Worried to Death About Finances After Job Loss

[Pizza]

Pizza,

Call your lender about the student loans. You can get a forbearance for:

1. Under employment
2. Having a child under a certain age (I don't remember what it is, sorry)

When I had student loans, they were VERY workable people.

That's good to know. Thank you.

[Flamingo]

Our example as to job loss and BK for you (high income job loss) - We had a nice six figure income prior to filing but we had a lot of debt - we could afford to pay the bills with the income and we did have savings on the side. Then the job loss hit for my husband in 2/01. His entire department was laid off; inasmuch as he was contract at the time, he did not receive a severance package and was eligible for unemployment. We were able to get by for a while on our savings and, unfortunately, we also utilized his 401(k) not knowing at the time that we could have saved that money had we investigaged filing BK earlier. After several months of no decent job prospects for him (this was at the time of the tech bust), and even after investigating relocating, he could not find a decent job paying anything good and did not have the time to revamp or redo his career. In total we lost over 70% of our income. We retained our attorney one year after his job loss cause there was no other way out for us except to sell the house and use the equity to pay off everything but the equity would not have paid off everything in full and we wanted to keep the house.

Our lifestyle has totally changed since 2001 before filing. We have learned to live without and that material things really don't matter that much anymore. We have learned to discover or rediscover family and friends and not worry so much about what brand of new weed wacker the Jones' have down the street. We were lucky to come out OK but my hubby worked for years at low paying jobs to keep us afloat while I contined at my same (thankfully) good paying job holding down the fort with benefits and enough to make the plan payment and other bills. My husband has never really recovered and totally changed careers and is now a salesman for a good company instead of a Senior Unix Engineer with a large international company. His salary is 1/4 of what he used to make and at age 56 he doesn't see any magic wand in the cards so we have totally revamped everything to not get caught in that situation again.

The key to your situation is if you have any savings that can tide you over. If you cannot see any way out of the situation in the next several months, investigate filing BK. Just investigate to find out your options. You will know when the time comes that you may need to consider filing. You just hit a wall where there is no way out. A lot of us get very comfortable in our lives and when something happens to rock the boat or actually overturn it, we have no action plan in place and start to really struggle. Learn from all of this because you will resolve this situation but you want to set up a plan so that if it happens again, you will be prepared, have low debt and a savings cushion.

Best of luck to you and your family.

[Pizza]

Our example as to job loss and BK for you (high income job loss) - We had a nice six figure income prior to filing but we had a lot of debt - we could afford to pay the bills with the income and we did have savings on the side. Then the job loss hit for my husband in 2/01. His entire department was laid off; inasmuch as he was contract at the time, he did not receive a severance package and was eligible for unemployment. We were able to get by for a while on our savings and, unfortunately, we also utilized his 401(k) not knowing at the time that we could have saved that money had we investigaged filing BK earlier. After several months of no decent job prospects for him (this was at the time of the tech bust), and even after investigating relocating, he could not find a decent job paying anything good and did not have the time to revamp or redo his career. In total we lost over 70% of our income. We retained our attorney one year after his job loss cause there was no other way out for us except to sell the house and use the equity to pay off everything but the equity would not have paid off everything in full and we wanted to keep the house.

Our lifestyle has totally changed since 2001 before filing. We have learned to live without and that material things really don't matter that much anymore. We have learned to discover or rediscover family and friends and not worry so much about what brand of new weed wacker the Jones' have down the street. We were lucky to come out OK but my hubby worked for years at low paying jobs to keep us afloat while I contined at my same (thankfully) good paying job holding down the fort with benefits and enough to make the plan payment and other bills. My husband has never really recovered and totally changed careers and is now a salesman for a good company instead of a Senior Unix Engineer with a large international company. His salary is 1/4 of what he used to make and at age 56 he doesn't see any magic wand in the cards so we have totally revamped everything to not get caught in that situation again.

The key to your situation is if you have any savings that can tide you over. If you cannot see any way out of the situation in the next several months, investigate filing BK. Just investigate to find out your options. You will know when the time comes that you may need to consider filing. You just hit a wall where there is no way out. A lot of us get very comfortable in our lives and when something happens to rock the boat or actually overturn it, we have no action plan in place and start to really struggle. Learn from all of this because you will resolve this situation but you want to set up a plan so that if it happens again, you will be prepared, have low debt and a savings cushion.

Best of luck to you and your family.

Thank you for the luck... we need it.

We've been poor for pretty much ever... I've worked for just under 30k a year for, maybe, 10 years now. My wife worked part-time for half that, then couldn't work because of school... now my job's going abroad and... geez... I'm curious, did your husband lose his job to foreigners? I know that IT jobs were hit pretty hard a few years back. This economy has just gone crazy.

I do see what you're saying about having a plan... I just haven't felt like outside my 401k there's been much, if anything, to save, and inflation makes it seem like if we saved anything at all it wouldn't be worth much later.

[Flamingo]

Thank you for the luck... we need it.

We've been poor for pretty much ever... I've worked for just under 30k a year for, maybe, 10 years now. My wife worked part-time for half that, then couldn't work because of school... now my job's going abroad and... geez... I'm curious, did your husband lose his job to foreigners? I know that IT jobs were hit pretty hard a few years back. This economy has just gone crazy.

I do see what you're saying about having a plan... I just haven't felt like outside my 401k there's been much, if anything, to save, and inflation makes it seem like if we saved anything at all it wouldn't be worth much later.

No, his entire Department was let go due to a bank merger. It came as a total shock and we were totally unprepared and he used to have head hunters beating down our doors in the years prior to that. Once the tech bust hit, his job expertise field basically was cut back severely (he was heavily involved in UNIX and built systems in several overseas countries for major banks/companies).

Once you go through the shock of major income/job loss, your life is never the same unless you can find something somewhat equal to your loss quickly.

This economy is draining everyone except the super rich and saving is hard. I am really sorry to hear that your job went overseas but don't focus on that since there is nothing you can do - just do your best in finding a job to keep things afloat until things straighten out for you...

[Pizza]

No, his entire Department was let go due to a bank merger. It came as a total shock and we were totally unprepared and he used to have head hunters beating down our doors in the years prior to that. Once the tech bust hit, his job expertise field basically was cut back severely (he was heavily involved in UNIX and built systems in several overseas countries for major banks/companies).

Once you go through the shock of major income/job loss, your life is never the same unless you can find something somewhat equal to your loss quickly.

This economy is draining everyone except the super rich and saving is hard. I am really sorry to hear that your job went overseas but don't focus on that since there is nothing you can do - just do your best in finding a job to keep things afloat until things straighten out for you...

Thank you for the encouragement. I'll try not to think of the outsourcing situation going on in this country & keep a positive attitude... but I am having trouble believing that this corporate quest for cheap labor can be a good thing....

[One Half Full]

Unfortunately not all people who graduate from college ever get jobs in their fields, and very few make the sort of money they are "promised." I graduated during the tech bubble collapse. I never did get a reasonable job for a college graduate, and I was at the top of the class. There is huge competition out there, less jobs than applicants. I wish you luck.

[Pizza]

Unfortunately not all people who graduate from college ever get jobs in their fields, and very few make the sort of money they are "promised." I graduated during the tech bubble collapse. I never did get a reasonable job for a college graduate, and I was at the top of the class. There is huge competition out there, less jobs than applicants. I wish you luck.

That's why I don't understand how come student loans (usually) can't be discharged... they can be pretty crippling when you barely make enough money coming out to pay on them. I'm sure they up the chances of a better-paying job than a HS diploma, but as quickly as the costs are rising, they should be worth the investment at least.