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TMFBent (99.85)

Not a good victim

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August 16, 2007 – Comments (3)

I certainly don't envy this woman her problems with cancer or money, but let's get real here, bankrupt for lack of $7,000 to $15,000?

I didn’t do anything wrong,” Aldrich says thoughtfully, sitting in the neat, pale green living room of her tiny stucco duplex ...

No? How about this?

I have no savings,” said Aldrich. “I probably have 10 bucks saved. I live paycheck to paycheck.”

while at the same time:

"She had good jobs. She paid her bills. She lived in a nice house and drove a nice car."

This poor woman could really have used some Foolish money advice. Not saving up for the unexpected (health insurance deductibles, car repairs, etc.) or buying so much house that you live from paycheck for paycheck, that's the DEFNITION of doing something, many things, wrong.

"Gut check America" my butt. Certainly there must be people out there who are better examples of a system that has left many behind.

Takeaway? Always keep 6 months worth of living expenses in a savings account, at least. And if you don't have that, cut back on "nice cars" until you do. Your entire financial future might hang in the balance.

3 Comments – Post Your Own

#1) On August 16, 2007 at 10:59 AM, FoolishChemist (98.16) wrote:

To be fair when she mentioned she had no savings was at the end of several years of cancer treatment and medical bills and being unemployed for a while.  So she may have had her 6 months of savings but they ran out.  I still do agree with your criticism though.  Since she is 50 yrs old and getting close to retirement, I would think she should have had at least ten years of savings already stored away.  And people have had larger credit card bills and managed to pay them off.  A little discipline and she could have avoided bankruptcy.

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#2) On August 16, 2007 at 11:07 AM, hudsondusters (88.09) wrote:

Catastrophic medical expenses are what bankruptcy is there for.  It mentions a tiny stucco duplex.  What, she should have lived like a pauper ALL her life?

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#3) On August 17, 2007 at 9:07 AM, TMFBent (99.85) wrote:

Now that she's going bankrupt because she didn't save, she'll be living more like a pauper than ever.

And living cheap doesn't mean living like a pauper.

What's maddening is how widespread this belief is. "I didn't plan for anything bad to happen to me financially, and it did. Therefore, I am not to blame."

That the press promotes this situation as a trajedy is nonsense. It's a very predictable and common event. The trajedy is that the press doesn't encourage people to plan better so people can deal with these kinds of situations. 

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