has the recession affected you or family yet ?

[Sleazy]

my family's been really lucky. wife's job is solid and i got laid off but had been saving, then found a good 6 week contract and now a got a 6 month contract which is highly specialized. i'm gambling that this skill set will increase in demand and i'm trying to position myself to take advantage of it. but honestly, it could all fall through any day, so we are just saving as much as we can and hoping for the best.

My investment portfolio is down 40%.  It will take 5 years for it to come back.

assuming that that 40% doesn't represent over valuation. my dad and mother and law both lost a ton also, definitely sketchy, but i'm not too confident that we'll see a full rebound or that we've seen the bottom. another thing to keep in mind is that everyone is holding their cash right now waiting for the market to start rising again, anticipating the big recovery. so on the flip side we could see some fast inflation when things turn up in stocks. it's really hard to know.

[Matze]

what is a investement portfolio? some kind of hedge fond?

[nice weather]

My father used to freelance for a company that got completely downsized and we had to give up our appartment in Vienna, where I spent all my life. Now my parents live a thousand kilometers away in Hamburg, a city I have little to no connection to, except me being born there.
Could be worse though.

[H8R part 4]

yes.  my folks own a small business and times are tough right now for them.
hopefully things pick up or they'll end up closing. 

[Sleazy]

what is a investement portfolio? some kind of hedge fond?

a fancy way of saying "all of my investments"

you need to diversify your bonds nigga

[Tarquin]

I'm too lazy to get a job so I'm just going to blame the recession

[Sleazy]

that'd make a great red neck t-shirt

[buffalo hunter]

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My investment portfolio is down 40%.  It will take 5 years for it to come back.

[close]

you talking 401k ?  you gonna cash it out before its gone?  i was wondering how much i would get taxed if i cashed mine out, each month i get my statement its basically dropping a grand each time and im just watching it disappear

Individual and IRA accounts.  Not selling keeping them for the long term retirement 30 years.  If you cash out your 401k, you will get taxed 30% or more plus huge penalties.  I feel sorry for the people close to retirement age and half their retirement is gone. 

[Sleazy]

it's a great time to start a stock based retirement and a terrible time to already be saving for one.

i'm so glad i passed on 401k all these years. although, 100% matching on pretax dollars would probably offset it a good bit, it still seems sketchy to me.

are you still down if you take into account matching and all that?

[Narcissus]

the company i work for is for sale.

can't wait til someone buys us and fires everyone, which is a strong maybe, but maybe not.  might suck for the people for whom this bullshit is their career, but i fucking hate every second of this job and feel entitled to my severance package.

pay off the year's rent, save a little bit and take my sweet time finding more work/skateboarding/enjoying my life for a change.

down with corporate tyranny!

[sven thorkel]

I don't know too much about skate industry stuff, but it seems to me like a lot of this shit could come to be the die out people have always speculated about since the 90's.  I don't know how many old pros working as TMs or brand managers you can support before the bloated belly bursts.  The gravy train is over, Felix Arguelles.

how could the best dressed skateboarder for six continuous years be terminated? pftt, we all know he could make more money and a bigger name for himself in the fashion industry anyways. when the recession hits harder and people are saving big time, everyone will be after the cargo pants with the mid knee drawstring shorts converter. shorts and pants in one is a big saver by the way. hes already been a model for them for over 10 years, now its time for felix to step it up into production   

[Star Whores Episode I: The Fellatio Menace]

at McDonalds, double cheeseburgers off the dollar menu have only one piece of cheese instead of two

[anblue]

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what is a investement portfolio? some kind of hedge fond?

[close]

a fancy way of saying "all of my investments"

you need to diversify your bonds nigga

wu tang bank

[yeah dude!]

Yes and no...

The firm I work for decided to "close up shop" a couple months ago and let everybody go. They were in the middle of a few large projects when the decided to do that and they've kept me and one other person as on as freelancers. Kind of tight since they're paying us more than they were as employees but the workload is pretty heavy and even though there doesn't seem to be a end to the work in the near future, it could end anytime.

Just saving money and staying positive.

[Zapata]

My hours got cut in half, should only be for the next month or so though.

[BabyKillaSeason]

Just saving money and staying positive.

everyone should be doing this. freezing up and getting scared only make things worse.

[Nancy Chin The Manicurist]

at McDonalds, double cheeseburgers off the dollar menu have only one piece of cheese instead of two

that's the worst news i've heard all year.






lately i've been bringing a backpack into buffet restaurants and sneaking food out. so i guess the recession hasn't hit me yet.

[lampshade]

it's a great time to start a stock based retirement and a terrible time to already be saving for one.

i'm so glad i passed on 401k all these years. although, 100% matching on pretax dollars would probably offset it a good bit, it still seems sketchy to me.

are you still down if you take into account matching and all that?

It is never good to pass on 401k with matching cash. 

[loophole]

my dad's got a big chance of losing his job and is already losing his hair out from working double time to keep the ships sailing (he works for maersk, major shipping company).
bad timing as i'm about to hit uni.

[brooklyn brawler]

Every person I know that's been hit with the recession, I've stuck around and helped. This is because when I lost my job early this year, I got work right away because of good people.

It just seems in my industry, everyone sticks together... so long as they actually want to work with you again. Karma and personal contacts are a good thing this time of year.

[jrock]

can't find a job, just like everybody else.  i think i've sent out about 300 or so resumes, and i think i had one call back and interview.  Its been almost 3 years since I've had a full time job, so I'm more than ready (mentally at least, not so sure about physically).  Just my luck though.  i start feeling better just in time for this shit. 

[odp]

at McDonalds, double cheeseburgers off the dollar menu have only one piece of cheese instead of two

right? I went and ordered a double cheeseburger the other day and the girl says "its called a mcdouble now cause theres only one piece of cheese..." what the fuck is that shit? psssss.

[RaunchyKid]

Anytime I would visit my parents and go grocery shopping with my dad since like half a year ago, he would buy significantly less and ask me why I put something in the cart. He works for a company that gets contracts for the government so I'm thinking he'll be there for a while since there are wars. But, I also heard that whole sections have been "layed off". I can't imagine what it would be like if gas was $4.00+. No wonder people said the economy was "good". They own shares of oil companies that were charging people twice as much as the acceptable price. I know other countries pay the same, if not more, than four dollars. But, private transportation is what the majority of the people in America use, and it's hard to not use it when everything is 5+ miles away.

[Ronald Wilson Reagan]

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http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Quiksilver-to-Wipe-Out-200-Positions-Cut-Expenses.html

[close]

Think those people who got fired thought the "wipeout" pun was funny?
My parents retirement got fucked over pretty hard. They are both in their 60's so it ain't coming back the way it was either.
California schools have been getting MAJOR budget cuts, so even if my job is safe, it gets harder every day. Support staff are getting fired, programs are getting cut. Pretty cool thing, California has the 6th biggest economy inthe WORLD, yet is 47th in the U.S. on per student spending. It might not be totally connected, but shit is bad right now.

[close]

i thought i heard on the news that california was on the verge of bankruptcy? i remember seeing Arnold saying the govt needed to step asap.
anyways yea, the industry is fucked - from the shop up to the companies.... these dudes working there that are getting laid off are just surf and skate dudes trying to make ends meet working at a skate or surf company. i have a few friends who work at a few companies, some got the pink slip while others are worried cuz it can happen at any point now. companies are going bare bones just to stay afloat !@

California is going bankrupt due to bad budget planning. Somehow we have this super huge economy, and the government doesn't know how to take advantage of it to help keep the state afloat, Schwarzeneger refuses to raise taxes, so he is trying to cut the already small amount of money spent on students to the bone.
I'm lucky, my district was one of the only ones not to fire teachers, yet (knock wood) and given my pre-tenure status, I'd be first with my head on the block.
And surf and skate dudes need jobs too!

[SleepyPeePee]

yeah.. it has.
got laid off in october, havent had a steady job since.
been late on all kinds of bills & payments.

[lampshade]

yeah.. it has.
got laid off in october, havent had a steady job since.
been late on all kinds of bills & payments.

Damn, that's tough.  We have been pretty fortunate so far.  My girl works in a job where she gets hours according to demand (flight attendant), so she has been working less lately, not by choice.  I have just been saving more cash instead of buying stuff.  We were going to get her a new car, but decided to save the cash since her old beater honda is still super dependable.

[Sleazy]

sorry to hear about that crack addict, been laid off at home kind of sucks

my latest gig is at a credit counciling company, apparently business is through the roof right now so hopefully this is some karma catching up with me cause i got burned bad in 2001 recession.

i've also made a gamble in my career moving into a more specialized area with my skills in the hopess that when layoffs come, i will get passed over because literally no one at my work as clue how to work with this new technology where the other skills i have are shared amoung all the other programmers. this new skill is very rare to the point that if it catches on, i could stand out world wide as one of the few with the skills, not just in my area but it's been out for a few years and hasn't caught on yet so it's truely a gamble. the trick though is getting enough time to get my work into production before layoffs, if that happens then i'm good and if not then i get laid off. at my last job where i first started learning this skill, layoffs came first so i got burned.

[grimcity]

My job is funded by the Feds, and if all goes well I should be locked in for roughly 6 more years (I've been with the program since the beginning 6 years ago). Thing is, we're housed in a state agency, and recently there were announcements of 15,000+ government job cuts and millions of dollars in cuts for education and health care (always the first to get axed, 'cause we know our priorities).
I'm not really worried about my position, if the agency and program I work for gets restructured because of this, it looks like I'll be on the list of essential personnel, 'cause I be readin' your email 'n shit.

On the suck: My wife and I had to spend thousands of dollars of savings for a lot of shit... she got sick during a point after her dad died, so we've dipped into savings to pay for medical stuff (she can't work at the moment). My parents are in a bad spot financially, so we've been taking care of their bills, and all of the money we were going to use to fix up our very old house and get me a scooter has gone into taking care of multiple little crisis situations.

It's been hitting all of us, but I'm just not worried. I'd be just as happy getting rid of most of our shit and renting a little apartment again. Not that I can make any money on our house in this market.

[AENYC]

my job is coming to an end in march.  i'm not too worried about it though, i'll find work somewhere...


and i was thinking of starting a wheel company and then decided against it - you know because there isn't enough wheel companies.  and to quote my man lloyd dobler, I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that.

or something like that.

[Sleazy]

On the suck: My wife and I had to spend thousands of dollars of savings for a lot of shit... she got sick during a point after her dad died, so we've dipped into savings to pay for medical stuff (she can't work at the moment). My parents are in a bad spot financially, so we've been taking care of their bills, and all of the money we were going to use to fix up our very old house and get me a scooter has gone into taking care of multiple little crisis situations.

sorry to hear about the hard times but your a good man grim; way to plan smart and handle your business!