Were you better off 3.5 years ago?

[Edward64]

Saw this question asked elsewhere recently and got me thinking.

Wanted to get the mood from this community in anticipation of the Presidential Election.

[Fidatelo]

Is this strictly in a financial sense, or some sort of overall "my life is better now" question? Because I've had 2 kids in that time, so overall my life is better with them involved. But adjusting for inflation I made more money 3.5 years ago, so in a strict financial sense I've slipped.

[Fidatelo]

Dola

And as a Canadian, can I vote? Or is this meant to be a strictly American poll?

[Mustang]

Somewhat better. However, I expect to be worse in 3.5 years.

[Easy Mac]

Better

[Edward64]

I asked myself the same question. I think its all of the above.

No doubt I am doing much better professionally, some better salary, neutral on 401k, pretty good immediately family, kinda sucks extended family etc.

No magic quantifiable formula but decided I felt somewhat better.

Yes, includes our cousins to the north and everywhere else.

[kcchief19]

Curious if the wording of the question taints the results ... normally you think of this question as are you better now than you were four years ago as opposed to were you better then.

That said, we were generally worse 3.5 years ago than now. I met with some of my old home builder buddies this week that I worked with in 2009, and they are all having better years now that they did then.

Of course, they are all very conservative, so I got a lot of wacky conspiracy theories. Had one guy tell me that his sales are up 25% this but that we're going to have a recession after Obama "steals another election" in October. He blames ACORN.

[Edward64]

Curious if the wording of the question taints the results ... normally you think of this question as are you better now than you were four years ago as opposed to were you better then.

You may be right. Not intentional though.

Am surprised some by the results so far at 72% worse.

[Fidatelo]

Based on Edward64's clarifications I went with Somewhat Better. Having children is undeniably an improvement for me. Career-wise I'm in a bit of a holding pattern, probably because of said children. Financially things are worse, as expenses have increased considerably (again, children, but also with inflation) and my salary has remained mostly stagnant. Investments have been terrible, but that's been my experience for most of my adult life.

[jeff061]

I wasn't bad off 3.5 years ago, but I'm still much better off now. Personal and career. Looking to buy a condo in Boston this year.

[Desnudo]

I wasn't bad off 3.5 years ago, but I'm still much better off now. Personal and career. Looking to buy a condo in Boston this year.

Same

[MacroGuru]

I have taken a beating over the past 3.5 years financially and personally but the ship is starting to right itself.

The company I worked for sold software to SOHO businesses and entrepreneurs and the market started to tank 3.5 years ago and what went from a 6 figure sales income was cut literally in half....personally, I have shared here what went on over the past 3.5 years ago.

However, with some of the changes in my life, things have gotten way better in certain areas.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Definitely better off 3.5 years ago than now. The key change (since I read this question mostly financially/economically tbh) is that the any savings we had left then are long since gone. Revenue has bounced up & down a little bit in that time but on the whole it still sucks royally, the difference is just that the options for keeping the wolves away from the door are much shorter than they were then.

[fantom1979]

I am much better off now than I was 3 1/2 years ago. I am very concerned about the next 4 years though. It seems to me that we really haven't recovered from the last depression, and another disaster is on the horizon (either the EU falling apart, another war in the middle east, or student loan collapse).

[lighthousekeeper]

much better off now. i keep meticulous records:

financially:

net worth (including home equity): up 250%
non home assets: up 310%
401k balance: up 270%
mortgage balance down 20%


personally also much better. 3.5 years ago i worked such long hours i never was home to eat dinner with the family. have since started my own business and have more control over work/life balance.

[Lathum]

Somewhat better. I graduated college, had a son, and started my job that I enjoy. Financial security is about the same. We would take a loss on our house if we sold today but most people would.

I give Obama credit for none of this.

[EagleFan]

Somewhat better but as a result of my own approach.

Slightly better salary but it's probably a loss overall with only one raise and no large bonus over that time period.

Three and a half years ago i was still trying to rebuild my credit after a layoff in 2002, followed by health problems with major bills resulting from those hospital stays. Add a year and a half to get a job and subsequent bankruptcy in 2003 and it put us in a very bad situation. Three and a half years ago we were leasing and still trying to rebuild saving and credit.

Now we have bought a home thanks to the market being down and low interest rates. Oddly, it was the situation described above that kept us from buying when the market was up. It actually helped us get in at the seemingly right time.

We now pay less pee month, about 400 less, than we would if we stayed where we were leasing, about 200 less than we were paying 400 less than we would be paying. That, combined with the tax break puts us in better shape. We also don't have the monthly water bill now, so that was about 45. Still waiting to see how the other utility bills compare throughout the year. Having a wood stove should help with the heating bill though.

With all that i feel that i am doing better than three and a half years ago. Though not as much better as i would be doing if the economy hadn't gone to hell. If you asked me three and a half years ago if i would have a job in three and a half years it was very uncertain. So that exceeds expectation.

[Young Drachma]

Kind of incomplete. Two steps forward, one step back kind of thing. Hard to really say, in some areas yes and in some areas no.

[Buccaneer]

Still in the same job/company that I've been for 23 years years but only one token raise since 2009. A lot of stuff have gone up in prices (notably groceries and sundries - stuff we buy every week to feed a family of four on a single-income household), so therefore, our net worth and financial situation has gotten worse since 2009. My stepson graduated from a tech school but not able to find a job in this economy, so that's bad. My son got through jr high alive, so that's good. But overall, our standard of living is noticeably down since the beginning of 2009.

[sabotai]

I'm about the same, but I'm 3.5 years older. So....worse, I guess.

[molson]

Chugging along, things have gotten a little better all the time since I graduated law school in 2006 really. Saving money, paying down the house, paying down the student loans, just trying to move forward, I've been really fortunate not to have any serious setbacks along the way. The best thing is that since early 2009, I haven't even thought about looking for another job. 3+ years without resumes, interviews, all that shit in this crazy time, I'll take it. It'll take something really big/unexpected/risky to ever get really ahead of where I am now, but I could do what I'm doing for 30 years and be comfortable and generally satisfied, I think.

[Julio Riddols]

I'm a teacher and in a financial sense, we're taking it bad right now. Some of this is just the economy finally catching up to us. Our pay has been frozen for three years, our retirement contributions must go from 10% to 14%, our health insurance from 15% to 20%, etc.

I get all that. What I don't get is how teachers have somehow become the ones responsible for everything that is wrong with the country right now. I think it's become easy to attack them because it's easier than looking into our homes to find out where the real problems lie.

Low pay is one thing...low pay and low respect doesn't exactly make for a job people are going to want to do.

If only we took a cue from Finland regarding the value of teachers and a good education..

[lungs]

Personally, I'm better off. I'll have my student loans paid off shortly after I turn 30 later this year. No other debt to speak of. I've gained 20% equity in our farm and will be starting to buy another 30% in a month or two. This is actually a pretty good climate for me to be investing into the farm with interest rates so low and it's essentially just going to be a shifting money from my dad to myself so it's not going to hit my personal finances. I haven't taken a raise at all in the past 3.5 years so this will be a raise you could say except I'll be using it to build equity.

The farm itself isn't doing too bad. 2009 was an absolute disaster but in 2010-2011 we retired a lot of the debt we incurred to stay afloat. 2012 is a down year in the cycle, but we're able to keep our heads above water and it's nothing like 2009. I've also gotten a lot better at running the whole operation so I'm pretty optimistic that I'm capable of growing my investment. That's the nice thing about really being in control of my investments as it's my own damn fault if they go down the toilet. I'm expecting a major expansion within the next ten years and probably developing some sort of strategic alliance with a neighbor since the direction he wants to go fits my own ambitions like a glove.

I give Obama all the credit.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

Much worse, as after a not having had a raise since 2005 (and having to work two jobs to get by) I quit both and moved back home. I then bought a condo while working two part-time jobs. One went away. Now I typically work one day a week & get ignored on everything I send a resume to.

If I'm in a similar condition next spring I will sell the condo & look to move back to New York. I may not have been getting ahead, but I wasn't falling too far behind. :(

[DaddyTorgo]

Somewhat better. I graduated college, had a son, and started my job that I enjoy. Financial security is about the same. We would take a loss on our house if we sold today but most people would.

I give Obama credit for none of this.

That's not fair...I've seen your son... ;)

[Pumpy Tudors]

I'm better now, but it doesn't have shit to do with who the President is, politics, or the Spokane Shock.

[Shkspr]

I was much better off 3.5 years ago than I am now. So who do I vote for to beat the shit out of Amazon.com until the Kindle and its ilk are outlawed?

Such a vapid poll.

[DanGarion]

Other than the fact that we had over $100,000 in the bank from a settlement on my wife's fathers death (which we used to put the down payment on our home), I'd say we are much better off than 3.5 years ago (we bought out house 3 years ago). Our business isn't worth quite as much as it was back then though, but it's hanging in there and we still get good consistent business.

[DanGarion]

Shit I voted wrong because of the wording. I would have put worse if I noticed the wording.

[Grover]

I'm worse off, but it has nothing to do with politics or who's in office.

[Autumn]

I'm worse off than 3.5 years ago, but it's mostly because of you guys.

[Draft Dodger]

yeah, FOF 2007 was still almost sort of fresh then.

[jeff061]

I'm worse off than 3.5 years ago, but it's mostly because of you guys.

Mission accomplished guys. We can back off now.

[claphamsa]

I expect to be drastically worse in 4 years... but i also expect Romney to win.

[britrock88]

Chugging along, things have gotten a little better all the time since I graduated law school in 2006 really. Saving money, paying down the house, paying down the student loans, just trying to move forward, I've been really fortunate not to have any serious setbacks along the way. The best thing is that since early 2009, I haven't even thought about looking for another job. 3+ years without resumes, interviews, all that shit in this crazy time, I'll take it. It'll take something really big/unexpected/risky to ever get really ahead of where I am now, but I could do what I'm doing for 30 years and be comfortable and generally satisfied, I think.

Hmm. Are your people hiring?

[spleen1015]

I went with the same yesterday, but I think I am better off. Nothing has really changed for me though. I am in the same house. My wife and I are still married. Our relationship may have improved. I'm in the same job and I have gotten a raise and a bonus every year.

I don't think it has jack to do with Obama, but I really hope he doesn't get re-elected.

[Raiders Army]

I'm about the same, but I'm 3.5 years older. So....worse, I guess.

Agreed. I'm the same, but I should be better so really it's worse.

[molson]

Hmm. Are your people hiring?

Occasionally. I work for a government agency. I definitely recommend government work, though it's probably harder to get now than it used to be. Outside of California, government legal jobs are generally pretty safe because there's certain functions a government just has to do. We saw a lot of furlough days at the bottom of the recession but no widespread layoffs. And this isn't a political statement, but just as far as employment, I think conservative states, counties, and cities are better than liberal states, counties, and cities as far as employment/security/salaries. There's fewer lawyers in the conservative states, and the conservative states tend to hire fewer people for more money, so there's just fewer positions that can be cut - so they do furloughs instead. It blew me away when I started looking for jobs that first-year prosecutors and public defenders and government civil litigators made less money in Manhattan in Boston than they did in Boise or Jackson, Wyoming.

[JediKooter]

I'm a lot better now. No more wife, so my finances are looking much better now.

And I realize that I voted wrong.

[Danny]

I plan to vote after the Stanley Cup as that largely impacts my answer