|
| Sunday, July 18, 2010 |
| Portland Guy looking for advice from Boston Gal's readers |
This email arrived in my inbox this week and with the sender's permission I am posting it below in its entirety. I will add my thoughts at the end. Any advice or suggestions you would like to share with Portland Guy can be done in the comments.Hi Boston Gal,
I've followed your blog (though not religiously) for the last couple of years and am pleased to note your continued success in today's environment. I am probably older than most of your readers but find myself, for the first time in my life, wondering what I should do, and the thought occurred to me: Why not ask Boston Gal? I recognize that you are too busy to respond to each e-mail you receive, and that my situation may not warrant a post, but if you feel otherwise, then by all means feel free to comment publicly. If not, that's okay, too, as it will do me good to write about my situation (you can relate to that, I am sure). Okay, here are a few facts.
I'm divorced and live on the west coast. I have two children, 5 and 7, who live with their mother in Europe. We Skype a couple of times a week but only see one another a couple of times per year at the moment, for obvious reasons. I know now that I should have stayed in Europe (I have the right to live there) but didn't and so here I am.
I have a GED, obtained at the age of 16.
Working as a clerk in Boston I taught myself to operate a particular type of mainframe computer and worked my way up, until the late 90's, when I was able to get consulting contracts at $45+ per hour. I'm a saver, and so I would sock away money with each paycheck, though I'm not averse to spending it, either, as you'll read in a moment.
In 2001 I got married and moved to Europe, with the plan to be a house-husband which is, by the way, a fantastic job. At that point I had a firm job offer from a Fortune 50 company paying $80+ in salary, but I turned it down (I'd like to say that was a dumb move, but my kids are great). As you can probably guess things didn't work out across the pond so I decided to come back to the States. Knowing that my skill-set was stale, I went to India for three months first to get some updated certifications, though while there realized that it probably wasn't the right path. Gained 10 pounds from the awesome food, though.
Still, I soldiered on and went back to San Francisco, but started to get worried when I hadn't found a job after 3 1/2 months. Hemorrhaging money, and starting to be very unhappy, I remembered my Appalachian Trail thru-hike a few years back and how lots of people do that type of thing when they're in between major sections of life. It occurred to me that it was the perfect time to start the Pacific Crest Trail, and so in May of 2006 I did, at the Mexican border, with the idea of figuring out what I should do next as I hiked north, and saving on living expenses to boot.
Right away I started hiking with a nurse, who convinced me to look into nursing over the course of a few weeks. In trail towns I would go to the library and research the profession, and the more I saw, the more I liked it. When I found out that CA residents could pay in-state tuition at Oregon community colleges, I decided to settle in Portland after the trail and pursue an AAS in Nursing, mainly due to the relatively low cost of living (compared to Boston or San Francisco).
I moved to Portland, did my pre-reqs, and entered the lottery for a spot in school. Didn't get one, but found a job doing tech support at $18/hr, for which I was very grateful. After six months I was laid-off when the department was disbanded. Then I was accepted in Nursing school, but soon realized it wasn't right for me and dropped-out a year ago. I don't regret that decision at all, but I'm still unemployed and realize that I'm pretty much unemployable at this point, though daily I seek tech support types of jobs. I get $200/wk in unemployment, but that won't last much longer. In Portland at the moment there are 6 applicants for every job.
To help alleviate boredom and seeking a feeling of accomplishment, I started a degree in Criminal Justice with an online university, which charges $7500/yr for books and tuition. The work is challenging and interesting, though it's unclear to me what a B.A. in Criminal Justice will get me, because I will be 50 next year. I have only worked 7 months out of the last 8 years.
I live in a studio apartment and can't say that many people would envy my life, though my tastes are fairly simple. I'd like a decent job and would be more than happy with $50k/yr. At the moment I have the following assets left:
Cash $7k
IRA $80k
Roth IRA $25k
Annuity $18k
Credit Card Debt $0
Subsidized Student Loans $7200
That's not a lot of money for someone my age, but I have never been interested in owning property or even a car (I don't have one). Me ex owns three houses and has a professional degree as well as a lot of money, so I don't have child support payments (though I've managed to save a paltry $6k for each, not included above).
Now we get to my question: I've come up with a plan to complete my C.J. degree by next June, without working much (if at all) and taking 18 credits a semester, as I had a lot of transfer credit. After finishing, I would have, baring unforeseen problems:
Cash $7k
IRA $80k
Annuity $15k
Credit Card Debt $0
Subsidized Student Loans $15k
So, I would basically be spending my Roth and some of my annuity (naughty naughty) to get a degree (at 50!), and taking on some student loan debt, though that doesn't bother me much. A full $6k of what I need to spend would just pay for health insurance. Since it would be used for education expenses, I wouldn't be penalized for spending the Roth.
The idea is that I would get a job soon after graduating as well as start a part-time, distance M.A. that could be finished within two years while working. Again, though, it's unclear what state the economy will be in next year and by that point I will have worked only 7 months of the previous 9 years. Plus, it may well be possible that I will need to compete against two or even three years of fresh college graduates, and despite the law and what a lot of people say, age discrimination certainly does exist. The funny thing is, I've always been extremely conscientious and been successful in every job I've ever had, and I don't think any employer has ever been sorry to have hired me.
The alternative to going to school seems to be a $9 or $10 per hour job in a warehouse or something, which wouldn't even allow me to keep my studio apartment, and these days I have aspirations for a one bedroom! I'm the adventurous type and had planned to sail around the world single-handed before I got married. On the one hand my financial situation kills me, but on the other I feel really lucky that I'm not living under a bridge somewhere, though it's important to me to set a good example for my children so I don't consider that an option.
I should probably apologize here for the long e-mail, and so I do. Again, I harbor no expectation of a reply, but I'm feeling isolated here and feel the need for some advice. Any ideas?
Sincerely,
Portland Guy's Empty Wallet
P.s. I sent this to Trent at The Simple Dollar as well... First off I want to thank Portland Guy for reaching out to me and sharing his story with my readers. I am sure there are a lot of folks out there who are feeling isolated and discouraged by their current financial and/or employment situation. As a single person I can sympathize with the need to reach out and solicit advice and ideas from others (since we don't have that other person in the house to discuss these things with). That said, here are my thoughts:
I would not have advised spending some of your precious remaining resources on a degree that will likely have little value in a future job search. But from your letter above, I think you know that, but since the subject matter interests you and keeps your mind occupied you went ahead anyway. If you were pursuing this degree at a local college, I would advise you to get yourself post-with to your school's career center and haunt that place every spare moment you had between classes. Through the career center you might have found leads on internships or even jobs at say a half-way house for young offenders (these places are always looking for house mothers/fathers where the pay is low, but housing can be included as well as meals and the work with teenagers and young adults can be very rewarding). The other value of pursuing your degree at a local school is the relationships you can develop with facility which can translate into recommendation letters and other job leads - something that can be very important if pursuing work in the criminal justice field. You mentioned that you are doing an online degree - does this online school have a physical presence somewhere or is affiliated with a brick and mortar school where you would have privileges to use services like the career center? If not, this is another strike in my mind against your continuing to spend money on a degree that will never earn its keep.
You mentioned working in IT in the past. If you were going to spend money on a degree, focusing on expanding your IT resume would likely be the best bet. Courses in current database programs (that build on top of your old mainframe experience) might better position you for your next job. But career counseling is not really my thing (perhaps a reader can step up here).
Your plan to draw down your Roth IRA to meet your expenses seems reasonable - but have you figured out how much of your Roth IRA balance is direct contributions vr. investment gains? It is only the gains that you pay a penalty on for early withdrawal. Not sure if paying so much for a degree (one without much chance of future income payback) to avoid some gains is worth it - but then you have to do the math there. You mention setting aside $6,000 for each of your children (so $12,000 total) that is not reflected in your numbers above. Since your children seem well provided for financially by there Mother and since European countries offer free or greatly reduced college tuition - you may want to consider drawing on that money first if it is freely accessible to you. Once you are employed again, you can make refunding those accounts (with interest) a priority.
Obviously finding an income stream is key and likely frustratingly impossible in the current recession. Is there anyway you can utilize your current skills in the "shadow economy" while applying for full-time work? Technical side work or anything else that you can do that people would be willing to pay for? Are your expenses really as low as they can go? Since this post is getting pretty long, I am going to leave it at that and wait for others to chime-in in the comments. |
| posted by Boston Gal @ 11:09 AM *
* Subscribe to Boston Gal's Open Wallet |
Links to this post:
|
| 11 Comments: |
-
BG,
One thing I noticed is that PG has moved around a lot and pursued at least two other career options without completing them, i.e. tech certification and a nursing degree. He also describes himself as "the adventurous type," which may suggest (I'm not sure) more travels in the future. It makes me wonder if he will even stay in Portland or complete his criminal justice degree.
I know the economy is tough right now, but even in the best economy you can't expect to move from one place to another, from one project to another, and still have financial security. You can only do that if you are independently wealthy or have someone in your life, such as his ex-wife, who is willing to support you with their income. Apparently, this is something she was unwilling to do.
And why not take a warehouse job for $9 to $10 per hour? He could make up his $200/wk unemployment pay, which is about to run out, by working only part-time. It's not a career choice, but a practical short-term solution.
Last comment after reading PG's story: It's hard to find satisfaction if you are never satisfied.
Thanks,
Michael
-
This guy doesn't have enough to retire on and he needs to get a real plan about what he is going to do job wise to afford his life and the life he will have after retirement. The only reason we can assume he is pursuing his passion is because he had a little money in the bank to do so, was unhappy at being a stay at home dad, and/or perhaps a little mid life crisis set in. The criminal justice degree at his age just doesn't seem like a wise bet (nursing now that was a plan), and even if he does get a criminal justice job unless he changes his ways, my money bet is on him changing is mind again for something else that suits his fancy. Although the wife is together with her career, it doesn't mean he is not expected to help his children with bills and maintenance expenses. Its like he is justifying being a deadbeat economic dad because he can't figure out what to do with his life.
-
Portland guy,
It might be worth it for you to go to the library and spend a week working through the exercises in the book “What Color is Your Parachute”. They really are helpful for sorting through your options and your priorities.
While you’re at the library, do some reading on health informatics, a field where you might be able to combine your existing skills with some of the elements that drew you to consider nursing. This is a field that is not particularly well developed. There are companies that dominate the industry, obviously, but what I mean by not particularly well developed is that people are still scratching their heads about how to make the leap from warehousing lots of personal data to how to actively use the data to improve individuals’ health. It’s going to be an exciting, creative time for this field, and this field is going to do very very very well at the federal trough for the next decade.
I’m going to kind of project here, Portland guy, but I hope you’ll consider what I’m saying: people who stopped their education early often feel stuck in the entry level job rut when they change careers. But you have a lifetime of experience. You may do well to think of what you can bring to the work place as a mid-career professional rather than think of what $10/hr job you may be able to get someone to give you.
Good luck—
Anonymous
-
1. Are there reasons you're not considering returning to Europe? Given your ability to live (and work?) there, as well as proximity to your kids, that seems like it would be a great option in many ways, especially if you're eligible for for subsidized education.
2. I agree with the above folks about your current degree program - if you don't plan on using your degree by working in corrections or joining the police force, it doesn't seem to be a good fit. (If there are other career paths for CJ graduates that you *are* interested in, the suggestions of getting internships and starting work on that now are definitely spot on.)
3. Depending on what you want to get your M.A. in, I'd evaluate placement rates for your current program, as some online degrees aren't valued as highly as others, and you may need to take other prereqs, etc. You may have already done this, but degree-related debt is an incredible burden when it doesn't lead to a job you want.
It seems that you've got competing priorities in wanting work that's a good fit for your temperament, while having certain financial limits. Since 50K/year is higher than average, and age discrimination is (sadly) alive and well, figuring out a niche market seems to be key. Choosing an unusual location or unusual career that you can tolerate seems to be the best bet to overcome those hurdles.
-
If there isn't a clear path to career security via the CJ degree, I think Portland Guy would be much better off pursuing tech certifications - particularly around database work. The comment about health informatics was a great suggestion. The experience that he has - at a consultancy level - of working with computers - is one of the easiest to leverage without a full degree. Even if his particular expertise is outdated, the logical thinking and trouble-shooting is a great foundation for his next computer-related career.
I would recommend against completion of the CJ degree - and even more strongly against pursuing an MA.
He's better off pursuing some practical and less-expensive tech certifications while working a $10 warehouse job part time. Another area of focus for him is improving networking skills. A little experience or training goes a lot further with a good network. There are many networking groups in the tech community - certainly plenty in Portland. He should look into the career services that are presumably still available to him under the unemployment program and should work with a career counselor to help draft a strong resume and online profile (LinkedIn, certainly) and prepare a good elevator pitch and answers to interview questions. If he works at his self-marketing and networking, and he has a clearer career goal, he will be a strong candidate.
-
Hello Portland guy,
do you see a chance of going back and forth between Europe and the US and work for small German companies coming to the US?
It could be an opportunity to take your American background there and help European / German companies to come to the US. For example there are some start-ups I am aware of (e.g. http://www.chocri.de, http://www.mymuesli.de) who might want to come to the US and could need help to understand the American economy.
There should be more opportunities but that needs some more investigation from your side.
It depends a little bit whether you are fine with a start-up environment.
Just my two cents,
Ersin.
-
I think the only way I'd finish the CJ degree is if you can find a way to link it to your past employment experience. Is there some type of software that is used by police departments, for example, and could you get a job working for that company?
-
I agree with Anonymous: focus on what you can bring to the work place and helping where you can instead of thinking of it as "finding some one to hire you". There ,likely, are several non-profit organizations near you. Volunteering is a great way to network with locals and you never know what leads may pop up. Second, a non-profit may be more likely to appreciate some one who could moon-light as I.T. yet has an awareness of criminal justice (homeless teens, street outreach etc.) which would scratch your variety/diversity itch.
Regardless of geographic past or college degree, even years of experience, there is no such thing as job/career security. This should provide some small comfort.
Putting the questioning of your choices aside, for whatever reason you chose to be where you are. Seems you've ran enough. Time to do what you can, when you can, with what you've got.
-
All,
Portland Guy here. I'd like to give a big thanks to Boston Gal for posting my request for ideas, and also thank those readers who left sincere comments with constructive suggestions, many of which were excellent.
Re-working "What Color is Your Parachute" again (I did so in my 20's) is an especially good idea, and I've placed a hold at my local library. Another favorite is to move back to Germany, which I'd really like to do.
And updating my tech skills is a great idea, though I did that in India (it was my original plan upon returning Stateside). Best of all may be health informatics, and I'm looking into that as well. There were many constructive comments and I'll be considering them for some time to come.
I've been looking for $10/hr. without luck. Portland has six applicants for every opening and 42% of it's residents have college degrees, making competition for even those jobs fierce. I'd be delighted to get my foot in the door with pretty much anything at this point.
Again, I'd like to offer my sincere thanks to you all for your input, and wish you all the best of luck in your endeavors.
Regards,
Portland Guy
-
Maybe all Boston Gal's readers should post their financial questions for advice from the ol' group. It would would be blog therapy.
-
I think Portland should finish his degree, even if he isn't that interested in working in the field. He should consider becoming a 911 operator, they start at $40K plus he has lots of related experience and education with his IT and nursing stuff.
He should also figure out if there is any scholarship money available to him as someone who is over 50? Sounds crazy but they have these benefits for women, why not men?
In Seattle, (where I live) they are always advertising for 911 operators. He could work 911 while he completes his degree. I am sure he would qualify for nice city benefits (they do in Seattle.) When the degree is completed and with a year or two on the job in 911 other options may be open for different or better jobs in criminal justice/police department.
Very few of us really find our passion. At 50 y/o his passion should be finding solid, stable, and well-paying work that offers him security so that he can retire at 65. (A mere and short 15 years away.) He is really in a bind because he has NOT paid into SS for many years - the years he was in Europe and the past 7/8 years he has been unemployed.
At his age, he really doesn't have the luxury to "figure things out," he needs to bust his butt in securing a solid job, even if he has to work three part-time jobs and go to school full-time until it happens.
Good Luck.
|
| |
| << Home |
| |
|
|
|
|
BG,
One thing I noticed is that PG has moved around a lot and pursued at least two other career options without completing them, i.e. tech certification and a nursing degree. He also describes himself as "the adventurous type," which may suggest (I'm not sure) more travels in the future. It makes me wonder if he will even stay in Portland or complete his criminal justice degree.
I know the economy is tough right now, but even in the best economy you can't expect to move from one place to another, from one project to another, and still have financial security. You can only do that if you are independently wealthy or have someone in your life, such as his ex-wife, who is willing to support you with their income. Apparently, this is something she was unwilling to do.
And why not take a warehouse job for $9 to $10 per hour? He could make up his $200/wk unemployment pay, which is about to run out, by working only part-time. It's not a career choice, but a practical short-term solution.
Last comment after reading PG's story: It's hard to find satisfaction if you are never satisfied.
Thanks,
Michael