Done with 2012

Today is the last day of 2012, it is the last day for unemployment benefits. Eleven months since my last pay check. Who'da'thunk'it. Down to applying to tier three jobs.

Oh, here are the tiers:
            Third, annual salary at last job plus and a ten percent increase in pay.
            Second, no more than a fifteen percent decrease in annual pay.
            First, one half of annual pay (basically replaces unemployment benefits.)

Not that I expect the government to pay me indefinitely, but it would have been nice to get a few more months of benefits. Since I am at the bottom of the pond looking up, I feel the privilege to wallow in my self pity. Of course so are two million plus other Americans on long term benefits. I do not get the math, but someone said last week (on one of those so-called cable news channels) this program amounted to thirty billion in the Federal Budget. With the looming deadlock inside the Beltway over the "Fiscal Cliff", I realize I am part of the problem. I took benefits, I did not prepare my self (adequately) for the loss of my job. Is my age really that much of a problem? I would be naive to think otherwise, so the burden of my responsibility is greater.

Will 2013 see improvement? I can hope so but I should not it expect it to be. Without a solid financial base, and many Americans are not standing on one, expect the challenges to maintain any security for the household to diminish.

Is it Just a Fantasy Now?

Back in Novemeber we were very close to buying a bigger boat, in fact we had made serious offers on two. Then I was laid off in January and hanging on to our cash became a higher priority. Searching for work is a higher priority than looking at www.yachtworld.com. Courtship has enjoyed some upgrades and attention however.

The frustration in all this is I cannot even get people with whom I used to work closely to even talk to me about job openings. It is easy to blame age discrimination (just look at the popular media) but I am reluctant to lay all the blame there; I don't want to abdicate control over my future to some amorphous concept. That said, what to do about it? The spousal unit talks about re-invention (for both of us) and new directions and maybe she is right. So this little blog's content is more about how do I drive the decisioning process towards that bigger boat, life choices, and other abrstract thoughts on growing up, spending money, and productive use of what is left.

All is on hold

The search (actively) is on hold. Laid off, yuck, must hang onto cash.