Can anything good come out of the financial crisis?

dandy-candy

whathavewedone wrote: »

Some people are naturally thrifty and some are natural spendthrifts. The natural spendthrifts will revert to type as soon as they are in a position to do so. quote]

I think this is spot on sadly. My sister and I are complete opposites with money - I am always saving because I like to have a safety net where as she is always spending every penny she has (and hasn't got). I called in on her for tea last week and she was moaning how skint she is, so when I asked if there was anything other than the morgage she could cut back on she said "100% no". I know that in fact she goes to a beauty parlour 2 times a week for facials that cost £70 a time but she would count that as necessary - even if it means losing the house over her and her kids heads :mad:

whathavewedone

You must want to throttle her. I guess she knows that you save and if push comes to shove you'll help her out rather than see her lose her home.

lostinrates

ad9898 wrote: »

I think that once house prices come back to reality, society will be much better off, people paid too much for housing, so 2 people had to goto work, kids were left in child care all day (this is not good). Then when 2 peoples wage wasn't enough, out came the loans, credit cards etc... its all led to disaster for many.

Affordable housing will be much better for the economy, less money to spend on mortgages/rent, more money to be spent on other things. I've travelled quite a bit in the last few years, people seem more under pressure and much less happy in the UK than other parts of the world. (and some of those places I visited materialisticly had little or nothing). Of course in the short term this is going to be painful for many, but in the medium/long term, everyone will benefit.

I've been thinking a lot about the two income family situation over recent weeks. I'm not actively looking for work, which is silly really because I would LIKE to work, but then on the other hand I am also keenly aware that some of the people looking for the decreasing number of local jobs don't just want to work, they need to.

I don't know how many families were two income families in past recessions. I know that in the last housing slump my mother worked, and when I was not boarding I was a latch key kid, and this was a recurring theme on Newsround . Childcare wasn't arranged for me ...so presumably less available, and I and others like me were expected to keep ourselves busy and get our homework done. I think that this was a shame for a lot of kids but not perhaps as damaging as developing no skills in managing and entertaining our selves, as I think happens a bit now in some cases.

whathavewedone

I knew of a lot of people who got by in the last recession by working 2 or 3 jobs each - it was a case of take what you could get - if that was 3 part time jobs so be it. It was the only way some people managed to pay their mortgage when interest rates went through the roof.