The Money Mustache Community
General Discussion => Welcome and General Discussion => Topic started by: achvfi on March 17, 2020, 09:43:05 AM
-
With all the uncertainty going on, it feels like there will be mass layoffs in various sectors of the economy.
Following was an old thread on Layoff discussion.
Tell us stories about when their were layoffs at your workplace, especially if you were among the survivors. How was it handled? Was it a surprise? How did people manage it, especially if they were more Mustachian or maybe not so much? Did productivity go to hell?
I work at a fortune 500 company, with relatively stable revenues in good times and bad. Still I heard that all new expenses are frozen and the job openings are being frozen as well. If the slowdown continues for months I have a feeling that substantial layoffs are in the works.
Its time to beef up the emergency funds and other contingent plans. It also looks like ideas like geoarbitrage will be difficult to implement with a pandemic going around the world.
While its not the time to change your plans significantly, Its a time for reality check on your plans.
Also do you hear any rumblings about layoffs in your organization? What is your plan if you get layoff?
-
Yes there are rumblings. Not from workers, but from top management. I don't know what my plan is. At this point it's completely unrealistic to relocate or even find another job locally. I am either staying employed where I am, or I'm going to be one of the casualties and get laid off and have to ride out the depression like everyone else. Hopefully government assistance will step up to help.
My mortgage is paid off so that's a good thing. I think we likely need to slash our spending to the bone to try and ride this out. It will be necessary to survive this, or if I stay employed and the market recovers in a reasonable period these actions will launch us into FIRE.
-
I work in the public sector so I am home on 14 days leave with pay. But my work can be done 100% remotely and my team is very good at it.
I also have a part-time job in the healthcare sector, and no one is getting laid off there.
Just very lucky I guess. But I know some people who will start to feel the pain.
Here it is actually a good thing to live well below ones means.
-
I'm in internal audit with a manufacturer. (Public company). My department is slim so I think I am at low risk unless they totally outsource our department which I can't imagine being cheaper.
Will be interesting since our company is already closing plants and have moved them to Mexico the past few years. Seems like every department was understaffed to begin with and now they just won't hire replacements? Maybe I am underestimating how big of an impact this will have. I just feel for my company it would be an all or nothing thing.
-
I work in a hospital/university and have a fixed contract so I'm safe.
However, I already heard of one person getting laid off who worked in earthquake damange management (bc government subsidies were stopped abruptly) and several people laid off in the hotel cleaning sector (mostly temp workers for now).
This is Europe btw. We seem to be a few days ahead of the US regarding both patients and measures.
-
My mortgage is paid off so that's a good thing. I think we likely need to slash our spending to the bone to try and ride this out. It will be necessary to survive this, or if I stay employed and the market recovers in a reasonable period these actions will launch us into FIRE.
Paid off mortgage and low expenses. Awesome combo!
My plan is opposite. I am refinancing my mortgage with lower rates now, reducing monthly payment by 40%. It will help stretch cushion much farther incase of income loss.
I also have a part-time job in the healthcare sector, and no one is getting laid off there.
Sounds like for most part healthcare folks are safe. But interestingly. I am hearing that healthcare departments are shifting resources and some "non-essesntial" departments have to use leaves accumulated or unpaid leave.
-
One of my employees had a family member laid off. He did set building for productions. Since theaters are all closed for awhile.... He is planning to look for a general job at a grocery store, Amazon, or hospital I believe.
-
For the last year or two, airlines have been nearly desperate for pilots. As a military aviation family, so many people we know had this as their plan. And until a month ago, they were continuing to hiring people with experience very quickly. We have several friends who have just gotten out, or are getting out in the next few weeks and suddenly, the airlines have quit all new hires. Those friends are in a really tough spot as what was once a sure thing is suddenly and very quickly gone. Another friend, who flies for a major airline, has said that they are offering to pay pilots to stay home and not fly for now, but I suspect that can't last very long. They are heavily unionized so how they cut back will be interesting (perhaps furloughs instead of lay offs) but it seems very likely that something is coming.
I just applied for a federal job. I don't need it. I wasn't even 100% sure I wanted it, but it was a perfect fit with good pay so I applied. I haven't seen anything that says federal hiring is frozen (unless it involves relocation), but I'm not holding my breath.
-
My company does field-work based contract work for utility companies throughout the US, we visit homes and business for various inspections and home/business improvement projects. Many of the utilities have suspended all operations for field work until at least April. Most of our field employees have to start using PTO or take unpaid time for the time being.
I was lucky to have narrowly escaped suspension of my work because I said "yes" to work on a new remote-based project by a different client just two weeks ago.... talk about random luck/good karma!
I also have a sports-related side hustle that was bringing in $750-$1000 a month, but now with most sporting events being cancelled there is a good chance my side hustle is going to lose some income.
Hopefully between my side hustle and new project at work, I'll be okay. I have a 50-60% savings rate right now so have some wiggle room. Will start saving cash from my paycheck and stop contributions to taxable accounts for the time being (will continue my 401k contributions)
-
There's tons of rumbling in the airline business right now, but nothing concrete about furloughs for pilots. Furlough is really expense as it causes a lot of retraining as pilots shift from one plane to another or from captain to first officer, and airlines don't want to get caught short when demand rebounds. So far it's all short term measures, with leaves of absence being offered (thought they're always a possibility), schedules reduced to contractual minimums to spread the flying around to as many as possible, and reduced pay to just sit at home for a month being considered.
-
I work for a utility, so none. There was a temp covering for a couple people in customer service out on medical leave that is done, I suspect. The hiring process for summer interns is on pause, but my organization is flush with cash due to a favorable budgeting variance on inputs. I'm not classified as "essential", but my job still really needs to be done, according to my director, and I expect to have to work more hours than I prefer to while my kids are home from school--more hours than I have been. Working from home is simply going to take longer until I work out the kinks.
I feel a little guilty, because my family is going to come out ahead over this between money saved on childcare and commuting costs, not to mention all the cash I have ready to buy when the market is right. We also are trying to hunker down as much as possible, so eating out costs as well. I really would like to support local restaurants, but right now believe we should contribute to flattening the curve as much as we can.
-
Nothing in my immediate world. Internal audit for car insurance company. They're trying to figure out how to adjust to this, since they're kinda dumb and didn't have a plan for anything in place. However, I'm not happy there, and the underlying reasons aren't going to get better so I'm just starting a job search. Great timing, huh?
I could pretty easily move back to a previous company, they want me back, I'd love to go back, but I would have to do non-preferred work in order to avoid the individual who was the reason I left. And it would likely be a slight pay cut.
However, many of my neighbors are impacted, or would be impacted if their offices shut down. So far, I haven't heard that anyone is suffering, and hoping that it stays that way.
-
@Villanelle federal hiring is not frozen (as of yet, to my knowledge). It may be site-specific. Word from my chain is hiring will continue as normal for now (in PA, DoD). Good luck!
-
I'm looking for a project manager job in IT and, so far, the number of job openings I see have not decreased. I've got a couple of interviews scheduled within a week and they were not cancelled. The only change this week involved changing in-person interviews to online or phone interviews. DH believes that his company will not lay off anyone. The company makes complex material analysis tools. First quarter sales have sucked because several customers of the company are in China, but the company thinks that second quarter will be better.
-
Not me but a good friend was laid off yesterday. She worked at a small private law firm.
She's not happy to have to be job-hunting in this environment and I don't blame her.
-
Last week, I reached out to a few former coworkers to wish them well during all of this craziness. And found out that THAT SAME DAY, they had laid off about 20% of the company, everyone from the admins to professionals to C-suite folks. It wasn't a big company, but it wasn't like some itsy bitsy two person shop either. It was really shocking to me-- I'd just quit about a month ago, so I probably would have been on the chopping block too.
I follow a lot of artists on social media, and a lot of the ones who hold down retail and/or retail adjacent day jobs are posting about lay offs affecting themselves or family members and asking people to check out their art and personal stores. Sad and scary for folks who already aren't making much.
-
Snip...
I really would like to support local restaurants, but right now believe we should contribute to flattening the curve as much as we can.
The local independent cafe here is offering vouchers, so you buy them now giving them money to keep afloat and then use them when we can all start getting out more. Some places are also doing takeout or delivery. It might be worth checking their websites/social media in case there are still ways to support them.
-
Snip...
I really would like to support local restaurants, but right now believe we should contribute to flattening the curve as much as we can.
The local independent cafe here is offering vouchers, so you buy them now giving them money to keep afloat and then use them when we can all start getting out more. Some places are also doing takeout or delivery. It might be worth checking their websites/social media in case there are still ways to support them.
That seems risky. What if they go out of business? I think A LOT of places are going to go out of business. Also I would think most people would be concerned about getting food and supplies now while they have money and employment rather than buying vouchers for future food. I mean if the business is still afloat later when you want food you could just use the cash you saved from not buying a voucher to just buy the food.
-
Couple of friends who work on contract basis in IT got notice for end of contract in two weeks. Seems like contract positions are first to go.
-
Doing ok so far. I work at a software startup that has financing enough to last a few years in a field that won't be impacted heavily by Corona. Husband works for a software consulting company--it seems unlikely that they would lay him off. Neither of our companies have announced layoffs yet.
But the fear is real since I assume the job market will be squeezed with companies freezing hiring to lower their expenditures. Just going to focus on lowering our expenses. If neither of us lose our jobs we're hoping to be able to buy a house in a few months (especially if the housing market is effected.)
-
Snip...
I really would like to support local restaurants, but right now believe we should contribute to flattening the curve as much as we can.
The local independent cafe here is offering vouchers, so you buy them now giving them money to keep afloat and then use them when we can all start getting out more. Some places are also doing takeout or delivery. It might be worth checking their websites/social media in case there are still ways to support them.
That seems risky. What if they go out of business? I think A LOT of places are going to go out of business. Also I would think most people would be concerned about getting food and supplies now while they have money and employment rather than buying vouchers for future food. I mean if the business is still afloat later when you want food you could just use the cash you saved from not buying a voucher to just buy the food.
In my area, carryout and delivery have exploded in the last couple days.
-
I work in bankruptcy and am a lot more concerned about being buried alive under all the new filings than I am about getting laid off. The last few months have been absolutely INSANE in this industry. Everyone and their brother is going bankrupt now, seriously. And it's only going to increase given the situation.
Regarding layoffs in general, we don't really do anything to prepare. We have low expenses and lots of money.
-
Restaurant worker chiming in. Our place was committed to staying open until today. Coworker works part time for another company that just had an employee test positive. Said coworker also had been coming in to work with bronchitis for the past week, probably exposing everyone. So, we are finally shut down for at least 2 weeks and are waiting for test results from various people with symptoms. Might wanna think twice before ordering that to-go plate.
-
I work in the entertainment industry. Productions have been shut down all over and people have been laid off, myself included.
On our production alone about 750 people I were laid off late Friday afternoon, effective by end of day. I'll be fine but some of my co-workers were very nervous. There will also be a bunch of local businesses, servicing the production, that will also be hit by this.
Luckily, our industry typically does well during economic down turns, so once the virus reaches its peak and begins to trend down, we should be able to get back to work. In the mean time a lot of people will be hit hard, LA is not a cheap place to shelter at home.
Hang in there everyone, "This too shall pass" - Persian Sufi Adage
-
I work for myself, marketing agency. We are lean FI already so I have no concerns. I've always kept about 2 yrs of emergency cash + what I have in our business account liquid, so we have quite a bit of liquid funds. My overall asset allocation is ~ 70/30 stocks to cash or cash equivalent. The market will likely impact marketing spend so I expect to see some decline, in fact we're already seeing it to a certain extent. There is more traffic available but the cpc rates are also lower, so its a different demand/price ratio. Sometimes when cpc's are low I can still earn more as I can do more volume even with the reduced rates since there is more inventory. I got into the internet marketing business in 2008 when we had the mortgage crisis. The internet marketing space really took off during the great recession, so it should be interesting to see if it is also insulated during this downturn.
Right now I'm looking forward to the pending housing crash, as we should be able to finally buy into our local market (coastal socal). I've put aside buying until we are Fat Fire but this may be the opportunity this year. I have a friend in real estate -- he basically confirms what I thought is happening. Purchase contracts are already being cancelled in escrow. Banks are tightening lending. I think we'll see more listings as people fear job loss. So it won't be long until we have a glut of inventory with much fewer buyers, and hence prices will crash down.
-
I work in the entertainment industry. Productions have been shut down all over and people have been laid off, myself included.
On our production alone about 750 people I were laid off late Friday afternoon, effective by end of day. I'll be fine but some of my co-workers were very nervous. There will also be a bunch of local businesses, servicing the production, that will also be hit by this.
Luckily, our industry typically does well during economic down turns, so once the virus reaches its peak and begins to trend down, we should be able to get back to work. In the mean time a lot of people will be hit hard, LA is not a cheap place to shelter at home.
Hang in there everyone, "This too shall pass" - Persian Sufi Adage
Great attitude. Inspiring!
Sorry about the situation @Fire2025. I wish you all the best.
-
I work in an industry that is being directly impacted by COVID-19, and I will be pretty shocked if I am not let go in the next couple months.
I have about one year of expenses in emergency cash, before I'd have to start selling off investments (at depressed prices!)
I'm questioning whether that is enough.
Edit to add:
I think this situation highlights the major problem with the primary argument against OMY's of: "I can always return to work for a while if necessary."
Well, when shit hits the fan, it all happens at once. Your stocks go down. You can't sell il-liquid assets like real-estate. Everyone is in a liquidity crunch. You try to ride it out by using the cash savings you have available. And yes, you can't get a job, because nobody is hiring. My employer was interviewing potential new hires just a couple weeks ago! Now, all of those openings are closed, and big layoffs are on the horizon. There will be millions of people searching for a new job at the same time, with no new jobs available. This can take a LONG time to recover -- even after the virus pandemic passes.
-
Double checked with my manager yesterday, and they said the business is in a strong position. No guarantees, but the aim is to keep everyone. During the last recession they did say no one was made redundant, but they also didn't hire anyone new. So I should be safe for a while hopefully.
There are also some processes I can do from home, which could help.
-
Snip...
I really would like to support local restaurants, but right now believe we should contribute to flattening the curve as much as we can.
The local independent cafe here is offering vouchers, so you buy them now giving them money to keep afloat and then use them when we can all start getting out more. Some places are also doing takeout or delivery. It might be worth checking their websites/social media in case there are still ways to support them.
That seems risky. What if they go out of business? I think A LOT of places are going to go out of business. Also I would think most people would be concerned about getting food and supplies now while they have money and employment rather than buying vouchers for future food. I mean if the business is still afloat later when you want food you could just use the cash you saved from not buying a voucher to just buy the food.
I would certainly hope people who were getting vouchers had their finances in order and don’t spend more than they can afford to lose. I imagine the people are doing this to show support for their valued local business than really thinking their £20 is going to stop them going bankrupt. There are government measures to help with that although I’m not saying no businesses are going to fold in the UK.
I’ve also seen people discussing whether to keep paying for child care despite not using it because they are now self isolating for the foreseeable future. Again that depends on people being able to afford to do so, but it seems sensible when good childcare is as rare as hens teeth.
And theatres who have closed are asking customers to only request refunds if they have to and otherwise see it as a donation to keep the theatre afloat.
-
My company has never had a lay off.
Hopefully that trend continues.
-
I'm a small biz accountant. I have (had) around 30 monthly clients. 4 have fired me and will be out of business by end of next week. Probably another 10 or so are in trouble. Wide range... Some very small and some good sized operations.
I participate in some Facebook groups for accountants. Most serve small businesses. This is going to get much uglier before it gets better I'm afraid. Many are predicting they will lose half of their client base. Not all of those will close down completely (some just fire their accountant to save costs), but many will.
I don't think it is unreasonable to think 10-25% of the small businesses in America could fold in the next few months.
-
Friend's brother in law was just laid off.
I'm surprised at how quickly it happened.
-
I work for myself, marketing agency. We are lean FI already so I have no concerns. I've always kept about 2 yrs of emergency cash + what I have in our business account liquid, so we have quite a bit of liquid funds. My overall asset allocation is ~ 70/30 stocks to cash or cash equivalent. The market will likely impact marketing spend so I expect to see some decline, in fact we're already seeing it to a certain extent. There is more traffic available but the cpc rates are also lower, so its a different demand/price ratio. Sometimes when cpc's are low I can still earn more as I can do more volume even with the reduced rates since there is more inventory. I got into the internet marketing business in 2008 when we had the mortgage crisis. The internet marketing space really took off during the great recession, so it should be interesting to see if it is also insulated during this downturn.
Right now I'm looking forward to the pending housing crash, as we should be able to finally buy into our local market (coastal socal). I've put aside buying until we are Fat Fire but this may be the opportunity this year. I have a friend in real estate -- he basically confirms what I thought is happening. Purchase contracts are already being cancelled in escrow. Banks are tightening lending. I think we'll see more listings as people fear job loss. So it won't be long until we have a glut of inventory with much fewer buyers, and hence prices will crash down.
We are also FI...but I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation.
As of right now, being FI is meaningless. Having cash to spend is useless if there is nothing available to buy, and your mortality risk goes up 50% due to an overwhelmed medical system.
I take zero comfort in being FI at this stage. That frame of reference is thrown out the window in such a strange situation.
We have to deal with the economic fallout later, but we have to focus on keeping critical infrastructure up, make available essential living supplies to people, and take care of this crisis in the most urgent matter possible from a medical perspective.
The world as we knew it is gone, at least for a little while. I am under no illusion that having extra cash in the bank is going to mean squat when the paradigm is how we keep food shortages and medical shortages at bay.
-
My job is 100% virtual, so social distancing hasn't impacted me too much - other than my weekly grocery shop being impacted due to hoarders.
But I expect there to be big downstream impact. I don't see my company making its sales numbers this year because its customers aren't going to make theirs. We're an IT company with a very broad spectrum of customers. Don't see any of the airlines buying too much this year!
Will I personally get laid off? I very much doubt it, I'm damn good at what I do, and there aren't many people who can do what I do.....but I expect that there will be lay offs within 6 months.
-
As of right now, being FI is meaningless. Having cash to spend is useless if there is nothing available to buy, and your mortality risk goes up 50% due to an overwhelmed medical system.
Eh, I disagree with this strongly. Times like this are the most important to be FI just to cover your basic living costs and not be worried about job loss. That alone reduces massive amounts of stress which is important for keeping your immune system in good shape. Sure, mortality rate is higher right now, but it's important to maintain perspective -- overall mortality rate if you are healthy is still relatively insignificant. Let's keep perspective here, it's important. Control what you can and don't stress about the uncontrollables. This is a time to be stoic.
-
As of right now, being FI is meaningless. Having cash to spend is useless if there is nothing available to buy, and your mortality risk goes up 50% due to an overwhelmed medical system.
Eh, I disagree with this strongly. Times like this are the most important to be FI just to cover your basic living costs and not be worried about job loss. That alone reduces massive amounts of stress which is important for keeping your immune system in good shape. Sure, mortality rate is higher right now but it's important to maintain perspective -- overall mortality rate if you are healthy is still relatively insignificant. Let's keep perspective here, it's important.
Just as I figured, someone who doesn't understand the precipice of this new world paradigm we are in. Perhaps this will help frame it: https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/destroying-the-ignorance-and-myths-on-the-coronavirus/
Of course the economy has collapsed. But no one cares. Those who will still be there after the crisis, will worry about it.
-
relax, its not the end of the world. This too shall pass. People get very hyperbolic.
-
relax, its not the end of the world. This too shall pass. People get very hyperbolic.
Of course it's going to pass. At what cost?
What if you were told ahead of time you wouldn't survive the end of this year? Would that change it for you?
People are not getting hyperbolic enough, that is the god damn problem.
And for many many people, it is the end of the world for them, or going to be the end of the world for them. Their loved ones will die, jobs lost forever, while we dither on our fingers and worry about the wrong things.
-
And by the way, this isn't exponential growth as you claim in that thread, its a bayesian curve -- that is very different than exponential growth. The panic is not helpful. Take the measures that you are able to to reduce risk. That is all you can do. Being scared and fretting in fear is not going to help.
-
And by the way, this isn't exponential growth as you claim in that thread, its a bayesian curve -- that is very different than exponential growth. The panic is not helpful. Take the measures that you are able to to reduce risk. That is all you can do. Being scared and fretting in fear is not going to help.
Unfortunately, it's not being scared. It's being educated. The world's most educated and knowledgeable people have been warning us for months about this. Most people have been willingly ignorant of this and still don't understand the paradigm has changed.
-
]Unfortunately, it's not being scared. It's being educated. The world's most educated people have been warning us for months about this. Most people have been willingly ignorant of this and still don't understand the paradigm has changed.
If you were truly educated on this you wouldn't be citing it as exponential growth, sorry to say.
-
]Unfortunately, it's not being scared. It's being educated. The world's most educated people have been warning us for months about this. Most people have been willingly ignorant of this and still don't understand the paradigm has changed.
If you were truly educated on this you wouldn't be citing it as exponential growth, sorry to say.
I'm not a mathematician.... so I used the wrong term to describe the terrifying growth.
Does that change the facts of the matter at all? Sorry it doesn't.
There are material errors and immaterial errors. My using the wrong term is a technical immaterial error. People who think immaterial errors matter are the uneducated.
-
In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. “How are we to live in an atomic age?” I am tempted to reply: “Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.”
In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.
This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.
— C.S. Lewis, “On Living in an Atomic Age” (1948)
-
So let's say this is as bad as the Spanish Flu, or black plaque. Yes people lived through it. No need for people to appreciate the magnitude of the situation then, and no need to act on it now, is my understanding of what you're saying.
Unfortunately, when bodies start stacking up waiting to be picked up / burned, nice quotes like those won't mean a damn thing.
-
As of right now, being FI is meaningless. Having cash to spend is useless if there is nothing available to buy, and your mortality risk goes up 50% due to an overwhelmed medical system.
Eh, I disagree with this strongly. Times like this are the most important to be FI just to cover your basic living costs and not be worried about job loss. That alone reduces massive amounts of stress which is important for keeping your immune system in good shape. Sure, mortality rate is higher right now but it's important to maintain perspective -- overall mortality rate if you are healthy is still relatively insignificant. Let's keep perspective here, it's important.
Just as I figured, someone who doesn't understand the precipice of this new world paradigm we are in. Perhaps this will help frame it: https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/destroying-the-ignorance-and-myths-on-the-coronavirus/
Of course the economy has collapsed. But no one cares. Those who will still be there after the crisis, will worry about it.
If being FI is meaningless then give me your nestegg in exchange for the secret to ensuring you don't get infected...... stay home and isolate yourself.
-
If being FI is meaningless then give me your nestegg in exchange for the secret to ensuring you don't get infected...... stay home and isolate yourself.
Staying home is no guarantee you won't get infected. People are still going out in the US. People are not taking it seriously enough.
China shut people down in their homes for 6 weeks, before this got under control. They had to build several field hospitals in days to try to deal with this. Who knows if their death count is anywhere near accurate. This will not end well if we don't take draconian measures.
I'll be curious to revisit this thread a few months from now, to see your tone, and if you're even alive.
The studies based on facts, leading scientists and medical specialists are sounding the alarm. The canary in the coal mine has started making noise. Seems many still don't hear it.
-
]Unfortunately, it's not being scared. It's being educated. The world's most educated people have been warning us for months about this. Most people have been willingly ignorant of this and still don't understand the paradigm has changed.
If you were truly educated on this you wouldn't be citing it as exponential growth, sorry to say.
I'm not sure what thread or what chart is being referenced here, but we are absolutely seeing exponential growth in the number of cases, the number of deaths and the number of deaths per day.
-
I'm not sure what thread or what chart is being referenced here, but we are absolutely seeing exponential growth in the number of cases, the number of deaths and the number of deaths per day.
Exponential curves are much different than a bayesian bell curve which is what a virus causes. The exponential rate decreases over time until cases are decreasing exponentially.
-
I'm not sure what thread or what chart is being referenced here, but we are absolutely seeing exponential growth in the number of cases, the number of deaths and the number of deaths per day.
Exponential curves are much different than a bayesian bell curve which is what a virus causes. The exponential rate decreases over time until cases are decreasing exponentially.
That doesn't sound like any explanation of exponential growth / curve to me.
Here's what wikipedia says on exponential growth, and the chart shows the growth curve shooting up as time passes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exponential_growth
Exponential growth is a specific way that a quantity may increase over time. It occurs when the instantaneous rate of change (that is, the derivative) of a quantity with respect to time is proportional to the quantity itself. Described as a function, a quantity undergoing exponential growth is an exponential function of time, that is, the variable representing time is the exponent (in contrast to other types of growth, such as quadratic growth).
And the media is using the term exponential growth: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article241332666.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2020/03/17/why-exponential-growth-is-so-scary-for-the-covid-19-coronavirus/#6dc43e644e9b
as well as SETI: https://www.seti.org/coronavirus-and-exponential-growth
In fact, this guy who is way smarter than me describes this exactly as exponential growth in this sobering video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtN-goy9VOY&feature=youtu.be (which you clearly did not watch despite my plea in the other thread for people to watch).
It's extremely dangerous to spread misinformation, and it seems you've gone out of your way to tout yourself as an expert here and try to present something incorrect as factual. That's going to to destroy your credibility especially on important topics like this.
-
I'm not sure what thread or what chart is being referenced here, but we are absolutely seeing exponential growth in the number of cases, the number of deaths and the number of deaths per day.
Exponential curves are much different than a bayesian bell curve which is what a virus causes. The exponential rate decreases over time until cases are decreasing exponentially.
We will eventually see slowing of growth and then decay, but that does not change the fact that we are currently experiencing exponential growth and need to take measures to slow it as much as possible.
-
I was laid off 2 weeks ago when my location was suddenly closed. It wasn't coronavirus-related, the company is in bad financial straits. The severance I was paid was quite stingy although if we had stayed open until this crisis hit there probably would have been no severance at all.
My skills are pretty specific to the industry which is very hard-hit by the current widespread shutdown of business. I'm not sure what the future holds for me. We have some emergency savings and in a month I'll be 59.5 years old and can withdraw retirement savings without penalty. Certainly not the ideal situation but we won't go hungry in the foreseeable future.
-
I'm not sure what thread or what chart is being referenced here, but we are absolutely seeing exponential growth in the number of cases, the number of deaths and the number of deaths per day.
Exponential curves are much different than a bayesian bell curve which is what a virus causes. The exponential rate decreases over time until cases are decreasing exponentially.
We will eventually see slowing of growth and then decay, but that does not change the fact that we are currently experiencing exponential growth and need to take measures to slow it as much as possible.
Thank you for chiming in. I was doubting myself until I studied my sources more carefully.
This is exponential growth according to the experts. We cannot let false information and people who present themselves as credible but are spreading incorrect information detract from the core understanding of this issue.
-
Well, my state is taking this deadly serious -
https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/spl/pennsylvania-shutdown-lifesustaining-businesses-tom-wolf-shut-down-20200319.html (https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/spl/pennsylvania-shutdown-lifesustaining-businesses-tom-wolf-shut-down-20200319.html)
All those small businesses that were still sort of open are all shut down. More notably, many, many, many manufacturing industries in the state are being ordered to cease operations that cannot be performed remotely.
The address that Gov. Wolf gave to the state was fucking eerie.
-
relax, its not the end of the world. This too shall pass. People get very hyperbolic.
Of course it's going to pass. At what cost?
What if you were told ahead of time you wouldn't survive the end of this year? Would that change it for you?
People are not getting hyperbolic enough, that is the god damn problem.
And for many many people, it is the end of the world for them, or going to be the end of the world for them. Their loved ones will die, jobs lost forever, while we dither on our fingers and worry about the wrong things.
It may be the end of the world for many people, just like a car accident is the end of the world for the victims, but that does not mean it is the end of the world for the rest of us. Governments are worried, but that's because it's their job to worry and take conservative measures. That does not mean that the rest of us as private individuals have to take the same worries. If we believe (and for a second, bear with me and accept that the individual's belief might be rational) that our financial position is sound (many on these forums have enough assets to live for many years without income) and that we are taking measures to isolate ourselves and our families to a reasonable extent, then it is hardly the end of the world, nor could we do more to help others.
-
A lot of my friends and family are getting laid off. I know people are saying the core of the economy is still intact and this is nothing like the great recession, but damn it's starting to feel like it. They are panicked and freaking out about the layoffs, and are oblivious that we are about to live through hell on Earth in just a couple of weeks and them not working is not even important right now. I have a sneaking suspicion that unless you are a doctor or directly involved in the supply of essential goods like food or medical supplies then your ass is about to not have a job, and that includes me.
-
I'm honestly surprised how few people here are concerned about complete economic collapse, and only seem concerned about the virus.
I'm not talking about the stock market. I'm talking about shutting down the entire states economies and the ripple effects with that that cause it all to crumble. It's a situation where even 2 weeks might be too long to recover from. There are a quite a few posts just in this thread of people already laid off. Small businesses won't be able to float the cash to just keep people on payroll with no work being accomplished.
This seems obvious to me that it's unsustainable, but the people in power apparently are oblivious to how their decisions can easily destroy our economy.
-
I work in bankruptcy and am a lot more concerned about being buried alive under all the new filings than I am about getting laid off. The last few months have been absolutely INSANE in this industry. Everyone and their brother is going bankrupt now, seriously. And it's only going to increase given the situation.
Regarding layoffs in general, we don't really do anything to prepare. We have low expenses and lots of money.
whats your phone # we'll be needing it soon
-
I'm honestly surprised how few people here are concerned about complete economic collapse, and only seem concerned about the virus.
I'm not talking about the stock market. I'm talking about shutting down the entire states economies and the ripple effects with that that cause it all to crumble. It's a situation where even 2 weeks might be too long to recover from. There are a quite a few posts just in this thread of people already laid off. Small businesses won't be able to float the cash to just keep people on payroll with no work being accomplished.
This seems obvious to me that it's unsustainable, but the people in power apparently are oblivious to how their decisions can easily destroy our economy.
Spot on. We have gone from extreme under-reaction to extreme overreaction in the U.S. assuming we keep extending the shut down. We may be dealing with essentially the equivalent of the flu and in turn turning the country into economic version of Venezuela over time. When they start talking about shutting down economy for 12-18 months it's frankly lunacy based on the evidence. Here is a good summary of the issue from Stanford University researcher.
https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/17/a-fiasco-in-the-making-as-the-coronavirus-pandemic-takes-hold-we-are-making-decisions-without-reliable-data/
-
A lot of my friends and family are getting laid off. I know people are saying the core of the economy is still intact and this is nothing like the great recession, but damn it's starting to feel like it. They are panicked and freaking out about the layoffs, and are oblivious that we are about to live through hell on Earth in just a couple of weeks and them not working is not even important right now. I have a sneaking suspicion that unless you are a doctor or directly involved in the supply of essential goods like food or medical supplies then your ass is about to not have a job, and that includes me.
Agree with what you said mostly, but I don't know anyone with a brain who thinks the core of the economy is going to be left intact if we keep up with these mandates and quarantines. There won't be much of anything left if this continues for another month or two. I think the great recession is going to look like a walk in the park if nothing changes...
-
I'm honestly surprised how few people here are concerned about complete economic collapse, and only seem concerned about the virus.
I'm not talking about the stock market. I'm talking about shutting down the entire states economies and the ripple effects with that that cause it all to crumble. It's a situation where even 2 weeks might be too long to recover from. There are a quite a few posts just in this thread of people already laid off. Small businesses won't be able to float the cash to just keep people on payroll with no work being accomplished.
This seems obvious to me that it's unsustainable, but the people in power apparently are oblivious to how their decisions can easily destroy our economy.
It's hard to be worrying about economic collapse when your house is on fire.
-
I'm honestly surprised how few people here are concerned about complete economic collapse, and only seem concerned about the virus.
I'm not talking about the stock market. I'm talking about shutting down the entire states economies and the ripple effects with that that cause it all to crumble. It's a situation where even 2 weeks might be too long to recover from. There are a quite a few posts just in this thread of people already laid off. Small businesses won't be able to float the cash to just keep people on payroll with no work being accomplished.
This seems obvious to me that it's unsustainable, but the people in power apparently are oblivious to how their decisions can easily destroy our economy.
Spot on. We have gone from extreme under-reaction to extreme overreaction in the U.S. assuming we keep extending the shut down. We may be dealing with essentially the equivalent of the flu and in turn turning the country into economic version of Venezuela over time. When they start talking about shutting down economy for 12-18 months it's frankly lunacy based on the evidence. Here is a good summary of the issue from Stanford University researcher.
https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/17/a-fiasco-in-the-making-as-the-coronavirus-pandemic-takes-hold-we-are-making-decisions-without-reliable-data/
Again with the head in the sand. This is nothing like the flu. https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/destroying-the-ignorance-and-myths-on-the-coronavirus/
And there is no possibility of extreme over-reaction with the situation we have right now. People don't understand we are about to hit a brick wall at 100mph...they are still arguing about who's going to control the radio and not seeing the end of the ride suddenly ahead.
-
"And there is no possibility of extreme over-reaction with the situation we have right now. "
There is always a possibility of extreme over-reaction. Your post demonstrates exactly why and how it is possible.
-
"And there is no possibility of extreme over-reaction with the situation we have right now. "
There is always a possibility of extreme over-reaction. Your post demonstrates exactly why and how it is possible.
You think? We haven't come close to being where China / Italy is at yet.
These are famous words that will most likely not age well.
I pray I am wrong, but I'd rather be massively over-reacting at fighting this thing and be wrong, than lackadaisical and in denial and be dead wrong, literally.
The facts so far do not seem to reflect that sentiment of those who are not taking this seriously.
These sobering stories from Italy about what they have gone through, seems to be lost on the deaf ears of many:
https://god.dailydot.com/stages-coronavirus-italy/
-
My corporation of 12,000 furloughed about half this Friday. The way things are going, there will be more in the coming months.
It is crazy here. Everyone was bringing their computers home to VPN in. Lots of full towers with dual monitors going out the door. Managers rushing to Best Buy to purchase WiFi dongles for people who only have wireless internet at home. The corp more than doubled its VPN capacity, and we now have 4 different ways to VPN.
-
I'm honestly surprised how few people here are concerned about complete economic collapse, and only seem concerned about the virus.
I'm not talking about the stock market. I'm talking about shutting down the entire states economies and the ripple effects with that that cause it all to crumble. It's a situation where even 2 weeks might be too long to recover from. There are a quite a few posts just in this thread of people already laid off. Small businesses won't be able to float the cash to just keep people on payroll with no work being accomplished.
This seems obvious to me that it's unsustainable, but the people in power apparently are oblivious to how their decisions can easily destroy our economy.
Spot on. We have gone from extreme under-reaction to extreme overreaction in the U.S. assuming we keep extending the shut down. We may be dealing with essentially the equivalent of the flu and in turn turning the country into economic version of Venezuela over time. When they start talking about shutting down economy for 12-18 months it's frankly lunacy based on the evidence. Here is a good summary of the issue from Stanford University researcher.
https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/17/a-fiasco-in-the-making-as-the-coronavirus-pandemic-takes-hold-we-are-making-decisions-without-reliable-data/
Again with the head in the sand. This is nothing like the flu. https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/destroying-the-ignorance-and-myths-on-the-coronavirus/
And there is no possibility of extreme over-reaction with the situation we have right now. People don't understand we are about to hit a brick wall at 100mph...they are still arguing about who's going to control the radio and not seeing the end of the ride suddenly ahead.
I
If you are interested in rationale and scientific thought about this i challenge you to read this article from a Stanford University researcher / epomediologist.
https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/17/a-fiasco-in-the-making-as-the-coronavirus-pandemic-takes-hold-we-are-making-decisions-without-reliable-data/
-
"And there is no possibility of extreme over-reaction with the situation we have right now. "
There is always a possibility of extreme over-reaction. Your post demonstrates exactly why and how it is possible.
You think? We haven't come close to being where China / Italy is at yet.
These are famous words that will most likely not age well.
I pray I am wrong, but I'd rather be massively over-reacting at fighting this thing and be wrong, than lackadaisical and in denial and be dead wrong, literally.
The facts so far do not seem to reflect that sentiment of those who are not taking this seriously.
These sobering stories from Italy about what they have gone through, seems to be lost on the deaf ears of many:
https://god.dailydot.com/stages-coronavirus-italy/
China had a comparatively tiny impact and now has no new cases. It got off light.
Italy is being ravaged, sure. But why pick Italy? Why not, say, Australia, or New Zealand, or Singapore, or any of the lesser affected countries?
By focussing on the worst-case scenario (another Italy, with further exponential growth beyond that), it seems clear to me that you're taking an extremely conservative scenario.
Because what can easily happen if we all look at the 99th worst percentile instead of the 25-75th percentile is that we shut down the economy for too long, leading to an over-extended run of job losses, leading to bail-outs, leading to higher taxes for many of us (even those of us who need absolutely no bailing out due to our own financial prudence) for years or decades down the track.
-
Are you all seeing that the Department of Labor is trying to prevent states from releasing their unemployment numbers? https://thehill.com/policy/finance/488595-labor-dept-asked-states-to-delay-releasing-increased-unemployment-numbers
Based on the 15 states that have released, it sounds like we're talking about the highest number of claims on record, by far.
-
Are you all seeing that the Department of Labor is trying to prevent states from releasing their unemployment numbers? https://thehill.com/policy/finance/488595-labor-dept-asked-states-to-delay-releasing-increased-unemployment-numbers
Based on the 15 states that have released, it sounds like we're talking about the highest number of claims on record, by far.
Based on the people I know this isn't surprising in the least. We are about to set some new records. USA! USA! USA!
-
@Bloop Bloop what do you mean China had a comparitively tiny impact? China has 80k+ cases, of which 67k in Hubei. Hubei/Wuhan was locked down when they had only 444 registered cases. Most countries that are now showing rapid jumps in confirmed cases did not shut down at case #444. The stories we hear from Lombardy now are the same as the stories coming from Wuhan/Hubei in February. There's some heartbreaking stories of people in their 20s/30s dying because they couldn't get a hospital bed in time. The rest of China did quite well, but they stayed in a lockdown for over a month - not sure how you call that 'tiny impact'.
As of why not compare with Australia; assuming nemesis is in the USA then comparing with Australia makes no sense as the USA is way ahead of Australia's curve, both in absolute cases and per capita. Australia shows the same exponential curve of growth so far, but just seems 1-2 week behind some of Europe and the USA.
Comparing to the succesful Asian countries like Singapore, Japan and to a lesser extent Korea would be an option, but these countries were pretty good at keeping numbers down by exactly all those things that Europe/USA isn't doing; testing lots of folks, limit travel into the country, social distancing early on, closing schools etc. Therefore, Singapore and Japan show a very different curve when looking at the increase in cases (not Korea bc they had the church outbreak that went uncontrolled). Besides that, culturally the USA is more likely to follow the Italy model (and so is the rest of Europe) with people still going out even if the government recommends them to not do so.
So yeah, my question would be, why would one expect the USA, or any of the European countries, to look more like the succesful Asian countries (not counting Australia because they're just behind on the curve and do not show any reduction in growth rate yet)?
Btw; not arguing on which measures we should take here. I also don't know what the best option is but I'd prefer it to not look like Italy. But from what I'm seeing I have no reason to believe that we (speaking from mainland Europe here) will not be the next Italy.
-
I work in an industry that is being directly impacted by COVID-19, and I will be pretty shocked if I am not let go in the next couple months.
I have about one year of expenses in emergency cash, before I'd have to start selling off investments (at depressed prices!)
I'm questioning whether that is enough.
Edit to add:
I think this situation highlights the major problem with the primary argument against OMY's of: "I can always return to work for a while if necessary."
Well, when shit hits the fan, it all happens at once. Your stocks go down. You can't sell il-liquid assets like real-estate. Everyone is in a liquidity crunch. You try to ride it out by using the cash savings you have available. And yes, you can't get a job, because nobody is hiring. My employer was interviewing potential new hires just a couple weeks ago! Now, all of those openings are closed, and big layoffs are on the horizon. There will be millions of people searching for a new job at the same time, with no new jobs available. This can take a LONG time to recover -- even after the virus pandemic passes.
I always like to come back to this kind of point when it's made, because it misses a lot of key issues.
If someone is debating OMY, then by definition, they already have a fuck ton of assets. In that case, going back to work at some point is not even remotely a rushed concept.
Not only that, but they have plenty of time and resources to retrain if necessary, or buy into one of the many, many, MANY remarkable opportunities that come up during recessions.
For example, in my case, everyone in my entire industry is laid off with no possibility of work. In fact, my licensing body sent out a stern email earlier this week saying that if anyone of us work, we can be reported to public health.
I have a few side hustles, but I can't really lean on those at this exact moment, because my clients are my colleagues, and since they were all abruptly closed, none of them have any cash flow.
All in all, I'm just shit out of luck for income at the moment, which is fine because I engineer my life to never urgently need my own income.
I'm good for at least a year or two, so in that time, I could invest some of my ample resources into further training to make my services even more marketable once we get back to work.
Oh wait...that's exactly what I'm doing right now! Actually, it's exactly what I had already planned to do, so even before shit hit the fan I was prepared for a year with no income, hunkered down at home studying for yet another credential.
When your timelines for needing cash are measured in years, not weeks, it's incredible how flexible and dynamic your employment options are.
A FIREd person looking for opportunities to add to their stache is a completely different reality than someone desperate for work so they can feed their kids.
My not being able to work at this moment is a very temporary situation. The demand hasn't actually disappeared, I'm just temporarily banned from meeting it.
The long-term consequences will be to the economy at large, and I've carefully curated my skills and experience to be *more* valuable during economic down times, which anyone with some time and resources can do.
-
I live in a ski town in Colorado. Our whole town is basically laid off: The resort laid almost everyone off since it closed early, the restaurants are closed, and all the tourists are gone and our economy is like 90% tourism. Hoping this doesn't last all summer. Realizing it might.
-
Just had 3 employees laid off. Management is claiming they were voluntary layoffs, but employees are concerned that's not the whole truth.
-
I work in a brewery in New York State. All non-essential businesses will need to shutdown Sunday night, but we're considered essential as a beverage manufacturer. We haven't had to lay anyone off just yet, but only being allowed to sell to-go beer is gonna hit us hard when we have to pay our quarterly taxes and our mortgage...
Sent from my moto g(7) using Tapatalk
-
I am a self employed consultant for a small business (work from home, have for the past 14 years). We are a high end cabinetry design firm. Today we laid off an employee. This employee was coming up on her 90 day mark (do or die time in FL for employees). She was a mediocre employee. Less then 3 months ago, we desperately needed this employee. This week she is laid off. We are small and managed to survive the 2007-2008 housing bust when most design firms were going under. We are lucky in that over 75% of our clientele are high end, they are not necessarily of the 1%, but more like the 5-10 percenters on the income scale. These kinds of things don't seem to affect them as easily. We currently have many jobs that we are in the beginning stages or middle stages of cabinetry on their jobs. So those are not going away. If your new house is framed, wired, plumbed and drywall going up you are not stopping your job. At the very least you have to finish the job and then put it on the market. Also most of our jobs are new construction not remodels. Now that being said, since I am a self employed contractor for them and not an employee my hours are cut first. For now I am fine, I figure I have about until early June before I will see a significant dent in my hours. Also I am crossed trained for 2 different departments so they will float me back and forth doing work in each to keep giving me hours as they can. They will probably cut a few more people in the next month or so if business starts slowing down, but they will be CAD drawers. People we picked up in the last year when things were super busy. They will try to keep the core people around that have worked for them for years just like in 2007-2008. I was one of those people, I have worked for these people at the last business they owned back in 1999 and this new business since 2004. I did take 2008-2013 off to stay at home with my twins that were babies, which worked out fine. But once my kids were in full day kindergarten they had me back working from home again to keep things moving along.
Luckily, my husband is military and has steady employment, so even without my check, we have savings to get us through at least a year. Then we can make it by just cutting down on all the fluff in our lives, which right now is not much since we can't do anything. I am getting money back left and right from cancelled vacation, cancelled half marathons I signed up for, travel soccer for my one daughter is cancelled for the rest of the playing year. Those things just wouldn't happening in the fall if I am not working.
I hate seeing employees being laid off right now, 2 months ago if we got rid of someone because it was not working out, you don't feel bad because they can get a job the next day. Now, it may take 6 months or longer for them to find a job.
-
Our serving and bussing staff have been laid off as we have shut down dining room food service. Cooks hours are being slashed as total volumn of business is down. Delivery and pickup orders have been solid so far, and I'm hopeful that's sustainable. We have many long term customers who will probably keep ordering from us, but of course many of them might be trying to cut costs as well.
-
No layoffs yet, but we just got told to submit timecards with "actual hours worked," meaning when we run out of work that can be done remotely, we stop getting paid. I work in a laboratory, 90% of our work can't be done remotely. I'll be fine, we can survive on just my DH's income, and have a strong emergency fund, but I'm worried about some of my coworkers if this goes on longer than a few weeks.
-
No effect yet for me as a public sector person, but my GF is busier than ever. She retired with a pension, and started doing tax prep for a national chain for maybe 5 months each year. Currently everyone is rushing to her office, figuring they may close any day, and they want to get their refunds before the IRS gets wacky. For now she is working 12 hour days 7 days a week on commission. Her pay at the end of the season could be crazy. I wish she would work less (being around people constantly is a serious threat at this point), but she is determined to make it to the end for a huge payday. <shrug>
-
We aren't affected directly in our employent - DW's work is easily done at home and they have enough resources for 3 years of operations (she is the boss). I have more work than I want, but in a frontline health sector that is going to be very scary in the near term.
Investment wise our RE stuff is looking a bit scary. I think enough tenants will pay that I can cover the mortgage payments, but I know some of them are being laid off. Here in Canada these is some talk of mortgage relief, but I'm not sure when it comes to commercial mortgages. I'll have to wait and see.
-
All temp/contract employees got let go today at my company. Some had been with us for 3+ years.
-
I feel a little bit lucky, so far. My company literally closed on our most recent round of funding a week before the SHTF. That doesn't mean there won't be a slowdown - we can easily be affected by global trends (and our suppliers and vendors are either not working or only half working). We don't know yet. Personally, I got handed another project just today (on top of everything else), with no extra pay, so yay? I don't know how that's all gonna work if I have to start homeschooling my kids...
Which moves on to husband: mostly government contracts, already funded for at least a year or two, makes more than me, and paid by the hour. So if one of us had to take a career "hit", it ain't gonna be him. So, we are both WFH but with the kids it is tough.
Many of my friends have already gotten laid off (service industry). I am not sure my friend who works in wine tours will survive this. His wife works, but two incomes are a necessity here. Our restaurants are trying to stay open with delivery and takeout only. It's going to get really really ugly, and if this country doesn't pull together and use my considerable tax dollars to float all those people who are laid off, I'm gonna be pissed.
-
I work for a software company and the only layoffs I know about so far are the cafeteria staff. The office is essentially closed. There is no food service. You can't make a cup of coffee. They got rid of the toasters and microwaves. They don't even want you to use the refrigerators if you bring your own food. Everyone else, with the exception of a few people that need to be in the office to do their jobs, is working from home for the next few weeks. I haven't heard about any other layoffs yet, but I'm sure they are coming. They'll probably hit the development staff last and that would take several months to happen.
My wife's company just did their first round of layoffs yesterday. It was mostly administrative people. My wife's company usually does more face to face work and visits client facilities. If the shutdowns, shelter in place orders, and travel bans escalate, my wife will probably get laid off too, but it will probably be several weeks to a couple of months before it gets to that point. She has some contacts in her industry and could probably get another job without too much of a gap. It just depends on how quickly things get back to normal.
We are prepared. We have no debt, not even a mortgage. We continually look for ways to reduce our spending without reducing the quality of our lives. Our emergency funds can sustain us for well over a year. The emergency funds can last even longer if we can collect unemployment. I'm not looking forward to any loss of income, but we should be able to withstand it pretty easily.
-
Clearly, the employment market has done a complete 180 in the the past couple of weeks, and even in the last few days since people have been posting I suspect the ground has been moving under their feet.
Contractors are being let go, and layoffs are happening faster than ever.
If you are a business owner you will certainly have seen the impact on activity and are no doubt considering having to make some hard decisions in the near future.
I don't see how anyone can feel secure about their job right now.
-
I don't see how anyone can feel secure about their job right now.
Unless you are a Dr or a PPE manufacturer, then you are almost guaranteed to be working triple shifts for the foreseeable future.
-
Military so I'm feeling pretty secure. Once my deployment is over my full-time job is a civilian employee for the DoD - so once again, pretty secure.
My side-hustle selling on Amazon has increased substantially in the last few days. I'm primarily selling local grocery products and I'd say my sales have doubled or tripled in the last few days. However, what was a two-month supply will probably turn into several weeks and I'm probably not going to be able to resupply anytime soon.
-
I don't see how anyone can feel secure about their job right now.
Unless you are a Dr or a PPE manufacturer, then you are almost guaranteed to be working triple shifts for the foreseeable future.
Permanent government employees performing needed services from home (non-essential) and at work (essential) seem to be pretty safe.
Military so I'm feeling pretty secure. Once my deployment is over my full-time job is a civilian employee for the DoD - so once again, pretty secure.
My side-hustle selling on Amazon has increased substantially in the last few days. I'm primarily selling local grocery products and I'd say my sales have doubled or tripled in the last few days. However, what was a two-month supply will probably turn into several weeks and I'm probably not going to be able to resupply anytime soon.
Selling local groceries on Amazon sounds lucrative right now.
-
I don't see how anyone can feel secure about their job right now.
Unless you are a Dr or a PPE manufacturer, then you are almost guaranteed to be working triple shifts for the foreseeable future.
Yeah, agree on that. Obviously some niche sectors are pretty recession-proof and some are counter-cyclical.
Overall though most private sector employees are going to be sweating nuts.
-
I am pretty lucky in that my company does a lot of work for governments and we have many projects which have already been funded. Further, in the event that the Feds decide to rekindle the economy through infrastructure investment we will be at the leading edge of that, in fact my company grew from microscopic to tiny in 2010-2011 for that very reason. Really, we are a like a permanent portfolio. More than half our work comes from government, but a significant chunk from industry/commerce and gold mining.
Also my wife is a nurse at a hospital. If our area follows the track of other countries, she will make a year of pay in the next three months from overtime. And she just got assigned her first "presumed corona virus until proven otherwise" case this morning, and sent me a selfie in full protective gear. So shit just got real.
So, no financial concerns here.
-
I have a small business manufacturing greenhouses in Washington state and our phones won't stop ringing. Lots of folks wanting to
start their seasons planting in a greenhouse to get a jump on the weather. We are also seeing a panic from weed growers in Southern Oregon that can't get their orders in fast enough. We've made 4 delivery trips down there in the last ten days. Our new policy is come and get it here if you need it that bad. I think they will all be too high to worry about survival as long as they have their beloved weed.
All but a couple of the local restaurant's have closed completely with the remaining ones trying to make it on to go orders.
We also have a couple of paper mills in our area that are just starting layoffs.
-
I don't see how anyone can feel secure about their job right now.
Unless you are a Dr or a PPE manufacturer, then you are almost guaranteed to be working triple shifts for the foreseeable future.
I work in bankruptcy and feel very secure in my job for the forseeable future.