over 50%

But I do have a house at 5.125%

[KayLaw]

25. Much worse

My husband works for the government and only receives a 1% pay raise these days, and I earn my money mainly from CD interest. The big problem for us is the rise in health insurance. Also, USAA is raising our homeowners insurance because of inflation - they say building materials cost more than when we bought the house six years ago.

[Jane Austin]

27. We owned four condominium units for investment for twenty years.

Two years ago, we sold two of them for a disappointing - - considering their quality, location and lenght of time held - - $119,000.

We finally got an offer this weekend for one of the remaining units - - for $30,000 less than the first two.

And this is in a desirable area of desirable Austin, Texas.

[Heddi]

28. I am in a better situation but not because of Bush---rather, in spite of

him.

Financially, well, I guess I voluntarily quit my job a year ago to attend school. I took a year of pre-req's and start Nursing School in about a month.

Currently I'm working (and have been for the past 6 months) in my field (medicine) and will quit that job when I have to move to attend school.

In January, my husband quit his job so that he too could attend nursing school. He'll start working when I go back to school and will be entering the program about a year after I do.

We've been living off of one salary for the past 2 years, and won't have a two-salary household again for about 3.5 years.

But this has nothing to do with BUSH--we just knew that we wanted to go to school so we lived frugally for about 2 years and saved every single penny we could so that we could afford the both of us being jobless while we were in school.

But it also helps that I'm 28 and hubby is 31, we have no kids, we rent, own our car free and clear, and have very little debt (mostly because for the longest time we were too poor to get into debt).

But again--my luck isn't because of bush, it's in spite of him.

[lukasahero]

29. Financially I am but

it's simply been luck. During W's "reign", both I and my partner have been unemployed for various lengths of time (he over a year, me about 6 months). I'm only doing better now because I just happened to have a unique set of skills that an employer just happened to need at that moment. (That's not called a better economy, it's called LUCK.) It didn't hurt that I was grossly underpaid in my previous job so even getting close to market value would have had to have been a step up.

That said, I strongly agree with the poster above who said that he/she doesn't view this election as "all about me". I'm in a position in life now where I don't have to worry about abortion, education, opportunity, etc. but I can't just sit by and let those who do still have to worry about them fight that fight alone.

[AndyTiedye]

30. No.

Let's bring back the Clinton stock market, shall we?

[hughee99]

32. I'm not sure about that...

I'm doing better now, but I'm not in favor of bringing back the Clinton stock market. There were alot of opportunities but there were many problems with it that are still having their effects felt today. Two things that were inflating the market in the 90's was the .com bubble and the corperate fraud scandals. Now, I don't blame Clinton for either of these things, but I don't think anyone was in favor of them once they realized what was going on.

[TexasSissy]

31. The stock market is at a low pt. for the year. It was highest in Jan

or Feb. It's not really fair to judge your 401K by only one point in time during the year. It varies every day, after all. And you are investing for the long term, right?

Overall, I'd have to say that I'm better off financially, since I didn't lose my job.

[No Mandate Here.]

42. I realize this,

but the performance since- say, just to pick a date out of the air - January, 2001 has been absolutely flat. There has been essentially no gain in any of the funds (we have four or five). I am sorry to hear of the real estate performance cited above, too.

Five years ago, we were planning to semi- retire in 2006. Now it is at least five years away.

[Coyul]

33. we are not doing better

Four years ago I had a good job, a 401k, and a little money put by for the kids school. Today my wife and I both have to work full time, and we still make $7 an hour less than I made on my own.No more 401K and no more school money.

[Carson]

34. Yes

Financially, speaking. I was fortunate to find a better paying job and buy a house at 6%.

Psychologically speaking, hell no!

[footinmouth]

36. Well, sort of ...

We're better off today then we were 4 years ago, but it's certainly not due to the current administration. Our situation is totally due to having 2 sons finish college and move out of the house. Such a joy to no longer pay $40,000/year in tuition. We've got that money back now and no longer have to cook and/or purchase vats of food.

I'd love to retire, but the thought of having to pay for our health insurance is keeping me at work. Soon that cost will be up to the college tuition we just finished paying.

I'm sorry I missed post #8. Looked like a doozy.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

37. No

My translation business gave me my highest annual income ever in 2000 After 2 years of five-figure decreases (ouch!), it held steady in 2003 and seems to have dipped slightly again this year. I am not a happy financial camper.

[Tim4319]

38. H...E... Double Hockey Sticks.......

NO!

[mtnester]

39. No - more in debt than I want to be or ever have been

and I am not a teenager or spendthrift

thinking about a second job....dammit...and hubby works WAY too much OT.

[Lindacooks]

40. NO

eom

[SudieJD]

41. NO

We're much worse off. I'm unable to find a job. My husband is an over the road truck driver and we are buying our truck. What with the high cost of fuel, over 1/2 of the cost is taken out of our settlements each week leaving very little to live off. We're barely breaking even.

We have had to have the following shut off due to not having the funds:
Sat TV
Cell phone
Garbage collection
Life Insurance
Health Insurance
dropped coverage on one of our vehicles

I have RA and severe osteoporosis. We can no longer afford the doctors or the medications, so now I suffer even getting out of bed in the mornings.

There are SO many other things we've had to cut out in the past four years. We've even changed the way we eat! Cheep food and 2 or 3 days out of the week, it's peanut butter sandwiches.

We're barely holding on to our home and may have to move into one room this coming winter in order to be able to afford the heat.

I don't know how much worse it could get for us. The only thing worse could be if Jackass is re-elected.

Sudie in MN

[vetwife]

43. Well according to the press 6o percent have stocks I DON'T ...NO

People on fixed incomes don't get better off. Not with cost rising and a 20.00 a year raise. The gas went up more than that not counting groceries. My husband is a disabled vet and my prescriptions went up. Who is the this 60 plus who can afford stock options? Another thing..Bush's argument about inheriting a recession is crazy..it was Clinton who inhereited a problem and got it fixed in two years. That should be in an ad ! Gore broke the tie casting vote to balance the budget. He can't scream 9-11 either, we had the Oklahoma City Bombing. We had Columbine, He had terrorists . We had the Cole..Where is Bush's argument? We had Kosovo, Bosnia, Melosovich....Clinton had really more than Bush had to deal with. He had the Wako mess, investigation after investigation, the suicide of Vince Foster, and an impeachment trial. The extreme right wing, the NRA, He had to fight the congress second term and his apointees didn't get nominated on the bench. The only thing he dealt with that Bush hasn't is a Blow Job by an intern....if that would improve things for the economy..Bush needs one !
Under Clinton the retirees and military got an increase cost of living of 3.5 and the least was 2.5. Under Bush from day one it was 1 percent. There were social programs not being cut and quality of education was much higher. The states were not bankrupt and property taxes were lower. We had cleaner air and water.

[area51]

44. "better off than you were four years ago?"

Fsck, no. I used to have a career working w/computers. But that's nothing compared to postings of others here who have lost their possessions in this dying economy and/or are suffering unemployment of anywhere from 6 mos. to over 4 yrs.

[cmd]

45. Not financially

I retired last year. I'm making much less than I did when I was working full time and have much worse health coverage. On the bright side, I'm no longer dealing with the high levels of stress that I was under as a classroom teacher.

[Jokinomx]

47. HELL NO.....

I am off unemployment though. I make the outstanding wage of $7.25 hr.... I made more than that out of H.S... in 1975. Yet I am counted as a new job. The "GOOD" news... it ends at the end of Oct... then I go on unemployment again.

[snippyMcNippy]

49. Much better

I have no complaints about income or other lifestyle issues. I don't believe a president has much influence on the economy.

[vetwife]

51. Really? Wanna donate to The Guy James Show

Ever hear of a Budget? Something a president proposes to congress? Guess not..Glad to hear your lifestyle is so great.....wanna donate to the Guy James Show?

[paulk]

54. of course a president has influence on the economy

a third of the nat'l debt is due to Bush's tax cuts, tax cuts which have not stimulated job growth - because the cuts went to the wrong sector of society.

Bush has so far spent 200 billion dollars on a war we didn't need to fight. That's 200 billion more in debt.

To say that our debt, which is directly attributable to Bush's policies, doesn't affect our economy, is to ignore some pretty fundemental economic principles.

If the US wasn't the biggest, strongest economy in the world, Bush's bungling would have bought us to our knees. AS it is, we're stumbling.

[vetwife]

55. Agree,,,Hey if this person is so well off..wanna donate to vets too?

http://groups.msn.com/UnitedVeteransofAmerica/whatsnew
100 percent goes to the veteran and not special interest. Thought you might feel patriotic or something?

[BiggJawn]

50. You have Mutual Funds?

OK, so I'm not being totally honest here. I'm in a Public Employees Retirement Fund, and I have money invested. But the whole thing's worth less than 30 kilobucks for 11 years of putting into it. I had to pull funds out of the more agressive investments a few years ago amd put them into the point-five % funds because they were tanking.

My pay is flat (a whole 2% raise this year!) the price of everything is going up, I have a moronic buffoon for president, my country is the most hated one in the world, I'm stressing something horrible and my love-life is a stagnant as an abandoned sewage lagoon.

No, I'm NOT "doing better"....

[dryan]

53. About the same....

in some ways we are better off financially; we were finally able to move into a nicer home but my husband medication takes a big bite out of monthly budget. We are facing dialysis soon and I am concerned about this. We both work for the State of Florida and since our wonderful governor was re-elected it has been very hard for state employees. After all, this was a governor who said he looks forward to the day when all the state office buildings are empty!

[No Mandate Here.]

59. Apologies for sounding differently than we are...

we have been self employed for 25 years, and, other than Social Security (if * hasn't given it all away by then), this is it.

My wife and I made a goal of never having to ask the question "Would you like fries with that?" or "Welcome to Malwart. Care for a smiley face?"

It is a travesty that seniors need to do this. I hope all can avoid it.

On edit... bad spelling and proofing.

[peacefreak]

52. Not me.

I work retail--haven't had a raise in three years. My rent is almost half my take-home pay. I cashed in what little of a 401K I had to get Citi-Bank off my back. I pulled cable & shop at off price outlets. A vacation, what's that? Not whining, just telling it like it is.

[sadiesworld]

56. No.

Household income down, expenses up.
Would have been better off with savings under mattress.
Live in constant fear of out/insourcing and housing market collapse.
Very painful to watch democracy die...

[Kitka]

57. If you consider my husband’s job leaving and going to Mexico, leaving him…

with a job paying 25% less “good”, then hell yeah!

[iconoclastic cat]

58. Absolutely not.

Four years ago, I had just graduated, and I was picking up plenty of freelance work. In 2002, the gigs dried up, and I went back to school. When I graduated again in May, I discovered that there isn't a market for my new degree and skills anymore.

Out, damned Bush!

[SOS]

60. Much worse

my wife's job was given to a 25 year-old from England, who's getting less than half her old salary. Unemployment ran out. Health insurance gone. I haven't had a raise in 3 years.
Fixed expenses up 20-30% since 2000. Staying afloat with loans, which will eventually ruin us if this POS economy doesn't pick up.
Thank goodness for the first Bush "tax cut". It enabled us to buy 10 days of health insurance, two years ago. :eyes:

[No Mandate Here.]

61. having read some of the posts here, I am almost sorry to have asked.

I wonder what the honest response would be if this question were poated on FR?

Couple of moderator deleted posts above... Any trolls still here? How about letting us know how you all are doing?