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If you are like me and watched the value of your 401k disappear right before your eyes, that probably caused you some financial fear and a few sleepless nights. I can't even imagine the fear and anxiety of those that were close to retirement.
It seems that many of us are only 1-2 paychecks away from bankruptcy. Most of us have no savings to fall back on if there was a major emergency. If you are currently in this situation, it is probably causing you to be fearful of the "what if's" in life.The good news it that the bad economy has caused many of us to start saving a little bit more. Hopefully, the trend will continue once the economy picks back up.
What about me, what do I fear? I have an irrational fear of running out of money. I fear some major emergency could come along and wipe out my savings. I fear not being able to pay my bills and losing my home. I fear that I will end up living on the street because I couldn't make my mortgage payment. I fear that if I were to run out of money, I would have no one to help me pick up the pieces. I know this is irrational because I have a great friends and an even greater family who would help me out as much as possible but I just can't shake that fear.
I just don't want to risk it and as a result, I hoard money. If you've seen my Savings Challenge posts, you know that I have a goal of saving at least $50,000 in my savings account by December 2010. I'm pretty confident that barring any major emergency, I can make this goal. Once this goal is completed, I will probably bump up the amount to $75,000 and eventually $100,000 by the time I am 35. I think once I've saved six figures, I will feel a little better about my fear of running out of money.
What is/are your financial fear(s)?
I guess my fear is the same as yours, but believe that the only real threat to our financial security is the medical system. This is because I see the consumer as having no control whatsoever - first in having the need to use the system, and second in what the costs are. Besides that, one does not know what to expect as far as value - meaning proper diagnosis and desired results. My fear of this is so huge that we do not use the medical system, and my husband shares it. I don't think it is an irrational fear.
My fear is being SICK and POOR. Because getting sick in America is often a precursor to financial ruin, and being poor and then getting sick just means you're getting stomped on while you're already lying on the ground.
My current worry is that my contract work will run out, as will Tim's unemployment. That would leave us on just the $800 for my disability. We'd both try and get new jobs, but health conditions can make that harder than it is for others. And in this job market, that's saying something.
Otherwise, I just worry that we'll be in debt forever. I know we won't, but we've been slogging away for years now. Right as we were getting closer to being out of debt, Tim lost his job. We had worked the debt down again (not to previous lows, but getting there) and we realized we had to move. That was another $3,000 in costs. It's kind of exhausting, really.
Good question! I'd never really considered this. I would have to say my financial fear is not making the most of the money I do have.
My fear is not being able to follow my passion because I owe money. Otherwise I feel fairly secure about my financial situation and future.
When I was in my early twenties, I went through a very rough patch where I could not afford to keep myself from being hungry, and I was trapped living in a place that was not fit to live in. This experience left a real mark on me, and I'm afraid of ending up in a similar situation again.
Now that I have a family to support, I worry not for myself as much as letting down the people I care about, and putting them through a similar experience.
We own our home free-and-clear, but I fear not being able to pay for medical care for them, or not being able to provide food, or losing our home due to not being able to pay our property taxes (very high in our state).
Lawsuit. Once you reach your target you'll
know what I mean.