How long could you go without getting paid?

[Meriweather]

I'm retired. It's a different question. I think a more interesting thing would be how much of a financial setback (whether that's job loss or unreimbursed medical expenses) could you weather.

I *think* I've planned well for retirement, but the big crap shoot is medical expenses. What's going to happen to Medicare? Social Security? Health care costs in general? My health? These are things that you TRY to plan for, and do it as best you can, but there's still things that can happen that are completely beyond my control that could significantly and permanently affect my financial position. I guess that makes me irresponsible?

We're retired too......we have enough, but like mentioned you just never know what will pop up

 

[lifesavacation]

Indefinitely if I had to with major lifestyle changes. I wouldn't want to dip into 401ks, IRAs, real estate and other assets, but I could if I had to. Hmmmm. I guess I've reached the point where I'm working because it's a choice and not a necessity. That's not something I've ever thought about before.

 

[Disneychick75]

Misread the title and you can probably imagine what I thought it said.

 

[ronandannette]

At this time we're back to having practically no cash savings so it would be impossible to go to zero income and manage without liquidating assets or running up debt.

 

[slpeters]

Misread the title and you can probably imagine what I thought it said.

A week, maybe two... now that's hardship.

 

[runwad]

Even as a little kid I always worried about having enough money, so I've always been a worker and a saver. We didn't buy more house than we could afford on one salary, so if something happened to one of our jobs, the other could go get a min wage job till they found something better and we'd still be able to get along. I've lived my whole life like that. Always deciding did I want to do this or that because I couldn't do both. Always choices to be made.

We aren't retirement age yet, but we no longer have any debt so we could go a long time without a paycheck (but would probably pick up something/anything for income).

I guess I am like I am because of my parents. My dad frequently went on strike at his job or got laid off. Because of that he had a second job too. Worked construction from 8am to 5pm came home and choked down dinner, went to bed from 6pm-10:30pm and worked night shift at the tire factory from 11pm-7am. And he did that for dang near 30 years! Always working! And hard work!

That made an impression on me. I always wanted to make sure I had enough money.

Like others have stated, healthcare is the big elephant in the room that could knock everything out of the water.

 

[Toolulu22]

We would manage until one of us found work. My husband is resourceful and finds a way to make money- he's owned a few businesses over the years. I have a strong skills/educational background a good references and am lucky enough to have not have found myself to be unemployed or without a paycheck. My hubby and I have different approaches that work to balance our life actually.

My money goes toward our retirement. I invest in supplemental retirement accounts, have a pension etc. If we needed money badly, I could borrow against some of that. My DH on the other hand has always been a frugal, cash on hand, no-debt kind of guy. So, he has a savings account/liquid money that we could dip into if need be.

Ultimately, we both are very resourceful however and when times are tough- and they have been- we figure out a way to make ends meet.

Thankfully, we have incredible health benefits. I pay $1000 for the 2 of us for the whole year through my job, and our copays are very reasonable. I know we are so blessed in that way.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

This is the dis. We all have 5 years saved up, our kids tuition at harvard pre paid, and we've paid so much to the insurance company, we have free medical care for life. Because we're just that awesome.

 

[mrodgers]

Child support. So, 2 weeks and then jail time I suppose.

 

[Planogirl]

I used to be in that several month category but it's only a few now. I'll just say that you never know....

 

[neverlandsky]

*With our medical out of pocket max already saved & earmarked, only 2 weeks tops outside of that savings.
*If we lump in our medical out of pocket max already saved & earmarked plus our savings, 4 months.
*If we lump in our medical out of pocket max already saved & earmarked, plus our savings, plus 401K & investments cash out, sell everything that isn't nailed down, 20-24 months.

 

[bdcp]

We could go at least 6 months on savings . We could go several months on credit cards in addition to that as we pay them off monthly We currently have two salaried incomes from jobs and DH receives a US Navy retirement after 30 years (26 yrs reserve) and it's a nice check. We have access to Tricare for insurance so that's not an issue. Both of us aren't likely to be out of work at the same time, although I am Fed Gov and he's a Fed contractor. My agency is funded and the one he supports is too. We are 58 and 61 so close to retirement anyway. Neither of us has ever been out of work and I went back to work easily (21 years ago) after 14 years at home with our boys. Our boys are 32 and 35 and have never been out of work either and have nice careers and incomes.

BTW, no Fed employee has actually missed a paycheck yet. We got paid last week and that was for before the partial "shutdown". If the Gov is still closed in two weeks, then there will be missed paychecks. Last long shutdown in 2013, we were out for 10 days or so and we never missed a check.

 

[indimom]

We could manage on DH or my paycheck for a long time, in theory, if there are no big issues during that time. BUT we wouldn't be saving more than the minimum for retirement and we'd have to cut all extras (cable, internet, data, the maintenance on the kid's cars, helping with college, general savings) to make it work. We could probably manage medical issues as well (as long as our insurance covered whatever treatment was needed, the deductible could be handled). But it would be a risky way to live.

 

[portocall]

Well, technically my husband retired from one position so assuming that income isn't cut off we could still live with a radically reduced lifestyle. We do have some savings that is liquid. Most we aren't old enough to touch. We also have a lot of available credit. That said, I would not be happy to use it.

I really feel for the people who are not being paid right now. My husband's current job will be affected starting next month if this doesn't end soon.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Exactly. When my husband and I bought our first home (35+ years ago), we were right on the edge. With our dual income, we could make our expenses just fine, but it was tight. We ate a lot of bean burritos (as in every day ....and it was made from scratch because a pot of beans was cheap and it was what we could afford). If something had happened then (say a car accident that put either of us out of work for any length of time), it would have been all over for us and we'd have been in some deep doo doo very quickly. We bought because it was cheaper than renting. So, renting or owning, we would have gone under quickly.

Today, my life is wildly different financially. I feel very badly for anyone who faces the loss of a paycheck through no fault of their own.

In a way, it would have been easier for us then than now. We were broke, but also had very little in the way of bills. Finding jobs to replace our crappy jobs wouldn’t have been terribly difficult. Just as an example, when I actually did lose my job in ‘02, I was making double what I made when we were married in ‘95, and triple what I made when I went to work at that employer in ‘89. The ‘89 & ‘95 jobs would have been a lot easier to replace and it was several years before I was able to get back to ‘02 standards. My current job would be even harder to replace.

Now, I could go much longer without income today thanks to savings and CC space, but I don’t know if I’d ever fully recover financially.

 

[OKW8297]

Several months, but kiss retirement fund goodbye

 

[disykat]

Since I'm nearing retirement age I could go for years between savings and investments. We'd essentially start retirement early. That doesn't mean I wouldn't be greatly affected by a loss of planned income. I don't just worry about today, I worry about the future. If I use my nest egg and/or emergency fund then it will be gone. That is the last thing I want. Even if I might get money back later, that emergency I would no longer be ready for could happen tomorrow.

The OP thinks that people with savings don't need their paychecks.

 

[tvguy]

At least 4 years. We're 61 and our financial planner has us set up to retire next year and live off savings for 4 years until we qualify for full Social Security at age 66 1/2. Our hope is not to touch our 401K and IRA money until we are required to at age 70 1/2. The wildcard is the cost of healthcare from age 62 to 65 when we qualify for Medicare. The Affordable Healthcare Act has doubled our anticipated cost. COBRA insurance costs from our employers may be a much cheaper option now. We're in California, so instead of COBRA lasting 18 months, employers are required to allow you to pay in and stay in their healthcare plan for 36 months (CALCOBRA) so we have an option. Although with no income coming in, we might qualify for an Affordable Healthcare Act subsidy. And our expenses will be cut 27% right off the top because people with no income have no earned income to pay taxes.

 

[sk!mom]

Since I'm nearing retirement age I could go for years between savings and investments. We'd essentially start retirement early. That doesn't mean I wouldn't be greatly affected by a loss of planned income. I don't just worry about today, I worry about the future. If I use my nest egg and/or emergency fund then it will be gone. That is the last thing I want. Even if I might get money back later, that emergency I would no longer be ready for could happen tomorrow.

The OP thinks that people with savings don't need their paychecks.

Very well said and exactly what the OP seems to be missing.

DH and I could go barebones and live on one paycheck but that would mean that our aggressive saving would stop. That would affect our future travel and retirement plans.

And using our emergency fund adds stress and anxiety since once it's gone- it's gone. In a serious downturn, it could take a great deal of time to replenish it.

 

[Colleen27]

Right now, not very long. We're in the middle of two years with tuition bills for all three kids, so basically "peak parenting expenses" for our family, and we're living a little closer to the edge than usual. And because it is a stage that we did our best to prepare for and know has an end date, we're not going into total financial lockdown mode to deal with it - we're still vacationing and eating out and living more or less as usual. But that does mean there's quite a bit of room to cut back if we had to.

If DH's job disappeared tomorrow, we could manage a month or two before the bills started going on the credit card, though it would likely mean rolling the dice with health insurance because we couldn't absorb the loss of income AND the additional expense of COBRA or the premiums for adding the family to my (frankly lousy) employer plan. If my job disappeared tomorrow, we could survive forever but with fewer extras. But as it pertains to the thread this spun off of, we wouldn't make it nearly as long if either of us was expected to continue working without the paychecks arriving because we both have significant gas/transportation expenses that are unavoidable in the course of our jobs.

ETA: This is going by emergency fund/general savings alone, not cashing out retirement savings. That could get us through longer but it would take a LOT for me to consider that option on the table... not just a run-of-the-mill job loss or layoff.