I love chatting it up with the moms at the park....I get such rich blog material.
For instance, today I met a young lady down here in Naples. She relocated from the Midwest in 2005. Her husband was in "wholesale subprime lending" for Merrill Lynch. He's obviously no longer employed as that industry - and much of that firm - has evaporated. His wife said currently he is "in transition".
Hmmmmm.
They live in my little dream section of Naples - "Pine Ridge Estates".
Right now, there are 31 homes listed for sale there.
I will catalog them here in order of list price:
1st - $8,950,000
.
.
.
.
.
25th - $995,000
26th - $939,000
27th - $900,000
28th - $899,000
29th - $869,900
30th - $830,000
31st - $575,000
Not much on the *affordable* end, huh?
No job, an expensive house, two kids.....without help (mom and dad take evasive action!) this family could be in real trouble.
Even if this former Merrill guy paid off his entire house with windfall income, he's still on the hook for confiscatory property taxes, hefty *hurricane* insurance, and the 130k a year or so it takes to raise a family of four.
I learned waaaaay back, the hard way, that personal bull markets *never last*. The timeless quote is here at the 41 second mark.
And I feel really bad for those that will learn the lesson much later in life, when families and lifestyles are at stake. I look at my early career struggles as a blessing from above. I really do.
Of course I didn't always think that way!
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