Root Causes of Bankruptcy
Instapundit has a link to an article analyzing the reasons why bankruptcies happen. The post, by Megan McArdle cites a new study that disputes an earlier study that bankruptcies happen due to unexpected medical crises. Number 1 cause?
Anyone can get in over their head, financially. Most of us no longer work for the same employer for a lifetime, or even in the same industry. We have periods of unemployment, more education (often quite expensive) to make ourselves more employable, and life events - birth, illness, family crisis. They all combine to leave us less solvent, more vulnerable to catastrophe. Add to that the likelihood that leaving a job also triggers loss of health insurance, and you have a precarious situation.
However, being an adult means that, sometimes, you hunker down, eliminate all the frills and non-necessities, and begin to tunnel out of debt. It's not fun. It's not all that easy. It takes discipline. But, it can be done.
We're in a re-trench mode, right now. Sometimes, I chafe at the restrictions that I've placed on myself. But, better that I restrain myself, than put myself in a situation where the choice is NOT mine.
Over-consumption makes households financially over-stretched and more susceptible to adverse events.That's been my experience. Bankrupts often don't have a budget, or a plan to dig out of debt, once they get in over their head. Funnily enough, the free spending doesn't stop, even when it's clear, to them as well as their creditors, that they can't possibly avoid bankruptcy.
Anyone can get in over their head, financially. Most of us no longer work for the same employer for a lifetime, or even in the same industry. We have periods of unemployment, more education (often quite expensive) to make ourselves more employable, and life events - birth, illness, family crisis. They all combine to leave us less solvent, more vulnerable to catastrophe. Add to that the likelihood that leaving a job also triggers loss of health insurance, and you have a precarious situation.
However, being an adult means that, sometimes, you hunker down, eliminate all the frills and non-necessities, and begin to tunnel out of debt. It's not fun. It's not all that easy. It takes discipline. But, it can be done.
We're in a re-trench mode, right now. Sometimes, I chafe at the restrictions that I've placed on myself. But, better that I restrain myself, than put myself in a situation where the choice is NOT mine.
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