https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sun, 02 Aug 2026 03:12:51 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-360662 Thu, 25 Oct 2012 14:27:15 +0000 annie624 360662@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Definitely! Life was good 4 years ago, I was in college, living with three other girls, working part time, and casually dating DH. </p> <p>However, I'd say life is much better now. :) Married to DH, finishing up my Master's degree, we've both been working full time for a few years, we own our house, have a dog, are in a good place financially.... Life is good! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-360630 Thu, 25 Oct 2012 14:21:23 +0000 LazyLightning 360630@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Absolutely. Completely based on my own/our choices (and I'm sure, good luck). Home owner, done with graduate degree, a good job, money in the bank, investments. 4 years ago I was not as stable. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-360622 Thu, 25 Oct 2012 14:18:43 +0000 kml636 360622@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Much better... Own a house, got married, am making $20,000 more. We did get $8000 from the first time homebuyer's act that Obama passed, so I would attribute that to him! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-359101 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 19:34:06 +0000 Rubies 359101@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>4 years ago hubs and I were seriously dating, I was working, living on my own, had my own car, just having fun and doing my thing. NOW, I'm married, have a house and mortgage, baby and bills, but life is awesome. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-359031 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 18:20:48 +0000 Mrs.M57 359031@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Better and worse in some ways. DH and I were dating seriously 4 years ago, I bought a townhome when the housing market was good and was working hard at my first job. DH had just started his job.</p> <p>Now I have a wonderful husband and baby, am more skilled at my job but currently a SAHM. DH moved up considerably in his company and is working hard.. But, we are trying to sell the townhome now and the housing market blows :-P and we are living off of one income which is rough. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-358960 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 17:08:37 +0000 Mrs. Pickle 358960@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We are much better off! My husband started a new job with a new company four years ago. He loves his job and has gotten a raise every year. He has almost doubled his income! We paid off our debt, got married, then bought our first home. Now we are saving lots for retirement. Four years ago we weren't able to put anything away. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-358853 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 15:50:06 +0000 LAGS 358853@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I was way better off 4 years ago, but I only have myself to blame. I had a great job with great benefits right out of college but left it to immigrate to the US for DH. </p> <p>Now I'm SAH and he works and his base salary is about $20,000 less than mine was. I'm pretty sure if I were to get back into the job market I wouldn't be able to find something similar with equal compensation. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-358734 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:53:04 +0000 Maysprout 358734@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We don't make as much now as we did 4 years ago, and we didn't make a ton then. But that's been mainly due to personal choices - I hated my job and decided to mainly be a SAHM with the odd job thrown in here and there and my husband is in the longest schooling where luckily he is still paid a small amount. </p> <p>Romney said it would take him 8 years to get the budget and economy back on track and I think the economy in general is better now then when we were in crisis 4 years ago, so I don't blame Obama for where we are, which probably as far as stability goes we're better off with getting married , having a kid and both finishing PhDs during the last 4 years. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-358715 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:44:07 +0000 DigAPony 358715@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Well, I guess I'm the first one so far to say NO, financially we are not better off than four years ago. Four years ago I had my first job out of college, and I absolutely hated it, but it paid the bills. My husband and I had just moved in together and didn't really have any debt. His job paid all right, and we both had health insurance.</p> <p>Now, I have a Masters degree and am having a horrible time job hunting. My husband's job is seasonal and ends in November, and we might have to move in with his parents if neither one of us can find anything. I also have some student loans now that I didn't before. We are the perfect example of people that are getting screwed over by this economy--solid work histories, marketable skills, degrees, and we can't find any jobs, let alone good ones.</p> <p>BUT: I'm proud of my degree and we met some amazing friends here, we're married now, and we're making it through--so in many intangible ways I do consider myself better off. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-358712 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:41:45 +0000 MediaNaranja 358712@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Overall, I would say yes.</p> <p>Four years ago I had just moved from Bolivia to Ecuador. I was pretty poor and directionless.</p> <p>In the time since, I met &amp; married DH, moved back to the states, began graduate school, and on track for beginning a great career once I graduate. </p> <p>In terms of government assistance, I have received several grants to pay for my education, which has lowered the total amount I needed to borrow to pay for school. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-358708 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:39:15 +0000 mrbee 358708@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrsjyw: Interesting, thanks so much for sharing! :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-358699 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:37:10 +0000 mrsjyw 358699@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrbee: i def agree with you that it positively impacted MI as a whole. I guess I just don't personally equate the bailout directly or indirectly to any of the successes we've had because I don't know that either of our industries would have been indirectly/directly impacted with or without the auto bailout. </p> <p>On top of the fact, that even with the bailout, MI is still in a battle stage in recession recovery. </p> <p>I have to admit that there's some sort of impact its had in our life, since I don't know where I'd be had we not gotten the bailout, but when asked this question - it isn't one of the reasons I equate our current state of economic affairs for us. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-358696 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:36:49 +0000 oliviaoblivia 358696@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Four years ago DH and I were both unemployed and living at home. As 28 year olds it was pretty humbling. We had both graduated from Ivy League graduate school into the worst job market ever for our specialities.<br /> Now we are both employed have multiplied our savings by 20-fold, have paid of my student loan ($120k), will be buying a house when we can find one I like, and have a pretty little girl on the way.</p> <p>We are 1000X better off now than we were four years ago and I believe the government is directly responsible for it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-358694 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:36:20 +0000 Turd Ferguson 358694@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Way better off! I was in my second year of college...living in the dorms...making $80 every two weeks. Now, I have a fabulous fiance, am financially stable, have insurance, and I have the means to buy cookies for dinner if I want to! Now, don't get me wrong, it WAS nice to have almost zero responsibilities outside of schoolwork, but I'll definitely take the trade-off! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-358691 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:32:12 +0000 Shutterbug 358691@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We're better off than we were 4 years ago - our household income is up about 40%, but I think that's mostly because we're at an age where we're advancing in our careers more so than because of the general economy. </p> <p>That being said, we have a lot to thank the government for in the last four years as well. We got married (tax savings), I was on unemployment for 8 months, and we recently refinanced our underwater mortgage thanks to HARP. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-358690 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:31:24 +0000 Foodnerd81 358690@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We are much better, largely because of just time-- our jobs have gotten better as we've gotten older/more experienced, plus DH has been working his a$$ off to move up. Some of it is largely luck-- like his company was bought and that ended up working out well for him, but he also worked to make the most of it. Neither of us has been hit hard with the bad economy, job wise, which is also some luck for sure. We are still renting, but by choice since we want to stay in the city but not buy in the city, and we are very comfortable.<br /> But I think most of this is in spite of government and economy factors, not because of. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-358685 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:26:23 +0000 SugarplumsMom 358685@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Absolutely. What DH and I share now is what we'd wished for. Back then he was saving up for our house and I petitioned for my resident permit to stay in Sweden. But there was still a ton of uncertainty. In my mind, I was planning for a trial run of living together before I truly made up my mind about staying here. We bought our first house, got engaged, then married. Now that we're blessed with DD, it feels like everything finally came together. We're still pinching ourselves - we feel truly blessed. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-358683 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:25:41 +0000 mrbee 358683@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrsjyw: But if the Michigan economy had melted down, that would have impacted so many elements of the local economy? Kind of like when Wall Street melted down here, it indirectly impacted a lot of New Yorkers (even though I'm not in that industry myself, I was amazed to see rents stop rising and even fall for a while).</p> <p>Definitely not attributing the auto bailout to any one president, since it spanned two presidencies... I just always thought of it as one of the few examples of where the Presidency really made a difference to a particular region.</p> <p>Then again, I'm not a MI resident and I could be totally wrong! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-358676 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:22:24 +0000 Alivoo01 358676@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We're better off now because of some decisions we made about buying our own business and our land/farm. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-358665 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:19:08 +0000 JerricaBenton 358665@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes, but we are better off, solely due to our own choices, hard work, and my husband's business sense. I don't attribute any of our success to the president or economy, in fact I think they worked against us. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-358656 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:17:54 +0000 Smurfette 358656@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes, while DH has a better job, I think that it is mostly due to the fact that we now are dual income family with only one mortage to pay. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-358648 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:15:31 +0000 heffalump 358648@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I am. Four years ago I had just graduated with my masters, didn't have a job, and was living with my parents. I still don't have a job...... but I'm married with a baby and a SAHM. And now we own two houses. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-358634 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:12:41 +0000 mrsjyw 358634@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrbee: I think a lot of people in the auto industry and its surrounding suppliers, etc. were able to salvage their careers/companies due to the economic bailout; personally- dh and i aren't in industries that are directly affiliated with the auto industry so we weren't adversely or positively affected by the auto bailouts. As a whole I think it helped the MI economy sustain itself through the last four years and it def helped keep MI afloat, but it hasn't personally affected us. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-358600 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:03:10 +0000 BelugaBean 358600@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We're better off because we graduated college in 2010 and 2011. My husband now has a job making almost six times what we made combined four years ago. We're also now married with a baby and plan to buy a house soon. I think it's just the stage of life we're at. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-358598 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:02:54 +0000 alayaya 358598@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think I'm probably not any better off.</p> <p>4 years ago I had zero debt and I worked a lot more. Now I have student loans and I'm making about half as much money (working way less).</p> <p>Hubs has been the breadwinner for a few years now though, and even though I haven't been contributing much we're still ttc and looking to buy our first place. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-358582 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 13:55:52 +0000 mrbee 358582@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrsjyw: I always thought Michigan benefited a lot from the car bailout implemented by the last two presidents? Interested in your take as a MI resident! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-358570 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 13:51:30 +0000 prettylizy 358570@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Far better off. This year we're about to pay off our last student loan and be completely debt free (except for the house/car). We own our home instead of renting, have two new cars, a new baby and savings for the first time ever. </p> <p>I think it's just the time in our life when these types of things happen though, I don't blame/attribute any of these things to the economy. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-358567 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 13:49:50 +0000 DillonLion 358567@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrsjyw: Nice job! :) DH and I both have worked our butts off the last few years to do well at our respective jobs and move up in our companies and made sure we built up our savings and retirement accounts. I don't really attribute that to anyone else but ourselves. We both got into these jobs at the height of the recession. So, for that part, I'd say we were lucky/blessed to have found what we did. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-358566 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 13:49:38 +0000 PurplePumps 358566@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm pretty much the same economically. I'm still at the same stable job with standard raises every year. I've since met and married my husband, who also has had the same stable job, and bought a house, luckily after the crash. Life is good, but I don't really attribute it to the president/economy. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-you-better-off-now-than-4-years-ago#post-358563 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 13:48:48 +0000 wahine08 358563@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>4 years ago I was just starting to date DH seriously. I lived at home with my parents with a full-time job. I had a lot of consumer debt and wasn't smart about my money. I was young (I felt like a rockstar haha) lots of friends, tons to do. </p> <p>Now, we're married, own a home, NO consumer debt ( HALLELUJAH) and I'm pretty happy with life!! I don't have as many friends, but the ones I do have are my best friends.. like sisters :) I'm happy staying in, working on the house and TTC of course!</p> <p>I wouldn't say better off but definitely heading in the right direction! </p>