The 99ers: 5 Sobering Lessons
Watch this segment from last night's 60 Minutes and you may feel pretty blue. Scott Pelley captures the angst and desperation that long-term unemployed feel as the Great Recession and so-so recovery drag on.
What struck me was Pelley's line that many of the 99-ers are "too young to retire and too old to rehire." Simply hearing that makes anyone who is north of a certain age (say, 40) cringe.
For the nation's 6.123 million long-term unemployed (unemployed for 27 weeks and over), there's not much to do except keep looking and continue to patch together enough work to get through this crisis. But as I watched the segment, I thought about lessons for those lucky enough to have jobs, even if the job isn't an ideal one.
5 Lessons from the 99-ers:
- Don't ever take a job granted: Keep adding value and every now and then, remind your boss of your contribution to the bottom line
- Upgrade and expand your skills along the way
- Pay down consumer debt as quickly as possible
- Establish an emergency reserve fund of at least one year of household expenses (two years, if you are in a high-risk job)
- Save, save, save: if you don't like the stock market, select lower risk options, but do it!