Worry, worry worry: financial stress

[white knight]

Being retired I cant imagine the hardship some younger than I are going through. Uncertain times even if you are working or both working - when will one of you be asked to drop down to 3 days a week?

Some families live week to week, no savings and find it near impossible to do so. Then when your salary is cut or an unexpected bill arrives it's stress of huge proportions. Take cars for example. They are more reliable than years ago but just getting a service can be a huge expense. Our car's turbo seized and it cost us $4,000. Luckily we had the money at the time but if your saving ability is say $50 it would take 18 months to save for that and I bet some unexpected expenses come in that time that erodes your savings away.

So I would like those that have serious debt issues to not be afraid to seek out a financial adviser or even a friend that is financially capable. Furthermore if your finances collapse especially during this pandemic, dont be ashamed nor afraid to file for bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy isnt the end of the world. You will get immediate relief and yes creditors will claim this and that like your car and your home- sounds terrible I know but I's suggest you treat the next 3 years while bankrupt as a period whereby you are resetting your life. You will be permitted to have some credit so you can afford white goods etc. Check with your financial adviser of research that aspect of the process.

Life has its ups and downs. Some of us is capable of being tight in a fiscal sense, others not, it isnt a blame game so you shouldnt feel ashamed. Learn from it, wait the 3 years and allow that period to be a time of planning so when that period is over you can be wiser and hopefully in more stable times.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

TonyWK

[quirkywords]

Tiny

when I was manic I was a big spender , wrote dud checks, and had credit card debt that was very large. When I became medicated I tore up my credit card and check book.

So that was only way to stop me being in debt or bankrupt.

[white knight]

Thanks for replying Quirky. When I was manic I was the same but with cars, had over 80. Impulsive buying at its worse.

TonyWK

[quirkywords]

80 cars, where did you store them?

were they all in need of big repairs.

I am still imagining 80 cars.

I find the hard part budgeting with another person as we each think what we spend money on is necessary but the other persons is frivolous. i find it very hard to get partner to budget.

[white knight]

80 cars total for 30 years. But the impulsivity was huge. So I'd have my dream car and take it home (on credit) and say to everyone "I'll never sell that car". 3 months or even 3 days later I'd see another car I admired and I'd do the same.

I'm lucky as my Air Force career qualified my for a home loan and that proved to be a great lever for me to remain financial later on in my life.

In reply to your partner and yourself not being on the same page with a budget- you unlikely ever will be. It's in some peoples DNA to be a spendthrift or the reverse. One of my past partners had me on "pocket money". I earned 3 times more than her!. I acknowledge it worked for a while then it became an effective tool for denying me of things I wanted that pocket money would not buy. So that works for smaller things, weekly spendies, nick nacks that a spendthrift gets that buzz from buying. But if a larger more expensive item comes along they want say you partner wanted a new engine in his vintage sports car then the worst thing you could say is "save it up from your pocket money" which my partner then did. It became unworkable. So there is some items that cant be purchased from a small allowance.

TonyWK