There's a long way to go, but the comeback is starting. Unemployment numbers have historically lagged a couple years behind recoveries from recessions, so it's still gonna be tough for most people for a while, but most of the indicators point to the fact that we have turned things around.
to me the recession will NOT be over until we get back to a reasonable level of unempoyment (5-6 ish %)and the return on investment/bonds reachess historicql levels of the last 25+ years.
Ask the person on the street that no longer has a home, ask the people who have to choose buying food for their families over medication. Ask my children: one still on unemployment, one in a homeless housing project with her family, one will not be able toafford they payment on her house once the payments from the bail-out loan go into place, another struggling to find medical care for her two children and herself when needed with her hours cut to about 5 hours or less a week. The people I know and talk to are struggling to feed their families and pay their bills. We're not eating out, we are challenged to have money for gas to go to work and I'm thankful to have a part-time job, even as an RN. I need to find creative ways to make a chicken last for several meals.
Those that have money are still going out to eat, still spending money, still buying cars, still going on vacations, still buying expensive handbags. They're spending like there is no tomorrow. They seem unaffected by the fact that people are homeless, starving and have no medical care. I think they're in denial as are anyone else that thinks the recession is getting better.
I believe that thought creates reality therefore our collective fear is making a comeback from economic meltdown painfully slow.
I also think that the more we do for others will create the stone in the pond "ripple effect".
The economy has hit bottom and we are now making our way upwards!!
We are in the process of buying our first home we actually close tomorrow. We just found out that we do not qualify for the tax credit since we are buying the home from my father. We are not getting a discount and are paying what the realater and the bank said it was worth. We are both first time home buyers and frankly the plan stinks!
We're about 3 months into our family's suburban one-car experiment and so far so good. Wife & I are lucky that we work in the same zip code (though opposite ends of it!) but there are certainly challenges. Before this we lived in the city and walked as many places as we could (sometimes the car would sit for days) and we definitely miss some of those advantages—being able to exercise after work and then walk (or get a ride) home was a huge plus that is missing.
We try to consolidate trips to keep the driving down but it's not always easy. We're hoping to remain a one-car family as long as possible.
I've seen sales incentives and deadline incentives work wonders on a team, but it requires some basic good management and retention practices to start with - among other things you need to know most of the team is going to be there next quarter, or they'll just pull in future sales before deadline, or do sloppy work that's fast. I used to get a 10% quality bonus on my contract work - that sure spikes your attention to detail!
But in general, either the incentive is so small that it's useless (my partner gets profit-sharing incentives that are about 5% of his total income, and they either come or don't, he doesn't have much control or pay much attention) or they incent the wrong things - if you pay a big bonus for one specific thing, like the billable hours heropsycho mentioned, you're going to get that one thing at the expense of others.
In too many companies incentive plans are a false bait. The use the promise of an incentive to get employees to run faster and jump higher. While it makes sense from an employer standpoint, they can be confusing, difficult to achieve (except under the most favorable circumstances) or end up being substantially less than most people originally thought.
The other problem is when companies move a greater percentage of the employees income to incentive--that's a thinly veiled attempt to control costs, and little more.
With that kind of scheme in place, morale can drop like a rock in a recession. That may help from a budgetary standpoint, but for employee morale, it's a killer!
I've been employed for nearly 30 years at this point in a wide variety of companies and industries, from tiny startups to huge private and public organizations. I have been subjected to just about every incentive type of program there is. NONE of them worked. I like working. I like a good job. And the benefits and incentives that worked boiled down to rewarding me fairly on a day-to-day basis (salary), providing a clear path for growth in the organization that worked (IE you actually could travel it) and by far the biggest, having a good manager.
So far the incentive programs that have failed include bonuses, stock options, ticky tacky stupid gifts and parties and rah rah 'acknowledgements'. It has been a long time since any employer I have had took seriously the idea of promotions and raises to reward good work - for anyone at the company - not just me.I haven't had a good manager for the last 9 years in 4 different jobs. I had one OK one and three bad to awful managers. I am in a managerial role myself and have had many management training classes, both good and bad. In 30 years I have had four really good managers (ALL of them in the first ten years) and two OK managers and six really bad managers. It seems to me that managers are getting worse. Nobody offers the training I got early in my career let alone the mentoring and examples.
Financial Samurai - money talks - promises don't. And options and bonuses are promises that all too often turn out to be just that.
Even better than fighting your insurance company is knowing upfront what your benefits are, so you can avoid conflict in the first place. At the very least, read the summary of benefits; know your copay amounts, yearly deductibles, and maximum out-of-pocket amounts; see health care providers that are members of the network(s) your insurer uses--if in doubt, ask first. Same with pharmacies and coverage for prescription drugs. There are often sound medical reasons for refusing to cover a drug or procedure; it's a mistake to automatically assume that's it's simply because the insurer is cheap.
My husband and I are both self employed and live in a Seattle suburb. He works from home and I work in Real estate, so I have the car most of the time. It's worked out perfectly for us, mainly because my hubby doesn't like to go out too much. If I need to go downtown I can take the bus, or he can give me a ride/pick me up. I dread the thought now of having to pay to maintain another car, I like things just the way they are now!
I'm absolutely for incentive programs and believe they do more good than harm. Obviously, when we're in a recession, it doesn't work to well, but in the good times, it works amazingly well.
An incentive program is much better than nothing. Nothing breeds socialism.
Keigu,
Financial Samurai
"Slicing Through Money's Mysteries"
We do have 2 cars - but one is almost 20 yrs old & the other 10 - we mostly have driven the younger one - a car - & kept the truck idle. I work at home mostly, so it's doable. But when we have trouble with the car - we use the truck & today I had to use the truck for an appointment. I think that by not using the truck a lot we are prolonging its life, too - that and additives to everything - radiator/gasoline/oil and so on....
My husband and I live a comfortable life on the East Coast. Including our mortgage, we spend about $5K a month.
I drive a 6 year old compact car with over 150K miles on it and my husband drives a 3 year old 2-door car that is paid off.
I think most people we know would be shocked that we both make 6 figure salaries, but not that we are decently well off. We live on about 55% of our take-home income and save the other 45%. We put the max you are allowed to in our 401K's but that is taken out before we get our take home pay. Most people in my neighborhood are living well on one income so I like to think we are still living well below our means (call it self-delusion if you will). We did not purchase the nicest newest house in town, but we are happy with our 3000 sq. ft 4 bedroom 3.5 bath home with a 2 car garage.
There is quite a bit of fat in our budget, but I balance frugality with convenience. I used to be an avid couponer, but since I joined a CSA ($15 a week for 20 weeks of produce), I pretty much stopped shopping at the grocery store. I purchased a 25 lb. bag of flour from Costco and make my own bread, playdoh, pie crust, etc. I have an addiction to shopping for my kid(s). I do buy on sale and do shop for the lowest price, but I so love European strollers. We do eat out on occasion, especially when the pregnancy is draining me of energy, but we temper it with cooking and bringing our lunches.
I have a 1 year old and am expecting again in 2010. I plan to take some unpaid months off which is shocking many of my coworkers who keep asking how I'll be able to afford it. I also just purchased a brand new top of the line minivan in cash because my mom is coming to live with us and 3 adults and 2 babies do not fit into either compact car. We have decided to sell my husband's impractical sportscar privately for the price we want for it and buy him a used car that he likes. We need 3 vehicles because my mom will be home alone with baby #2 until I can get a daycare spot for him/her (a premium in our area) even with me taking extra months off past the 12 week mark.
Bonus plans have to be well thought out, there are some companies who give unrealistic bonus plans which demotivate the employees, and there are some which promote the employees to commit gross misconduct in order to achieve this plan..which in return damages the company and also the employees futures.
I find it interesting that when you get used to walking a certain distance or route, to later drive the same route seems to take ages longer than it should. Conversely, when you drive a certain distance without ever walking it, you start to believe that it's just too far to walk (when it might only be a 10 or 15 minute walk).
I have a friend (a 2-car 2-person household) who just bought a place in suburbia, and when driving by the nearby shopping centre, I commented that wow - she could walk to do her shopping and even get some exercise while she's at it! She shot me a look like I was absolutely nuts. "It's too far to walk" was the curt reply.
@Guest #14 - Thanks for the suggestion! I'll check this tour group out. Generally I don't have the cash on hand to do organized tours, but this one might be more up my alley. I appreciate the lead!
@Guest #41 - You bring up some valid concerns, especially with the likes of H1N1 getting worse. It just strikes me as a shame that because we are increasinbly becoming a global village, we must increasingly live in a bubble to protect ourselves. (Seems a little oxymoronic, doesn't it)?!?! But I'm getting off-track. Thanks for your conern....does anybody have any information for @Guest about this concept?
We've got two cars, but I don't doubt that we could get by on one car if we needed to for whatever reason. My husband walks to work, and I work from my home office, so neither of us needs a car to commute, and I'm sure we could find a way to schedule around the times when either of us needs a car to get someplace.
On the flipside, though, the second car, a 13-yo compact sedan, does not cost us much--a little over $600/yr in insurance and registration, basically. And it saves at least some portion of that by getting better gas mileage than the minivan.
There's a long way to go, but the comeback is starting. Unemployment numbers have historically lagged a couple years behind recoveries from recessions, so it's still gonna be tough for most people for a while, but most of the indicators point to the fact that we have turned things around.
to me the recession will NOT be over until we get back to a reasonable level of unempoyment (5-6 ish %)and the return on investment/bonds reachess historicql levels of the last 25+ years.
Ask the person on the street that no longer has a home, ask the people who have to choose buying food for their families over medication. Ask my children: one still on unemployment, one in a homeless housing project with her family, one will not be able toafford they payment on her house once the payments from the bail-out loan go into place, another struggling to find medical care for her two children and herself when needed with her hours cut to about 5 hours or less a week. The people I know and talk to are struggling to feed their families and pay their bills. We're not eating out, we are challenged to have money for gas to go to work and I'm thankful to have a part-time job, even as an RN. I need to find creative ways to make a chicken last for several meals.
Those that have money are still going out to eat, still spending money, still buying cars, still going on vacations, still buying expensive handbags. They're spending like there is no tomorrow. They seem unaffected by the fact that people are homeless, starving and have no medical care. I think they're in denial as are anyone else that thinks the recession is getting better.
I believe that thought creates reality therefore our collective fear is making a comeback from economic meltdown painfully slow.
I also think that the more we do for others will create the stone in the pond "ripple effect".
The economy has hit bottom and we are now making our way upwards!!
Yeah Jim maybe all they do is send one person a nano then they shill the rest. That is if you are not just some shill.
Muulu is a scam, beware. Read the proof here: http://www.pennyauctionwatch.com/2009/09/muulu-vuulu-scam-penny-auction-...
We are in the process of buying our first home we actually close tomorrow. We just found out that we do not qualify for the tax credit since we are buying the home from my father. We are not getting a discount and are paying what the realater and the bank said it was worth. We are both first time home buyers and frankly the plan stinks!
We're about 3 months into our family's suburban one-car experiment and so far so good. Wife & I are lucky that we work in the same zip code (though opposite ends of it!) but there are certainly challenges. Before this we lived in the city and walked as many places as we could (sometimes the car would sit for days) and we definitely miss some of those advantages—being able to exercise after work and then walk (or get a ride) home was a huge plus that is missing.
We try to consolidate trips to keep the driving down but it's not always easy. We're hoping to remain a one-car family as long as possible.
Your parents lead a very wise life, which sets a quite good example for you...
I admire that you can learn so many good things for your parents.
Keep your liquid assets in low beta, safe investments. Don't get greedy in this market!
Keigu,
Financial Samurai
"Slicing Through Money's Mysteries"
I've seen sales incentives and deadline incentives work wonders on a team, but it requires some basic good management and retention practices to start with - among other things you need to know most of the team is going to be there next quarter, or they'll just pull in future sales before deadline, or do sloppy work that's fast. I used to get a 10% quality bonus on my contract work - that sure spikes your attention to detail!
But in general, either the incentive is so small that it's useless (my partner gets profit-sharing incentives that are about 5% of his total income, and they either come or don't, he doesn't have much control or pay much attention) or they incent the wrong things - if you pay a big bonus for one specific thing, like the billable hours heropsycho mentioned, you're going to get that one thing at the expense of others.
In too many companies incentive plans are a false bait. The use the promise of an incentive to get employees to run faster and jump higher. While it makes sense from an employer standpoint, they can be confusing, difficult to achieve (except under the most favorable circumstances) or end up being substantially less than most people originally thought.
The other problem is when companies move a greater percentage of the employees income to incentive--that's a thinly veiled attempt to control costs, and little more.
With that kind of scheme in place, morale can drop like a rock in a recession. That may help from a budgetary standpoint, but for employee morale, it's a killer!
I've been employed for nearly 30 years at this point in a wide variety of companies and industries, from tiny startups to huge private and public organizations. I have been subjected to just about every incentive type of program there is. NONE of them worked. I like working. I like a good job. And the benefits and incentives that worked boiled down to rewarding me fairly on a day-to-day basis (salary), providing a clear path for growth in the organization that worked (IE you actually could travel it) and by far the biggest, having a good manager.
So far the incentive programs that have failed include bonuses, stock options, ticky tacky stupid gifts and parties and rah rah 'acknowledgements'. It has been a long time since any employer I have had took seriously the idea of promotions and raises to reward good work - for anyone at the company - not just me.I haven't had a good manager for the last 9 years in 4 different jobs. I had one OK one and three bad to awful managers. I am in a managerial role myself and have had many management training classes, both good and bad. In 30 years I have had four really good managers (ALL of them in the first ten years) and two OK managers and six really bad managers. It seems to me that managers are getting worse. Nobody offers the training I got early in my career let alone the mentoring and examples.
Financial Samurai - money talks - promises don't. And options and bonuses are promises that all too often turn out to be just that.
Even better than fighting your insurance company is knowing upfront what your benefits are, so you can avoid conflict in the first place. At the very least, read the summary of benefits; know your copay amounts, yearly deductibles, and maximum out-of-pocket amounts; see health care providers that are members of the network(s) your insurer uses--if in doubt, ask first. Same with pharmacies and coverage for prescription drugs. There are often sound medical reasons for refusing to cover a drug or procedure; it's a mistake to automatically assume that's it's simply because the insurer is cheap.
And yes, I work for a healthcare organization.
My husband and I are both self employed and live in a Seattle suburb. He works from home and I work in Real estate, so I have the car most of the time. It's worked out perfectly for us, mainly because my hubby doesn't like to go out too much. If I need to go downtown I can take the bus, or he can give me a ride/pick me up. I dread the thought now of having to pay to maintain another car, I like things just the way they are now!
I'm absolutely for incentive programs and believe they do more good than harm. Obviously, when we're in a recession, it doesn't work to well, but in the good times, it works amazingly well.
An incentive program is much better than nothing. Nothing breeds socialism.
Keigu,
Financial Samurai
"Slicing Through Money's Mysteries"
We do have 2 cars - but one is almost 20 yrs old & the other 10 - we mostly have driven the younger one - a car - & kept the truck idle. I work at home mostly, so it's doable. But when we have trouble with the car - we use the truck & today I had to use the truck for an appointment. I think that by not using the truck a lot we are prolonging its life, too - that and additives to everything - radiator/gasoline/oil and so on....
My husband and I live a comfortable life on the East Coast. Including our mortgage, we spend about $5K a month.
I drive a 6 year old compact car with over 150K miles on it and my husband drives a 3 year old 2-door car that is paid off.
I think most people we know would be shocked that we both make 6 figure salaries, but not that we are decently well off. We live on about 55% of our take-home income and save the other 45%. We put the max you are allowed to in our 401K's but that is taken out before we get our take home pay. Most people in my neighborhood are living well on one income so I like to think we are still living well below our means (call it self-delusion if you will). We did not purchase the nicest newest house in town, but we are happy with our 3000 sq. ft 4 bedroom 3.5 bath home with a 2 car garage.
There is quite a bit of fat in our budget, but I balance frugality with convenience. I used to be an avid couponer, but since I joined a CSA ($15 a week for 20 weeks of produce), I pretty much stopped shopping at the grocery store. I purchased a 25 lb. bag of flour from Costco and make my own bread, playdoh, pie crust, etc. I have an addiction to shopping for my kid(s). I do buy on sale and do shop for the lowest price, but I so love European strollers. We do eat out on occasion, especially when the pregnancy is draining me of energy, but we temper it with cooking and bringing our lunches.
I have a 1 year old and am expecting again in 2010. I plan to take some unpaid months off which is shocking many of my coworkers who keep asking how I'll be able to afford it. I also just purchased a brand new top of the line minivan in cash because my mom is coming to live with us and 3 adults and 2 babies do not fit into either compact car. We have decided to sell my husband's impractical sportscar privately for the price we want for it and buy him a used car that he likes. We need 3 vehicles because my mom will be home alone with baby #2 until I can get a daycare spot for him/her (a premium in our area) even with me taking extra months off past the 12 week mark.
Bonus plans have to be well thought out, there are some companies who give unrealistic bonus plans which demotivate the employees, and there are some which promote the employees to commit gross misconduct in order to achieve this plan..which in return damages the company and also the employees futures.
don't forget www.bestpriceonit.com
I've never been part of an employee incentive program, but it seems pretty bogus to me. More like a PR move that everyone sees through.
I find it interesting that when you get used to walking a certain distance or route, to later drive the same route seems to take ages longer than it should. Conversely, when you drive a certain distance without ever walking it, you start to believe that it's just too far to walk (when it might only be a 10 or 15 minute walk).
I have a friend (a 2-car 2-person household) who just bought a place in suburbia, and when driving by the nearby shopping centre, I commented that wow - she could walk to do her shopping and even get some exercise while she's at it! She shot me a look like I was absolutely nuts. "It's too far to walk" was the curt reply.
Sigh.
@Guest #14 - Thanks for the suggestion! I'll check this tour group out. Generally I don't have the cash on hand to do organized tours, but this one might be more up my alley. I appreciate the lead!
@Guest #41 - You bring up some valid concerns, especially with the likes of H1N1 getting worse. It just strikes me as a shame that because we are increasinbly becoming a global village, we must increasingly live in a bubble to protect ourselves. (Seems a little oxymoronic, doesn't it)?!?! But I'm getting off-track. Thanks for your conern....does anybody have any information for @Guest about this concept?
We've got two cars, but I don't doubt that we could get by on one car if we needed to for whatever reason. My husband walks to work, and I work from my home office, so neither of us needs a car to commute, and I'm sure we could find a way to schedule around the times when either of us needs a car to get someplace.
On the flipside, though, the second car, a 13-yo compact sedan, does not cost us much--a little over $600/yr in insurance and registration, basically. And it saves at least some portion of that by getting better gas mileage than the minivan.