Good luck and welcome to the club.
Damn good plan. Keep some of your life for YOUR life!
The ancient Essenes believed one should only have to work 4 hours a day to provide for ones necessities. Then 4 hours for study and 4 hours for personal pursuits...
sounds right to me. But we are a nation of slaves. We just don't know it. (But slaves that also have to provide for our own shelter/food, etc.)
The hours of our days are spent working for someone else - who also controls our income.
Young folk should be trained in entrepreneurship and all the ways one can make a living self-employed.
AND how to do what you've done - put money aside...stick with your first house and get mortgage paid off early, etc etc.
And go hunting and fishing. ;o)
I still have my dishwashing skills, although the equipment is probably computerized now, and you need a two year community college degree to operate it, but if I am laid off now, and the company is really nasty about it, no announcements, layoffs, willy nilly, every two weeks, while the Chinaman CEO announces a record quarter and optimistic forecasts (!), if that happens to yours truly, there’ll be no jobs for the cat of my age and skills, other than a greeter at Wal-Mart. Scary shiite!
Make sure you sign up for educational retraining during the first few weeks of your unemployment. Should you decide later on that this is the route you want to take (even at your own expense), you will not be penalized on unemployment benefits. One of those rules to be aware of in my state.
Well, you sound like you’ll make a fine businessman-hope for the best and plan for the worst.
I remember as a young boy my dad would get laid off most every winter. He knew it was coming and made his plans, never wanted for anything.
Some of my best memories are the family sitting around the kitchen table playing board games and watching it snow. Your time is still very valuable and not just to you.
I went through this in 2003 - was laid off from Dow Chemical in a huge global layoff and could not find anything for nearly eleven months. I had been at Dow for six years and had built up a lot of international experience, which ended up being what rescued me.
I'm glad you're in good shape and I pray daily for those who have lost their jobs and can't really afford to.
You GO! Good for you. Merry Christmas, too!
3 years can go fast. Put together a plan and follow it.
Good luck. :)
I’m self employed and my advice is to not take anymore than a few days “off”. Start planning your business tomorrow and getting everything lined up to begin working legally/properly. Our economy is likely going to be much worse in 6 months. The sooner you get at least one client’s commitment to build/replace something the better. The longer you wait the easier it will be to say tomorrow... Many people fail at being their own boss. Your first test will be doing what needs to be done today and not putting it off until “tomorrow”...
Another key issue is keeping your overhead low. That is the primary key to making money with lots of competition. Don’t go and spend all kinds of money on new tools, offices etc. Buy used, off eBay and/or similar. The first couple of years are the hardest even when the economy isn’t tanking and it is.
Just my opinion...
If you are able to be your own boss and are able to manage your time and money wisely I predict that you will be far better off in a few years than you ever were working for somebody else. It all depends on you. Some people love that, others hate it. Your choice...
When I lost my job after 28 years I was stunned for awhile. However, my husband retired from his and we took off for France with our 11 year old daughter for a year. We lived frugally while there but it was well worth it as she learned to speak French in no time.
It turned out that losing my job was probably the best thing that could have happened because I always wanted to live overseas. I would never have had the nerve to quit my job in order to do it.
When life hands you lemons....................
Great attitude! I got laid off from my job in March. We decided to move to a different part of the state with better oppotunities. After arriving, we took a two week trip across the country. I now have a new job (the best job I’ve ever had), and we’ve just bought a new home.
Not once did I waste time on worry.
Many prayers to you and your family!!!!!!
Have a friend who lost EVERYTHING. Job, home wife, kids.......and he’s doing OK at the moment.
Hang in there!!!!
I wish you all the best and apologize for all the usual cliches your post provoked. Unfortunately, one can’t eat cliches, and not many being laid off these days have the fortune of having the skills and certificates you have. Blame them, is the usual cliche, of course.
Seems like people should be ASKING advice of him! LOL
Incidentally, who’s gonna pay the Piper now?
I work a part time job 5 days a week and I was just cut back to 3 days a week. (4 hours/day)
I have stable work.....unless I am injured....
we have a HELOC...we have no other payments except we do run a credit card but pay it off each month....not a lot in ready savings but a cd and some other stock if I got really desperate....the 401 has taken a hit but I won't touch that yet....
you know what I worry about?...if all hell breaks loose like Glenn Beck insinuates is coming, what about property taxes?....ours are huge...it would almost be like working only to pay the taxes....
and if the economy goes depression/deflation....nobody will buy our house....
its the taxes that scare me....
You’ve been paying unemployment insurance for 15 years. Why not collect?