Survey on the Economy

[Maitre]

I was just wondering how the current economic upheaval in the world is affecting other loungers.

-- snip--

I've been accepted to a distance learning masters degree and have postponed starting it due to difficulty in finding funding (I'm working full time and have gotten a committment of $1,500 in assistance a year from my employer: this is about 1.5 credits worth, and the degree is 60+ credits over 2 years). We'll see what it looks like in January when I'm supposed to start the orientation.

My wife and I were very excited to find the other day that our house's value took a tick up due to some recent sales in the area and is now down only about 15% from it's purchase price 4 years ago. We haven't had trouble making payments over the years so I can't complain too much, but with an upcoming increase in childcare expenses, we're re-evaluating our budget for the coming year.

I haven't looked too closely at my 401k statements for fear of loosing heart, but it's lost nearly 45% of it's value. Fortunately for me, I'm not expecting to retire for another ~30 years, but it's still depressing.