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I think we have to be careful about getting sucked into the gloom and doom of the media reports. As anyone knows, I am not the rose-colored glasses type, but even I am getting tired of the "sky is falling" reports that seem to come day after day. The reality is this: This is a hard time for people to be looking for work. According to the Department of Labor statistics, Colorado ranks #23 in terms of unemployment. That means that half of the other states have less jobs available and half have more. Wyoming ranks as the lowest unemployment, but I'll bet there are plenty of people in the tourism industry near Jackson Hole who can't find work either.
If you delve a little deeper into the horror stories, you'll find that the majority of unemployment numbers come from the construction, manufacturing and retail industries. The unemployment numbers come from black (11%) and hispanic (7.8%) workers (who have nearly double the unemployment numbers as whites (5.2%)). The other group feeling the pain are those with just a high school diploma (5.2%) in contrast with the unemployment rate of those with a college degree (2.9%).
I can only speak for my own situation, but I know that my husband gets paid more (though not that much more) than he did last year. Our bills have stayed the same. Our neighbors have had a few job losses, but all are currently working. My daughter's best friend's family have felt the pinch as both mom and dad have lost their jobs but are currently working (though one works at Chick-fil-A right now to provide a source of income). My sister is an accountant who has applied for (and been offered) 2 jobs here in the Denver-metro area for more money than she is making in Arizona.
When deciding to move to a new state, take into consideration what the TRUE job prospects for your industry are. Denver is not the land of golden opportunity but neither is it the land of terminal unemployment. The media loves to report on the tent cities in Sacramento, the fact that Kohl's had their website crash due to the high number of applicants, etc, etc, then in the next breath they're telling us about people not going out and spending (which results in more unemployment) and how people are taking their money out of the stock market.
In my opinion, it's time to get back to the basics of living and budget. If that means that our country is going to go through some hard times in order for us to remember that we cannot live in $500,000 homes if we make $40,000 per year or our 12 year-olds don't need Wiis, IPods, Blackberries and Dooney and Burke purses, then that's okay with me. Americans are very selfish...we want what we want when we want it. For decades, we have been living in a false reality that says we are always going to be in good times and our economy could never crash because the world depends on us. The savings rate for our country was near $0 and the need to keep up with the Joneses was putting most of us in the poor house.
The best advice I can give for someone moving to Colorado: Buy a house you can afford. Don't let the bank or your real estate agent tell you what that is. You've got to be smart and do the work yourself. Get on a mortgage calculator and factor in property taxes and insurance and HOA dues. Do not go above what the mortgage calculator tells you. It's hard not to want all the extras and if you stick to your budget, you will likely have to look at many houses, but the rewards of living with a mortgage you can afford is priceless. Since most people's largest bill is their mortgage, getting one that is manageable will take a lot of stress off. The news stories are full of people who can't afford their homes anymore. You never hear about someone having to declare bankruptcy because they can't afford groceries or their car bill. The mortgage is first, the rest of the bills usually follow. If you are a two-income family, do not depend on both incomes to live in your house. Find a house that you can still make payments on if one of you loses your job. If together, you can afford a $4000 mortgage, but seperately, it's only a $2000 mortgage, get one for $2500-$3000. If one of you loses your job, you will only have to take out $1000 per month of your emergency fund.
All of us, no matter where we live, are going to have to take a look at our priorities. The days of a huge house, nice cars, expensive clothes, Disneyworld vacations and everyone having the newest high-tech gadgets are done. Unemployment rates are scary but even more scary is the prospect of being unemployed with no emergency fund and living paycheck to paycheck when you are employed. You can't do much if you lose your job but you don't have to add to your stress by being unprepared.
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