#financial-hardship

#financial-hardship

Who doesn't trea­sure a hand­made present? As the years go by, we may begin to offload the ill-fit­ting sweaters, the nev­er lit sand cast can­dles, and the Sty­ro­foam ball snow­men. But a present made of words takes up very lit­tle space, and it has the Ghost of Christ­mas Past's pow­er to instant­ly evoke the sender as they once were. Sev­en­ty years ago, poet Langston Hugh­es, too skint to go Christ­mas shop­ping, sent every­one on his gift list sim­ple, home­made hol­i­day post­cards.

Derek Ritchie, 63, was informed in March by scheme administrators that his payments had been miscalculated since 2014. In a letter, they apologised for any inconvenience and told him he would need to repay 25,000 by bank transfer or in instalments. Ritchie (not his real name) asked for an explanation that he says he did not receive. Three months later he was threatened with legal action if he did not start his refund payments.

This entire year has been a struggle for me. I'm a freelancer, and business is down dramatically. I can hardly pay my bills. I rarely talk about it, but the holidays are approaching, and I cannot show up the way I usually do with gifts for everyone. I barely have the cash to get to my hometown to be with the family. The thing is, everyone thinks of me as the successful one, the one who moved to the big city and made it.

Richard Dreyfuss and Kevin Spacey are both Oscar winners who were once popular movie stars and hailed as two of the most talented actors in Hollywood. But over the years they have proven themselves to be problematic men whose life choices have arguably hurt their careers and left them struggling financially. Now comes a strange, sad story about how the actors' 2009 professional collaboration figured into Spacey's MeToo-era downfall and led to Dreyfuss becoming estranged from his three adult children.

"The costs over these last seven years have been astronomical," Spacey said. "I've had very little coming in and everything going out."

Mark Lucas parked his electric Vauxhall Vivaro van at Rathbone Square just off Oxford Street in December 2022. But a mechanical malfunction caused the car park's automated stacker system to break down. About 25 vehicles were stuck for 28 months and despite retrieving them in April, those affected say not a penny of compensation has been paid. Mr Lucas said huge debts had left him living with a daily fear of losing HCS Furniture which he co-owns in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

The federal government shutdown has become the Grinch who stole Halloween for Johnny Jones. Halloween is typically a big deal for the Jones family - they love to decorate, hand out candy and hot dogs, and enjoy a neighborhood shindig. But Jones, who works for the Transportation Security Administration, isn't getting a paycheck during the shutdown. That means big Halloween plans are out of the budget; so is an outing for his daughter and her friends to the new Taylor Swift movie.

When my son was younger, I shielded him from the reality of our financial situation. As a lower-income family, he always had everything he needed, and then some, so he didn't seem to notice. But now that he's almost 12, my son's requests for things have outpaced me. I used to be able to find some roundabout way to get him what he wanted, but as a single mother, I can't afford it anymore.

My husband and I love kids, and we had always planned to have our own. But now we're in our early 30s and have realized kids are probably not in the cards financially-unless we can get some child care help from my in-laws. My husband and I have the regular problems everyone has: crushing student loans and inability to afford more than a one-bedroom apartment.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Michele Wilke, a 63-year-old job seeker in Chicago. It has been edited for length and clarity. Over the past eight months, I applied to dozens of jobs and landed some interviews, but I struggled to find work. To stay afloat, I relied on loans from well-off friends and launched a GoFundMe to help me pay my rent.

I often wake up around 3 a.m. with my mind racing - thinking about which roles to apply to or what job search strategy to try next. Instead of trying to fall back asleep, I usually get up and start working on my job search, which includes sending out applications or post-interview thank you letters. Around 6 a.m., I typically might make breakfast, shower, and then start planning out what I want to accomplish that day. It's become a sort of routine.

I'm seeing videos like this routinely. The hard working middle class is becoming the working poor. This is absolutely UNACCEPTABLE.

"I feel trapped working, but I can't stop working," Lydia says, sitting up to cuddle her basset hound, Brigette. Her husband, Bill, gives her a kiss but lets her be.

Saunders moved to North Miami Beach in 2023 seeking a warmer climate to relieve his arthritis but faced financial hardship leading to chapter 13 bankruptcy.

City fines and repair notices have been controversial among low-income homeowners financially burdened by an average bill of $3,000 for sidewalk repairs.

Most mortgage payments are due on the first of the month... After that, you'll likely be charged a late fee and receive notices from your lender.