How long could YOU go without a paycheck?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so sad people live below your means

Mid 30s with kids

250k in investment account bulk earmarked for college but still. We would be fine for multiple years with no income coming in

that's easy to say and do when your means are robust.

We don't have a robust income. We save, live in a small sh@t shack, and drive older cars. We do spend what we want within reason but we love under our means to save for an emergency, college and retirement. We could get a nicer house but I'd rather be financially comfortable and not be stretched.

OK thanks Dave Ramsey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or your spouse if you are a SAHP. How long would you be able to float if you lost an income in your household.

SAHM here. 18 months at our current burn rate. Longer if we tightened up. Even longer if we go to my inlaws for help.

[Anonymous]

1.5 years with no changes to spending.

Realistically, more like 2.5 because I don’t see us taking vacations, eating out, going to events while we’re unemployed.

[Anonymous]

If we cut out things like vacations, we could maintain our current lifestyle for about 3 years if we lost one job and about nine months if we lost both. After that, we would need to sell our house and downsize, or spend college and retirement funds, or both. We are early forties and in theory could never work again, if we sold our house and paid cash for a house in a low cost of living area, and lived very basically, spending our current college and retirement savings could get us to where we could start drawing social security and small pensions and continue living the same basic lifestyle. I guess we could be retired now if we subscribed to the FIRE money mustache theories, but I would rather continue working and be able to travel and eat at restaurants from time to time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so sad people live below your means

Mid 30s with kids

250k in investment account bulk earmarked for college but still. We would be fine for multiple years with no income coming in

that's easy to say and do when your means are robust.

We don't have a robust income. We save, live in a small sh@t shack, and drive older cars. We do spend what we want within reason but we love under our means to save for an emergency, college and retirement. We could get a nicer house but I'd rather be financially comfortable and not be stretched.

What a boring way to live!

[Anonymous]

We could probably go 3-4 years without raiding retirement and college savings. We would need to stop saving for college and we’d blow through the money we’re saving for our next house and vahicle. After 6-12mo, we’d probably cancel things like house cleaners and lawn service to free up cash flow and start looking for a cheaper house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so sad people live below your means

Mid 30s with kids

250k in investment account bulk earmarked for college but still. We would be fine for multiple years with no income coming in

that's easy to say and do when your means are robust.

We don't have a robust income. We save, live in a small sh@t shack, and drive older cars. We do spend what we want within reason but we love under our means to save for an emergency, college and retirement. We could get a nicer house but I'd rather be financially comfortable and not be stretched.

What a boring way to live!

How is it boring to live under your means? We take vacations, cruises, go to concerts and lots of other stuff because we live under our means. We don't have to think twice about getting what we need/want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so sad people live below your means

Mid 30s with kids

250k in investment account bulk earmarked for college but still. We would be fine for multiple years with no income coming in

that's easy to say and do when your means are robust.

We don't have a robust income. We save, live in a small sh@t shack, and drive older cars. We do spend what we want within reason but we love under our means to save for an emergency, college and retirement. We could get a nicer house but I'd rather be financially comfortable and not be stretched.

What a boring way to live!

I would say it is a responsible way to live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A couple of years? I have 200k in cash and stocks (saving for a rental). My mortgage is $2k a month.

I am a furloughed fed. I’ve been thinking of applying for other jobs, but how to do that if I don’t have an ethics officer to get permission for outside employment? I don’t think I’m going to be essential.

Simple.

If you work for the USDA, dont go get a job at Monsanto. You wont get un trouble if you act on good faith. Nobodybiangoing to pull you up on ethics violations for working for Uber or getting on Rover.

Actually they will. Not sure what part of no outside employment allowed do peippe not understand. We received an email yesterday that we could not even engage in pro bono during the shutdown. Can’t even work for free to stay busy.

[Anonymous]

DH is a Fed. Working, but of course no idea when he will get paid. I SAH. We have a child with a life threatening illness who is going back to the hospital again today. She will be in for at least a month. It would be difficult for me to return to work right now. We are ok for a couple of months. We also have a safety net- our families have offered to help if we need it.

This is incredibly stressful. And it feels so much worse when you read the heartless comments from Trump supporters. I’m trying to stay positive. But I cried in the shower this morning. I’m just so tired.

[Anonymous]

If I consider unemployment insurance we could live at current burn rate for three years.
If we just consider savings... about 2 years at current burn rate.

My agency is still open but we might get furloughed soon. If that happens I'm (1) going on vacation if it still drags on I'm (2) doing house repairs.
I would enjoy an extended paid holiday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH is a Fed. Working, but of course no idea when he will get paid. I SAH. We have a child with a life threatening illness who is going back to the hospital again today. She will be in for at least a month. It would be difficult for me to return to work right now. We are ok for a couple of months. We also have a safety net- our families have offered to help if we need it.

This is incredibly stressful. And it feels so much worse when you read the heartless comments from Trump supporters. I’m trying to stay positive. But I cried in the shower this morning. I’m just so tired.

Virtual hugs. Hang in there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A couple of years? I have 200k in cash and stocks (saving for a rental). My mortgage is $2k a month.

I am a furloughed fed. I’ve been thinking of applying for other jobs, but how to do that if I don’t have an ethics officer to get permission for outside employment? I don’t think I’m going to be essential.

Simple.

If you work for the USDA, dont go get a job at Monsanto. You wont get un trouble if you act on good faith. Nobodybiangoing to pull you up on ethics violations for working for Uber or getting on Rover.

Actually they will. Not sure what part of no outside employment allowed do peippe not understand. We received an email yesterday that we could not even engage in pro bono during the shutdown. Can’t even work for free to stay busy.

But pro bono legal work is still legal work. Since it is somewhat related to your federal position, you would need specific approval. Uber/Rover is presumably wholly unrelated. Therefore, that would not be prohibited or need specific permission, at least at my agency.

[Anonymous]

If it was just one income lost, we could last indefinitely. We would of course make adjustments, mostly that we wouldn't be able to save as much. We are in our late 30s with 1 preschool child. Have a mortgage, but no other debt. Have normal savings that we could use, and would not have to tap in to retirement accounts, however would probably stop contributing the max to retirement because we would need that income to spend.

If both incomes were lost, we would sell our home and move to a lower COL and find new work there. Would probably be okay on no income for 6 months or so, maybe even a full year depending on our housing obligations - meaning if we sold for a decent price and could rent or buy at a much lower price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH is a Fed. Working, but of course no idea when he will get paid. I SAH. We have a child with a life threatening illness who is going back to the hospital again today. She will be in for at least a month. It would be difficult for me to return to work right now. We are ok for a couple of months. We also have a safety net- our families have offered to help if we need it.

This is incredibly stressful. And it feels so much worse when you read the heartless comments from Trump supporters. I’m trying to stay positive. But I cried in the shower this morning. I’m just so tired.

Virtual hugs. Hang in there.

Thanks. I truly appreciate that. My heart hurts for those who won’t recover the missing paychecks. DH will eventually get back pay. I feel guilty being too upset. We are lucky. We have savings. We have family. And DH makes a good salary. So many others are being affected in worse ways.