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I'm in my late 40s but I got a STEM degree recently (2009). I had a decent enviro job for a few years but got laid off last fall due to lack of work projects. I collected UI through the winter but there are not many jobs in my field to apply for around here. I have savings, no debt, and only a few basic living expenses (frugal). Lifestyle design. I'm really not too motivated to look for a job. Why should I give up most of my time for a crummy $12/hr job? I can live off my savings for quite a while. The hiking and biking around here is great and I know several other people long unemployed by choice, they live cheap and enjoy their time.
Most people I talk to that have great jobs often seem a bit envious of all the free time I have (even though they have a lot more money and stuff than I do).
I'm in my late 40s but I got a STEM degree recently (2009). I had a decent enviro job for a few years but got laid off last fall due to lack of work projects. I collected UI through the winter but there are not many jobs in my field to apply for around here. I have savings, no debt, and only a few basic living expenses (frugal). Lifestyle design. I'm really not too motivated to look for a job. Why should I give up most of my time for a crummy $12/hr job? I can live off my savings for quite a while. The hiking and biking around here is great and I know several other people long unemployed by choice, they live cheap and enjoy their time.
Most people I talk to that have great jobs often seem a bit envious of all the free time I have (even though they have a lot more money and stuff than I do).
The problem is that cuts into your savings/retirement.
Even very basic living cuts pretty deep.
$12/hr ends up being around 20K a year after taxes. So, if you live frugally that might be a wash with your living costs and on top of that, the job is probably pretty easy, so you can still enjoy your free time.
OTOH, if you don't work at all, 20K a year lost is killer.
The problem is that cuts into your savings/retirement.
Even very basic living cuts pretty deep.
$12/hr ends up being around 20K a year after taxes. So, if you live frugally that might be a wash with your living costs and on top of that, the job is probably pretty easy, so you can still enjoy your free time.
OTOH, if you don't work at all, 20K a year lost is killer.
I can either have time or money. I don't know how limited (or not) my time is. None of us knows how long we will live. How do we want our lives to be? How do we want to spend our time? Americans are obsessed with money and work to the exclusion of almost everything else.
I can always make more money later (or whenever). I had a pretty nice cushy easy job at a nice company with nice people, but the 40 hour week was killing my soul. If it's a nice day out there, a perfect day for a bike ride, I'm still chained to the desk and on someone else's schedule. I'm not lazy, I put myself through college for a STEM degree and graduated with honors, and no debt. I know how to live on very little money.
It was easy to live off of UI and save some of that. I still haven't touched my savings. I may have to eventually. I have bits of money coming in here and there and that has been covering my few bills nicely.
People who say 'oh apply for retail' don't realize there's heavy competition for even those jobs.
And the "hiring" signs that are there are because retailers are constantly terminating people, so it creates a perpetual hire-terminate cycle. Retail is a high turn over industry.
People who say 'oh apply for retail' don't realize there's heavy competition for even those jobs.
It shouldn't be any competition for those jobs since they only offer part-time hours and crappy pay. Atleast I can say when I was a telemarketer right out of college, I was able to work 40 hours and make $9.00 an hour which is unheard of in the world of retail.
Americans are obsessed with money and work to the exclusion of almost everything else.
Which is just the way they want it. Seen the stock market lately
Things change though. Some people wake up one day and realize how little money is actually worth. The ones that don't are the ones I really feel sorry for.
I have a friend in the rust belt. She's given up. She doesn't get any government aid.
There are simply NO JOBS she can do. She can't do manual labor. For every lousy job she could do, like working the graveyard at a convenience store, there are 100's of applicants. She can't get interviewed, even.
One reason I haven't returned to the Rust Belt.
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