Like most Americans, I figured that I would work until I was in my “golden years” and then slow down a bit and maybe be able to work part-time, or even retire. Well, life decided to change my plans and now only months away from my 50ith birthday, I find myself trying to start over and making myself a 5-year financial plan to set back a little cash for my future.
I want to tell you what happened to me in case there are others out there who can relate to my situation. I am writing this to encourage others who have been through it and remind them, and myself, that there is light at the end of the tunnel even if it is very dim as I look at it right now.
The first thing that happened was the factory I had been working at for four years decided to pull up stakes and shut down. I was making $10.78 an hour at the time and was having no problem paying my bills including all the credit cards. I had a 401K and I was sure I could face any problems that popped up in front of me, but, I was wrong.
The first decision I made was to go back to school. I was considered a dislocated worker and I could go back to school for a 2-year degree, books and tuition paid. I searched the information given to me and looked at al the projected figures of the growing jobs in my area and chose something I thought would give me an immediate income in my area. I had worked in factories practically all my life and I thought that taking administrative services classes was the way to go because of the growing economy in my town and the future predictions of the growth of that field in my area. I thought I did everything right and made the best decision I could to improve my future. So, I started school with high expectations and the idea that I would give myself a whole new career and a better life. It turned out to be the first mistake I made.
School was great. I loved every minute of school but I soon learned that the money I was drawing to go to school on was not enough to keep my car payments, rent, etc., paid, so I cashed in my 401K to make sure I had the car payment and the rent money while I was going to school. I can see now, how that was an error, mistake number two.
The last month of my schooling, I took a part-time job as a collections agent at a local car dealership in order to get some experience in an office type environment and I worked day and night, weekends, and every hour I could for $6.00 an hour. I told myself that it was ok, because when I got my degree, I would be able to find a better paying job and one closer to the field of study I had chosen. In the meantime, I used my 401K money to supplement and make sure my car payments and other bills were paid on time.
I should have known when the lady who had hired me quit the dealership about a month after she hired me that this was probably not a good place to work, but I continued with hope that I would learn more about the job as I worked and that I would be able to get a raise later on or be more appreciated by the company. Since I called on people mostly at night when the main office was closed, I asked the office manager to teach me to take debit or credit payments over the phone because, after all, I was collections, but she said no, I was simply to tell them to call the next day and make a payment. Ok, fine. In the meantime, she hired another girl and began to teach her all about collections, how to take payments and everything she would not teach me. I should have seen what was about to happen but I didn’t. I had worked there four months, every weekend, when she called me in the office and told me she had to let me go.
I asked her why and she had no explanation, so I turned in my keys with tears in my eyes and left. The next day I approached the owner of the business and ask him why I was fired, I was still in tears because this was the only income I had now as my schooling was over and my unemployment was exhausted. He told me I was laid-off, not fired because he had too many people working there and that I should not be so upset about it all. So, I turned in paperwork to the employment office saying that I had been laid-off, only to find that when the paper work all came back, the office manager wrote that I was fired instead of laid-off, so I was questioned about it by the employment office and denied any further benefits. In the meantime, minimum wage had gone up to $6.25 an hour and I asked that the last two checks I had gotten for $6.00 an hour be re-examined. The company also refused to admit that minimum wage had gone up and refused to pay me the difference. I was devastated and upset, but determined to work somewhere so I hit the streets again looking for work. I have learned since then, that company is quite famous for treating people badly and it had very little to do with me or how well I did the job.
Now, I had my degree and I began to search for a secretarial job with benefits and insurance and starting pay at, at least, $8.00 an hour. I soon learned that the temporary services in this town pretty much can make or break a person looking for a job here. The 20-year old at the temp service told me that even though I had the degree, I did not have the experience and so she refused to send me to any jobs that paid more than minimum wage. She suggested that I take a test on her computer to see just how well I could do data entry before she would even send me to any job. I was frustrated and angry to think that my 20 years plus of experience in the workforce was being questioned by someone less than half my age. I explained to her that I just had gotten my associates degree but that made little difference to her. The temp service she worked for also sent people to work at factory jobs, so I told her, “fine, then put me back on the industrial list and send me back to a factory”.
It was probably two weeks before they actually sent me to a factory job in a nearby town but they did finally send me. I started out at this factory at $8.00 an hour and when I asked if there was a chance we would be hired, I was told there was a very good chance in deed, so, I was hopeful once again as I went back to work in the factory. We worked 12 hours a day and sometimes half a day on Saturdays at first and I again began to get caught up on my bills and feel a little more secure about my future. My hope was short-lived however, because at the end of my 5th month at the factory, I was told I had completed my contract and I was let go. I was told I was too slow. I questioned how that could be possible since I had worked there 5 months and even received a raise because of a good evaluation, but they gave me no further explanation. I do know that the morning they let me and 5 other people go, they brought in 5 brand new temps to take our place, so in my mind, it was simply a matter of not wanting to hire us and pay benefits when they could simply get more temps. This is a very common practice with temp services and factories in my area. There is very little a worker can do about it.
I could now draw a little bitty unemployment check but not even half enough to pay my bills, so I began again to find a permanent job. I had taken a test for a very large factory in my town a month or so after I started working at the temp assignment and they called me for an interview. I went to the interview with my best positive attitude and my hopes high once more of finding a good job with benefits, insurance, and a decent wage. I knew I had that job in the bag and I waited for the call that would put my life back in order as that job would pay $14.00 an hour. I never got that call. I did get a letter two weeks later, telling me that after a lot of discussion they had decided to hire someone else. This time, I cried. I had been to employment office, I had registered with every temp service in this town and I had searched the paper and the internet every day. I had no idea what I was going to do. The bills were piling up, the rent was overdue and with only 8 car payments to go, I had no car payment money. I was out of my anti-depressants (I call them my happy pills) and had no money to go to the doctor. I cursed that factory that shut down and left me in this mess but I kept on looking for a job.
I have a friend who has worked at a convenience store for 22 years and is now the manager of her store and I had told her that if I did not get the $14.00 an hour job, I would be applying for work at her store. We had laughed about it because neither of us really thought I would really go to work there. Well, guess what? I have been working there for about a month now and although the starting pay was only $7.00 an hour, it is a job that will not quit me!! This company offers insurance, 401K after a year, and pay rate increases depending on your work, so, even though it is not exactly the job of my dreams, it is a steady, dependable job.
So, now as I write all this in hope of giving someone else hope, the point of my story is this: we may not always end up where we think we are going to be, but we can always take what life gives us to work with start all over if we have to. which is just what I had to do. Today on my way to work I was thinking that even though my pay range has changed, I can once again set myself up a 5-year plan and a goal to reach for at the end of that time period.
I figure in the year I work for this company before I am eligible for the 401K program, I can concentrate on getting all my bills caught up and paying off my credit cards and the few car payments I have left. Then, by the time I can get into the 401K plan, I can put the maximum amount into it and build up as much in that account as I possibly can for my future. I won’t be able to save a huge amount, but I should be able to save some which is better than I stand right now. Then, because I am working as a cashier, I should be able to work for quite a few years still and hopefully get a raise now and then, the longer I stay with this company. I finally feel like I am about to get by life back on track after all of the chaos I have been through.
The first thing I would tell anyone who loses a job because their factory has shut down or their company has gone out of business is to research long and hard before you decide on what course of education to study to better your life. Most of my friends went into the medical field and are doing well because there is always a demand for nurses or medical technicians. I did not think that was something I wanted to get into and that is one decision I do not regret making, but it is a good thing to consider if you like that kind of work.
The second thing I would suggest is taking the money you have stored in a 401K or other account and rolling into another form of savings account so it will continue to grow. I should have left that money there because when school was completed, unemployment was exhausted as well and time is not your friend when you have no income at all. It is easier to find the right job if you are not desperately trying to pay the rent while you are looking.
The other advice I would give anyone going through this or about to go through this, take the time to find out about the company you are applying for if you do nothing else but ask around to friends and local people. A business or company that people have heard negative things about is probably not a good company to work for and I am not talking about one or two people who did not like the place, I am talking about a bunch of major complaints. I had heard all kinds of bad reports about the place I did collections for, but I had to find out the hard way that it really was not a good company.
My dreams of taking life a little easier in my “golden years” were just that, dreams: but, I do once again have hope and new dreams for my future. I had to start all over again and learn a whole new job, but at least I can see that light ever so dimly at the end of the tunnel again and I am working toward it instead of seeing it get farther and farther away from me like I felt like it was before I took this job. I may have to work a few more years than I had expected to and I may not make as much money as I thought that I would be making by now, but at least, I am working and I do see brighter future ahead of me.
Starting over is never easy at any age, but it can be done.
