Who is the safest in a recession - Home Owner or Renter?

SingleSue

There is one other thing that people haven't countered in.

It's not a financial aspect so would not make any difference to your wealth but a personal aspect.

Claiming benefits whilst not being able to work is absolutely soul destroying, you feel (and are treated) as the lowest of the low, a drain on the economy and you end up feeling as if you have no self worth.

To me, this is worse than any financial hardship.

You only have to look around this forum to see the views of people who have never had to experience it, they look down on those who do claim and act holier than thou.

I would say that the majority of claimants did not intend to end up where they are/were and to have someone call them lazy bums etc is not particularly helpful.

Even more sad is that my views were like some others on here regarding those who claim benefits only a few short years ago...until I was forced into giving up my job and claiming myself.

The grass is def not greener on this side!

PayDay

My wife had a friend who is a depressive. She needs more help in the form of therapy, but the money isn't there for her. A work colleague has a disabled son and they really don't get enough financial help either. Our benefit system does not do enough to help those that need it, because of those claiming that really should be paying for themselves.

Pobby

How would it be taken into account if your money was tied up in fixed term investments with large exit fees. Would they value them and treat them as if it were cash in the bank?

Dithering_Dad

SingleSue wrote: »

There is one other thing that people haven't countered in.

It's not a financial aspect so would not make any difference to your wealth but a personal aspect.

Claiming benefits whilst not being able to work is absolutely soul destroying, you feel (and are treated) as the lowest of the low, a drain on the economy and you end up feeling as if you have no self worth.

To me, this is worse than any financial hardship.

You only have to look around this forum to see the views of people who have never had to experience it, they look down on those who do claim and act holier than thou.

I would say that the majority of claimants did not intend to end up where they are/were and to have someone call them lazy bums etc is not particularly helpful.

Even more sad is that my views were like some others on here regarding those who claim benefits only a few short years ago...until I was forced into giving up my job and claiming myself.

The grass is def not greener on this side!

Thanks Sue, I agree that there are a lot of 'holier than thou' people on the housing boards some of whom are probably too young to even rememeber the last recession. It's too easy to make blanket statements like 'dole dosser', 'benefit scrounger' or point out how some people 'deserve it because they're financially inept'.

After seeing my parents go through the 80's recession, I know that none of the above is true. They were hard working, excellent with their money and when my Dad was made redundant from the building company he worked for he did jobs like security guard, street sweeping, basically anything to keep us ticking over and put food on the table. Even with his 'will do anything' attitude he had periods where there was simply nothing available and he had to receive benefits.

It's easy to judge when you haven't been in that position yourself. !!!!!!? and his cronies seem to think that they can live indefinitely on their savings. I have to point out that either they're millionaires or at least have several hundred thousand pounds of savings if they can 'live off the interest' or they are single guys/girls with no dependants and can live on very little.

I'm neither single nor a millionaire. I have no debts and £10k's of savings but I know how quickly that money will be exhausted if we have a recession and I'm out of work for a protracted period. As far as my family are concerned, like my Dad, there is no job that I would not be prepared to do to make sure they're OK, but if the worst happens then I'll swallow my pride and take benefits because my family are more important than pride and principles.

Simple as.

justpurchased

Pobby wrote: »

How would it be taken into account if your money was tied up in fixed term investments with large exit fees. Would they value them and treat them as if it were cash in the bank?

Yes, as you can get to it.

Dithering_Dad

PayDay wrote: »

My wife had a friend who is a depressive. She needs more help in the form of therapy, but the money isn't there for her. A work colleague has a disabled son and they really don't get enough financial help either. Our benefit system does not do enough to help those that need it, because of those claiming that really should be paying for themselves.

If you take your 'those claiming benefits should be paying for themselves' argument, then surely it applies to your friends too? Shouldn't your wife's friend pay for her own treatment, shouldn't your work colleague pay for his own son?

You can't have it both ways.

p.s. I'm just playing 'devils advocate' here because I also have a disabled daughter and I know exactly how hard it is to get any sort of help, including support at school.

Pobby

justpurchased wrote: »

Yes, as you can get to it.

Thanks. Oh dear!:eek:

Dithering_Dad

Pobby wrote: »

Thanks. Oh dear!:eek:

I think endowments are exempt and I know pensions are. If anyone knows any other 'safe' investments it would be interesting to hear about them.

moanymoany

Wherever the line is drawn with regard to benefits, there will be a grey area of cheating. The distribution of benefits will never seem fair and there will never be enough cash to make the system all encompassing.

I was a family solicitor during the last crash and the fallout on families was huge. Benefits didn't cover second mortgages and many people had bought their council houses and had replaced kitchens and bathrooms, built conservatories and taken out secured loans to do so. It was the second mortgagees who had taken out repossession proceedings when redundancy struck.

Result - marriage breakdown - wife and children now living in basic, emergency council accommodation on benefits. Children had to change schools as they lived in a different area and there was no money to get them to the old schools. Dad - well, dad had to fix as he could and sometimes that was into homelessness. It was grim and certainly did not look to me as a situation to envy.

The area where I worked had large blocks of council flats that had stood empty for ages because they were in poor condition, these were used to house such families and they were very cold and awful to live in.

It would have been so much wiser to allow the family to stay in the house - such as is being put forward now. The cost to the country of the way it was done must have been so much more in financial terms than if they had stayed home.


And the house, oh yes, that usually stood empty because no-one could afford to buy it.

neverdespairgirl

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

As far as my family are concerned, like my Dad, there is no job that I would not be prepared to do to make sure they're OK, but if the worst happens then I'll swallow my pride and take benefits because my family are more important than pride and principles. .

I agree with you.

I might draw the line at prostitution, drug-dealing, gun running, and estate agency, though.