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April 5, 2007
Lifestyles of the ARM-ed and Dangerous
My friend Herb has sparked a great discussion on his blog among people assisting on tax preparation, financial planning, and generally saving the ARM-ed and dangerous from themselves. In other words, the discussion is mostly about people with moderate assets living beyond their means, financed largely on credit cards.Riveting stuff, and here is one sample, but read the whole thing:
Here are some interesting observations from a friend of mine. He's a divorce lawyer in Orange County. He has a very large practice and only handles to the top income/asset cases in the county.
He stated to me last fall that you would not believe the number of divorces, at the high end, where they are in large financial trouble! And there are lots of them, more than ever before.
He and I have often laughed about his practice or divorces per se, as it seems to be a recession ‘contra’ indicator for the county. When he gets really busy ... it's a strong indicator that the folks in this county is not doing well.
Well we spoke last week and his follow up from last fall was - I have never seen our office this busy! We are turning away clients that we would never consider turning away any time in the past.
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Not to argue with the basic thesis, but have you read the comments? Some of these people seem to be off their meds, and spending too much time in their bomb shelters. And I don't need to tell you the dangers of "anonymous anecdotal evidence", especially from a lawyer who "laughs" about his clients' troubles with a "friend of his".