AND STILL I RISE
-Maya Angelou
I was a saver ever since I can remember. There was no purpose behind my saving. it was just something I naturally did. So, my modest lifestyle is no surprise. Living like the Joneses and having a lot of things is not of interest to me and seems very wasteful. If I had to put myself into a category, I would lean more towards being categorized as a minimalist. Through the years, I’ve faced difficult financial times even with my modest ways; such as utilities cut-off, collection calls, living paycheck-2-b4-paycheck, and praying nothing breaks or goes wrong. My troubles didn’t come about from living an extraordinary lifestyle. It came from spending all my money on mine and my family needs and forgetting my roots. I didn’t take that childhood saving habit, which I did with no objective in mine, and transfer it into an adult saving habit with the purpose of preparing me for unforeseen financial events.
Lesson #1
1st Layoff. I was totally unprepared to weather this storm with no savings, credit card debt, and loans. I was also in a relationship with someone whose financial values were not the same as mine. It was a stressful time. I must say that dealing with the collection agencies was the worst part. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to pay my debt. I couldn’t pay it and they made me feel like crap. Thankfully this sector is being regulated better.
Another full-time job didn’t come right away. And when you’re in this situation you’ll take almost any job to get some income coming in. The job that sticks out the most was working overnight on Saturdays for a newspaper, stuffing advertisement circulars into the middle of the paper. I took this job because I got paid right after the shift ended and that’s the reason other people, who would go straight to the liquor store afterwards took it.
I got through this time with a few bumps and bruises, but eventually found another full-time job. I vowed never to be in this position again which brings me to my 1st life lesson:
Keep Your Debts Low
Lesson #2
2nd Layoff. I had the job just a few years before it happened again, but this time it wasn’t as bad as the first. Not having a lot of debt truly helped me. But, I knew I was capable of doing better than taking mediocre paying jobs. So, I looked around to see which jobs would put me in a better financial position. Computer Science. I already had a Associates of Arts, so I went back and took some programming classes. It just so happen that a company was looking for support personnel to takeover the administrative duties of their engineers; such as documentation, configuration management, drawings, and database reports so they could focus on producing code. The perfect entry level job into the field. Life Lesson #2:
Education is key
Lesson #3
3rd Layoff. Fifteen years I was at this job. I thought this would be the job I would retire from one day. This was the job where I was able to build a financial foundation. I started out in a support role, but moved up to an engineering role. I took advantage of their tuition repayment benefit and was able to get me bachelors for free. I took advantage of the 401K retirement savings plan and invested up to the match. I invested outside the company in a Roth. I bought a house. Paid off my car loans within two years. I had other savings and investments and was setting myself up for retirement. So when it happened again, I took a deep breath and told myself that it’s OK, I’ll be OK. I had the savings and a severance and could manage without this income for a couple of years.
What I didn’t plan on was the changes in the job market. Trying to jump back in after fifteen years was a challenge. I was competing with younger and more up-to-date talent, the types of jobs and skills needed to fulfill those jobs in my area had changed and resumes went through the applicant tracking system first and rarely made it to the hands of hiring personnel. I had skills, but not the right skills for the market. After getting plenty of rejection emails, I came to the realization that I needed to retrain myself and that brings me to Life Lesson#3:
Don’t Get Comfortable, Keep Your Skills Current For Today’s Job Market
Lesson #4
Since I was having no luck finding a job and had to be retrained anyway, I decided to take a leap of faith and do something I always wanted to do, FINANCIAL COUNSELING. Throughout the years, I was always drawn to this career, but only did it in a volunteer capacity. Now, everything aligned. I had the savings, my kids were off doing their own thing, I had the desire, and I saw the need for financial champions in today’s world. So why couldn’t this be my new job? I have no fear and plenty of faith. I’m not afraid to open that next door; to start that next chapter. I look forward to it. So, I’ll take this journey and see where it goes because Life Lesson#4:
Everything That Has Happens In Your Life Prepares You For Life’s Purpose