We Are All Three Pay Cheques From Living On The Street
Those were the happy thoughts told to me one day at Church. The minister giving the sermon, worked with homeless people and such, so his view might be a little stunted, but that was the point of his statement, “We are all three pay cheques away from living on the streets”.
Is this really the case? Well that all depends on the debt burden that you carry. If you suddenly had no means of income, but you didn’t have any debt to pay off, you’d simply need money to pay your day to day expenses that may be manageable or controllable. If you are carrying a large credit card debt load, and have minimum payments to make, then your issues are far more complicated and you must find ways to pay spiraling debt as well.
Am I three pay cheques from living on the streets? I don’t think so, I have a fair amount in RRSPs and such, and I also have some savings, but I also have a debt load that does worry me, and given the renewed vigour I have been given from reading good books like: Smoke and Mirrors , I think that is my goal is to kill my debt load while I can.
BCE & Nortel Both Cutting
The news is full of job cuts at BCE as they head towards privatization, and there was the renewed cutting announced by Nortel at the start of the year as well, which may mean some dark times ahead in the High Tech World as well. Hope those folks aren’t three pay cheques away from the streets.
Telus and BCE can both enjoy a new class action suit against them as well for their new texting surcharges. That won’t help BCE, that’s for sure.
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July 29th, 2008 at 4:59 AM
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July 29th, 2008 at 7:44 AM
This articles from the Dialy Mail says, “millions of people may be just 11 days from financial ruin” but it is talking about depleting an emergency fund, not actually living on the street. A mix of savings and short-term debt probably keeps most people off the street. One uncovered medical expense, now that might put you on the street, at least in the US, no matter how great your savings.
July 29th, 2008 at 8:10 AM
I can’t imagine what it’s like to spend stupidly and live in constant fear of getting dumped onto the street. I hope the minister wasn’t fatalistic about it and suggested changing spending habits.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:15 AM
His point was more to pity those living on the streets because they are not that different from you and I, however, he did comment about the rampant consumerism in today’s culture.
July 29th, 2008 at 11:18 AM
Not to diminish what your minister was saying, but I think he’s probably wrong. Seems like a lot of homeless people suffer from mental illness and/or addictions. I think this makes the situation even more tragic.
I also think most people have some safety net to keep them off the street. If my family were in dire straits, we could move in with a whole host of relatives.
July 29th, 2008 at 12:01 PM
Agreed, maybe that was also his message, that families mus stick together as well.