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TF64's avatar

At 57 and being in the construction/contracting business my whole life I have lived through several downturns. 2008 was bad, I had a couple friends go bankrupt. Number one thing is to get rid of as much debt as possible. Fortunately, I am 100% debt-free and not overly concerned about the economy slipping, it always does. I still work part time and have saved and invested for the imminent rainy day.

The older I get I realized time is more important to me than money. We live fairly simple lives below our means but still do anything we want, which isn’t that exciting to lots of people. We’ll all get through this, we always do and life will go on. Cheers!

Edit: The biggest lessons I have learned are:

T

1. Have a skill that is always in demand. I have 4 state licenses for various trades that will ALWAYS be in need 2. No or very easily manageable debt, I can’t say this enough. 3. Live below your means, stop buying stuff on credit if you can’t afford it. 4. Have a good partner with same mindset. My wife and I have been together for 37 yrs and we still like each other.

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Laura L.'s avatar

Well, dejavu! Bill mentioned 1980. I was an employed adult at that time. I had a min wage job late 70's at around $3.00 hour working retail. I had been used to paying about $1.60 for gasoline. By 1980 I was paying almost $3.00. Gasoline was rationed. Inflation was 15% +/- . It was rough and scary. I didn't know how I was going to make it. I ran up credit card debt to make ends meet. I had an acquaintance at the time that bought a house at 15% . I remember how fortunate I felt when I was able to buy a home ' owner-finance ' at 10% interest. That having been said, these last few months have brought my memories of the late 70's back to life. I have children in their late 40's now. I have brain-washed them to minimize debt no matter how successful they are, to be conscious of gas efficiencies of their vehicles, and you don't need $250 tennis shoes. Most importantly, all you really need is a roof over your head, a car so you can get yourself to work and food on the table; everything this else is just fluff. So to the rest of the world I say, ' just hang on, this too shall pass '.

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