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Four Years Ago

I'm much better off, to be honest. I'm retired which is a major contributing factor and my spouse is nearing retirement (in a year or two or three) and working only because he wants to continue to work in a job he really likes. He's also earning more money than he did four years ago. I think that's the important part of the question, right? Are we financially better off? Well, my kids are all financially better off now compared with 4 years ago. One changed careers and is earning much more than he did before. Another is getting paid a reasonable salary with a lower work load compared with 4 years ago or even one year ago. One of them joined siblings in becoming a home owner. Another is contemplating purchasing a larger home (tbd). Hubby purchased a new vehicle about a year and a half ago and while the price tag was really hefty (thanks to Trump prolonging the pandemic, thus crippling the supply chain longer than necessary and driving prices up) he loves the vehicle and the hybrid life. The old vehicle still has some life left in it and is spending its final days with a young person just starting out who needed an inexpensive vehicle and thought it was a heckavadeal.
 
Toni said:
that's the important part of the question, right? Are we financially better off?
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That’s where most people go when asked. It’s a tricky thing, because it is a minor miracle that we’re not ALL in dire financial straits, after the mess that Trump left for Biden to clean up.
I don’t even know if I am or am not better off financially, but I know thousands of Americans aren’t dying every day from avoidable illness. I do miss the quiet of lockdown time though.
 
Elixir said:
Toni said:
that's the important part of the question, right? Are we financially better off?
Click to expand...
That’s where most people go when asked. It’s a tricky thing, because it is a minor miracle that we’re not ALL in dire financial straits, after the mess that Trump left for Biden to clean up.
I don’t even know if I am or am not better off financially, but I know thousands of Americans aren’t dying every day from avoidable illness. I do miss the quiet of lockdown time though.
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We’re just really starting to embrace the fact that we no longer are limiting ourselves to restaurant take out, and avoiding shopping in person except for once a week early in the day when no one is out and about.

I know that not everyone is in a better financial position compared with 4 years ago but we are are so are our adult offspring and friends and other family ( with the exception of those in failing health or worse). And the ones who have survived the loss of a spouse or loved one, including one newly married young couple when the husband died of COVID.

Editing to add: We are in that sweet spot where our children are grown and independent (no longer a financial drain) and have been for some years so we've been able to do things we postponed while raising the kids/paying for college, mostly home improvements. And not in the expensive part of life where we need to move out of our own home into some sort of senior living arrangements. Hubby is at peak income, which really helps. Retirement account is doing well (knocks wood) and we have more than we thought we needed to retire 'comfortably' meaning no significant loss in standard of living. We're hoping to maintain that status for another 10-15 years or so. Hubby thinks permanently but our house is full of stairs and I have seen what it looks like when you are in your 80's and the laundry is in the basement and the bedrooms are all upstairs and: no bueno. I want to make a change before that happens.
 
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I'm not hurting financially but not doing as well either. But that was because I had a major competitor come in and take a lot of sales away for a while. I'm getting them back gradually but it still keeps me from getting the sales bonuses I did before. But that isn't Biden's fault. It is just the name of the game. Healthwise I am fine and so is family. And I am able to make due on what I earn and still save some, so I don't think Im doing bad.
 
Substantially better. I have tenure, my student loans are paid off, I have the right under the law to marry if I want to, I've learned how to cook Thai food, and the current president is a strong supporter of the community college system for which I work. But I'm not sure how useful such anecdotal cases are.
 
We've got infrastructure projects going on. That's a good thing. Funny how for years we talked about our crumbling bridges and then once things get approved... nothing. Instead of getting to put a notch in his belt, it's like he just gets reset to zero. Oh well, I guess if folks aren't cursing Biden for all the construction delays and detours, he'll count it as a win.

Daughter is in a much better place. Out of fear, I told her to quit her job (homeless nonprofit) when the pandemic hit and I'd support her. Then when it was over, the place she was working was so hurting for people she not only got her job back, she was immediately promoted. I then told her to work on getting a government job in the same field. She applied once. Nailed the interview. Now she has about the best job security she can expect. And I got about as much credit and thanks as Biden gets.

Me? I got a thirty dollar subsidy on my internet because like my billionaire friends, I technically have very little income.
 
Am I better off? Hell yeah. In early 2020, I'd left a job that was a huge step down financially from my previous career and was so stressful that I left to protect my health. I figured "I have X amount of money in the bank, so I can take my time and find a job I really want." I wasn't really finding anything, so I applied for a part time gig at my grocery store fuel center. A whopping 20 cents over minimum wage, but hey...something to do and have a little money coming in while I found something better.

My first day on the job was the first day of the lock down. I was not going to find something better. Nobody was, and shortly thereafter it was "well, at least I have a job." That money I'd had saved up went towards paying the bills that the job didn't, and I started racking up credit card debt as well. You really can't survive on a minimum wage job. There was a bit of a silver lining as it was there that I met someone who was a test driver for autonomous vehicles, which led me to starting my career in the industry about a year after the start of the pandemic. My savings have been built back up, the credit card debt will be gone in a month, and while I've lost a few friends and co-workers over the past 6 months, none of them went out like the one that spent the last month of his life on a ventilator because the vaccine wasn't yet available.
 
I am much better off. My energy and general outlook in life has improved dramatically despite my country’s reversion towards bigotry, intolerance and dumbness. It really helos to have unclogged arteries!
 
I’d like to hear from Jason, Swiz et al.
From their bitterness I have to assume they’re suffering now like never before.
 
Worse, but for medical reasons unrelated to any actions by either president.
 
In 2020 I was grieving alone for the premature loss of my Dad to cancer (which made me the primary caretaker of my legally blind mothrr with MS among other things), then his brother to a heart attack... all the while plague rats everywhere were complaining how life wasn't fair because they couldn't go to the bar and were convincing themselves to take dewormer for animals.

It was fucking awful!
 
In 2020 at age 60 I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, married (second time, 4 years in), and had just bought a condo with my wife. The purchase of the condo was a concession to my decisions that my estate was going to my son (only child), and a portion to my first wife (24 years of marriage) and my second wife was "where will I live if you die?" In 2020 I had a falling out at my firm with one of the partners and left for a new firm.

Now in 2024 I am divorced (despite the purchase of the condo, my second wife started stealing money from our joint accounts, and hiding assets), cancer free (prostate removed), the new firm is much better than the previous firm, sold the condo (at a loss), and I moved back into my house.

In between I was accused of abuse (case dismissed before going to court), accused of theft (case dismissed before going to court), she spray painted my car (got her on security camera, judge ruled that she had to pay for it, and in court she committed perjury stating that she didn't do it, then she admitted to the judge after wards in a letter that she did do it), had to go to court to get my belongings returned (nearly all recovered except she didn't return any of my jewelry including 2 wedding rings and my grandfather's diamond ring), and had a 3-day divorce trail. Judge found in my favor for everything that I asked for, but my ex still owes me $80K (and the jewelry). I spent 18 months seeing a therapist monthly. I got a dog, rescue beagle. And in 2023 my Mom passed away at 89, peacefully, at home, surrounded by her three children.

I can't say if I am better or worse than 4 years ago - but more has happened to me in these last four years than probably at any other time in my life. My family and friends are the best. My dog too.
 
I'm better off but it has nothing to do with anyone in government, although inflation did increase the rate I get on my CDs as well as the biggest Social Security increase I've ever had. :)
 
I'm not turning on the TV every morning thinking, "OK, what the fuck did our President just say to the world?" I can actually turn on the news while drinking coffee -- not with great caution, in between sips.
 
ideologyhunter said:
I'm not turning on the TV every morning thinking, "OK, what the fuck did our President just say to the world?" I can actually turn on the news while drinking coffee -- not with great caution, in between sips.
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I still have to keep the remote handy to mute the TV whenever FFVCS comes on. If anything, the stuff he’s saying now is even more psycho than four years ago.
 
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