Couple learn hard way cat is worth $10

[Liberal_in_LA]

DUers won't have sympathy for this couple because their income is $7000 per month (more than 3000 goes to the first wife) but how sad is it to have your cat valued at $10

He is 86. She is 85 with health concerns.

They never expected to be in this position.

Harry and Marvis Long, whose home overlooks Daughtry Creek in North Fort Myers, filed for bankruptcy this year.

It was difficult and demeaning for them.

-----------------------

"I couldn't believe this was happening to us - especially at our age,'' Marvis says. "They say, 'file bankruptcy and you can start over.' How can you start over at 85 and 86?''

- The Longs took out a $385,000 loan and drowned under a $2,500 mortgage payment.
- They owe almost $25,000 in credit card debt.
Fineman and the Longs decided bankruptcy was the best route to take.

------------

"I know the appraiser has to put a price on everything,'' Harry says. "But $10 on our cat?''

http://www.news-press.com/article/20110724/COLUMNISTS02/107240366/Couple-learn-hard-way-cat-worth-10?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CHome

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

1. Unrecommend on your flame bait statement that DUers won't feel sympathy.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. Just speaking the truth.

[socialshockwave]

7. *nod*

Some(not all) DU'ers here seem to have a no-compromising hate anyone who is classed as "rich".

While in some cases it's justified(based on their ethics) in others it just seems to be a blind hate if that.

Either way this is a sad story. :(

[Liberal_in_LA]

13. Yup. DU is a mighty mean place these days.

[eShirl]

10. you don't know what the fuck you're talking about

Just speaking the truth.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

40. Your truth not mine. I find it a very sad and I'm sure many others do too.

[eShirl]

5. +1

[sabrina 1]

24. I agree. Don't know where that came from, but unrec for the same

reason.

As for the couple, that is extremely sad and probably becoming more and more common. So much for the American Dream.

[ixion]

3. I'd like 5 minutes alone with the crude dumbass who told an 85+ couple to 'start over'

Seriously. :wtf:

[treestar]

15. That's just an idea of bankruptcy law

That one gets a clean slate. They will be able to discharge their debts, so what is so evil about that?

[pitohui]

22. the crude dumbass was giving them a pass on six figure of debt they ran up

i am going to suggest that the bankruptcy lawyer was NOT the dumb ass in this story

i'd like someone to leave ME alone with a $7K a month income, i'd meet all my needs and i'm just thinking of the good things i could do with the money left over -- there would be no bankruptcy, no "second" spouse, no running up debt

[Ezlivin]

4. Cats depreciate rapidly as soon as you take 'em off the lot

We got our Russian Blues new in 2000 and they probably aren't worth a quarter of what we paid for them.

We'll keep 'em anyway. Love's funny like that....

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. lol. I'd never let my cats sit on my head. They use their claws to grip

[Ezlivin]

9. The claws were retracted for this "attempt at the summit"

But I have been shredded during other excursions across, over, under and around my body.

[AsahinaKimi]

23. Mine could never sit on my head..

He's just too big and fat!

[Horse with no Name]

8. Beautiful cat!

I lost both of my Russian Blue's last year to old age...the female looked like the crypt keeper by the time she died, but in her feisty-ness, she wasn't going to let the male outlive her. He died on Sunday and she died on Tuesday.

[Ezlivin]

14. So sorry...

Our "girls" are sisters and we dread the inevitable end.

We are a childless couple, married 32 years and our cats are our family.

"Love 'em 'til they die and then cry, cry, cry..."

[Ruby the Liberal]

11. Thats why you should always look for a used one, or a demo.

I got my girl when she was 4. Had some health issues, but all is better now and she is the best girl ever.

Heh.

[Ezlivin]

16. Yep. Our first pair were "used" and lasted nearly 18 years

They're buried in the backyard. When I mow I always cruise past and say "Hey Muffin, hey Buffy!", smile a little and ride on.

[Ruby the Liberal]

20. That is so sweet!

Mine is a leopard hybrid that her first owners couldn't handle. I got her for the cost of neutering from the breeder a year or so after she was returned. They didn't know that she had a severe, painful infection that was only getting worse. It wasn't until she was alone that she was able to communicate it (I know that sounds strange). Once my vet identified the issues and we went through the surgeries and neurosurgeries, this cat has a completely different temperament. She is like an appendage to me now. LOL!

Gotta love the kitties. I had a russian blue once (along with a red maine coon). Those two were the best of friends and a real hoot together. Yours has a beautiful coat. :hi:

[Liberal_in_LA]

29. awwww. that's sad but sweet

[Liberal_in_LA]

17. lol. +1 I only adopt adult cats, not kittens

[Ruby the Liberal]

28. I had a kitten once, when I was like 7. Cat we had got pregnant and

I had a fit about keeping "at least one". Never again. Kittens are too much work!! Give me a nice, calm, playful lap kitty any day.

[Warpy]

21. My last couple of cats were second hand

One was neglected and the other one abused. They not only came knowing manners and a few simple commands, they were downright grateful when they realized they'd been taken to another forever home instead of another version of Kitty Auschwitz.

[Ruby the Liberal]

26. And surprise, surprise - aren't they the best kitties ever!?

People tell me that they don't appreciate rescue. Well, at 4, mine went from 8# to 14# in under 18 months when we got her medical issues addressed. She is still a little small for her frame, but that is amazing progress - and she is a happy happy girl to boot.

[JayhawkSD]

36. Always adopt rescue animals

They never forget what you did for them, and your reward is endless.

[treestar]

12. When you get down to it, a pet is personal property

they could not get more than $10 if they tried to sell the cat on the open market.

But that does not matter as the cat is supposedly priceless as a pet.

Some people wouldn't include their pets in inventories of their property!

[dsc]

30. those people would be in big ass trouble then

You don't get to pick and choose what you list.

[treestar]

48. How many pets have any real value?

Maybe breed dogs? $10 items wouldn't need to be listed separately, just thrown in with household goods.

[SmileyRose]

18. I actually feel sorry for them.

I can't imagine how tough it is to get through life and still not know how to manage your money at 80 something years old ---- and they have no one they trust enough to ask decent advise. To be honest, I'm surprised it took them this long to end up in bankruptcy.

[Liberal_in_LA]

25. I think it's the late in life divorce that did them in. 3K out of 7K to the 1st wife

So he's supporting two households on his income.

[SmileyRose]

35. I live on far less than 4 grand a month.

One would assume working income would have been much higher, but with a huge mortgage on a house now worth half that, huge credit card debt, and no mentioned savings -- add that to the "I didn't bother reading anything" statements --- obviously he's not been managing his money well along along. I think it's really tragic that someone able to hold the kind of job that nets $7000 a month in retirement has to go through this.

They have plenty of money. PLENTY. These two children of the depression obviously forgot how to live below their means - if they ever knew. They can live WELL on the 4 grand they have. Maybe not in the fashion they are used to, but they can live VERY well.

[NutmegYankee]

39. It's a combined and gross income number.

After taxes, health insurance costs, and the $3175 alimony, it's not that much. It's still better than poverty, but they are not rich.

[SmileyRose]

46. You know what

my combined household gross is much less than that and I pay taxes and health insurance costs too. You are right, it's darn hard. But I am debt free in my early 50's, even on a well chosen inexpensive house in the not great but not the worst part of town. So it can be done. In fact it can be done on less. This is hard, less would be harder.

They are having it hard now, but his income would have been such that there's no excuse for him not to have any savings. There's no excuse except pure stupid why he signed away $4 grand of his income without reading the words. Or taking out a mortgage in his 80s. These 2 old folks have a very hard road ahead of them for sure. I feel for them because I get the sense he knows this is partly of his own making, but is really not sure how that is. If they live long enough, I suspect they'll be right back in this place in short order.

Kinda sad.

[pitohui]

19. agreed, they sure don't deserve MY sympathy

christ on a cracker, i'm supposed to feel sorry now for folks who get $7K a freaking month? what did they want their cat valued at? $500????? maybe we can put a value on their special shit that don't stink too?

life is just too short for this endless weeping over the poor pitiful rich

$7K a month income, for crying out loud, for plenty of old folks in the south, that's SIX months of income, you do realize that, right???

[Liberal_in_LA]

27. one again - more than 3K goes to 1st wife. So his income is less than 4K

[hobbit709]

31. That's still a lot more than most retired people get.

My mother is 81 and gets $900/mo between SS and her pension.

[Ikonoklast]

47. Which is more money than I net in any given month.

I weep tears as big as horse turds for them.

[Ruby the Liberal]

32. When you are mid-80s and going through something like this for the first time

it is not surprising that something off the wall will hit you like a ton of bricks. Could be great-great-great Grandma's bible, or a poem you wrote in 3rd grade, or a cat. They were obviously a powder keg over this whole thing and the bleeds-it-leads media picked up on it because they knew people would click the link.

I don't feel sorry for them. At their age and with that kind of asset base and income, they should have been more prudent (and proactive) with their finances, but I will give them a "nutty response" in the face of what they are dealing with, albeit exploited, IMO.

[Maru Kitteh]

45. "life is just too short for this endless weeping over the poor pitiful rich"

AMEN!

:toast:

[NutmegYankee]

33. Is that $7000 gross or net?

That makes a lot of difference.

[Liberal_in_LA]

34. gross. He was a pilot, that's why it's high

[NutmegYankee]

37. Oh, as a couple grossing $7000, that's not excessive.

Especially after you take into account the alimony and taxes.

As an engineer I gross 6300 a month, but take home less than half of that after taxes, health insurance, dental, and feeding the 401K.

[Urban Prairie]

38. What did they need a 385K loan for ????

Hmmm...something don't "add up" in this story, but w/o knowing exactly what took place over the past 23 years to get them to the point of BK at such an advanced age, and apparently having a mortgage payment that was roughly 1/2 of their combined gross income after alimony, I can't condemn nor support what they did or didn't do to get into that financial mess , but I suppose that their high mortgage payment was sufficient reason to file, and keep their home, but still, what did they need a 385K loan for?

Did they buy a yacht?

Even if so, can't yacht or sailboat payments be financed over longer periods, like a decade or two?

:shrug:

edit: bet he bought a small airplane, since he was a pilot.

[CaptRandom]

41. I do have sympathy for them...

some... I have more sympathy for people who have had to live with less however...

Some things from the article really suggest some major money mishandling and, frankly, immaturity.

As for the 3K+ alimony to his former wife who he divorced when he was 62? I worked with countless pilots at American Airlines in my previous career, and she deserves much more than that a month.

[madinmaryland]

42. Un-reccing for flame-bait.

[FLPanhandle]

43. Why did two people in their 80's take out a $385K loan?

Did they think they'd live long enough to pay it back?

Maybe they've gotten to the point where they shouldn't be making financial decisions.

[tammywammy]

44. That's the strangest part.

They owed around $155k for their mortgage, what did they buy for $385k?