Casual economic indicators....ie.....just what I've seen (Johnson City, Kingsport: sales, rent)

[Lookin4myMountain]

I appreciate your honesty, I have been in Johnson City for over six months now, we moved from Miami. It hasn't been easy to start over again, we have been struggling to make ends meet, it's very disappointing . I've been considering Cna work and it doesn't sound pretty.. my husband is just finishing his work probation with his job with the city and yesterday they had a meeting to inform the workers that there would be no merit pay raises for this year and possibly the next! What an incentive right? I hope that our next president does something spectacular with the economy! Johnson city is really a pretty place, I know I"m new here and the place is not perfect, but watching the seasons change, the birds tweetering in the morning, people here are nice, family oriented and most of all there is space to breathe!! The pay for jobs here may not be great ,but I'm not giving up........

[Tony1790]

Originally Posted by Lookin4myMountain

I appreciate your honesty, I have been in Johnson City for over six months now, we moved from Miami. It hasn't been easy to start over again, we have been struggling to make ends meet, it's very disappointing . I've been considering Cna work and it doesn't sound pretty.. my husband is just finishing his work probation with his job with the city and yesterday they had a meeting to inform the workers that there would be no merit pay raises for this year and possibly the next! What an incentive right? I hope that our next president does something spectacular with the economy! Johnson city is really a pretty place, I know I"m new here and the place is not perfect, but watching the seasons change, the birds tweetering in the morning, people here are nice, family oriented and most of all there is space to breathe!! The pay for jobs here may not be great ,but I'm not giving up........

Good luck with your job search, I replied to your CNA posting. No merit raise for the hubby, well that's bad, but hopefully the job will be a secure one. Official inflation is over 4%, actual inflation is over 10% (when measured as in years past), so those of us that are not getting a raise are getting a 10% pay cut.

As far as the president doing something about the economy, don't hold your breath, what can they do? Another govt check? That's like taking a cash advance from your credit card (debt) that has to be paid back with interest. The govt helped create this fiscal mess that we have now, and they definitely cannot fix what they helped create.

I was talking with my wife yesterday, we took note that our standard of living has dropped significantly since moving here and thats mainly due to our new reality with regard to our place in the job market. That's just the way it goes, I'll try to get better job skills before I totally drown financially.

Good luck.

Tony

[Lookin4myMountain]

We are pretty much in the same boat it's a humbling experience, but not necessarily bad I have learned to appreciate the little things and that time is to short to stand around and feel sorry for myself, so I just grab the bull by the horns a deal with life. I am presently working partime as a cashier,but I to pay off my debts too. Thanks again

[fun4me]

Wow! I am really sorry you are going through rough times! I know what you mean because it happened to us when we first moved here to Pensacola. We lived in Naples, FL for 2 years and decided to move here, now it's ok and we have good jobs but it was very hard for us.
I guess this was sort of an answer to my question?? we recently bought land in Baneberry and are so in love with the views. We are going on vacation tomorrow and since we are there visiting we are meeting with some builders to get a better idea about building a house. We do love the views and the area but it doesn't seem that this is the right time to make any changes at all. Though I wouldn't mind doing something different than working in finance how much of a pay cut am I looking at?

I thank you Tony for explaining your point of views, very helpful! In general I find this thread to be informative.

Best of luck and hopefully you will soon find better paying jobs! As for me, will enjoy vacation and still gather information for building but not too sure it will be anytime soon.
Have a great Day!

[Wordy]

I think "poor" is a relative term. You've shared so much of your life story here, Tony, that I'm sort of scratching my head that you consider yourself poor. According to your own accounts, you are completely debt free, have a pile of money in the bank, and a rough estimate of your monthly income makes it over $4000. Is it incredibly expensive to live in your area or something? For a family of (three? is it?), $4000 is no fortune but with your military pension, your Tricare, and your full time jobs, no debt and a big pile of money in the bank, are your straits truly that desperate? I'm sure it's hard to come down from $25 an hour (I would hate that, myself), but it seems you've made so many good choices in your life that you can weather pretty much anything at this point in terms of financial issues. Debt free, lots of savings, health care for life, and a military pension? It just seems to me that you've situated yourself well--you should be proud of that and enjoy what your life has to offer you right now. You've made sure that it's quite a lot. I don't think you're poor at all--I'm impressed with how you've worked to have your current lot in life.

[Tony1790]

Originally Posted by Wordy

I think "poor" is a relative term. You've shared so much of your life story here, Tony, that I'm sort of scratching my head that you consider yourself poor. According to your own accounts, you are completely debt free, have a pile of money in the bank, and a rough estimate of your monthly income makes it over $4000. Is it incredibly expensive to live in your area or something? For a family of (three? is it?), $4000 is no fortune but with your military pension, your Tricare, and your full time jobs, no debt and a big pile of money in the bank, are your straits truly that desperate? I'm sure it's hard to come down from $25 an hour (I would hate that, myself), but it seems you've made so many good choices in your life that you can weather pretty much anything at this point in terms of financial issues. Debt free, lots of savings, health care for life, and a military pension? It just seems to me that you've situated yourself well--you should be proud of that and enjoy what your life has to offer you right now. You've made sure that it's quite a lot. I don't think you're poor at all--I'm impressed with how you've worked to have your current lot in life.

Thanks for the positive outlook, I do Thank God for what I have, but I'm afraid that I've wasted precious opportunities presented to me, by making bad decisions. Bad decisions like retiring when I should have stayed active duty, quit a good paying railroad job to go back to school, etc. God, fate or whoever is in control only gives you so many opportunities in life, do I have any left?

I again apologize if I am complaining again I started this tread to highlight some of the economic conditions that I've witnessed locally. I realize that I have it better than some, but worse than others and definitely worse than I had it before. Optimism is one of the things that I need to work on

The Reduction in pay between what I was making to what I am now making is approximately $25 per hour, that's between me and the wife, I don't know about you but a $25 per hour reduction is noticeable. I'm supposed to be in my prime earning years and it ain't happening I really, really need to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing and get going with it already

I was talking with one of my co-workers, he has 5 kids and he works at the same job that I do, he only manages by working as much overtime as possible. I don't know how he does it, he works hard and I hope that he does well. On the other hand there is a girl that I work with that makes $8 an hour, but has a $500 car payment. I used to have a big car payment, but that was when I was making alot more money, she only makes it by living with her mother (the girls in here early 20's).

As for me, I have a job, but it's not a career. So I need to get an actual marketable job skill, which means more school, I'll need to quit working in order to have time to go to school to be able to get a job

As to debts, still don't have any, but don't have a house either, I own land, but don't have enough money to build something without going into debt. I really don't want to go into debt at this stage of life (middle age man with low job skills and an uncertain future). Besides, where do I buy a home, when I don't know where I'll be working in the future.

I guess I am too pessimistic, but I am concerned for the future of this country, it costs so much to live now, much less to actually save for the future and have enough left over to pass along something to the next generation (my kids). $4 dollar gas, $4 milk, $1.50 bread, $800 rent, etc adds up pretty quick. With me working, my wife working and my retirement, we should be ok, but I need to boost my income making potential to offset the rapidly rising food/gas costs, everytime gas goes up, we have less to put towards other better things, Inflation will eat our lunch if we ain't careful.

Any who, I hope that we all are grateful for what we have (especially me) and I hope that everyone who finds their way to TN finds good fortune.....

Good luck, God Bless

Tony

[jabogitlu]

Wow, you're debt free? Definitely better off than most people... the average American has $8k in credit card debt...

I manage to make it, too, barely. But I live pretty simply. Cable internet is my luxury. I eat country foods, nothing fancy/cheap. I do cut some other costs so I can buy some clothes now and then (what can I say, I'm a clothes horse), but mostly I wear my old clothes. And my shoes are literally falling apart. But hey, that's when they're the most comfortable.

After work, I spend most of my days with friends or family. We play lots of music (bluegrass and folk) and enjoy cooking so that whiles away the hours. Times are tough, but you can find lots of ways to live cheaply. Definitely need to here in the Tri-Cities.

[Tony1790]

Originally Posted by jabogitlu

Wow, you're debt free? Definitely better off than most people... the average American has $8k in credit card debt...

I manage to make it, too, barely. But I live pretty simply. Cable internet is my luxury. I eat country foods, nothing fancy/cheap. I do cut some other costs so I can buy some clothes now and then (what can I say, I'm a clothes horse), but mostly I wear my old clothes. And my shoes are literally falling apart. But hey, that's when they're the most comfortable.

After work, I spend most of my days with friends or family. We play lots of music (bluegrass and folk) and enjoy cooking so that whiles away the hours. Times are tough, but you can find lots of ways to live cheaply. Definitely need to here in the Tri-Cities.

I'm hearing you, I go to work, I go home and that's it. I don't spend money on stuff, I don't buy stuff anymore. The only things that I can cut (and should) is basic cable, internet and cell phone. The internet would be nice NOT to have as I love reading and typing online and I should NOT be doing that.

Cell phones are a catch 22, if you cancel them before the end of the contract then they charge you a cancelation fee that equates to what I would be paying monthly, so might as well keep them for now.

I love Dave Ramsey (financial guy who's BIG thing is to be debt free), sometimes he makes me mad as he says how we should all be debt free and live within your means (great ideas), what makes me mad sometimes is that he's a millionaire that makes his money by telling others to be debt free. Well if we made millions we'd be debt free too

BTW, for the last several months I've been meaning to make a budget and stick to it, but I'm also a terrible procrastinator and haven't gotten around to it yet

Tony

[jabogitlu]

I don't have a budget, either Definitely would probably help to see exactly where my money goes, but I manage to put back a little bit (and I mean, a very little bit) each month so I'm happy.

I don't have a landline, so I can't cut out the cell. And though I only manage to get on the net for a few minutes on most days, without it I feel sort of cut off from society. Strange, I know. It's like my news/social hub, plus email is great. And I have too many message boards to check on!

I'm lucky in that I drive about 10 minutes to work. I know people who have big commutes, the most drastic is Morristown to Bristol 4 days a week. Ugh. They've gotta be hurting about now.

[blueeyes30]

Well as a native of Johnson City, I had to move away for a better job. The Tri-Cities region isn't known for high paying jobs. The type of jobs that are out there (service type) generally pay very low. It's even worse across the border in Virginia. Once you get past Abingdon, jobs are not very plentiful. But most small to medium sized places that are not part of a major metro area are generally like that. However, I just assumed service type jobs would pay low regardless of location. As an accountant, I make more in Nashville than I would in the Tri-Cities.

I like to read other state forums as well. Vermont seems to be in the same boat: alot of low paying jobs but faced with higher property taxes and high heating bills.