Surviving job loss

PennyPincher said:
Important note: In NH, your severance will be 'run out' before you collect unemployment. In MA, you can collect right away. Also, the max in NH you can collect is about $200 less per week than MA. I would suggest that everyone figure out what they would collect if they lost their job, when they can start collecting, etc. If you and your spouse works, figure this out for each of you. You collect from the state that you were employed in.
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I was wondering about this. I work in MA and live in NH. I would collect unemployment from MA, at MA's slightly higher amount? Also, for layoffs, they normally give a lump sum of cash all at once where I work. I was wondering if that amount would be considered extending how long I am "employed" beyond my actual termination date. Someone at work said you can collect unemployment immediately after getting the lump sum of cash (happened to him), although it didn't occur that NH might be different. But... I'd collect in MA anyway so it wouldn't matter. Right?
 
Prepper said:
I was wondering about this. I work in MA and live in NH. I would collect unemployment from MA, at MA's slightly higher amount? Also, for layoffs, they normally give a lump sum of cash all at once where I work. I was wondering if that amount would be considered extending how long I am "employed" beyond my actual termination date. Someone at work said you can collect unemployment immediately after getting the lump sum of cash (happened to him), although it didn't occur that NH might be different. But... I'd collect in MA anyway so it wouldn't matter. Right?
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Correct. In MA I believe the max is $600 plus $25/kid (may have an age limit, can't remember). You would collect from MA. And yes, you would collect right away. I had a client who took 'early retirement' with an 18 month severance and the client started collecting unemployment right away.
 
Prepper said:
I was wondering about this. I work in MA and live in NH. I would collect unemployment from MA, at MA's slightly higher amount? Also, for layoffs, they normally give a lump sum of cash all at once where I work. I was wondering if that amount would be considered extending how long I am "employed" beyond my actual termination date. Someone at work said you can collect unemployment immediately after getting the lump sum of cash (happened to him), although it didn't occur that NH might be different. But... I'd collect in MA anyway so it wouldn't matter. Right?
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You'd collect MA unemployment, which starts a week after your termination date. Doesn't matter how much severance they pay you.
 
My wife and I are both in the High Tech industry. We have both been laid off two times in our careers.

It really puts a lot of stress on the marriage as money gets tight and bills get "prioritized". However, it is a character building event. I am better person, partner, husband, father and employee because of the experience.

The current job market is not your dad's oldsmobile... We are all mercenaries! I am extremely happy and consider it a success, to keep a job for a minimum of 2 years... any time more is a huge bonus.

I just want to wish you and your husband the best and to keep a PMA. You picked your husband for a reason.. and his job is not what defined him then or now.

Hang in there and go Pats!
 
Bluefin said:
My wife and I are both in the High Tech industry. We have both been laid off two times in our careers.

It really puts a lot of stress on the marriage as money gets tight and bills get "prioritized". However, it is a character building event. I am better person, partner, husband, father and employee because of the experience.

The current job market is not your dad's oldsmobile... We are all mercenaries! I am extremely happy and consider it a success, to keep a job for a minimum of 2 years... any time more is a huge bonus.

I just want to wish you and your husband the best and to keep a PMA. You picked your husband for a reason.. and his job is not what defined him then or now.

Hang in there and go Pats!
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Tell me all about the stress it puts on a marriage. We've been married for four years. My wife took a voluntary layoff to avoid moving right before we got married. She then played for 2 years before she found another job. She kept that job for about a year before she lost it and is now coming up on another year of playing instead of working. It got old about three years ago. Hard to not resent someone when you're working 60 hours a week and know that they're not even really looking.
 
Bluefin said:
I just want to wish you and your husband the best and to keep a PMA. You picked your husband for a reason.. and his job is not what defined him then or now.

Hang in there and go Pats!
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He was in college and the national guard when we met. And we got married before he graduated and I was supporting us until he graduated. So, no, I never married him for his job or earning potential.

knfmn said:
Tell me all about the stress it puts on a marriage. We've been married for four years. My wife took a voluntary layoff to avoid moving right before we got married. She then played for 2 years before she found another job. She kept that job for about a year before she lost it and is now coming up on another year of playing instead of working. It got old about three years ago. Hard to not resent someone when you're working 60 hours a week and know that they're not even really looking.
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"playing" is not what my husband is doing. He has never left a job voluntarily and he works his butt off to find one after every layoff.


More Survival Tips:
Tell everyone you (or your spouse) is looking for a job. You may be amazed at the number of people who offer to get their resume in front of people with the ability to hire. We have had offers of places to look for jobs and offers to put his resume in front of multiple CEO's/hiring managers/etc. You never know who knows whom.
 
I wish your husband luck in finding a new job. One thing he has going for him is, he has a wife with the handle of Pennypincher.
 
Part time work: Know what you can earn while still collecting unemployment. Even an extra $100/week can really help. In NH you can earn 25% of your unemployment benefit before it costs you benefits. And getting out for say 10 hours a week wont slow down your job search and can help you mentally (as well as keep you out of your spouses hair).
 
PennyPincher said:
Part time work: Know what you can earn while still collecting unemployment. Even an extra $100/week can really help. In NH you can earn 25% of your unemployment benefit before it costs you benefits. And getting out for say 10 hours a week wont slow down your job search and can help you mentally (as well as keep you out of your spouses hair).
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Interesting. And, if I live in NH and had worked in MA but lost it and collecting MA unemployment... how much NH work could I do then? (Would MA know anyway?)
 
Prepper said:
Interesting. And, if I live in NH and had worked in MA but lost it and collecting MA unemployment... how much NH work could I do then? (Would MA know anyway?)
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No idea if MA would know. You would need to know the rules for MA unemployment in regards to how much you can earn before it affects your unemployment.
 
In MA, if you have to sign a severance agreement to get your severance money, you can collect unemoployment immediately. If, however, you get an unconditional severance, you cannot collect unemployment until that runs out. Is it different in NH?

MA max unemployment is presenty $679 a week.
 
Your husband made a mistake when switching from the producing sector (engineer) to the non-producing sector (project manager), it's no wonder why he is a part of the group that's being laid off first, it's just about how expandable his position is, and how easy it is to refill it once needs arise.
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The problem is management does not start to get "better" than engineering until you are at a very senior level (VP, or maybe director). Once you reach that level, you can get hired in above the engineers with a confidential benefits package (i.e., the benefits you don't see in the employee literature like employment contract, extra options, paid financial planning, etc.) and your seniority is readily transferable between companies; below that level, management is all hassle - worrying about what tasks each individual is doing; not having any real power to change anything; compensation comparable to the senior engineers; no confidential benefits; etc.

As to "dual career path" - yeah, that and I've got a bridge to sell you. Compare the number of people hired directly as VPs by Fortune 500 firms to the number of "tech equivalents" at the same level. Sure, it happens - but not to the same degree.

When I was younger, I imagined myself climbing that ladder. When it didn't happen, I noticed that I had still managed to survive doing software development when many of my comrades had been squeezed out of the business. Once I got to the age when I realized that even if I went into management tomorrow, I would be past retirement age by the time I paid enough dues to get into senior management, I lost any desire to climb on the slippery rungs of that ladder. Besides, in all likelyhood, I wasn't really cut out for that.

The one advantage law and medicine have over engineering work is that one does not aspire to stop trying cases, or stop treating patients, and become a major success by simply managing other lawyers and doctors. In those fields, age=wisdom, rather than age=obsolete and overpriced.
 
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The best advice I ever received was from a boss I had about 30 years ago. He told me to develop a Plan "B" career wise, in case Plan "A" (the first career) had problems.

I started to teach evening college, and built up a nice career out of it. It also allows me to do consulting as well.

Some day, when you are in your 50's, bad things could happen.

Be ready.
 
Some day, when you are in your 50's, bad things could happen.
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Plan C - try to live your financial life so you house is paid off by the time you are in your 50s. Also, marry a woman who makes more than you.
 
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Rob Boudrie said:
Plan C - try to live you financial life so you house is paid off by the time you are in your 50s. Also, marry a woman who makes more than you.
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or marry a pennypincher.... (no pun intended).... my wife doesn't like to spend money in good times. I can't imagine what would happen in bad times

as I always tell my kids. it's not what you make......it's what you spend that makes the difference
 
40 caliber said:
or marry a pennypincher.... (no pun intended).... my wife doesn't like to spend money in good times. I can't imagine what would happen in bad times

as I always tell my kids. it's not what you make......it's what you spend that makes the difference
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a man far wealthier than I once said to me 'these people who drive the fancy cars and the fancy houses with unfurnished rooms....don't tell me what you HAVE, tell me what you OWE.' That was his yardstick, and while he was worth literally millions, he lived in a relatively modest home (no mortgage) and drove large domestic vehicles that he paid cash for and kept until they fell apart.
 
Auto Insurance update:

Shopped my rate. Saved money. Same coverage.

Background:
I had to get auto insurance a few months ago and had to do it "right then." It didn't really matter the cost at the time as long as we could pay for it. So pressed for time I got a policy through a broker. Do brokers lie? I dont know. We were told that since we had not had insurance for a while there was only 1 company that would cover us. That was Progresive. I have no idea if this was true. The rate was very high. I was told in 6 months we could get a better rate. I called Liberty Mutual today, who we had when we were in MA, and got a much better rate. Strangely enough, when we moved to NH, LM quoted us a price almost as expensive as the new one and at the time we didnt have a teen driver. Now, as a "new" customer our rate seems REALLY good with a teen. I will cancel our Progressive policy when our LM policy takes affect. We saved nearly 50% on our auto policy. This is great!
 
So I did our tax returns and got our refunds. Saved us about $400. Since we had actually set aside this money anyway, we were able to use it for other things. I used our previous years taxes to help make sure I got all the bases covered. I filed online using TaxAct. $22? for federal and MA non-res IIRC. We had other money set aside for annual bills that we have also spent on weekly expenses. That's okay. We will make that up when he gets back to work.

Sold a rifle and the reloading supplies for that since it was a caliber I will not continue with (44-40, I won it years ago). I also put a couple more guns on consignment and have some in the classifieds here.

Accept help. I'm not talking about asking for handouts from your friends or family. But I have a few friends that I occasionally go to lunch with. We usually swap off buying lunches. Just so happens that I paid for the last round. So today I was treated to lunch by a friend. I also have a friend I have coffee with occasionally so it's nice when it's their turn to buy. ;) Doing a friend a big favor that costs me nothing and she is taking me to lunch next week. Yay for me! Other than that I pack my lunch.

It's also a good motivator to clean out the basement and sell things that we no longer need/use.

A rule we made up LONG ago - only one of us is allowed to panic at a time. So if my husband is stressing about 'the job he didn't get' or the lack of interviews, I try to reassure him that we are 'fine' and he doesn't need to panic. I also try not to let him see or feel my stress about him being out of work. I know he doesn't need that extra pressure. And honestly, we are doing okay because of the cuts in our personal spending we have made.

Our son told us he is okay if we have to move. Evidently he mentioned it to his dad a number of weeks ago. This is really big since we just moved less than 2 years ago and were of the mindset that we didn't want to move until after he finished high school. After a long discussion with him I think he really is okay with it. Although I told my husband in NO UNCERTAIN terms that we are not moving back to MA. Although....... I possibly could make some good money by bringing some non-compliant handguns in with us and then selling them face to face! LOL. hmmmmmmm.... Nah! So back to the kid - this means that a move towards the sea coast or Nashua area isn't outside the realm of possibilities.

So all in all we are doing well.

Interviews were hard to come by initially. My husband did get another certification within about 4 weeks of losing his job. It's a similar certification to what he already had as a project manager but it's 'the one everyone seems to be asking for.' Recently he has had a few interviews and phone screenings. Nothing offered yet but he has another interview this afternoon, so we shall see what comes of that.

We do have a service coming due on one of our vehicles and we have to get the snow tires changed out soon. We may have to buy new regular tires..... I need to have the tread measured to see if I am comfortable putting the old ones back on for a bit. Would love to have a spare set of rims so we don't have to keep paying to mount and balance tires but that's not happening right now.
Just thought I would update all of you.
 
Use Linked In for job searches. Of course it helps if you have and maintain a Linked In account beforehand.

Many friends were extolling the virtue of Linked In and my husband finally listened to my suggestions to use it (probably to just make me happy). But he really likes it as it is easier to use than the other engines he was using to search for and submit applications to jobs - monster, dice, indeed, recruiters, etc.

After getting his profile all up to date (and opting in for a free month of upgraded services) he started applying to jobs on Wednesday. He had his first interview today and will have a follow up interview tomorrow for the same position. He also got a response for another position he applied to yesterday and is working out an interview schedule for that. He has a follow up interview from another source tomorrow (a second interview for the same position he interviewed for last week).
 
Btw, Amtrak is a good company to get involved with right now. A lot of the original hires are now retiring so there is a lot of room to move up fast.

By the way, they do have all sorts of engineers besides the ones who drive the train :)

Sent from my KFSOWI using Tapatalk
 
P-14 said:
But not the guns! I love my guns. [kiss][smile]
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Sold a couple of guns and even have one still for sale. (see my signature)

Had 1 on consignment and pulled it off after about 2 weeks as I just couldn't bear to part with it. If it had sold, that would have been ok but last time I went back to the store it was at, I decided to take it home with me. I would like to replace my carry gun possiblyas it's a bit heavy and if I do sell another , that's probably what I will do.
 
PennyPincher said:
Sold a couple of guns and even have one still for sale. (see my signature)

Had 1 on consignment and pulled it off after about 2 weeks as I just couldn't bear to part with it. If it had sold, that would have been ok but last time I went back to the store it was at, I decided to take it home with me. I would like to replace my carry gun possiblyas it's a bit heavy and if I do sell another , that's probably what I will do.
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I'm still available to review his resume, if he's interested. See first couple of posts in this thread. Let me know.

Sent from the Warlock Command Center
 

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