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Old 07-30-2011, 01:04 PM
 
Location: Coastal Connecticut
21,553 posts, read 27,794,997 times
Reputation: 6674

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Quote:
Originally Posted by JViello View Post
Jesus, it's not THAT bleak of a picture. You seen the unemployment rates in Florida or NC?

Five year safety net?
I agree. What a depressing post.
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Old 07-30-2011, 01:20 PM
 
Location: CT
79 posts, read 122,365 times
Reputation: 85
Jeez, I didn't know ct turned into a post apocalyptic wasteland...I was hanging out up there last summer!

But seriously, unemployment doesn't bother me, since it's bad everywhere. And there also no such thing as a bachelors or above for a physical therapy assistant. At least there are still one or ppl here that aren't completely depressed about where they live...
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Old 07-30-2011, 01:34 PM
 
Location: Coastal Connecticut
21,553 posts, read 27,794,997 times
Reputation: 6674
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zuriel View Post
But seriously, unemployment doesn't bother me, since it's bad everywhere. And there also no such thing as a bachelors or above for a physical therapy assistant. At least there are still one or ppl here that aren't completely depressed about where they live...
I think these forums just tend to attract some fringe neurotics.
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Old 07-30-2011, 05:55 PM
 
Location: Wallingford
11 posts, read 12,231 times
Reputation: 16
I like CT, it's got it's good and bad but thats everywhere!

What about southington or milldale? You wouldnt be too far from school
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Old 07-30-2011, 07:13 PM
 
Location: Birch Mt - CT
385 posts, read 359,444 times
Reputation: 355
Quote:
Originally Posted by jane_sm1th73 View Post
Not questioning your judgment, but CT is a vastly different place now than it was when you moved away to join the Marines. Nothing you can do, and no amount of mission-orientation, can help you in the general decline. It sounds as if you're looking to go back to someplace that is familiar.

There are not enough jobs for the people who are currently IN CT, much less for anybody moving in. CT is one of the five highest-cost, highest-taxed states in the country, and has THE highest utility costs. I don't know how long you have been gone, but it is VASTLY different now. CT teachers of long standing are being laid off - there is a declining school age population, mirroring the exodus of young people who are starting families. Any teaching position that opens up will be hotly contested, and will go to the entrenched CT licensed teachers who have been laid off, and who are lined up six deep for each position.

As for physical therapy, please understand that this is one of those disciplines that has gotten whacked - BADLY - by the general educational decline. Consequently, an A.S. may not be sufficient to get you a job.

The prudent person who does not want to get eaten alive will move in with friends or family while looking for a job or finishing school. The harsh truth is, once you are here for a year, and have spent all of your savings and benefits in going to school or looking for work - if you are penniless, how the heck are you going to get out?

NOBODY but nobody moves to CT unless they have a five year safety net, and a Plan B.

I know the happy talk that the servicepeople who have completed their first tours are given... Don't believe it. The DoD is under the gun to reduce forces, and will lay on the happy talk real thick in order to ease people out.

Very best of luck to you.



There are some truths in this post. We actually have the third highest tax burden in the country. I see the OP is moving from Gainesville, just be aware the cost of living is approx 24% higher up here.

Whether that is a deal breaker for you, only you can decide.
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Old 07-30-2011, 08:31 PM
 
1,844 posts, read 2,416,156 times
Reputation: 4501
Quote:
Originally Posted by JViello View Post
Jesus, it's not THAT bleak of a picture. You seen the unemployment rates in Florida or NC?

Five year safety net?
JV, not here to pick a fight or to engage in fringe neurosis, lol! For the record, I speak from the experience of watching several of my son's Marine cohort make the same decision. Moving back to a place that has changed, without a support structure that will allow them to weather the decimation of the bank account. The OP is moving into a state that is bleeding jobs, and increasing taxes. To stand up against this, he needs people on the ground, here, who will help him hook up to opportunities. Are you willing to fill that role? If not, be realistic about his prospects.

By five year safety net, I mean an objective plan with a way out. Write down milestones and objectives pegged to your cash in the bank. At the moment the safety threshold is breached, go to Plan B, and be ruthless about it - the numbers don't lie, and history is the best predictor.

Human nature is perpetually optimistic. It is easy to say of any setback "It's just this once - next time it will turn around" - and say the same for the next, and the next. If you peg your progress to your objectives - numbers don't lie - you will be doing yourself a service. This is a structural decline, linked to long-entrenched demographics: no matter what you do as an individual, over the long haul you cannot beat the numbers.

The OP may have come from a typical Marine Corps environment where individual hard work, as a member of a smoothly functioning team, makes mission attainment a virtual certainty. In other words, much of the risk is controllable. It is different in the civilian economy: when the numbers are against you, there is no amount of individual initiative that will allow you to prevail. It's not like in the Corps.

You do NOT want to be one of the well meaning, hardworking people who came here with good intentions, high energy, and a safety net - only to wind up without the means to leave if things don't work out, not knowing what you "did wrong". You will have done nothing wrong - it's just that the tide is against you.

You have a good outlook: living below your means will keep that cash cushion whole, as long as you don't take on debt to disguise unpleasant truths. But please consider measuring your cushion, and your progress every month in keeping it on the "plus" side, as an objective indicator of your real life progress.
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Old 07-30-2011, 10:53 PM
 
Location: Near the Coast SWCT
83,331 posts, read 74,672,419 times
Reputation: 16534
Quote:
Originally Posted by JViello View Post
Jesus, it's not THAT bleak of a picture. You seen the unemployment rates in Florida or NC?

Five year safety net?
5 Year??? Damn, you just added another reason to move out. lol I been telling people in person not to move up....I might have to start with online too now. Whats with the surge lately?
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Old 07-31-2011, 07:58 AM
 
Location: Central Connecticut
576 posts, read 1,213,100 times
Reputation: 205
Gosh just let people move into CT... Welcome back to Connecticut, we all love you back <3
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Old 07-31-2011, 11:51 AM
 
Location: CT
79 posts, read 122,365 times
Reputation: 85
The cons don't outwieght the pros...

Say I were to move to the Meriden area, I would have Hartford, New Haven, and Waterbury within roughly a 30 min. commute. Thats a ton of job options. A half an hour commute in a typically Florida city is getting u into the outer parts of town. I'm going into the medical field, in gainesville that's 3 hospitals. In ct, idk but it's probably way more in the area I described earlier. If I don't get a job in these three hospitals I would have to relocate, which would cost alot, and wouldn't be convenient. And for what? To live in area that doesn't have seasons? To be surrounded by a culture that can be summed up as beach, church, and football? No thank you.

I'm not moving to ct to be rich. I want my kids to be able to play in snow (unlike many ppl I know in Florida who never have), or hike a trail where the end lies an incredible view and not a loop that brings back to the trail u were just in.

You get the picture. Ct has what I want, Florida doesn't. If it means I pay more for a few things, so be it.
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Old 07-31-2011, 12:38 PM
 
Location: New London County, CT
8,949 posts, read 12,083,129 times
Reputation: 5145
Quote:
Originally Posted by jane_sm1th73 View Post
NOBODY but nobody moves to CT unless they have a five year safety net, and a Plan B.
I moved here from Austin, TX with a fledgling business (with myself as the only employee) in the height of the economic downturn (October 2009) and a decent 401K (which I can't touch) and about $15,000 cash.

My rent was initially $1,000. I worked like a mad man (still do), built my reputation, my business and have accomplished in just under two years:

- Grown my business revenues by close to 400%.
- Hired 3 full time employees
- Purchased a condo in an upscale town
- Greatly increased my cash reserves

Not everyone will have success here-- Of course not everyone is successful in North Carolina or Austin either. However, it is completely possible. Sacrifice (an $850 apartment is a good place to start), further your education and work hard and anyone can succeed here.

There is some luck involved, some smarts, but basically it's work.

It's really up to you.

I think you can find some small places in Naugy for $850. It won't be luxurious, but it will likely be safe.

Some people only surface on here to tear Connecticut apart (and play very loose with factual information), so take their posts (and mine if you wish) with a grain of salt...
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