Dear Friends,
Did you enjoy the Fourth of July and ensuing weekend? I did!
I hope you're well and that you can attend our next event ... movie night! Please note that our event time has changed. For more information and the response form, please click here.
Last month, Christine Renninger and Patricia Murphy planned our event, "The NLRB's New Focus on Non-Union Employers" with Marlene Muraco. Many thanks to our planners and Marlene. It's so important to at least have basic information about developments in HR law, even when you think it doesn't directly impact you. Turns out, in many cases, it really does impact your work life.
Last month, I wrote about people looking for jobs and I shared a letter from a writer who explained how difficult her search had been and how hard it was on her financially.
There have been many reports and articles about people in the United States and our levels of savings. It's an important topic, especially given how difficult the past decade has been for so many people. Many have used their savings and even dipped into their retirement funds. They had no choice.
You can find some fascinating retirement statistics online and a CNN Money report from last year indicating 28% of Americans do not have emergency savings. You can see how difficult it is when you consider how small our financial cushions are. One layoff or medical emergency and many people face dire consequences.
Do you have enough savings? What's enough? I like to cover at least a year of unemployment using money in my bank accounts and liquid investments. It used to be that a 3 month cushion would be enough, but considering the ups and downs of our economy, more is better.
So what can you do? It's easy to think we can just keep in mind how much we're spending, but it really doesn't work that way. There are some forms and tips on wikiHOW to help you create a budget. You have to create a simple budget and stick to it.
I know this works, and I learned this lesson as a young teen. My dad died when I was almost 13 leaving my mom with my sisters (ages 18 and 16) and me. Mama had not worked for a year as she was taking care of my father. When he died, she took a job as a teacher in Head Start, the educational program for preschoolers whose families live in poverty. Now that was a very fulfilling job for Mama, but it didn't bring in the big bucks!
Our insurance broker had become a family friend, and he helped her create a simple budget. She deposited her paycheck and, keeping most of it in the bank, she took home cash and distributed it into envelopes for different categories: rent, electricity, food, car maintenance, insurance, etc. She even had a "fun" envelope so we could go to the theater, movies, vacation. It took a lot of discipline and saving. We didn't have a lot but we took care of each other. My sisters and I worked while in school and I babysat whenever I could. During the next few years, Mama earned her Masters in Education and my sisters and I all earned our Bachelors degrees. Was it hard? Absolutely. Did we do it? Absolutely.
Mama was a remarkable woman who died only 8 years after my dad. She was my role model for stepping up and being an adult, for making sacrifices to stay afloat and for having a vision for our futures and helping us reach those goals. I wish the same kind of role model for you, but if you don't have one in your life, please keep Mama in mind and imagine that she is encouraging you. That's what I do.
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Because of my commitments I can’t mentor you, and please don’t send me unsolicited resumes. Come to an event and meet someone who can help. I receive a lot of unsolicited resumes (from our group and strangers) and I refer people to the forum at www.ourhrsite.com/forum. See the blog post for more thoughts. http://marciastein.blogspot.com/2009/02/setting-boundaries-and-professionalism.html
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1. HR Women and Friends Community Event: Wednesday, July 19, 2013 6:00-8:30 p.m.
2. Discounts
3. Using our Forum
4. Spam Filter Alert
5. To join, change your email address, unsubscribe or provide feedback
6. Potential Speakers/Topics
7. Notifying us of upcoming events and discounts.
1. HR Women and Friends Community Event: Wednesday, July 19, 2013 6:00-8:30 p.m. It's movie night! Please click on the registration tab for details and note our NEW TIME.
2. Discounts and Offers – view them online. Thanks for extending the discounts to our group!
3. Using our Forum at www.ourhrsite.com/forum. You can view messages without registering, but you must register to reply or post a message. You are not automatically registered because you receive this email. Please review the Terms and Conditions available under any topic on the forum. It’s your responsibility to keep track of your user name and password, and if you change email addresses, please log in and update your profile. If privacy is an issue, please be careful when you post anything: use a separate email if necessary and you can skip your street address if you’d like.
4. SPAM Filter Alert: please add mstein@ourhrsite.com to your address book.
5. To join, change your email address, unsubscribe or provide feedback, click here. You can also unsubscribe by responding to email with "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the subject line. If you receive mail at more than one email address, please note all addresses to delete.
6. Potential Speakers/Topics. Please see http://ourhrsite.blogspot.com/p/potential-speakers.html for details and a form to submit your information. This will be reviewed during the January 2014 meeting.
7. Notifying us of upcoming events and discounts. If you email me right after I’ve sent a mailing, I can update the website, but I can’t send a separate mailing to the group. It will be in the next mailing.
I hope to see you soon.
All the best,
Marcia
Marcia Stein, PHR - www.linkedin.com/in/marciastein
Author: "Strained Relations: Help for Struggling Parents of Troubled Teens" and "Recruiters on Recruiting"
Blog: http://helpingparentsofteens.blogspot.com/
