20/20 last Friday night

[feh]

Did anybody see the most recent 20/20 on ABC? Here's a print version of one of the stories they aired.

The couple in question are in their late 50s, and he was making $250K per year. He lost his job, and now they apparently will have to sell both their houses (paying a mortgage on each of them).

I may be lacking empathy, but I don't feel sorry for them; the wife in particular. She really came off as a spoiled brat during the interviews. She's heart-broken that she won't be able to spend money whenever, however she wants to any more:

"It is going to be hard. I'm under no illusions of, you know, sacrificing and I don't like to sacrifice," Susan Bjorkman said as her husband chuckled. "I mean, when you can go out and buy a pair of $300 boots, you go buy them, and I can't now."

After making that kind of change, there's absolutely no reason they shouldn't have millions saved and be able to go riding off into the sunset.

[Investing First Steps]

Well everything's relative of course. I doubt very much that subsistence farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa feel much empathy for any victims of the economic downturn.

[Broken Arrow]

Something tells me they'll live....

[Daylily]

Yes, I saw this and was shocked by this story.
When I am 57 (actually, when I am 47) I will have my house paid off so the idea of them having to unload two residences was unsettling to me. At that salary level they should have had one of those close to being paid off.

The husband seemed okay with the situation and seemed like he was looking forward to the second career as a vet tech but the wife sounded like she was going to have a very, very hard time.

[Goldy1]

No offense but vet techs probably make about $14 an hour so what a change.
Yea that is totally whack, but it is all relative.
Materialistic people churn my stomach. I love money, and I like nice stuff, but people who need to measure thier worth by buying stuff will never know true happiness or apreciate thier stuff anyway.
I lived every day the past few yrs knowing my dh might get laid off. He did and we were prepared. I haven't even had to cut back on much b/c I I was living within or atually below my means and we don't make 250K a year.
So far his lay off has had its blessings though. WE both got training accounts for paid tuition for more education, spent more time together, and I realized how important even moreso it is to look out for yourself and not rely soley on an employer for your health care , life insurance, happiness etc. IT has reiiterated we were on the right track saving, but the experience has also come with fear ie. if we didn't get health care coverage and something happened to our health we could have been depleted.

[Well Spent]

What was the wife's income?

[feh]

What was the wife's income?

I don't believe she was employed.

[tripods68]

I doubt the wife ever worked in her life given how spoiled she appeared. But that's just natural instinct i guess. But i do sympathize more towards the husband. The article never mentioned anything about their retirement accounts.

[PRICEPLUS]

When you start out poor like I did going back is not so terrible as I know how to deal with it. When you have been living the high life and it comes to a crashing halt many people find themselves in a dilemma.

It is so important to live below your means in order to collect a nest egg. Apparently these folks are lost. I have no sympathy! sorry!

[Coleroo]

oh gosh, my mom and i saw this show too! We thought the same thing - the wife was the spoiled brat. The husband seemed like he was relieved though...probably relieved not to have to keep up his wife's spending habits! When she made the "$300 boot" comment, I laughed and told mom I have a hard time bringing myself to buy a pair of THREE dollar boots. haha

[rob62521]

[QUOTE=PRICEPLUS;204343]When you start out poor like I did going back is not so terrible as I know how to deal with it. When you have been living the high life and it comes to a crashing halt many people find themselves in a dilemma.
QUOTE]

I would agree with you, however the poor part seems to be relative to some...
A gal I work with always finds a way to say she grew up poor and had to do without. However, when she found herself in big financial troubles, she refused to put the effort into having a garage sale to clean out the house and use the money to pay her bills. That tells me right there she really wasn't poor because if you grow up that way, you look for ways to make money to pay those bills and know how to cut the spending. She does not. In fact she ridicules me that I bring my lunch, bring my coffee, cook a lot, and spend below my means. Our house and cars are paid for and she's deeply in debt and had to go to a debt counselor. Now all I hear is how hard it is to live this way.