Roth IRA revisited.

I've gotten some feedback on my Roth IRA. Here's the skinny:

1) I'm too much in bonds. I need to convert my bond index fund to an emerging market fund. these are more risky than bond funds, but still quite conservative, and more appropriate for someone my age.

2) I need to wait for 3 months before doing this so I can avoid the fees.

3) the fees on accounts with less than $5000 are about $30 per fund per year. By next year, I should be over $5K, so I only expect to pay these fees for one year. I consider this just a penalty for starting.

So...good to know.

Also, I'm saddened to see that the co-pay on my new birth control is $25/month! this is up from $5. argh. From $60 to $300 a year!
bleh. may have to change it back.

been reseachin'

Apparently my company is switching over to HSA's (health savings accounts) for our medical insurance. I really don't like this, for various reasons. Maybe i just don't understand how they work. It sounds like the HSA's are tied to crappy insurance policies (they sound like catestrophic/disaster insurance) and require me to pay for everything until something bad happens. They have very high deductibles. i don't WANT to pay full price for my semi annual and annual doctor's visits. why isn't the insurance company paying for these things like they are supposed to? If i were responsible for paying for my own doctor's visits, i might skip them to save money! So, in effect, i'd be paying a premium for health care, PLUS expenses up to $1050 or so every year. That. Sucks. I probably pay a couple hundred plus my cheap-o premiums annually right now, so i'd end up paying MORE this way, even after taxes are added to my current cost.

I'd rather have a FSA--still tax-free, but more lee-way in the way of health coverage. FSA's sound like they are not tied to one particular kind of insurance; they are just funds you use for health care items. I can spend a certain amount before the end of the year, that's fine. as long as i don't have to pay for everything out of pocket. that's how it seems, anyway. is this true?

My weakness...

I've gotten the travel bug again. It lay dormant for the past year or so, but now I'm just jonesin' to see some foreign lands. I think i caught it from my friend who just got a job that will allow him to travel all over the world. Luckily, he says his employer will pay for him to invite his 'date/girlfriend/spouse' over to visit him whenever he wants, so I may be able to score business class tix to places like tokyo and paris! that, combined with a free place to stay (his), and traveling costs are suddenly reduced to food, admission, and souvenirs. Ok, and missed time from work, but whatever. I don't count that. it's time to explore...now to just get some money together. I'll plan on using my rules in my last post to make sure everything is in order for when the opportunity presents itself, or I make it happen. At the very latest--June of next year! I can't wait.

Also, last night i went out to a bar and came out with a buzz and a contact for another job I've been looking at. A winner all around!

why now?

I keep getting annoyed that now that I finally have my financial life together (well, nearly together), I'm now planning on disrupting it when I change jobs. It doesn't seem fair that one part of my life is entering chaos while everything else is seeming to come together. As my friend says, control is an illusion. Still, I feel like i have most things in control right now, except for the biggie--and the one that my finances depend on.

I've boiled down the pertinent steps to maintain a healthy financial life--beyond the millions of things that you can do to save money, etc., what are the basic things you can do without thinking? Like dieting, basic overarching moves like eating a salad every day, sleeping enough, working out, and taking a daily multi-vitamin will keep you healthy without having to think about every morsel you put into your mouth. I think that's what I'm progressing towards--simplicity without the obsession. My interest in finances seems to be going through a waning stage now that i'm out of debt and my personal life is ramping up. I don't want to give up my dreams of being financially flush, so I need to figure out the main financial moves that I can still fit into my life easily.

Also, with the whole 'changing jobs' idea, I have a feeling i'm not going to have time to really concentrate on being frugal and keeping track of my expenses as much as I would like, anyway. Here's what I can do without really thinking:

1) Save a little. Each month, no matter what, put some away.
1a) Automate those payments. That way I don't have to think about it. I'm amazed at how it adds up.
1b) Save it in a high-interest bearing account like ING or HSBC. (ING will give you $25 to open an account--ask for one of my referrals!). Check the current interest rates to maximize savings.

2) Save for retirement. 12% of my gross paycheck now goes to my 401K. Rebalance as needed. Another $150 a month goes to a Roth IRA. If you are confused as to which funds to buy into, invest in index funds. Easy cheesy. And, finally--

3) Live off the rest, beneath your means. If you net $2500 a month after retirement and savings, sure, spend $2500. Seriously, folks, if you make more than the living wage and can't seem to get ahead, it's time to exercise some tough love on yourself. It's hard, it's a struggle, but totally worth it.
3a) Find a way to keep track of your expenses. use your debit card only; keep all of your receipts; even better, if you can handle yourself with a credit card, get a great cashback rewards credit card and only use that while paying it in full every month. the credit card company or bank (for debit) will keep track of your variable (maybe even some fixed) monthly expenses for you. Review the balance throughout the month and adjust as needed.
3b) Get in the habit of restricting your purchases. It makes budgeting easier. Buy what you absolutely need--toothpaste, etc. and that's it. Need? or Want?

Once you are a) saving a little for emergencies and the like, b) saving for retirement, and c) easily living off of the rest (including paying off debts as fast as possible), you are golden. I truly believe that these steps are easy if you make enough and can do without extensive luxuries that put you over your means. Of course, there's something to be said for those who can save 50% of their salaries and only spend $2 in the grocery store each month, but for right now I'm happy with letting go of the control a little bit and just following these simple steps. When I'm ready, I'll return to my super-motivated savings mode...and these steps will make sure I've got a great starting point to come back to.

still to do:
--check VK account rules for pulling money out of my money market acct.
--bill pay on rewards card? check into for 1% cashback.
--check credit reports/scores and fix. Tally up open and closed cc's. reduce number of cc's.

Opened a Roth IRA!

I'm on a freakin roll! I just opened a Roth IRA with T. Rowe Price today, as they waive the huge initial investment if you set up an automatic payment of $50 per fund per month. The huge initial investments (upwards of $1000/fund) are the reason I haven't opened one yet--i can't bear to part with the funds in my emergency account, but I can set aside a couple hundred a month for the Roth. Rather than wait 8 months to have enough to start one, I'm getting in earlier with this strategy, dollar cost averaging, and also will be able to contribute more (you can contribute an annual total of $4000 until April of the next year, or until you file your taxes).

So, here are my investments (totalling $150/month):

$50 in U.S. Bond Index (for security)
$50 in Equity Index 500
$50 in International Equity Index

I'm very happy with this arrangement. They are all no-load funds, with expense ratios under 0.5% annually. Since they are index funds, they keep up with the market and are quite diversified. I'd like it if I could invest less in the bonds and more in stocks, but I'll take what I can get for now.

Ah. Load off of my shoulders. I swear, sometimes actually crossing things off of my list is more gratifying than knowing that I'm investing in my future (although that is pretty rad, too).

Tuned up my 401(k)!

Once in a while I get really frustrated that there's not much I can do besides 'be frugal' to save money and change my financial situation. For as cautious as I am, I sometimes like ACTION. I like seeing change occur, instant gratification-like, in my money.

That's hardly ever possible. Most of my actions are very passive, like my automatic savings payments each month, and some of my to-do's on my finance list require a more hands on approach. Every so often, i get antsy to do some work on my active goals to satisfy the instant G's.

Today I did just that. My personal life has switched to la bore again, so i had some free time to think about what I could do. So, today i took the advice of the financial advisor that came to my work a couple of weeks ago and rebalanced and reinvested my 401(k) portfolio. It feels so good that I can check my portfolio tomorrow and will be able to see the difference! Here's the breakdown:

Before the reinvestment:

100% in the 2050 Target Retirement plan, which invests in roughly 8 funds of varying risks and is considered 'moderate' as a whole even though it includes conservative bond and mortgage funds and also aggressive small company blend sep. Accts.

After the reinvestment:
50% in the 2050 Target Retirement plan (moderate)
10% in U.S. Property Sep Acct (moderate)
20% in Diversified International Separate Acct (Dynamic)
20% in the International Small Company Sep. Acct (Dynamic)

So my new portfolio makes me happy. I don't ever intend on pulling money out of my account for anything but retirement, so the dynamic funds will have plenty of time to dip and recover at will. Meanwhile, the conservative investments in the target fund make me feel secure. I've been meaning to invest in real estate, and also international funds, so I'm super-happy about my new allocations. We'll see how they do--but I'm pretty confident that this was a good decision.

Next big action goals:
--check credit reports and scores (two down, one to go)
--fix credit mistakes
--open Roth IRA (still working on this one...need to get on the ball and open one already!!)

Passive goals:
--sock away $$ in automatic payments for my 3-month emergency fund
--save $$ for italy trip/new car/lasik
--research moving money from my money market mutual fund to my HSBC acct (it hasn't been gaining as much $$ as it would in hsbc, but i'm afraid of capital gains taxes since it hasn't been in the acct for more than a year...what are the rules on this again??)
--continue to live as cheaply as possible
--analyze my expenditures (they are now all on my Chase Rewards card, so i can see exactly how much I spend on every category!)

Putting the 'Personal' in Personal Finance

So I haven't been posting about money alot lately, and I am worried that the focus of my life is shifting away from those concerns and onto more dramatic ones. Every decision eventually impacts your finances, though, so I'll try to relate them all back.

I had an intense, busy, action filled past week and a half, and I spent ALOT of money, was throwing caution to the wind left and right, and I feel only a tiny bit guilty about it. After all, I had limited time with the people i adore, so money kind of becomes no object in those situations. I can afford a little luxury--the good side of being debt-free and usually conscientious about your finances is that once in a while you get to not care and also not do any major damage to your budget.

My life is back to boring, though--now that i have a long-distance boyfriend and my best friends are gone from the city, I have basically no other choice but to focus only on work, since work also paradoxically keeps me from making new friends and having a schedule that allows for planning. I am learning new skills left and right now (and I move into my new cube tomorrow!), so I'm planning on throwing myself into that. I still estimate that I'll leave this job in another 3-4 months or so, so that gives me some time to brush up on everything that will be valuable elsewhere.

Actually, i've had SUCH a hard few past weeks, I'm looking forward to spending Thanksgiving being grateful that I can spend some time alone. I'm not sure I'm even going to go to anybody's house for dinner on Thurs.; I was invited to several, but think I would be happiest lounging around and planning my escape from my company. The harder I work, the more opportunities I'll have--that's the kind of reward that motivates by itself.

Current State of the Moolah

Money market mutual fund: $959
ING: $2
HSBC: $2025
Savings: $1
Total Emergency Savings: $2977

Compared to:
Total Emergency Savings (9/9/06): $2035
Total Emergency Savings (10/14/06): $2583

Checking: $1700 (minus $830 in rent and $100 to be transferred to ING in the next week and a half), totalling: ~$700 to live off of for the next two weeks.

I have a bunch of transfers happening with all my savings accounts, but I'm really bad at keeping up with what transfers when...that's one reason why I try to keep ~1000 in my checking at all times--no matter what, I've got enough to cover any unexpected transfers, check cashings (WHY does my landlord take two weeks to a month to cash our checks??), etc. I really need to streamline and try to get all my transfers to take place on two days of the month, one after each paycheck if possible...

Savings (from Checking): $25 every month, on the eleventh (no min. bal. on my checking if I do this; no fees is my motto!). No way to change the date of the transfer on-line; will have to call.

HSBC: $100 on the 3rd

ING: $50 on the 3rd,
$50 on the 25th--only until January--there's a special $25000 giveaway promotion going on if you deposit $100 a month into the account. When January is over, I'll stop all transfers to ING and roll that money into my HSBC automatic payment.

Ideally, all of the transfers will occur on the same day, as soon as possible after my paycheck clears. Unfortunately, the day that our paycheck comes in varies every month--it's supposed to be two business days after the first and the fifteenth, but for some reason the business office (yeah, the same chick who can't seem to find our benefits packages) pays it anywhere from one day after to four business days after the first and fifteenth! argh. not to mention the confusion that weekends and holidays throw into the mix.
This is why I'm hesitant to increase my recurring transfers to any substantial amount--doing so may overdraw my balance if my paycheck hasn't come in yet.

So, I transfer $225 a month to various savings accounts. I'm also enrolled in Bank of America's Keep the Change program, so I transfer that moolah to my HSBC account depending on the balance. My goal is to have a 3 month emergency savings account. that is roughly $1500 per month, or $4500. I have ~$1500 to go, or seven months of $225 deposits. I am sure I can increase my monthly contribution next month (this month included a plane ticket purchase for $450 that took up most of the money that was supposed to go to my savings account) to roughly $800. That means, in three months, I will have the rest of my emergency fund! Then, it's on to saving to open a Roth IRA. With minimum initial deposits of 2K or more, i decided it was better to save up after I have my emergency fund in place. With my bonus, I should be able to amass 3K by April for my 2006 contributions, and then play catch up to max out 2007.

Busy

sorry for the lack of posts, but i'm still reeling from all the changes. I'm basically dating a guy that's leaving in 5 days, and work still sucks. I AM learning new skills, though, so that just ups my price even more.

My best friend is going to be in town for the next 4 days (hmmm, it's going to be interesting juggling my new boyfriend with my best friend when I have limited time with both), so--no posts. I'm sure there will be a plethora when my friends are gone and i have nothing to focus on except for work and finances again...

New Goal!

I just found out today that one of my good friends is spending a semester of B-school in Italy starting in Jan. ahhhh. italy...!

My plan now is to quit in April-ish, with a starting date at my new job (wherever that may be) after my friends' wedding in June. I'll use the time off (probably about 6 weeks) in between to visit my friend in Montana for a bit, probably visit another friend in the heartland, then head on over to New York to visit yet another couple of good friends. From NYC i'll head over to Milan, and spend a good two weeks there. Then I'll fly back to my hometown in VA and attend my friends' wedding.

Wow that's going to take a lot of money. luckily rooming is free at all my travel locations. It would be AWESOME to do that. How much money could that possibly take?

$2900 for flights to Bozeman, Chicago, New York, Milan, VA, and back. Lodging is free, so my other expenses are for food and souvenirs and all that good stuff. It's going to be terribly tempting to put it all on plastic. I really don't want to do that--I've got to start putting away funds for that. Guess maxing out my Roth will be put on hold until I have a stable job again.

This changes everything.

Ok, I don't have alot of time, what with spending time with friends before they leave and also trying to fit work in, but I found out some info last night that has me reeling. Quick recap:

-One of the main managers that I talked to on Monday? I found out from one of my friends who is leaving (who is getting all the gossip from the higher ups now) that that manager has been "trying to get rid" of me for the past 6-8 months. Also, he considers my work "worthless." (This is the same manager who told me not to let problems 'fester' before they got too bad).

-the CEO of the company is going to try to sell the co. in the next 2-3 years; most likely the shareholders will not want to buy him out, and the co. will either disband or be sold to one of the major firms in the U.S.

That changes my whole plan. I don't usually go for rumors, but these are serious, and affect absolutely everything, from my friendships within the office to the sense of support I thought I was receiving. If my job security is in jeopardy, well, then I really have nothing to lose by leaving.

That manager stuff? Here's why I'm not worried:

-he's pretty well known for being psycho, and most of the other higher-ups don't listen to him anymore.

-If anyone else had agreed with him, I'm sure I'd be out the door by now.

-My supervisor likes my work and everyone else (except for one person) likes to work with me...as far as I know.

-I don't want to work on his projects, so him not liking me just frees me up to work on better projects with the managers that I do like.

What burns me is that he sat in his chair just last Monday, looked me in my eyes, and told me that he 'values my work' and that i 'had potential.' and that he cares about my happiness and mobility in the company. Really? It's just rediculous. It's such a mad scramble to keep the company afloat right now that I can't take anyone at their word.

It's also affecting my friendships. What I thought was one of my good friends outside of work, as well as in, works very closely with this manager and actually likes him. Unfortunately, she allegedly agrees with him that my work is terrible and also is actively petitioning to get rid of me. Fortunately, I also don't like working on her projects and she is not very high in the company, so her opinion really doesn't matter. However, I was supposed to go to her house for Thanksgiving, but I'm afraid that my feelings are so hurt (why am I hearing this second-hand?), that I don't think I will be able to. I know professional opinions are separate from friendships, but I don't know how I could do that to one of my good friends. Where is the support? Why not give me tips? Pull me aside? Let me know that you think I could do better?? I just don't get it--maybe i'm naive, but I value my friendships over work-ships. and I hope that never changes.

And, whether or not i were friends with a person i was trying to get rid of, how do you not tell someone beforehand what you think the problem is so they can work on it? It's just bad managing. Why just point blank blindside someone with a firing?

The rumors were confirmed by several people, so I'm pretty sure they're true. At this point, I don't care. It's almost freeing to know the truth! I don't have to scramble to impress that manager anymore, I know what's up. I always do the best I can--if that's not enough...at least the pressure's off, i can't lower his opinion of me anymore!

One thing I'm considering doing, though, is to talk with my direct supervisor to see if he's heard anything, if he likes my work, if he has any suggestions for me. I like him alot, and I think he'd tell me what was going on. Then again, he's with the company (which is kind of the enemy at this point, manipulating me at every turn...).

Another thing--I also heard from my departing friends that my company has a policy to not give references for anybody. This is crazy. It's obvious where the employees have always fallen on the priority list.

I'm just intensely disappointed in alot of people right now. I think I'm just going to learn as much as I can in the next few months while I look for other jobs and then leave as soon as I can. I've put my feelers out, and have a few contacts already, so I'm confident I can find something better (anything would be right now!).

Just...bummed.

The Fallout, Part II

Today brought more changes to the office. Yesterday they offered me classes and a new role in the office, and today my supervisor called me into his office and told me I was getting a new cubicle--a bigger one, at that. Not only that, I get to pick which office I want of the two cubes available, before anyone else. In addition, my supervisor mentioned that once new people were hired, my new bigger cube would be used for projects in the office. Hence, I would be out of the field. Sounds great...

...but still feels like I'm being manipulated. I've asked to take classes and do GIS work since I started two years ago. When I started, I asked for a bigger cubicle, since three were available back then. I got shot down for the cube thing, and nothing progressed with the GIS and classes stuff. Now, within two days, I'm suddenly offered both??

Yeah. That's not transparent. I mean, I appreciate that they are finally listening to me, but I really am suspicious that things are happening only now, when they can't afford to lose me.

My supervisor also mentioned that he had talked to the people I talked to yesterday, and that they had 'felt my pulse.' My supervisor is one of the good guys--i like him alot--but he's very new to managing. I was his first supervisee, and so I know that he's still finding his footing with managing the needs of the higher ups with my needs. I think he's getting pressure from them to keep me happy...which is wierd, since I didn't say anything bad about HIM. If I quit, it's definitely not because of him at all. He seemed really nervous today, which is odd. He's usually so mellow. I wasn't sure what was coming when he first called me in there, honestly--i thought we were going to have yet another talk about what I am unhappy with in the company. I really hope the other manager that I talked to didn't misinterpret what I was saying...after all, my comments were mainly directed at HIM, not my supervisor.

Oh yeah, the BO lady came and talked to me about life insurance. we get $40K. now...disability? I swear, it's like pulling teeth with her!

Ok, dilemma--i have two cubes to pick from.

Option A is in the back, away from everyone. I could come in and out at will. However, it is dark and next to the drafting guys, who like it dark.

Option B is lighter, more centrally located. However, I would be in view of my supervisor, and wouldn't be able to come in and out when I want, like I do now.

I think I like Option A because I like the freedom, but the dark thing sucks. I like light, or else my eyes hurt from staring at the computer. I guess I could just get some lamps. Option B is a good cube, but I really don't like that I'd be under my supervisor's thumb all the time, and that he would know my every move. I wouldn't even be able to check email without him knowing!

I have a feeling Option A is going to win out. I usually pick having more freedom over having more comfort. But dang, I like light.

Yo Vote!

My sticker says, "Yo Vote!" because they ran out of English stickers. I went and voted today--kind of spur of the moment, actually, because I thought that I may not have registered in time to do it. Today came and I suddenly really cared about the elections going on, and also someone at work who I KNOW voted Republican had an "I Voted" sticker on. HA. SOMEONE had to cancel out his votes...it was me. Yeah, not to be political (oh who am i kidding?), but I've been waiting for some hot liberal action in D.C. for a good 6 years. It's time to bring the good times back, baby.

Whether or not I agree with you, I hope you voted. It is really important. Those people dying in Iraq? It's for you to have the right to do things like vote for your representatives. However awful people say America can be, it's still one of the best places around. Thanksgiving is coming, and one of the things I'm grateful for is that i was born here.

Questions

I just posted that I wasn't going to focus on my finances as much in the middle of this work crisis, but wouldn't you know? Today was the annual 401(k) meeting with Prudential. I need to change a bunch of stuff now!

Basically, since i have a target retirement fund that I THOUGHT placed me in the relatively aggressive risk category, I just invested all my 401k money in that fund and left it alone. Today I realized that that fund is considered 'moderate' in the risk it takes. So, talked to our company's representative after his presentation, and he advised me to spread my investments out a little more. My question is, do I trust him? I AM interested in being alot more aggressive, but I don't want to buy all the funds he suggested just because he said so. He told me to keep 50% of my funds in the target retirement, then place 25% in international stocks (which I've been wanting to do anyway), and then spread the remaining 25% in real estate trust funds, small cap growth funds and large cap value funds. He also said to spread the money already in there this way, instead of waiting for new money to buy this stuff. Sounds like alot of funds to me, and more expenses and fees, what do you think?

Also, he told me to go with a bank or credit union for my Roth IRA, instead of a discount broker. Apparently you don't have to have a large sum of money to buy into the funds there? wierd. I didn't know that. Does anyone have any experience w/ this?

In addition, it was pretty much resolved that my company is going to get an HSA. I don't know too much about them, but i think i like FSA's better--even though you have to spend all the money in it by the end of the year, your deductible with HSA's is so freaking high. I know I've heard arguments against HSA's, but few against FSA's, so I would love some feedback/information about these two type of accounts. Basically, how do they work? And, which do you like, HSA's or FSA's?

Thanks...

oh yeah, FINALLY today, my business office gave me the accidental death and dismemberment plan description. I still haven't heard a word about the disability or life insurance plans. argh.

The Fallout, Part I

So today was my first day back in the office. It was pretty uneventful for the most part. I did get called into a few offices and got some smoke blown up my ...ah, you know, but I managed to convey my discomfort at the situation and got alot of the things I've been feeling lately off of my chest. I did say that I was thinking about leaving, given all the reasons that the guys gave for quitting, but was interested in staying with the company if those issues were resolved. There was a lot of "THIS needs to change," which I agreed with, but don't have much hope in these words...I know they are in "put out fires" mode right now, especially this manager, because he was implicated in one of the guys' resignations. Therefore, they are doing what they can to salvage the situation and make sure no one else quits before they can make it better.

Also, I finangled a way to stay in the office more, doing some GIS work, and to take some classes in GIS that will greatly improve my marketability after I leave this job. It isn't what I really love to do, but it will definitely make the rest of my time there a little bit better. I wanted to take classes in other stuff, but hey, learning is learning!

Basically, my timeline is to gather my bonus for the year I've 'served,' then bolt. Bonuses are usually given out in March, and by that time they should have hired three more people to even out the workload. I'm happy with this compromise. That's not to say that life isn't going to suck in the next three months, but it's amazing what communicating your discomfort will do for your mental state.

It was pretty cool today, though--I said one thing about GIS, and 5 people jumped to accomodate me. This kind of power is niiiice. Is this what it feels like at a normal job??

Should I stay or should i go now?

The Clash has never been so right (thanks for the correction, trent). It's become clear to me in the past 3 days that I have to leave my job. The only question is when. I'm still grappling with the classes opportunity, but it's just become not worth it to stay... I need to remember this when I talk to my bosses tomorrow and make sure I don't get snowed by talk of money or other promises that they can't seem to deliver on.

I've also been away because I've been busy spending time with people who are leaving in two weeks (or sooner). It's just so sad. There was a going-away dinner for one of the guys last night, and while our friendship was close, we have grown apart in the past year, due to his new girlfriend and because we don't work out in the field together as much anymore, and because he was sort of my party friend and he has stopped going out. So while that's sad, I know I'll be ok when he moves. The other co-worker who is leaving, on the other hand, is someone whom I've been growing closer to recently. Since finding out he was leaving, we've been inseparable. I guess it takes the threat of losing someone forever to push some relationships forward. I don't know what is going on there--if we hadn't worked together I think something unfriendship-like would have developed, but now that he's leaving I don't think it's wise to go there. It feels a little inevitable at this point, though.

So a personal as well as career upheavals are on the horizon, and I'm pretty powerless to stop the change. I can only manage the fallout as best as I can. Hopefully, my finances won't be impacted dramatically, but I don't think I'll be able to focus on them as much as I have been. I'll still keep the blog, though--no need to get too much off-track!

Impending Doom...Or Happiness?

Personal finance has to take a backseat today. This work thing is really exploding in everyone's faces, most of all mine. I need to vent, and my mom is busy.

OK. So I got an update from one of my friends last night. synopsis: everyone was shocked, and tried to tell him that they would accomodate him, but he had his mind made up, and he went through all of things he felt about the company.

Mostly, that they have this intense, rigorous hiring process that only allows the cream of the crop, M.S.-bearing individuals through, and then they send them out in the field to do rote, base, repetitive tasks that take no skill whatsoever. They then send them out for weeks and months at a time to do these things, offering no opportunities for growth or learning. AND they send us out with no scope or background on the project that we're working on so we can't even hope to make relevant decisions, and have to rely on them for everything. This in turn undermines our confidence in our work-selves, renders us useless for anything other than basic tasks, and lends to more mistakes in the field.

Also, some of the managers are just not good at ...managing. We only get attention from them when we've screwed something up, which really decreases morale.

this list was received in one of two ways, which indicates the problem with the company:

1) absolute shock and horror that people felt that way even though it's been brought up before. after all, field work was in our job description (they even told me in my interview that i would have to "pay my dues."). this was followed up by lots of insincere, desperate promises to change conditions for him in the future if he stayed.

2) understanding and "Thank you for your feedback. I've been worried about that for quite some time. I've told the other managers to do X, Y, and Z, but I'll have to push on them a little harder so this doesn't happen again. We are open to change and appreciate your suggestions."

The guys in #2, obviously, are the good guys. We like them. They care. They try to make us happy. They are why we stay. The other folks...well. I don't know.

apparently this is the most field work my company has done in 10 years (news to me), so they aren't equipped to deal with this, and it shows. Something has to change. and soon. Some active progress is in order. I want to see, and demand, results.

I'm grateful to my friend, who started this change, and wasn't afraid to rock the boat. Otherwise, I would have probably stayed in my position, complaining about it but not compelled to do anything about it, until much later.

We are going to continue to lose people this way (several past employees felt this way and it was brought up at their resignation), and I am honestly not sure what I'm going to do. They haven't changed things so far. However, I cannot leave right now, even though I really really want to. The field schedule was reworked today, and it's gotten so bad that I'm out of town every available week day and weekend for the next three months, AND we are contracting alot of work out, AND they persuaded the temporary secretary to do field work. Yes, this is ludicrous. Yes, this will end in disaster, on multiple levels. But no, I cannot leave them in the lurch and make the situation worse. I just couldn't feel like a good person if I did.

I guess I should make a plan, though--

1) Plan out my speech in bullet points. Memorize. I'm not very good at critiquing, nor speaking candidly with intimidating higher-ups. But I know that my opinion will be asked, so i need to prepare and make sure all of my points come across in a helpful manner.
1a) I need to make sure they know that I have thought about leaving for various reasons described above (thanks for your last comment, Kira, good wording!). My friend was not the only one feeling that way...

1b) Somehow fit MY goals into that. Including:
i) less fieldwork, i never am in my home city! this makes me miserable.
ii) find my niche in the office--I need to learn some new skills, i'd really like to do more GIS and real science and research, be able to THINK a little bit! this includes taking classes.

2) I need to make...not an ultimatum, i guess, but some sort of declaration like, if they do not work on the problem and try to come up with solutions, and actually CHANGE after everything dies down, I will leave. It'd probably be good to schedule a 6-month meeting to review how I feel then.

Ok, i feel better with a plan. If you have read this far, I'm impressed...do you have any other suggestions?

Quitting? Be Honest to Benefit Other Workers

So two of my best friends gave their two-week notice at work today. It's a complete coincidence; they both have been looking for jobs and happened to get hired at the same time, for different companies.

However, they are both quitting for the same reason. They each had a speech planned, because they are quitting due to the way that the company treats them, rather than due to better opportunities. They just were fed up with the conditions that we work under sometimes. They both asked me what they should include in their assessment of the company when they are asked why they are leaving...I really appreciated the opportunity to voice my opinion without incurring any sort of backlash. There are certain things going on within the company that could be improved upon, but are very touchy and I would be hesitant to say anything unless I were leaving, too, so I'm excited to see if any changes are actually made due to this two-at-once resignation. I surely hope so. These two are quite valuable to the company--we low-level employees are the resource the company makes the most money off of, and without us, the company would have a very, very hard time operating.

Unfortunately, we now do not have enough workers for the amount of work that we have to do in the next few months, so my life is going to suck royally in two weeks. Even if we hired someone new, they'd have to be trained, and that would take a while. Also, it's a pretty hot job market right now and we've advertised for more people for the past 6 months, but no one has been hired...so obviously entry-level people will have an easy time finding a job elsewhere and we are not guaranteed to get a large response.

This makes me wonder if i'm going to be compensated for staying and being one of the two people in the company that can train future employees. If I am not, I could go elsewhere and get a raise pretty easily. But that's kind of a step forward in a direction I don't want to take, career-wise. Should I look for jobs in a career I haven't tried yet (but don't know if I would like more)? I'd have to take a pay-cut for starting all over again--but when am I going to get the chance to try new things again? If I stay in my current position, I'll advance in a career I don't really want. Thus, my dilemma...

If I am honest with myself, I would say that I'm staying simply due to the promise of free classes in the future...it's like a carrot, and I may be getting tired of pulling the cart. The other jobs that I would be applying for would not offer free classes, so I would be eliminating that much-desired opportunity from my life if I left.

What to do?

Bring on higher taxes!

Even though this isn't a political blog (most of the time), this makes me excited about 2008. I really, really can't wait. You can tell because I started rhyming.