• Life Advice & Visual Arts Welcome Guest
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    🌌 Share Your Dreams! 🌌
    📸 15 Years of Photo Contests 📸
  • LAVA Moderator: Shinji Ikari

How has the economy affected your....

Oh don't even get me started...

Well for starters, if we assume that X is the amount of money I had in my investment portfolio in 2003, today I have about .45X, and I have not added or subtracted from said portfolio over the past 6 years :(

I got a really slick job after completing graduate school, only to be laid off after 2 MONTHS due to a child firm of the company going insolvent. It's been about 8 months now, and I still have not successfully found a similar job in that industry, given how tough the conditions are.

As a result of not keeping that job, I am going to be paying a LOT MORE in terms of interest on my student loans over time, if I don't find a pot of gold soon.

As for school itself, well I was in grad school with a decent chunk of out-of-work people from the industry, who were going back to get higher degrees (economic growth and grad-school enrollment has a sinusoidal phase shift of about 180 degrees..). So it wasn't exactly the typical grad school experience.

I could go on...
 
No shit.

I finally finished my bachelor's after an 8 year hiatus from school and the best job I could get was as a dishwasher at a nursing home :( And I had to lie on that application and tell them I didn't have a degree or else they would have called me "over-qualified".

It's all good now, though. After a year of that I just landed a gig doing sales for a roofing company. It's really not what you know, though, it's who you know. My friend from high school inherited the 25 year old company from his in-laws and called me and offered me the job.

I still plan on going to grad school next august :o
 
I cant get a job anywhere, my brother got his home foreclosed that he built with his own two hands... fuck this economy we need Bill Clinton back in office..
 
I'm fortunate that there are plenty of jobs available in my field and the top salaries are earned by owners. The jobs for employees do not pay what they used to. I have colleagues working for $14 an hour. This salary is for positions that REQUIRE doctorate level education and a great deal of responsibility. I've personally been unemployed since graduation; choosing instead to look for THE opportunity after several failed attempts at employment.

During this time, I've turned off the cable, sold many toys, credit card balances are maxed, interest rates have increased, IRAs at 40% of 2006, etc. We are broke. Phone bill is 10 days past due. Having to chose between food and phone sucks. Fortunately I've managed to find people that will loan me the necessary funds to purchase a thriving business. The deal is still in the works, but will reward me and my family very well financially.

All in all, these bleak economic times have contributed to the most personal growth I've ever experienced. While stressful and frustrating; the reorganizing of priorities, evolution of personal/professional goals, and character building experiences could not have been attained through any amount of money. I feel lucky to not be completely ruined. My wife an I do not have children, so this has reduced the burden I witness from so many families everyday.

That said, in order to make ends meet we have been fortunate to have friends and family help at times. The calls from creditors are never ending. I too have applied for countless jobs to no avail. Having degree(s) can be a huge detriment when applying for jobs that do not require them. Middle-aged middle management guys holding signs on corners advertising for local food chains is commonplace in my city.

End result is going to be moving my wife an I literally from one corner of the US to another that is so far removed from friends and family you wouldn't believe it (not to mention a HUGE climate change). Desperate times call for desperate measures. We are excited and optimistic about the future regardless of the current situation.
 
When GM started laying people off, demand for roofing contractors went down.

Apparently the oshawa GM plant emplys alot of moonlighting roofers.
 
Ant0lak said:
I cant get a job anywhere, my brother got his home foreclosed that he built with his own two hands... fuck this economy we need Bill Clinton back in office..
Click to expand...

Shit i make 17 an hour but like dude said there is no jobs, I know alot of people who went into foreclosure, I lay brick but we have only did 5-6 house's this year vs the past years 15-16 a year,
 
I will continue going to school until there's a job I love doing. I will run my student loans into the 6 figures if I have to.
 
Cyc said:
I will continue going to school until there's a job I love doing. I will run my student loans into the 6 figures if I have to.
Click to expand...


haha, love it. just become a career student. fuck the system... sort of.
 
bosselot said:
Pretty shitty, since i have no job and am having a tough time finding one.
Click to expand...
same here. I moved from upstate NY to NC thinking it would be easier to find work. On NPR the other day I heard "unemployment in Buffalo NY was around 10%....In Charlotte (where I live) unemployment is around 14%. WTF.

It's been tough. Not being able to afford food/gas/bills. And I just keep applying for work everywhere (at least 5-6 applications a week) and I'm not getting any call backs.
I need to go back to NY and go back to university. But like someone said above it has pushed my limits and brought about some personal growth. Still it sucks to eat ramen noodles and pb&j sandwiches everyday. I'm thinking of joining the Navy/Air Force but I need to do something about the misdemeanor on my record.
 
Just when the economy tanked, I got a promotion that landed me RPT status, regular part time, so i have guaranteed hours, which I am so very thankful for. However, we are cutting every else's hours, so it is stressful trying to do 3x the work with half the people. But I'm grateful none the less.
 
It's tough all over, but I have been lucky.

I invested a a lot of time and money in education and enjoyed a decent career as a chemist/chemical engineer. The I saw the Chinese writing on the wall, and decided that the labor and love of my life was not going to last my life. So I moved into IT, no investment in education, just self taught, and managed to nail down some good experience before the dot com blowout. That was a rocky time, but eventually I found work again.

I had the misfortune to be working for a finance company during the latest melt down, and was out of work for the first 5 months of 2009. But I am working again - kinda at a discounted rate, but enough to make the bills for me and the gurl - she does not have a paycheck right now - and still have a little (very little) left over.

I know a lotta people that have it a lot worse. My only real advice to anyone is man, even with impeccable credit the banks are jacking people on rates to try to recoup. If and when you get work, keep that outta work mentality and make min payments on all the other stuff like student loans until you pay any credit card debts down. They really burn you down now, you can make 3 or 4 x the min payment these days depending on your rate and a multi-thousand dollar balance is going nowhere fast. It is just a money vacuum.
 
^ Smart words there about credit.

I'm not going to disclose too much in public, but I too was quickly pushed out-of-work from the finance industry last year. The timing of my degrees and entry into the field couldn't have been worse! Luckily, it looks like I might be getting back in within a few months' time. :fingers-crossed:
 
I worked all over Nyc / Nj doing help desk ... Work has been hard to get due to a felony record i received... White collar Felon working in Sensitive IT work just isn't cutting for them...Anyhow, my fiance is going to school right now for Medical Billing. When she finishes, we plan on to moving down south Carolina... Luckily her mother lives there ... So she has some friends that are more than willing to give me work. Yes , it wont be white collar or pay to great ,but fuck it i gotta do what i gotta do, even with a bad back.... My game plan right now is on taking a course that will certify me to be a commercial pool technician.... My plan is to get certified and work for my girlfriends moms friends Landscaping business, he also does pools on the side. I hope to maybe expand that business of his and start a company with him or by myself...Buy a house, houses around here are like 300K+ with high taxes.... Down there a pretty new house for 70-100k and little taxes.... Now all i gotta do is get it done. : o)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top