How long can you last?

About 3 months worth of savings. Until the end of June.

8 months

Savings?

This is the time to think of what is truly important in life. Material possessions are meaningless. It's time to accept Jesus in our lives again and reject sin.

I depend on rent payments, and am sure my tenants are going to have hardships. I’m not a monster and will try to work out things with them- but keeping my fingers crossed we don’t have a pipe burst or some other massive damage that will require lots of cash. Otherwise, I have three empty credit cards that I could puke things into. But no, please, no.

Pile things into

My partner just got let go from his 16 year job working in the car dealership service area on 03/20/2020. He had reach his full retirement, so he has been working and collecting Social Security, and allowed to earn any amount without a penalty for about the past year. So he has saved some cash. Plus his 401k, which he said he had moved his funds to a more safe, less volatile investments (at my insistence). Haven't checked on that (if I don't either get him to log in and check, he never will).

I am still working, basically retail, and I am quite sure the company I work for won't be able to sustain, and will be forced to cut back. I am 61. But I can start collecting from a pension at any time, but still 4 3/4 years away from my full SSA retirement. I may have chose early SSA collection if need be.

We are going to quickly scale back the unnecessary. 4 cable boxes down to 2, 1 if necessary. Find a cheaper phone plan; paying $113 for Verizon 2 phones. Empty the $100 monthly storage unit. I am a fairly frugal shopper. But with our 2 salaries doing so well recently, we didn't save as much as we could have. Not millionaires, but will be better off than most. Healthcare will be the challenge.

About 5 years worth of cash in savings. I hate to be cash poor.

I haven't given it much thought yet, knowing that I have enough for now (at least 6 months). What I am considering is where I can save money in the near future. Also considering giving up the work I love and have had many years of success in to get a dull real job, i.e., one where the next time the world collapses I can also "work from home" rather than be cancelled indefinitely.

A couple of years. I save money like there's a catastrophe lurking and one finally came.

[quote]We are going to quickly scale back the unnecessary. 4 cable boxes down to 2, 1 if necessary. Find a cheaper phone plan; paying $113 for Verizon 2 phones.

Hey, doll, get the T-Mobile 55 plan. Two lines, unlimited everything, $70 all inclusive.

And if you dump the cable boxes and have good Internet, you can get YouTube TV or Sling or something like that. Cable equipment rental is a huge ripoff.

And here I was thinking this would be a sex thread.

R12 haha Those were the days...

[R7], try to use early SSA as a very, very, very last resort. Try escorting first, seriously (well, seriously enough). You'll regret it. My father has hammered this into my head for my entire life. And I'm 61. Good luck to you.

Turning 63 next week. I’m not even sure I was escort material in my twenties. I’m certainly not now. Was hoping to hold off on collecting Social Security until ... it’s 66 and a half, right? But, though I’ve always worked I’ve never made a decent income.

Is there such a thing as remote escorting?

This all makes little diffence to me/us.

I've never worked since 1999 when I screwed people over the Y2K bug that didn't exist. My husband retired in 2015.

This only effects poor people.

We're all gonna become mole people it seems, hopefully not but we'll see. R16 oh please, not like you have many years left to live.

R15 Isn't 'remote escorting' the same as phone sex? Or whatever it's called now? All you have to do is talk sweet and low until the guy jerks off. If you decide to do it, please post the 1-800 number here. I'll give you a call!

R4, welcome to the thread, Mrs. White!

[quote] It's time to accept Jesus in our lives again and reject sin.

I prefer to reject religious nutcases who blindly follow a magical sky fairy If your Jesus was real none of this would be happening.

Where were Jesus & God when this poor woman contracted Covid-19 IN CHURCH, and died 4 days after diagnosis?

For quite a while, actually. Over the years, I've received inheritances from my mother, my father, my grandmother, and a late partner, and I banked them rather than spent them. As well, my partner works in a veterinary hospital. Hopefully, we'll be okay. If we run out, I'll steal a horse and become a highwayman, or something.

Another one who has been preparing for disaster since 2016 - and therefore never made the 30-40% stock market “profits” that everyone on DL and finial blogs seems to have made. As a result, able to ride out the next 10 years - when I’ll be 62 and can collect SS if necessary. Not a good plan - as I should save more for post-65. But at this point, I’m discounting the likelihood of a long life - based on genetics and this case study In the new normal we are currently experiencing.

^ financial blogs

When people without income say they can ride out x number of years, how much money do they think they'll have to spend per year? I can't imagine living on much less than $60,000 a year.

Ditto R25. And that $60,000 has to be post-tax. At least in NYC.

TG my car and house are paid for so that I can go for several years.

6 months

About 1 year.

I will be saving and storing like crazy when this shit is over!

You're all talking money. Fair enough. What about food? I've got enough for about a month. But I live two miles from the nearest store and don't have a car. My groceries were always delivered by Instacart or Walmart: due to high demand, deliveries have been suspended. Meanwhile, the booze situation is dire: I have about three days' supply left; ABC liquor may still be delivering, or Total Wine...

Doesn't anyone have credit cards? I keep hearing about people who will starve to death if they miss a week of work.

I have about 10 credit cards with about $20 thousand of available credit. I'm fine.

R32, I have around 180K available credit, but I learned my lesson in 2008- I racked up 30K in debt when I could not find a job for a year (I did find a part time gig that supplemented my unemployment- it just wasn't enough.. I will never come back if I go that route..

I’m a teacher now figuring out how to work from home. I have my job for at least three months.

Summer will be very hard. I just bought a house and had just started renting out my old house. Both my tenants lost their jobs in the service industry last week and have no savings, so I am out a huge (for me) chunk of cash. It hurts now. It will be awful when my paychecks stop in June.

My financial portfolio is in tatters right now, but I had to get a new furnace this winter that blew out my emergency fund, so I may resort to selling stocks to stay afloat.

I recently went on unemployment (4 weeks ago). Here's the problem: I get $1800 per month, but I have to, by state law, have medical insurance which is $584 per month.

And its not even great health insurance. How are you supposed to even try to live off of unemployment when 1/3 goes to mandated healthcare?

Oh, and I'm supposed to pay taxes on the unemployment as well.

Luckily, my lease is up on my expensive apartment and I will be moving in with my partner. Based on this, I have enough money to last several years, but I know most people will not.

Eldergay, I almost put in an offer for a house a few weeks ago. So glad that I didn't. Hang in there.

I suspect that by 3rd quarter, the government will have some solutions in place, safety measures, etc..

The recession will be far more grim than 2008, but I feel it will also be short-lived (comparatively)

I am concerned about job loss within next 2 months myself. I am in sales, and it has eviscerated my company's numbers, However, we are considered a necessary business due to the service we provide for other necessary businesses. But if I don't lose the job there will not be any commissions which comprise 2/3 of my pay.

Hang in there

R35- What state is that?? Even in Mass you do not have to have health insurance to get unemployment! You have to pay a penalty which isn't that much.

R37 - California.

R35 here - and, let me add, even with the high deductible and not great health insurance, this is an absolute necessity during these times.

Anyone could have an extended hospital stay, which will be crushing financially with insurance. But it will bankrupt anyone without it.

It's so ridiculous - but I'm extremely lucky and have quite a bit of money to fall back on.

I think in NY you get subsidized if income is that low.

Is anyone concerned about break-ins, looting etc. I don't have any firearms; should I try to buy one? A gun might help me last a little longer, if my house gets invaded.

I cannot believe the price of bread: Nature's Own Honey Wheat Bread 20 oz. loaf, 2 pk. A1 $20.99

At these prices, I can't last long.

I am going to use my penis to ward off any straight in intruders!

Oh, baby! You are SO HAWT!!!! Will you fuck me after robbing me!!??

That kind of thing. I will keep the looters and robbers, RUNNING, bitch.

intruders

Not IN-INTRUDERS.

I've got my dad's old AK-47 from Korea but no rounds.

No more than 1 week. Paycheck-to-paycheck here.

I am having to borrow.

R46- BLESS YOU!

Just do what you need to do to make it---

miracles do happen.

I am retiring at the end of the school year (not teaching this semester, thank God), so my plan was to sell my townhouse, as my husband and I are now living together, live on that for the first two years (I'm 62), then on an inheritance of 50,000 I just was informed I am supposed to get (sister-in-law died two years ago--the executors just located me, as we had been out of touch) and try not to touch either my TIAA-CREF money (about 800,000) or social security until I'm at least 65 (SS hopefully not until 67.5). I doubt this is a good time to sell the townhouse (bought it 20 years for 40,000; it's now assessed at 150,000), so I may wait another year to put it on the market when I hope things have settled down--the mortgage is paid off, so my only associated costs are 250 a month for community fees, real estate taxes, and utilities. Depending on how long it takes the trust to pay me and my sister our inheritance (I'm sure the Harris Trust will takes its own sweet time), I may have to rethink the timeline--I get the college salary until the beginning of August and the college pays its portion of my medical insurance until I'm 65 and eligible for Medicaid. My husband is also much wealthier than I (and a couple decades older, and has accumulated more money and is generous in helping out if I have a "pinch" period for cash). While I am an idiot regarding money, I know now is also not the best time to starting drawing from my TIAA money because of the wildly fluctuating market. Bottom line: I am lucky (and I do mean lucky, not smart) enough that I don't need to worry in the long run, but it's just hard for me to think about in concrete terms. I realize others live paycheck to paycheck--and twenty years I would have been in a similar situation. I can imagine how frightening and scary this is for the vast majority of people (and I'm by no means part of the 1%).

Paragraphs, R48 - paragraphs.

I’m not laid off yet but it is inevitable. I’m nowhere near retirement (but I’m not in my 20s either).

Savings account with 400k. Brokerage account of 250k. Let’s not even discuss the dumpster fire that is my 401k (I refuse to even look at the losses). Monthly overhead of around 6k. The math works out to 9 years. I’m lucky.

R48 is the definition of humble bragging.

R51. Not really--I'm just lucky that I was in a profession that automatically took money out for retirement, and have some convergence of resources. Trust me, I'm sure otherwise I would just as scared as a lot of other people. No brag here--and I'm sure that there are many on DL who would view me as impoverished.

As to paragraphs -- sorry if I taxed your ability to follow a straightforward summary. Try The Golden Bowl sometime.

Lol, you mean desth, r16?

Just saw on the news that the Senate failed to come to an agreement on the Coronavirus recovery fund. So anyone expecting to get any money any time soon had better not count on it.