"The Great Recession" Topic

I asked this almost two years ago and a pretty good discussion occurred. TMP link

Are you financially better off now than you were in 2008? Have you recovered from whatever losses you may have sustained during the GR?

I pulled out cash and bought a house just before the crash. I still have the house. No real change in wages, but the job is, if anything, more stable.

More game stuff on the shelves than I had in 2008

Our family's life is better off in almost every way imaginable.

It helps that neither of us works for the toxic, awful, ruthless hellhole of a company we both worked for at the time.

I'm doing better, but not my 401K or other investments. I credit a lot of my better situation to me and my abilities, however, than what the USG has done for me. I still see things as pretty flat (at best).

Nope!! Been out of work since Jan. 2011, and after 3 years gave up looking! Don't see things getting better in 2017, and we're due for another recession next Spring or Summer!

Our governor recently announced that due to falling tax revenues pay raises for State employees have been cancelled, extensive cuts are being planned, and instead of a surplus we now have a very large deficit!

So things are not getting better despite what we keep hearing, and are about to get worse!

I imagine these responses will also end up differing greatly depending on the state and city people are in.

Some states seem to have held up or recovered quickly, while others are in a death spiral.

Of course, even if we're doing well overall, bad leadership can tank the local economy and even if we're doing bad, good leadership can weather the storm.

2008 was about a peak earning year. I was briefly out of work in 2013, came back with a 40% cut and retired in 2015--not much difference left between Social Security and my paycheck. But my 401(k) did better--more than recovered from the 2008 damage-- and somewhere between 2008 and 2012 I got the house paid off. So savings are good, but income tanked in 2013 and won't recover.

I will have to stick with my previous answer, what gaming budget? Anything I get now is from selling off things I have accumulated in my many years of gaming.

Yes, I've recovered and it's much more than a tenuous hold, but I still have to be both careful, sell off a few things and GET THAT BOOK DONE!

Yep. Some early concerns, but no issues from the recession. Other issues, but not recession related.

No.

Not yet but I'm getting closer, in a year or two I should get back to my 2008 salary.

Nope.

My investments are ~2x the 2008 value and my home valuation is higher also. Thankfully we weathered the recession well even with my working for a year without pay at a startup.

I'm better off now. But I paid a high price to keep my then-new small business from going belly-up.

And I do know that this "recovery" has been pathetic.

We have not had a raise at work since 2008, but the necessities of life continue to cost more (food, insurance, utility bills, etc.) -- so I would say that financially I am worse off. That said, since the wife and kids are healthy, I still tend to be happy for the most part.

Yes, considering I was canned from my last job due to the Great Recession, and am now happily employed

Damon.

I work in construction so it has taken till this year to get back to my 2008 salary just a hair under. Able to get back on a 401k, my house, which we were lucky to keep, has increased in value, and our business that we opened in January of 2008 survived, due to my wife absolutely bustin her rear to keep it going. Debt is getting paid down. Things are looking up. My miniature therapy has brought an overabundance of stuff in, now I have to figure out what I am doing with it all…..

No. Lost my job due to ill health in 2012. No chance of getting a job due to age and health. Savings rapidly running out and pension does not kick in for another 16 months. Pay had been frozen for 2 years before that and now the pound has fallen through the floor so fuel, heating, food and most other things are starting to go up and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

No recession in Australia for 25 years, but things are looking worrying now.

Real terms pay cut of 14% since 2008, but at least I have a job.

Investments and savings have performed as might be expected in a zero interest rate economy fuelled by money printing.

And just as things are starting to improve, Brexit comes along and stuffs everything.

Better off, on the whole.

The ultra-low interest rates have been brilliant for us. The fall in our mortgage payments has outweighed any lack of growth in income.

I was laid off in Dec, 2010. Jumped right into another job though. Changed jobs last year when the one I had was about to tank due to poor company management. Lucky I saw the writing on the wall. Other co-workers I tried to warn did not pay attention to me, and they were laid off six months after I left.
My salary has been stagnant for last 3 years. But I am happy to be employed and have good benefits. With our daughter in college though, my gamming budget is at it's lowest in past 25 years.
I remember when I could go to a convention and basically had no budget. Now my budget is less than $100. USD But only if I sell enough to make the $100. USD
But I am not complaining. I have enough lead stockpiled to keep me busy well into retirement in 5 years. So life is good.

Yes, doing great.

We lost just about everything in 2009 and moved across country to find new employment with a 50% pay cut. We drastically lowered our standard of living as a result. We ended up buying a "fixer-upper" with financing from the owners. It's not nearly as nice a house, but we did pay it off this summer. If we had stayed in our other house, we would still have 5 years of mortgage payments remaining. So, now we own our house, and we hope to be totally debt free in six months.

We may have lost our house and possessions, but we learned we still have each other, which is everything we really need.

No. Best I can do is sub teach and stock shelves

No! Money keeps getting tighter and tighter.