Dominique Got Canned: Do You Have A Plan?

I wondered if given all the suffering of the millions of unemployed Americans, I could muster any sympathy for a very affluent woman who had lost her dream job. My answer is a qualified yes. Despite Brown’s class blinders, her engaging writing style drew me in.

As I said in my reply to another comment below, I would like to be able to say that my husband and I have 2 or even 6 months salary socked away "just in case." But having recently stretched to move into a new and bigger home, we are "house poor." Our goal ASAP is to start saving more again, but its hard when our new place needs a lot of work and attention now. I guess it is an investment in the equity of our house, but that doesn't pay for our kids to go to college or for our retirement fund.

We're big Dave Ramsey fans, so we've followed his advice about having six months of expenses saved in an emergency fund. It gives us so much peace of mind.

I lost my lucrative print editorial job in 2010. Having had that comfortable job for nearly 20 years, I never bothered to become particularly Internet savvy. When my job was discontinued, I was a dinosaur—a dinosaur who lived beyond her means. My solution: living abroad. I sold much of what I owned, put what I couldn't part with in storage and headed to India. Then Bali. At age 50, I'm basically starting over, trying to figure out how to earn a living as a writer or what career change to make. In the meantime, my current client base affords me a comfortable life in Southeast Asia. It's not an ideal plan. But it's my plan.

No plan here, which we really should have...but I tend to be (actually both of us) a land on our feet sort. No, not every job has been a step up or a dream job but we have learned in any case.

I've been laid off twice since 2009. The first time caught me unaware. The second time, I could see the signs and started chunking money into savings. By the grace of God, I landed jobs each time within a month of losing my previous position.

After finally finding a job that seems to have stability for a state government agency, I'm looking at ways to provide for an uncertain future. Unfortunately, I'm at the odd point of trying to decide between buying a house right away with minimal savings, or postponing it to the new year given a new round of layoffs and even worse upcoming economic news for Q3.

Since December 2009, when I was under the impression that I would never face unemployment, I've made huge financial changes. I don't spend as much, try to live on a cash system (some months it works. Other months it's a dismal failure), and put money into savings. I've also paid off my car and made a dent in my credit card debt. I make mistakes and overspend still, but my behavior has gotten tremendously better.

All the financial gurus warn you to have six months of living expenses built up. That may sound impossible, but look at your finances. In the event of losing your job, all the extras -- even your $15 Netflix subscription -- get cut off. It is possible to save up enough money to cover your bills for this period of time.

In order to do this, I've made sacrifices that mostly hurt my pride. After losing my job the second time, I moved back to my hometown (with the more stable job), and decided to temporarily live at my parents house. While I'm still paying them rent and paying to store my stuff, it's 1/3 of what I was paying in DC. That extra money is going into savings and towards paying off debt.. In five months, I've built up about three months of savings and paid off two credit cards.

My mom and I also started couponing right after I lost my job the first time. This has cut down our grocery and personal care bills by at least 50%. We've also slowly built up a six month stockpile. (We're not hoarding!)

Just this morning, a Wall Street Journal story mentioned that 14% of MIllenials are living at home with their parents because of the economy. I'm thankful I had that safety net through my family. Because of their generosity in letting me come back home, I'm slowly building a better foundation for myself.

We definitely have a plan: save, save, save. Also diversify investments. My husband will work for a corporation while I run a family business. We both used to work for the same company but then realized that is not a good position to be in if that industry takes a nose dive. Planning is especially important since we have two small kids.

I hope my reply isn't over simplistic or naive - but I think that's why I started blogging. I'm in graduate school right now and have seen plenty of people graduate with a bachelor's and now a master's degree with no long term job prospects. I started blogging originally as an outlet to process what was going on in my life as a mid 20-something with a lot to consider on the brink of economic uncertainty.

What I have discovered though, is that blogging is more than a therapeutic tool- it helps me think ahead. It's gotten my life kicked into high gear, to connect with others, to build networks, to better understand the changing social landscape and to build a foundation of skills, contacts and ideas that could possibly be useful while seeking employment (or starting my own venture in the future)..

My plan isn't concrete, but I've been living on a very very limited income for a few years now while I go through school- but I'm taking this lull in the economy and the little freedom I do have before graduating with my MA degree to really evaluate, plan and sift through the junk before I start back up in the work force.

I was fortunate enough to be in a position to "can" myself last Fall. I had been in the same position for almost 10 years and I was miserable. It came to a point where I had to choose between the job and my grad school and school won. It was only possible because my husband and I have made solid financial choices over the years that meant my income could be given up for awhile. I think Dominique's issue was less about money though and more about her emotions. That's less tangible but still an area to consider when making your plan.

I ended up not working for a few months in between jobs one time and it really hurt our family financially. I was amazed how long it took us to catch back up after losing only three months of my pay. It was a real wake up call for us to re-evaluate the way we were living and spending. Our family has learned to save and to live much more simply since then.

We always lived paycheck to paycheck - my husband is a self-employed contractor - and not many people these days are doing home improvements. When I lost my job two years ago, I thought "No problem. I'll just get another job." I'm an intelligent, skilled woman and it took two years to find another job! Dominique's story made me a little angry because she really didn't struggle like most of us. Most people don't have a spare house to sell...

Been there bought the teeshirt. My husband and 2000 others lost their job three years ago with a top athletic company. Fortunately, he found another job fairly quickly, but at a much lesser salary. Two months ago, he was hired with another company and is slowly starting to make what we were used to. It hasn't been easy, especially with children starting college. But a good lesson in living BELOW your means. You just never now.

I definitely need to make some changes in my life after reading the book. Especially with the "not living outside of your means" area. That's one topic that struck me very deeply, because if something did happen to my job... I really don't know what I would do or where I would turn.

One thing I'm taking away from Slow Love and Dominique's experience is that it's dangerous to let your personal identity get too wrapped up in your public identity, which could potentially be a danger for some bloggers. What would you do if your traffic suddenly disappeared?

I cannot imagine what we would do if we were to lost our jobs! We are working hard on paying off our remaining debt and building up a fully funded emergency fund. I'm SURE i will sleep better after it is nice and built up. I can't imagine what so many people in our country are dealing with right now losing their jobs and having no "2nd house" to sell.

p.s. loving this book ;)

Perhaps the only change I would make to the book would be to have her include more about the financial impact of the loss of her job. She mentions it here and there but it's not a prominent part of the story. When I got laid off after 9/11 the financial stress was one of the biggest factors for me.

I'm actually in the process of leaving a job right now (voluntarily, with a financial incentive) that I've had for 10+ years. I need to be with my mom and help care for her. I will finally get a chance and the time to pursue my freelance interests (writing), but I'm still nervous, too. I've been reading Slow Love and relating to a lot of the same issues as Browning. I want to slow down my life too, and speed up other things, like spending more time with my daughter and on my own work.

Yes. And no.

We revisit this topic every time I make a career move, and so it's not like we've NEVER discussed them. And, man, it would be swell to have an extra house to sell if it came down to it. But we've gone through rough times before and survived, so I have to believe we would be okay if something BIGGER happened.

(This is really what my post was about regarding the book because it struck me how I wish the book would have been around any time I made a big career move. I would have felt less.. alone? I guess is what I feel.)

this book is so relevant right now, and it was so interesting to see it from someone with options and cushiness. obviously that's a more desirable position to be in if you're going to lose your job, but either way, a job lost is a job lost. messes with the way you view yourself. a great book to read right now!

These are SCARY issues. And it seems that no one is immune. And we have GOT to get a will going. . .