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Originally Posted by Hockey Team
You're 100% right, you will NOT cover a $40K / year lifestyle off unemployment and a few thousand in savings. When you lose your job you cannot continue to live the same lifestyle as when you had it.
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Right. The issue is that you can't flip lifestyles on and off like a switch. Your mortgage is structured to fit within your current income and debt scheme; it doesn't just go on hiatus when you become unemployed. If the kids are in daycare to allow you to work, you can't just yank 'em out the next day without penalty. Your car payments, utilities, loans, phone contract, cable contract -- all the vestiges of your previous life are STILL THERE when the income stops. Canceling frivolities is only a small part of the crisis.
This applies to all income levels, and is true even of people who live responsibly within their means. This is why pretty much everyone agrees that losing your job is one of the most devastating things that is likely to happen in ordinary life.
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As for unemployment, I was referencing what it is in the US. In the US it's 50% of your previous salary up to a $ amount that varies by state (in NY it's $405). And you have to work for 6 months to qualify for full benefits. You used to be able to collect for only 26 weeks, but now it's been extended to 60 - 99 weeks depending on state.
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I'm not getting into a link-swapping contest, but Wikipedia has the average payout as 36% of salary. And some of the extensions you're referring to are stimulus-era packages that are now gone. I don't think there is a 99-week extension anymore.
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Having families people can't pay for is a crappy life choice as well.
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What about having a family you CAN pay for and then you lose your job? Is that a crappy life choice? What are people supposed to do, just stay single and childless their whole lives because someday they might lose their jobs?