Comment by d23 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by d23 | Hacker News Reader

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I hate to be one of those guys who nit-picks and calls out too many specifics on stories, because I know how annoying that can be when you genuinely are telling the truth and someone is trying to pick it apart. That being said, I have similar questions here.

> Money was flowing in like gangbusters. I had a house which I was renting out to people to make passive income, a posh apartment, and a sports car (vroom). Material-wise, I had everything I needed and could ever want. I was “successful” and doing great. But in the fall of 2008 things went south.

> I went from making > 100K/year to literally 500/mo. [...] Rent was due and I had $400 to my name

How, between owning a home, a sports car, and making 100K a year in a relatively low cost-of-living area did this person "suddenly" only have $400 to their name?

> I was facing a $1,500.00 mortgage, utilities, etc. Again, no money to pay any of this so I had to let it go into foreclosure.

Selling the home wasn't an option?

> The only thing I had left was my turbocharged 350z which I started to live in as soon as I moved out of my apartment.

Selling the car wasn't an option? Despite this "gangbuster" income, the poster had no savings?

Anyway, I'm not saying this is made up, and I'm sorry the poster had to go through this. I'm just surprised one of the lessons that was learned wasn't the value of being financially responsible.

Trust me, I've learned all about financial responsibility. Over the past 6 years I've made great strides to save and live a very minimal life now. The lesson has indeed been learned.

There were some details omitted from my post regarding my finances as I did not want it to turn into a book. But long story short I had just started making that level of income the beginning of the year and I had a lot of expenses and debt I was paying off ergo why I had not had much saved. Selling the home was attempted but the house was tore up so bad from the renters that I didn't have the money to make it "sale ready". Selling the car was not an option as I was living in it at first.

This (and a couple of other comments you've made to this thread) would make a very good "lessons learned" coda to your blog post.

Living below your means, and having an emergyency fund / "fuck you money" in the bank is hugely valuable. Not always possible.

This is also a powerful argument for why social and emergency services should be accessible.

> I had a lot of expenses and debt I was paying off ergo why I had not had much saved

This is me right now, and it's such a scary situation to be in. Yes, I am lucky enough to have a job that pays me more than I ever thought I'd make, but it could go away any minute -- and siphoning all my cash into my debts might look a lot worse then.

Keep on working smart and doing your best to save. I have learned my lesson the hard way. Nothing is permanent and everything is subject to change. The anxiety that occurs when you are faced with financial issues and/or a job loss can be crippling. Even to this day after all of my lessons learned I still worry about what would happen if I lost my job again and had to go back to square one.

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