Tuesday, December 23, 2008

living well in a recession

"But I'm young, single and don't have the burden of property. This sounds really sad, but maybe we're like the carpetbaggers of the horrible economic situation."

okay, i recently entered into the realm of owning property, but sometimes i feel this way. we're young, have steady jobs, and the recession isn't affecting us that badly. should i feel wrong about this? i mean, sure, i'd feel wrong if i was profitting off of others' misfortunes, but i don't really feel like i am.

maybe it's perspective. i mean, we have debt. plenty of it. student loans, house, credit, auto, yeah, we're working it all. but, it also seems to be a very manageable level. would i like less of it? of course. but the debt we have isn't really hurting how we live.

perhaps if i was older or actually had a retirement fund set up. i imagine i'd be pissed if my "future" was dramatically reduced to half or a third of what i'd been able to stash away. but, like a jerk, i've got no retirement or stocks, so those fluctuations haven't bothered me.

don't read this wrong, we're not living high on the hog. money is tight at points. and i'm not saying that i don't feel bad for people that are losing jobs, homes, etc. i guess i just don't feel bad that people like me are doing alright.

what do you think? are we the nouveau carpet baggers? should we all be trying to make small steps into the stock market?

2 comments:

Adam said...

I thought about getting into the stock market a few years ago. But I didn't even have the investment capital then.

I mean, I could buy a couple shares here or there I guess.

Lulu said...

There are many factors involved in why the economy is as bad as it is, not just the stock market. I dont see why you should shoulder any guilt because your way of life is less effected than others. Other people also have it a lot better, thats just life. I have a retirement fund set up that took a bit of a hit but I am young so luckily I dont have that much to worry about. What this has all done for me hough is caused me to be thankful for what I have and spend more cautiously because you never know what can happen.