Economic situation

[~Nooba~]

I'm not 100% sure it belongs here, and if a mod thinks it should be moved to Spammerland by all means please.

I was having a conversation with a few people in xgenchat and came to realization that my impressions of certain people's economic backgrounds were wrong.

If it's not too personal of a question, I would kind of like to know what sort of economic situation you or your family are currently in to have a better understanding of you and your background.

I myself live with my parents now in a working class environment, we don't make much money but we're relatively well educated and for the most part happy with our lives. I live in a 1600 sq foot two story house in Cleveland and have two full time working parents who I hardly get to see.

Also if you're living on your own and are in a different financial status I would like to know what sort of environment you were in when growing up.

I'm curious.

[wittlebaby]

Well, my dad got hit hard with this, seeing as he is a financial adviser. +1 lawsuit. This guy thinks he can sue, though he'll lose pretty obviously. My dad's working 6 days a week / some days 14-15 hours writing stuff for the attorney. But my dad is very good at what he does, so we can afford a nice house, but we may sell it soon... things are getting worse, we don't eat out anymore. My mom works in insurance, a retired scientist, and now she is beginning to work longer hours. Actually, the environment I grew up in was worse, my mom quit her job, my dad having tough times as a CPA. That business takes a while to grow. So I grew up in a ~1000 sq. ft. house in the middle of nowhere. We were doing really good until this hit.. although my dad saw the down year coming, and got on it a little bit. But he didn't predict this. No one did. So I may move soon, from my nice house which I moved into about 4 years ago. But it hasn't affected me in such a way where I go hungry.

[a1b23]

Mom is an account clerk for a local school district and Dad is a carpenter by trade but works for a hospital network making solid surface counter tops. They make ~ $80/90,000/yr combined. We are middle class suburban family with myself and one of my sisters in college. ~ 1000 square foot home in Cheektowaga, NY. I work at McDonald's and make a decent amount of money (got 3 raises this year due to being in management). I live at home with my youngest sister and my younger sister is away at school ~ 8 months out of the year. We do nice stuff (go out to eat, rent movies) occasionally and don't seem to be effected by this recession much.

[poguemahon]

Well, I live in an apartment with my mom and brothers, on around 30k a year. We don't go out much, my mom works two jobs to pay off credit cards she ran up earlier in life. I don't have a job, and am currently working on losing twenty pounds to join the Navy, my twin brother signs up for the Army on Monday, and my older brother (by one year) is getting ready to go to college. All in all, it's fairly comfortable living in an apartment, as it's been the same place for my whole life.

My parents divorced when I was four or five, and I saw my dad every other week until three years ago, some family issues made him move to a hundred miles away, where I saw him every other weekend. Things went to crap there. I see him once every few months.

My whole family is average to low working class, since one or two generations back, depending on which side you look down. Little college education, both of my grandfathers are college grads, great uncle and aunt on my mom's side that I can recall, maybe more. But all intelligent individuals.

I'm not sure I'm below the poverty line, we have nice things, like game systems, computers and everything. I have a family history of military service. Three generations back all served, up to my parents, uncles. My twin and I are the only ones with solid intent for military service, him in the Army, me in the Navy, as every generation but my parent's has been affiliated with.

Hm, somehow, it's quite liberating telling complete strangers how I came up.

[shane23]

My mom owns a business, and my dad is some kind of electronic coordinator for a chemical plant, which is like a pretty high up position for the plant. The only way we have been "hit" by the recession is that Ted Strickland cut my mom's ELI funding, which is a great child care program, so she went from a 2 year waiting list to not even having a full class.

[I Faw Down]

No problems at all...

[Alice Cooper]

My dad is middle management for an electrical firm that's been doing rather well in recent years. My mom recently got a job as a customer service representative. Whatever that is. But apparently she's rather good at it, because she gets tons of bonuses and such.

We've lived in a small bungalo with numerous flaws and problems and sheer ugly desgning for most of our lives. But it has a pool, so really it's not that bad. We've been making renovations non-stop to it recently, though.

Anyways, I'm not big on material possesions. So I have a lot of money stored up from working for four years. University took a small dent out of it, though.

[swatdude]

Well, my mother is a teacher's assistant at a special school, so her salary would naturally be low. My father works as an technical engineer at a large firm where your starting salary would be $55,000 a year (obviously, he has higher wages). Used to work as a dishwasher to a growing restaurant business, only having to quit half a year later due to school scheduling.

I am now looking for work to help pay off my college.

[Vagrant]

My mother is an author. Her sales usually vary from year to year.

My father has worked in information mining in Real Estate, and the economic downturn caused a massive client loss in his company, so now he's looking for a position as a business manager.

I'm currently in college and working part-time.

[Ace2cool]

Entrepreneurship in restaurants and family stores, we've always lived without debt, it's something my father really strives to live by. We paid off the house that we are currently living in (~3500 sq ft, nice suburban neighborhood) in one year, whereas the houses around here are usually paid off in.. ~20-30 years. This really meant something to me when I first learned about it, and I'm trying to follow in my dad's footsteps.

Anyways, the economy situation has hit us pretty hard - some of our locations now have net losses instead of profit, and we've had to become more conservative lately - but we invest in real estate as well, and are starting to make returns off of that (a few hundred K investments at 15-20%), do the math..

so yeah, when the economy turns around, everything will be fine again.

[D.A.T.A.]

My family is struggling right now. We have always been a normal middle class range. Never any money problems that I know of but lately its been no good. My family is in the construction business and with the economy like it is and the banks like they are, there is not much building going on... We had to have our home line, cable and internet shut up. We got the internet back on because it is mostly a necessity. I have never had to experience life without cable before. I think I would rather skip two meals a day than not have cable anymore but I don't get a vote. Anyways, we all have our health and that is the main thing right.

[HHHVSPHENOM]

Not poor, but not middle class.

We can afford internet, TV, and an apartment. But we cannot afford anything extra, excluding Christmas, and we don't have gas in our apartment.

My mom is currently looking for a job, dad seperated and out of work, and grandmas(on both sides) working on computers, for the most part.

It's not the type of home you'd stop and wish you had, but it's not the kind you'd look down at either. Does that make sense?

[Catalysm]

Middle class, but we've never had cable, particularly because I don't watch TV.

Unlucky for us, my dad moved from his job in California to here in 06-07, and had quite a tough time scraping up money for a while. It's better now, but we've incurred quite a loan.

[MadChild13]

My family is struggling right now. We have always been a normal middle class range. Never any money problems that I know of but lately its been no good. My family is in the construction business and with the economy like it is and the banks like they are, there is not much building going on... We had to have our home line, cable and internet shut up. We got the internet back on because it is mostly a necessity. I have never had to experience life without cable before. I think I would rather skip two meals a day than not have cable anymore but I don't get a vote. Anyways, we all have our health and that is the main thing right.

I find it sad to think that there's an entire generation of kids who were raised by cable TV and are so dependent on it, they would rather starve then go without.

You can certainly survive without TV. Use it as an opportunity to go do something else - go to the gym, go for a walk/hike/bike ride, spend time with family/friends. There's more to life than The Simpsons and Family Guy.

You'll survive, trust me.

[Catalysm]

I find it sad to think that there's an entire generation of kids who were raised by cable TV and are so dependent on it, they would rather starve then go without.

You can certainly survive without TV. Use it as an opportunity to go do something else - go to the gym, go for a walk/hike/bike ride, spend time with family/friends. There's more to life than The Simpsons and Family Guy.

You'll survive, trust me.

Hey, that's me. I'm the rare child who survived without TV.

Although I am a huge movie buff.

[crusty]

My dad saved enough money for me and my brother to go to four years of college. He has worked at an insurance company for at least 20 years. I am not sure of his exact title, but if I Google it, he comes up under these titles: Chief Investment Officer, Portfolio Manager, Trader.

My mom has been a house maker (stay at home mom) for about 12 years.

I guess you could consider me fairly lucky.

[Scornic]

My dad sold his company to work in partnership at an architecture firm. He made a lot of money for a year and paid off some debt/tuition for two children in college. Then the housing market completely halted and he quit that job and is rebuilding his tax company.

Until tax season he has like no income so I had to pay my own tuition this semester. I have a part time job at a local CPA firm basically do the same stuff my dad's company does. I tried to get a student loan but it got denied because I have no credit history. (My dad didn't want me to ever have to be in debt.)

Between studying abroad in Italy, a new computer, and paying my tuition I completely drained my savings :S

[DarkReality]

I tried to get a student loan but it got denied because I have no credit history

Credit history means you've had to loan money before, right? So their logic is you get no loan because you've never had one? o.O

[Tanktunker]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22_(logic)

[theryman]

Credit history means you've had to loan money before, right? So their logic is you get no loan because you've never had one? o.O
That is why you need cosigners.

[Trask]

I live in Dallas,Texas. My dad left my family years ago, my mom does her best to support us, I also have a job to support myself/my family, I eat 2 meals a day, I wear the same outfit for days before washing, I don't have much of life's pleasures that some other kids have such as texting, X-Box 360, and I pay for the internet that I cherish so much. I'm thankful for XGen & SA:B for it is one of the games that I can actually play that is decent for others usually cost money. We lived in an apartment for most of our lives, but my mom has moved us to a house recently trying to make us "high-class" which only made our situation worse and this has dis-located me from the areas that I'm used to. I go to school with rich-ass folk who buy iPhones, and squander there money away with little things and black wannabe "gangstas" who have never even been to freaking Dallas' party hood. Yeah...that's it.

[Scornic]

That is why you need cosigners.

I got declined with cosigners.

It's because I haven't had a credit card or anything.

[D.A.T.A.]

I find it sad to think that there's an entire generation of kids who were raised by cable TV and are so dependent on it, they would rather starve then go without.

You can certainly survive without TV. Use it as an opportunity to go do something else - go to the gym, go for a walk/hike/bike ride, spend time with family/friends. There's more to life than The Simpsons and Family Guy.

You'll survive, trust me.
Haha, I know... I wasn't entirely serious about skipping meals. I love to eat! I think I am pretty well rounded, I work out -jogging my dog- and I read books. We used to go camping often but its hard to see spending the gas money on travel right now, otherwise we would be outdoors more. As for Family Guy, Thank God its on regular tv.