Are you better off now than you were four years ago?

• stlouiedipalma

  This seems to be a good question that gets tossed around every Presidential election, so I figured to throw it out now. I'm going to tell you my answer and I'd like to hear from all of you. The only thing I ask is that you be truthful. Either way, let us know why you are better off or worse off than you were four years ago.
  
  As for me, I'm much better off than I was at this time in 2008. My investments have regained all of their losses of the Great Recession, I am virtually debt-free and life is good. There was a time during the financial crisis that I thought my retirement would be short-lived, but I stayed the course and things turned around. My health is not as good as it was then but, thanks to my large insurance premiums and a good policy, I get the best in health care.
• ernest_t_bass

  

  I'm better. I'm a public employee!
• mcburg93

  

  Four years ago I was no better then where I am now. Nothing has changed much for me. Only now instead of working two jobs only working one and going back to school.
• Con_Alma

  Heck yes but not because of who is or isn't in the White House. I am better off because I don't spend as much as I make.
  
  If the President determines if I am better off or not then that's a President I don't want in there.
• Heretic

  

  Con_Alma;1260734 wrote:Heck yes but not because of who is or isn't in the White House. I am better off because I don't spend as much as I make.
  
  If the President determines if I am better off or not then that's a President I don't want in there.

  Basically what I'd say. I'm better off because I made changes in my spending habits to be a bit more sane in how much goes into vices and stuff as part of the diet I started last year (and ditched a worthless wife who was a money black hole, which also adds to the "better off" deal).
  
  Which is something I can't give credit to (or detract from) anyone on a national level, whether it be president, congress, senate, supreme court or other branches I may not be thinking of at the time. ALL CREDIT GOES TO ME!!!
  
  So, uh, write in "Heretic" on your ballot. If I was able to sorta, kinda straighten out my screwed-up ass, just think what I could do for everyone else!
• queencitybuckeye

  Better, but certainly more in spite of the government as opposed to because of it. The better question is would I have been better, worse, or about the same had the other guy won in 2008. My guess is about the same.
• Curly J

  

  Worse. Thanks to the economy and dumb business decisions by Higher ups in the company where The Wife and I work she was let go, along with 20 others, as part of downsizing. She now makes about half of what she used to make. (She used to make more than me).
  
  Great thing is it didn't work out for them and they were bought out by an even smaller company. Bad thing is I'm still there and it feels like the Company just went backwards 4 or 5 years which means more cuts coming.
  
  I'm sitting about the same money wise as 4 years ago, compared to the 4 years prior where my bank account grew by $10,000.00's of dollars. That was without any investments, just income.
• Footwedge

  Not better off....but still doing well, inspite of it all.
• Bigdogg

  Better off. Investments returned, business has grown, house is worth less but it will rebound. The Republicans have managed to block any effort to help the economy but most objective people can see this. Obama administration has managed to advert a great depression. Has earned four more years. Do not a return to the policies that got us to 2008.
• BGFalcons82

  

  For me, it depends on how you are measuring "better off". In an overall sense, I personally, am slightly better financially. But it has very very little to do with Washington, DC. I do not look to DC for solutions as their "fixes" generally don't do as they are intended and make life more difficult and complex. Example 1A - look at the monstrosity of our tax code that not one living person can understand completely. But I digress.
  
  As far as my current employer, we are far worse off. We have let go of 25% of our office staff and likely 1/3 of our field staff. Raises have been less frequent, year-end bonuses are much smaller-if at all, and our sales have been axed by a percentage I care not to type. Nearly everyone I interract with worries daily about whether they'll be there tomorrow or not. Especially those near 60 as the older employees tend to be more expensive and more likely to be laid off. In terms of buying power, we are far worse off than 4 years ago: Gas, commodities, food, my property taxes, insurance, and virtually everything else we purchase is up dramatically compared to 2008. Like others, my home value has dropped in the 15 to 20% range.
• HitsRus

  

  The same...but I'm working harder. My employees definitely are notbetter off . Health insurance premium increases have led to zero pay increases....and less coverage.
• ernest_t_bass

  

  ccrunner609;1260888 wrote:No you arent. You are paying alot more for STRS and your insurance costs have almost doubled.
  
  
  I havent had a pay increase for 3 years, I pay 6% more of my income on health benefits, I pay 4% more for retirement (which now I have to work 5 more years to get, pay more in and get less out when I retire).
  
  The kicker is my wife lost her so called "cadillac" insurance plan. Premiums went up to $17,000 a year for her company to cover her so they dropped her and others. What Obama has done to the medical care industry is just ridiculous.

  
  Sucks to be you. Not the same for me.
• stlouiedipalma

  ccrunner609;1260888 wrote:No you arent. You are paying alot more for STRS and your insurance costs have almost doubled.
  
  
  I havent had a pay increase for 3 years, I pay 6% more of my income on health benefits, I pay 4% more for retirement (which now I have to work 5 more years to get, pay more in and get less out when I retire).
  
  The kicker is my wife lost her so called "cadillac" insurance plan. Premiums went up to $17,000 a year for her company to cover her so they dropped her and others. What Obama has done to the medical care industry is just ridiculous.

  I am retired but my wife still works, in our local school district. She works full-time hours but is considered a part-time employee so we have to pay the entire premium for health care, just shy of $1200/month. I will admit that it is a Cadillac plan, with very low deductibles and very low out-of-pocket maximums. My former employer offers health care for their retirees, but the premiums are higher than what we currently pay for a high-deductible 80/20 plan. Didn't take long to do the math on that one. The bottom line is that I am paying more for health care coverage than when I was working, but the flip side is that I've never had such good coverage.
  
  I really don't understand how you feel that Obama has done something bad to the health care industry though. I am not a fan of Obamacare, but only because I don't feel it goes far enough. I was getting excited when they had proposed offering Medicare to those 55 and older, but Joe Leiberman took care of that by threatening to filibuster if a public option were offered. I guess we all have our people to blame.
• ptown_trojans_1

  

  4 years ago I was in grad school. Since then, I worked at a DC think tank, and then moved to a contracting firm, making a nice living, 401k, etc.
  
  So, yeah I am. Then again, I live in the bubble of evil DC.
  But, I chose to come out to seek a career knowing this is where the jobs and money are.
  
  BTW, this is such a misleading question as it is subjective to what part of the country you are in, economic status, and education.
• Manhattan Buckeye

  Unless someone is a hermit and has no family no one is better off. Other than public union mouth breathers many people took hits on their income and home values (with the former likely taking a hit as well). More importantly the future for our country has never been so bleak in my lifetime. I don't know what to tell young people today. Go to college, take on tens of thousands of debt for a job maybe at Starbucks.
  
  Personally we've seen investments increase but not enough to offset home devaluation, we're still a net negative. Net revenue is about the same but we had to move a long way to maintain that. I suppose we could have been one of the numerous Americans that strategically defaulted on an asset but for some reason we consider ourselves more responsible than that. I don't expect our main house (which we rent) to get back to its 2007 value until at least 2017, if it ever does. There aren't enough good jobs for a young family to purchase that type of house, especially if they are moving back into their parents' basement.
  
  To further that sentence, the worst thing I've seen is the hopelessness of our young people that have worked hard (note, not the young people that screwed up that the government is bailing out with our half-reared social net). My sister-in-law (who we more or less consider our daughter) has done everything right in her life. Hard work in HS (2nd in her class of a fairly prestigious private school), great college and grad school work graduating with honors and she's looking at the reality of moving back with her parents. She's constantly in tears at age 23 wondering if she's ever going to have a career, afford a house without a lot of parental (and our) support or even get married and have children. It is the exact OPPOSITE of my life at 23 when the world was available to me.
  
  If people like StLouie think our society is better off in the last four years he's either completely clueless or incredibly selfish not to see the despair our young people are facing....the longer the economic stagnation gets the more burden they will shoulder. And they are expected to pay our SS entitlements - not easy when they can't find any work at all.
  
  I never thought I'd see this country in this piss poor of a shape for our future, but if the DC bots (no offense meant PTown, you didn't cause this) and public union hanger ons have a better life right now, great. But don't seem so SHORTSIGHTED (this is my favorite word now) to realize that mortgaging our future with our debt and lack of return won't have severe consequences in the future. Enjoy those pension promises now, a promise is just a promise. Without delivery it is meaningless.
• Belly35

  

  Owning companies and riding the roller coaster of the economy is not a great ride, having fewer employees, lower sales and seeing less profit is not fun and is not a better life for anyone. Personally I have less income and put more of my personal income back into the companies for research and development for new product where before the companies would support this investment for the future growth. Our retirement investments have taken a hit but also have recovered some what but the balance is not in my favor. My wife who works (different company) has not had a raise in 4 years. I have seen more companies fold and good people unemployed for long peroids of time.
  
  If you consider having to adjust to our life style to make prevision for the Obama failure agenda then we are Ok but is that what we should have to do? Then the answer NO. We also will have to work an additional 5-7 years because of this Administration failures just to get back to that comfort level we built over the years is that being better off I think NOT.
• QuakerOats

  Not better off at all, and I doubt anyone here really is, unless they failed to factor in their 'fair share' of the extra $6 TRILLION in obama debt that they have been saddled with. Couple that with declining home value, the continued escalation in college expenses, and investments that have not fully returned to their pre-crisis levels (not even counting the time value of money lost over the 4 years) and there is no way most of us are better off. And then you look at the 24 million people who are unemployed or underemployed and, well, that pretty much says it all. There is simply no averge economic metric of the obama years that is better than the Bush years --- period.
  
  Belly summed it up quite well: "If you consider having to adjust to our life style to make prevision for the Obama failure agenda then we are Ok but is that what we should have to do".
• ernest_t_bass

  

  Last year, I accepted a $10k supplemental contract. This year I will receive another $5k in pay-raise b/c I just finished my Masters coursework. While my expenses have increased, my income has increased a great deal.
• BoatShoes

  I am better off than I was in January 2009. (And so are the majority of people who have responded apparently).
  
  But, the question is stupid.
  
  We should be asking;
  
  How did the President respond to the Financial Crisis and how might have John McCain and a Republican Congress have responded differently? Was this the correct response?
  
  Our economy is now growing but at a slow pace and employment is not keeping up with population growth.
  
  From here, how do we increase economic growth and improve the employment to population ratio?
  
  Maybe if we get rid of the guy who "says mean things to da j0b creators" and default on our debt we can fix what ails us!
• Con_Alma

  What "ails us" is we spend more than we take in....as a society and as a government. Money problems are rarely solved with more money. They are solved with a different mindset.
• sleeper

  

  I'm better off simply because I was in college in 2008 and didn't have a steady income. Now I've got a fantastic job making good money(long hours though), so this really has nothing to do with Obama.
  
  However, a lot of recent college grads are not finding work and the work they are finding is paying next to nothing in a field they aren't interested at all in. Is that Obama's fault? Probably not.
• Manhattan Buckeye

  "I am better off than I was in January 2009. (And so are the majority of people who have responded apparently). "
  
  Really? If people were honest I'd be shocked if anyone has a home value worth more than it was in January '09. Even if one doesn't plan on selling it, it is still an asset. But my main point (along with others) is that the debt we took on in no way made us better off with the anemic recovery. If people are looking at future pension or SS payments they'd be quite foolhardy to think they are better off. Undoubtedly if Obama is re-elected SS will be "saved" by taxing our young people more and moving their retirement age up, how does that make them better off? A heartwarming feeling? What about the unfunded pensions? I don't care if a teacher makes an additional $3,000 this year, if their gold-plated pension is destined for doom (which most of them are) they aren't better off. Its a short-term benefit at the cost of a long-term detriment.
• Tiernan

  Making more money but my investments and assets have only recently returned to 2008 levels. Overall I'd say I'm not as well off as I was 4 yrs ago and its time to sweep clean (and I voted for Change in '08).
• Bigdogg

  You are all fools to think that our debt would have been any different under a Republican administration these last four years. :thumbup:
• Cleveland Buck

  

  Bigdogg;1261109 wrote:You are all fools to think that our debt would have been any different under a Republican administration these last four years. :thumbup:

  That makes it ok, right?