This is a very sore and personal subject for me.

 

Via comment by Badger on US to Sell Rest of GM Shares by Year-End, May Lose...

 I grew up in a different America. GM was the backbone of the nation I remember the phrase when something like this, "As GM goes, so goes the nation." There was nothing more solid than GM. Hearing and knowing this all the time I grew up it became part of me. So once I began working I bought GM stock every payday. I never took a dividend just repurchased stock at a very favorable price. So after 35 years I owned a lot of GM stock. So when I turned 53 the decision to retire was an easy one. We had always lived simple and never beyond our means or on credit. My enjoyed her job and planned to keep working. I would get about 30k a year just in dividends she made another 50k. I had lined up some part time work so the future looked bright. Then 2008 happened. The President illegally violated federal bankrupted laws and seized GM. He decided who should receive the value of GM and it sure was not the stockholders. So there went my life’s retirement on a whim of the President in violation of law. Then with the crash of the economy, my wife’s job of 18 years vanished.

There we were we were 58 she was 55 with no retirement, no jobs and just $10,000 cash in the bank. The plan was when she was ready to retire I would sell enough stock to payoff the house, which by then would have been under $15000. We had no car payments or credit card payments so just living expenses. We had seen the economy dip before but we did not yet comprehend the damage the President was doing. So there was no upturn in the economy and our cash was about gone. We are both well educated and were further trained by our employers over the years. Every job that fit our skills was the same answer you are far too qualified, you would not be happy. Code word you are too old and know too much we want dumb 20 something’s. Even scrimping and cutting back any jobs we got did not cover our expenses. Our mortgage was under $40000 on a $150000 house but planning for retirement it was only a 5-year loan. We tried and tried to refinance taking ZERO cash just switching from 5-years to 20-years to drop the payments. Since we had not been at our “new” jobs long enough or did not earn enough they would not refinance.

It was then inevitable at some point we were losing the house. We tried to sell but in 2008 and 2009 no one was buying even at two thirds the value. Finally, we made the decision the only option was bankruptcy. Unfortunately, unlike the President we could just not invent rules, as we wanted. So we moved from a beautiful home we spent years and thousands of dollars making just what we wanted into a two-bedroom apartment. The apartment was about one-fifth the size of our home so much of what we owned had to be sold off. We always loved antiques and had a home filled with lovely oak, cherry and walnut furniture. Other than a couple family pieces all, the rest is gone. I am a woodworker and spent my last 10 years of working buying and equipping a first class workshop. Not enough room in an apartment for a woodshop so all sold for pennies on the dollar. When I saw the check from the auction of my workshop, I wanted to take a gun and just end it.

After all that please do not feel sorry for me I sure don’t. I have my wife of 42 years which I love more today than when we married. We are healthy at least for people age 59 and 62. We are out of the apartment back into a house, we don’t own but rent which is fine. We make more than enough money to pay bills and some months enough left over to go out for a nice dinner. My daughter is happy and healthy. My granddaughter graduates college in the spring and is going with a very nice guy. So over all life is good, do not dwell on the bumps just remember the joys and keep smiling.