What Goes Up, Must Come Down

By Author: Fred Robinson
Total Articles: 26
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You are young and your life is A-ok. You live with your girlfriend and the two of you have wedding plans. You both have a nice job with a decent salary. You have even talked about children already, but you’re not in a rush. Soon you will buy a house together and this afternoon your girlfriend wants to go to town to look at engagement rings. Quite an investment, but hey, she’s the love of your life.

10 years later

You’re still fairly young and you have little to complain about. Your job is not so much fun as it used to be, but your salary makes up for that. Your wife works a part-time job for two days. It’s not easy on her and she would like to spend more time with your little daughter. The children day care center costs a lot of money too. She thinks about quitting her job altogether. You would still be able to cope, even if it means cutting down expenses considerably.

20 years later

You are getting a little older. You have two children that you love dearly, but they take up a lot of time and attention. Your wife is constantly busy taking care of the children and the household. At the job ...
... it’s not going so well and you have been looking for another job for some time. You also need a higher income, because you’re regularly out of money and you have quite some credit loans already. The atmosphere at home isn’t exactly improving; your wife is nagging about things she can’t buy and even about the number of beers you drink.

30 years later

You’re looking for a job. Since your divorce it’s hard to make ends meet with what you get from social security. The apartment that you live in isn’t so bad on the inside, but it’s in a really poor neighbourhood in decline. The only thing that makes you happy are the days you spend with your children, although they really wear you out. You’re still on speaking terms with your ex-wife, but that’s about it. It will be years before you’ll finally be debt-free.

Young people for whom everything is going well, sometimes take enormous financial risks (high mortgages, cars, engagement rings, loans)”verlovingsring” “verlovingsringen” and hardly take into consideration that their lives may someday take a less fortunate turn. This collection of four moments from the life of an imaginary person are based on the experiences of real people, but somewhat exaggerated.