Plans on Hold??

[Baggee]

Has this bloody credit crunch, job insecurity etc put your plans off doing any expensive jobs on your beloved? (I mean the car not the misses)
I have set aside a bit for some work i want doing on mine but think its best to hold for now. So what's the general feeling

[Emjay]

Christmas is cancelled so I can lavish all my money on my motor.

For those who still believe in christmas I have asked santa for lots of halfords vouchers so I can get all my essentials from there and I got a nice little bonus heading my way in Jan and it's already spent for some engine work. Got loads of parts piling up in the garage now ready for an major effort in the new year so the answer is definatley a no from me

[Baggee]

I don't blame you..but i need more than a few Halfrauds vouchers lol

[Tarka]

Everything is on hold. I work for an Asset Manager which is managing fewer assets by the month. Our hedge funds are nearly all emptied. 75 made redundent last week and waiting to see whether phase 2 hits me. That means, new house, replacement for my daily Golf and spare cash for the Audis is all on hold until further notice.

I was at a cheery conference last week that said our only hope is in property in the UK. Equities, bonds and now cash show next to no returns for the forseeable. The thing is, until the banking scumbags produce some decent rates, nobody will be buying houses - we have reached stalemate. What a shambles. All thanks to those rich American bankers.

Oh well, all I'll say is - its only money. Things could be much worse

[randall977]

I've turned to 98% DIY - instead of paying a garage - the 2% is for any welding - of which a tiny amount is needed on the 200. Was going to pay to have the PAS/Braking servo refurbished but will have a go myself...

If I may I would like to put in my 2 pence worth... The US were very clever to offload quite a bit of their sub-prime debt - but we greedily took it. We need to get used to saving up for things and not borrowing money we can't afford to pay back. Now if you want to feel better about things take a look at this graph (which represents house prices but can represent the economy), I think it's accurate...



Now lets say 'New Paradigm III' is September 2007, based on previous boom and busts I estimate we will hit the bottom in around 3 years time (best case). Alternatively this could be a lot worse than the great depression... Our one comfort is that 'we' can't do anything about it.

[Emjay]

In all honesty what do we expect when we teach our kids that debt is ok.

We seem to think its ok to turf them out of university already with a £9K loan around their necks, then subject them to attrociously high mortgages where they can borrow heaven knows how much? The poor buggers really don't have a chance to start with and have no concept of NOT being in debt. Therefore debt becomes the norm to them.

Then we have the absurd situation whereby for those individuals who fall behind on payments we have companies offering to loan money to people who simply can't afford to pay their existing debt off. How many ads did you used to see on TV offering to "consolidate your monthly repayments into one easy loan"??. Since when has any sort of loan been easy??. Loans shouldn't be easy, they should be earned based on sound financial risk of ability to repay. Money is not conffetti thrown around at a wedding for heavens sake.

Here you go mister, have a loan to pay off the loan you can't already afford to pay off and by the way if you get into trouble we can give you another loan. How is that in anyway sensible or responsible.

It's all well and good blaming the financial system, bankers and all but what happend to a bit of self discipline. I must really sound like an old fuddy duddy at times but I learnt very quickly to spend what I have saved and if I can't afford it I go without.

Don't get me wrong I am truly sorry for those hard working people out there with families who will be hit hard but lets not kid ourselves here that this hasn't been coming. Debt always needs payback in the end.

Glad i got that one off me chest

[4v6]

In my case i have no plans.

I dont like to make them because somethng always seems to come along and foul em up.
So i just tend to take it a day at a time and dont look further ahead than a week....lol

[90Quattro]

I think i'm one of the few people out there that know my job is safe. Being in the Forces does have its bonus points, still can't afford buy tho and houses are cheaper in Scotland!

[randall977]

Too right 90Quattro - keep up the good work!

[90Quattro]

cheers Randall