how has the economy hit you?

[Jeff Shyu]

partisanship aside, how has this downed economy hit you?

I have a 401k plan that i don't look at (and probably for the best right now), and a job that pays the mortgage, with just enough money to at least have fun 1 or 2 times a month.

I'm pretty lucky in my job though. I work on Walmarts, which is booming (relatively speaking) in this crappy economy. Even with that, my Walmart department has been downsized by ~30% over the past 6 months, with the rest of the company looking much worse. we've had to close 1 branch office in vegas, and the branch office in OC is looking pretty dismal right now too.

how's everyone else's jobs/careers going? i told my team that if i get the axe here, i'm going to law school..

[Bob Beamesderfer]

See thread where my car is for sale.

[Aaron Goldsmith]

Everyone needs insurance. Economy goes down, people start suing each other and claims go up, meaning rates will rates go up and so do our broker commissions.

Everyone needs IT. I'm an IT manager for an Insurance Broker.. I should be ok. Company should make 1.5b this year.

[Leonard Cachola]

I work on advertising for Saturn and, well, you know how those sales are going... Fortunately, the company I work for is having a fantastic year. :gpower:

[John Coffey]

I keep expecting to get "the call" from customers that have their cars in my shop to, "Stop work! Sell it and send me any money leftover!" but it hasn't happened. This is by far my best year ever (by at least 25%) and I have four cars waiting to get in. I also have another prospective customer coming by tomorrow to check out the shop and show me the work he wants done. That can all change tomorrow but so far, in my tiny little world, people are spending discretionary income on fast cars.

EDIT: But I did get an e-mail from a couple guys who want to bring by a ratty old motorhome to get a generator installed, so I guess the quality of the jobs is going downhill...

[Bob Beamesderfer]

EDIT: But I did get an e-mail from a couple guys who want to bring by a ratty old motorhome to get a generator installed, so I guess the quality of the jobs is going downhill...

Better make those guys pay cash.

[Jeff Shyu]

oh, and my company has a salary freeze.

I was one of 3 lucky people that actually got a raise this year because i technically received a job title bump. next February won't be so pretty, as I'm guessing everything will still be going downhill at that time.

everyone seems to want to hold onto what they have right now, and no one's really investing. we've got these retail shopping centers all over the place in design phase, and the contract is constantly being renegotiated because the developer had another tenant back out, or something.

terrible times..

[Jayson Woodruff]

My 401K sucks, but that'll fix itself over time. My mom and dad's 401Ks won't fix themselves over time. So this likely means they'll be leaning on me (only child) sooner rather than later in life.

Also with the down housing, it's looking like this might be our only opportunity to upgrade from the condo in the non-distant future. We don't have a lot of cash down so despite decent credit I'm a bit worried we won't get the financing since that's gotten so tight.

Jay W

[Don Salyers]

Being a retired teacher and as long as ARNOLD keeps his paws off of STRS, things look good!! Just got my yearly cola the first of October it amounts to a take-home raise of a couple hundred a month. Times like this make me feel a little bit better about being an underpaid teacher for 40 yrs.

Don

[John Coffey]

Check Drudge Don. 1.5 cent sale tax hike across the board in CA and big cuts in a lot of state programs. The budget the state congress and Arnold signed has turned into BS quicker then a Tom Berry 3rd run.

[Rick Brown]

My company (a screen printing business that caters mostly to corporate customers and some school stuff) hasn't been hit significantly so far. In fact we are in our best year ever (25 years in business) and moved into a larger facility a few months ago. Hopefully it won't change much in the future since the rent on this new building is a good bit more expensive. A large portion of our long term customers seem to be foing fine, too. One who is in construction said he has no problems either. He was saying businesses like his and ours that focus on quality and customer service at a fair price seem to be OK, but the fly-by-night business whose only thing was a cheap price that seem to be going out of business. At least in this part of The OC.

[Craig Naylor]

Politicians could make my financials argue either side of the argument equally as well.

Sold the condo:
Bad: Sold for ~$75k less than we could have in 2004 when we moved.
Good: Sold for $296k more than we bought it for in 1999.

Salary:
Wife:
Bad- She's a Teacher, their low paid
Good: - She's got a double digit raise every year, and we moved because her starting pay was more that we were making combined in our best year in SD.
Me: (Two jobs)
Bad 1: Notary work is in the tank on Real Estate Loans.
Good1: Made more Money YTD than when loans were easy.... Loans aren't everything, and the over saturated market (ie notaries) has thinned.
Bad2: Auto companies in dire straights.
Good2: Auto companies spending on event type advertising up.

Mortgage:
Bad: We have one of those Adj/option mortgages, we must have been preyed upon by those terrible banks.
Good: We could not have purchased the nice house we have with a fixed in 2004, and my interest rate today is at 4.5%. (I walked into the Adj open eyed)

401K (and other investments)
Bad: Down BIG TIME According to Quicken I'm down 19.55% YTD.
Good: Considering the FREE! money matches from employers over the years, and the general trend up in the market over our careers, I figure still have twice what we had deducted from our paychecks, and or invested on our own.

Life in General:
Yes if the market hadn't turned down We could have so much more. BUT ONLY IF WE SELL IT! Then what.. spend it, and have nothing (monetarily) ????

Whats important:
We have more time with our kids than we used to, the bills are being paid...

[Doug Teulie]

My company is one of the most solid companies in our industry. We sell to a wide range of markets. The real hurt will be January - May. This quarter is slow but the next quarter is looking very bad. It takes time for people to react. It gets difficult to get parts to make products when suppliers go under. Retail stores are not stocking product and our competitors are dumping product into stores with deep discounts. This devalues stock and hurts everyone. After the poorly run companies go under we will be in great shape but it looks like a year or more before things will look up.

Many of my friends are jumping ship and leaving the US. I have seen 6 friends quit good jobs and go. I have several friends that are out of work and looking. I think Kathy will be looking for a better company to work for soon because her company is struggling to keep the staff with talent. Our 401K has less value it than it did seven years ago. I am thinking that I may stop racing in 09.

[John Coffey]

Better make those guys pay cash.

They said something about a "Solo Buck" so I guess they expect to pay a dollar for the work.

[Jeff Shyu]

oo.. they just let 8 people go at work.

5 of em with family and kids.

this whole thing kinda blows.

[Rick Brown]

My company (a screen printing business that caters mostly to corporate customers and some school stuff) hasn't been hit significantly so far. In fact we are in our best year ever (25 years in business) and moved into a larger facility a few months ago. Hopefully it won't change much in the future since the rent on this new building is a good bit more expensive. A large portion of our long term customers seem to be foing fine, too. One who is in construction said he has no problems either. He was saying businesses like his and ours that focus on quality and customer service at a fair price seem to be OK, but the fly-by-night business whose only thing was a cheap price that seem to be going out of business. At least in this part of The OC.

Big change since I posted this. Not that we haven't stayed busy, but many small customers are way behind in paying or have gone out of business so our cash flow is in dire straights. Working two large jobs now (20k shirts each), but big clients pay net 30 or 60. Behind to most creditors and our employees are working for free. Yes, free. We gave them the choice of lay off or working till we get caught up then paying them. So we have only been able to give them a couple of hundred a week to cover food and gas. We are confident things will turn around for us, but it's pretty stressful at the moment.

[Giovanni Jaramillo]

Everyone needs IT. I'm an IT manager for an Insurance Broker.. I should be ok. Company should make 1.5b this year.

Good news:

• Same here. Was at DIRECTV last year, and got laid off. Then got a contract gig for 6 months at a record lable (Universal) when that ended at the end of last year, I thought............... OH SH**. But surprisingly the job market for I.T. is very active, luckily I landed with a long-term contract 3+ years, and at a higher rate! I now work for a company who is in a business that is recession proof: health-care. Company: Kaiser Permanente.
• Single, no kids, no family - thus no extra expenses
• No debt other than student loan

I.T. was worse during the DOT-COM era and ironically way better now even when the overall economy is bad. That 'SC degree is paying off BIG-TIME

Bad news: 401(k).......IF AND ONLY IF I sold it now. But I won't so it's a moot point.

[John Prosser]

It sucks.
Don't throw out your used pencils I need them in the office.

[Bob Beamesderfer]

[ I know work for a company who is in a business that is recession proof: health-care. Company: Kaiser Permanente.

But not layoff-proof.

[Randy Chase]

My company is one of the most solid companies in our industry. We sell to a wide range of markets. The real hurt will be January - May. This quarter is slow but the next quarter is looking very bad. It takes time for people to react.

See-


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNvPsGKZ4go" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Scary stuff.

Kaiser is hurting also. I have insider info.

[Earl Merz]

I lost my job. Been doing part time work trying to strech out UI till I can find Full Time work. Seems like every place I apply with decides to cancel the position they just put an ad in the paper for. My savings are completely gone and the outlook in this area isn't very good. A friend from high school is trying to help me get a job with their company, but that means moving to either North Dakota or Wyoming.

[John Coffey]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNvPsGKZ4go

Why would anyone listen to Cramer?

[Giovanni Jaramillo]

[ I know work for a company who is in a business that is recession proof: health-care. Company: Kaiser Permanente.

But not layoff-proof.

Agreed.

Other bad news: Haven't autocrossed competitively/seriously in 3+ years (not counting the bi-monthly BMW events I do).

[Giovanni Jaramillo]

Kaiser is hurting also. I have insider info.

Do tell

[Steve Ekstrand]

Pro Bono Legal work is way way up!!!