Over-50

Retirement & Relocation - "Affordable" Can Mean High-Crime, Lousy Weather

The dream of retirement on the cheap is darkening.

As MarketWatch points out to "Mo" who writes in, living on $800 to $1,200 monthly can mean high crime and lousy weather. MarketWatch makes suggestions outside the U.S., ranging from Mazatlan, Mexico to Merida, Mexico. Factor in crime and heat.

I would add, within the U.S., cities in Ohio such as Youngstown and Toledo. In the latter, two police officers were fatally shot when doing their jobs. In both, you endure the brutal midwest winter. 

Since making it on peanuts is increasingly impossible - at least if you want to be safe and like the weather - an option is not to plan to retire. Instead, when your career is nearing its end, prepare to simply keep working for income. That could include any kind of work or training for jobs in demand. Your new direction could be it freelancing in what you used to do, taking on gig assignments and/or reskilling for long-distance truck driving or being a substance-abuse counselor.

According to the research by ProPublica, the odds are that you will be forced out of that good job - yes, because of age.  Also, if you do land another full-time job, it's unlikely to pay what your earlier job had. Only one in 10 match their former compensation.

The good news is that beyond the usual parameters of career paths, work is plentiful. That is, if you are willing to give up on status, high pay and security. Here is my bible on getting, holding and moving on to better work, at any age - a free read Download Outwitting ageism. In addition, reskilling can be low-cost online, at a trade school or at a community college. 

For instance, learning to drive a rig interstate can only represent an investment of $1,500. Often, though, it is about $7,000. Loans are available. If you receive financial aid that's free. Also some businesses will pick up the entire expense if you agree to drive for them for two years. 

If you are willing to embrace hustling, you have the option of aging-in-place. You don't relocate. Since you know the ins and outs of where you have been living it will be easier for you to find work or start a business. What you avoid having to do is the tough challenge of making new friends. It's documented that with aging it's difficult to acquire a new social network. The reality is that people's social circles rarely change after they are 30. 

Should you age-in-place there are myriad options to keep housing costs manageable. One is co-living or renting out rooms in your home. You recruit boarders who can pitch in with maintenance. Among the renters could be a landscaper and a plumber. Another option is to put yourself on the waiting list for subsidized senior housing. A third is to downsize to a studio apartment. Donate your furniture to charity. 

Back around 2014, some media outlets were gushing about older Americans living in Ecuador for only $700 a month. It was also possible for retirees to participate in the national healthcare system.

However, International Living now provides the cost breakdown for a couple at about more than $20,000 annually. In addition, there is the matter of crime. Non-natives are targeted. A third issue is the ability to adjust to a very different lifestyle. The strong pro about relocating to Ecuador, though, is that many expats start online businesses. 

Retiring used to be an event - analogous to graduating college or experiencing the birth of the first child. Now it is more and more a state of transition. That can be ongoing, extending for the rest of your life. 

A typical scenario: The career is losing traction or is already over. Since longevity could go on to over-100, the angst is about running out of money. There are more and more approaches to address that fear. In the process, you could land a solution which makes you a "late bloomer." The ways of earning income you try out could unleash talents you never had been aware you had. After all, traditional career paths can stuff you into a narrow box.

The Future is already underway. Ghostwriting/Marketing Communications and coaching on those issues. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

If Your Grandchildren Ask for Advice about Going for the M.B.A. (and graduate degrees)

For Baby Boomers wanting to pivot into the professional big time, the M.B.A. was the ticket.

 The degree was respected by employers. The new skills learned, new networks formed and the M.B.A. brand itself usually produced the expected results.

Just beginning matriculating for the M.B.A. at the University of Pittsburgh I was able to make the transition from nonprofit to the Fortune 100. My compensation more than doubled. The development provided by corporate had been amazing. Eventually, I understood business enough to launch two boutiques. 

That was then.

Now, as The Wall Street Journal reports, employers are no longer so bullish on the M.B.A. An undergraduate business degree might be enough for their needs. Also, there if the "cost" of compensating the M.B.A. in an era of extreme cost-efficiency.

However, investing the time and money in the degree may be smart under certain conditions. For example, if you are "stuck" in a shrinking industry or are determined to migrate to another one the two-year degree makes sense. Also, it can pay off for anyone aiming for a whole new start in the work world.

In addition the the M.B.A., other advanced degrees are under scrutiny. For example, beginning way back in 2016, influential The Economist has been questioning the monetary return on myriad doctoral programs. The interest in pursuing those programs can drop off during COVID-19. A number of elite graduate schools have suspended admission to the programs until further notice. That can have a negative impact on the future of such courses of study.

The Future is already underway. Ghostwriting/Marketing Communications and coaching on those issues. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Brutal Lesson from 2020: Lockdown Accelerated Work Addiction

Face it. For many professionals, stuck at home during COVID-19 lockdowns, there wasn't much to do, at least not that was meaningful to them.

The exception was work.

And that became the platform for learning a brutal lesson: More and more work doesn't necessarily achieve any of usual objectives. Those range from increased productivity to creating fresh value. 

Instead, the likely outcome had been burnout. London journalist Ellen Hunt recounts her own encounter with crashing in The Guardian. That included, after one too many self-imposed crazy deadlines, her fingers freezing on the laptop keyboard. She could not function. 

What she learned from that has been the ethos of self-caring. Given the tenets of capitalism, it is unlikely that those commissioning the work will pitch in and prevent the burnout. The burden is on the professionals to figure out how to establish what Hunt describes as a "soothing system of self-compassion." Yes, to overcome out own addiction to work - which turns on us - we have to experiment with what allows us to take proper care of the human parts of ourselves.

From my coaching, I have found that begins with the admission to yourself that you are a human being, not a machine. You have human limitations. Those could go by the name of "human needs." 

From the get-go, right in high school, as we prepare for the college of our choice, the capitalistic message comes through: To even survive, we must scramble to the top of the heap. To stay there we have to make work the priority. It's binary: Success or fall off the end of the world. Most don't even attempt to just get by. Life becomes a sustained struggle to get ahead and hold onto that while simultaneously pushing forward to the better-paying, more prestigious work situation.

To stop that is up to each professional. The decision is individual and personal. No employer or institution will come forward with a path to saving the self from burnout - or worse. 

A New Year's resolution might be to take a life's audit. Find out if you like what you find. Then, if you are dismayed at the pickle you got yourself into, have the insight and courage to begin to push back on the inner capitalistic demons driving you.

The Future is already underway. Ghostwriting/Marketing Communications and coaching on those issues. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

 

Why Those Layoffs/Forced Retirements Throw You for a Loop (and you aren't enjoying laid-back holiday season)

It's well-known: In the legal profession there is more mental illness than the national average.

Research studies such as by the American Bar Association document the extent of depression, anxiety and substance abuse. It is higher than the national average.

I call the condition "The Unquiet Mind," borrowing the term from Johns Hopkins University professor Kay Jamison. Among her publications is the memoir of her own struggle with mental illness. Yes, the title is "An Unquiet Mind"

Of course, myriad organizations, including law firms themselves, have launched initiatives to quiet those minds. However, that focus might be too limited. The problem might be how the notion of work has changed since primitive times and how primitive cultures go our their lives in modern times.

In the current edition of The Atlantic, Derek Thompson publishes a major feature on that evolution.

Essentially, the concept of work has gone from a necessity for survival to the platform for - to use sociologist Emile Durkheim's term - "malady of infinite aspirations." Given the latter, leisure is almost a curse. The state of well-being consists of being very busy, focused on future gains such as more money, more recognition and promotions. There is no confidence in the present to provide what is needed for today and for tomorrow. Instead, angst about the future drives the pursuit of always-on-duty. Being too-busy remains a status symbol. 

Thompson leverages extensive research from James Suzman's book "Work: A Deep History, From the Stone Age to the Age of Robots." No, we just don't have the Protestant Ethic to blame for the prevailing preoccupation with the innate value of work. A recent Pew poll found that the majority of those interviewed identified enjoying one's work and career as the major component of happiness. That takes precedence over relationship type values such as love of family.

The rub, of course, comes when what is invested in work doesn't pan out or work is taken away, as with a firing, layoff or retirement.

The classic situation is that that the first setback in the educational/career paths of the ambitious triggers a kind of emotional unraveling. It's not positioned and packaged as a modern rite of passage. If it were, then it could become the unique learning experience, almost a gift distributed very early in life. 

It could be counterproductive for productivity for law firms to encourage their employees to reduce their obsessive focus on work per se. Therefore, reform in that manner might not come. 

However, other types of work settings might encourage their employees and contract staff to loosen up the tension about external forms of success. In itself that could unleash fresh creativity. Too many are simply wound too tightly to look up and discern the big picture. The big picture could be full of abundance, for now. And all human beings really have is the now.

Reflection: Probably too many workers and contract staff experienced the leisure time of the holiday season as uncomfortable. They would rather be working.

The Future is already underway. Ghostwriting/Marketing Communications and coaching on those issues. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

 

No Illusion of Certainty - Family Oral Tradition, From Spanish Flu through Great Depression

The Wall Street Journal conducted a video interview of members of the diverse community of Mount Airy, Pennsylvania. The overall ethos during this time of COVID-19 was: Don't know. 

There, the many without work, both self-employed and former employees, admitted they didn't know where there source of income would be. For the more general population there was fear of food insecurity. A local nonprofit Mount Airy Groceries was addressing some of that. Tragically, the magical thinking was that they would go on to accept any kind of work. But, there could be no work. At not work they were used to. 

The video had been made before the latest mutation of COVID-19. Now, there is increased uncertainty. Will the UK version spread? Will it be vaccine resistant? Will the toll on the world be equivalent to that of the Spanish Flu which took 50 million lives worldwide.

Optimism is frayed. But, those of us old enough to have family members who endured the Spanish Flu recall the stories of getting through. And in those days it was standard to have large families. My grandmother from Poland had six children in the house. Two others had died before they were toddlers. She had contracted Spanish Flu and managed to survive. The kids, the oral history of my family goes, all pitched in. They even manage to pay the medical doctor who lumbered up the three flights of stairs in the immigrant tenement on Bay Street, in downtown Jersey City, New Jersey.

The family focus was on survival. That made panic unthinkable. Next, the family entered the crisis of The Great Depression. All members, goes the proud legend, were able to get and hold work. My uncles even moved on up with management positions on the Jersey City docks. 

Memories, though, are short. I forgot survival and only was preoccupied with Great Expectations. I went on to college, graduate school at the University of Michigan and even law school at Harvard Law. Assumption: My career was beyond struggle. 

Then, at the turn of the century, my industry collapsed. Soon enough, with the fallout from 9/11, so did my nest egg. I considered myself unable to cope. But that I did. I tell that story in an e-book which has had more than a million downloads.

Don't-know doesn't mean Don't-do. It's one step at a time. Many of those steps will be into another dimension. For example, I "got" how to apply for work as a security guard in an inner city big box and a desk clerk at a brandname hotel. That was despite my background in which even part-time jobs in high school had been handed to me and were okay ones. As the saying goes, the post-war boom lifted all ships. 

Will my two boutiques - one in coaching and one in communications - make it through the end of 2020 and into 2021? Of course, I don't know. That means I have to keep trying out what could pan out. Along those lines, yesterday I completed a five-day drive across the United States to reposition and repackage my businesses as West Coast ones. Yes, time zones matter. The midwest one had been an impediment, especially when prospects were scheduling Zoom interviews. 

The reality, though, is this: Never did the human species know. That was an illusion created by those who could market the illusion of certainty. Security is a feeling. And that's an inside job. No number in a portfolio can do it. 

The Future is already underway. Ghostwriting/Marketing Communications and coaching on those issues. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

COVID-19 - Pivot Points for Aging Workers

"In the end, the pandemic proved a fork in the road for many near retirement. Some left the labor market into comfortable retirement while many others struggled in a rapidly declining labor market. The pandemic illustrated widespread economic inequities. It also showed how working longer was simply not a meaningful retirement plan." - Christian Weller, Forbes, December 14, 2020.

For most, but not all, COVID-19 was brutal for aging workers.

Financial crises in business frequently forced out you highly paid employees.

That was expected. ProPublica predicted that the majority of those over-50 would involuntarily leave their employment. Also, only one in 10 of you would be able to find subsequent jobs which paid as much. That was probably a shock.

In addition, some of you simply decided that continuing to go into work was too much a risk for your health. You lost your jobs. The odds are against your finding another one in your field. Your career may be over. The shelf life of a career has become shorter in the second decade of the 21st century. A useful read on that phenomenon is "What Color Is Your Parachute?" Around since the 1970s, it is brought up to date annually.

So, what are your options for pivots?

Like many, you can opt to take Social Security early - that is, at age 62. Of course, you'll lose on lifetime SS payments. Also, if you do opt to work afterwards your earnings could be penalized. For every two dollars you make over about $18,000, you will have to pay back one dollar.

Another option is simply doing whatever it takes to get, hold and move on to better work. Yes, that's all possible, that is, if you give up the 20th century concepts of careers, prestige and job security. Here, a free read, is my book on that Download Outwittingageism.

You can reskill. That can be low-cost if you go the certificate program or a degree at the community college. In addition, there are free tutorials via YouTube. One over-50 I coached had been forced out of middle management in Pharma. He took out a loan for $7k and became licensed in long-distance driving. He's still on the road. Eventually he's considering becoming a trainer for commercial driving licensing. 

Or, you can just keep cutting expenses. That quickly reaches the point of diminishing returns. In most situations, especially with the rising cost of keeping a roof over your head, that will no longer enable you to make ends meet. You need to bring in income. Here are some ideas. 

But, nothing is forever. The Federal Reserve documents that one-third of those who retire bounce back into the workforce. You may enjoy retirement for a few years, then parachute back into the labor market. Or you may continuing at odd jobs after being force out and take some years off, then search for income again. 

The Future is already underway. Ghostwriting/Marketing Communications and coaching on those issues. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Baby, It's Cold Outside - And, We're Saving a Bundle Retiring/Semiretiring in Midwest

The conventional wisdom is this: You go warm when retiring/semiretiring.

But, warm has become increasingly expensive.

With middle class folks unable to afford California any more, they fled to Arizona. That migration drove up the cost of living in the one-time Paradise for the aging.

The deep South isn't dirt cheap any more.

And, you would have to search hard to find a location in Florida that rents for peanuts or whose residential property is a steal.

Outside the United States? Gone are the days where you can be an expat making it on $700 a month. The exception might be bits of Eastern Europe. But good luck struggling to learn the languages. They aren't the Spanish and French you learned in high school.

Amid all those gloomy realities is a part of the United States which allows retirees and the semiretired to live within a budget comfortably - and happily.

That's the midwest. There, Baby It's Cold Outside. Also, there's snow. Tomorrow, residents of Ohio anticipate 4" to 8" and the beginning of a harsh winter.

But OH is among the states in the midwest in which the cost of living can be significantly below average.

For example, in the Youngstown metro area, at Hillbrook Apartments a studio is $545 and a one-bedroom $590. The apartments are large. All utilities, including heat, are included with the rent. Lake Erie is an hour away. Pittsburgh, 90 minutes.

In the Toledo Metro area, Maple Creek provides small one bedrooms, with private entrances, at $425 or $475 (the latter is renovated and has a microwave). The only utility that has to be paid is electricity. Canada is a doable day trip. University town Ann Arbor is an hour away.

Bitter cold only goes on for about three months. That's a short-term "price" to pay for low living costs. 

A New Yorker, I have been in the midwest for 5 years. My budget has allowed me to replace my aging car, start investing again and travel on weekends. This holiday I was at resort town Geneva on the Lake. I can also be more selective in the assignments I accept for my communications and coaching boutiques. Yes, I can "afford" to be picky.

Now and then I audit my finances. I play with the idea of going warm.

Admittedly, it's a burden to heat up and, if there is snow, dig out the car. "At my age," as the saying goes, I have to be vigilant walking outside if there is ice. Too often I change plans because I feel "It's too cold outside." 

Whatever decision I make, I will always be grateful for these years in the midwest which brought me financial security.

The Future is already underway. Ghostwriting/Marketing Communications and coaching on those issues. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Circling Back to Our Apartment Days - But, This Time, W/O the Extreme Interior Decorating

One thing more and more of us now have in common with Millennials is this: We are both apartment renters who we are unwilling to invest time and money making the property Martha-Stewart beautiful.

The Wall Street Journal reports that, yes, many Millennials are working from home. But they aren't rushing off to any of the home-improvement big boxes to fix up the place. Personal-Finance savvy, they get it that the apartment is the landlord's property, not theirs. If they beautify it, especially through long-term interior design such as painting, that will financially benefit the landlord, not themselves.

The advice from many financial planners for us Baby Boomers is to wait for the real estate to boom, then sell the family home. I did that in 2004. Since then I have been renting. And since then I haven't picked up a paint brush or gone to the art museum for wall decorations. You bet, I am in a Millennial mindset: Why enhance the landlord's property? And, no, I don't need pretty. Enough heat in winter, enough cold air in summer, and I am doing just fine. Bare walls? So? Less and less do we aging invite others in. The last time I hosted a dinner party had been 2005.

That perspective is way different from how we went about renting before we bought our first house. For us, having an apartment, especially w/o roommates, was a significant rite of passage. We were really out of our parents' homes and out of the dorm. Ah, personal freedom, at last. If the landlord wasn't one of those busybodies we could have lovers overnight and down-and-out friends from college bunking with us forever. It was days of heaven.

That feeling of utter liberation was universal among us. We treasured it. So, we pitched it to beautify our buddies' apartments. After the painting was done, out came the beer, wine and cheap eats. I recall our being so happy. 

Unfortunately, it didn't stay that way. From everywhere came the nudge to buy a house or at least a condo. Unless we had wealthy parents, that meant a mortgage. And that meant our carefree days were over. We had to worry about keeping the job and getting ahead as property taxes rose and the water heater went kaput.

Returning to apartment living does signal the embrace of a certain kind of freedom again. No longer is there the fear of an unexpected big bill for a basement which is starting to fill with water or a roof that is leaking. So, the money essentially is ours. And, none of mine since 2004 has gone to making the nest like something out of the glossy shelter magazines. It's simply a roof over my head.

Because I can afford that w/o needing roommates I am grateful. This Thanksgiving, as I hunker down in my apartment during social distancing times I will look at the walls which could use a coat of paint and feel good that age brings the gift of not needing much. That's what Roger Rosenblatt emphasized in his memoir "Making Toast." As I keep pivoting to new values with aging I reflect on the extreme contentment which comes from needing so little.

Indeed, someone might peek into the window from the street and mistake the digs for that inhabited by a  medieval monk.

There are my writing equipment, books, candles for prayer and meditation and a mat to get my rest (I have a bad back). That's it. That's the liberation from the ethos that we are our shelter.

Instead, I have become my own person (finally). Come to think of us, our generation really did take a bit of time to gain a real sense of self.

During the counterculture we were as conformist as during the Eisenhower Administration. Then came the careerism. Next we entered the worry-about-retirement box. 

A minimalist apartment becomes the symbol of having found ourselves after a lifetime of being lost. Millennials could escape that kind of rigid journey. 

Place your paid sponsored content on this blog. Here are 6 tips for search engine optimization (SEO) in 2020. Contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

The Total Cool of GoFundMe (along with so many evictions prevented)

"GoFundMe has long been associated with life’s ups and downs—moonshot inventions and emergency-room bills alike. In the pandemic, it is also becoming a go-to place for people to get help with rent and groceries." - Ben Eisen, The Wall Street Journal, November 21, 2020.

So far during this Year of The Pandemic, those in need or those concerned about them have raised more than $100 million. Much of that have been small amounts, such as just enough to pay up back rent in order to not be evicted. 

Despite relatively low inflation, renting keeps getting more expensive. For example, here in Toledo, Ohio - not one of those glitzy brandname cities like Chicago or Seattle - the recent rate of rent increases has been 8.9%.

In addition, groceries are also going up in price. "They" tell you to "eat healthy." Yet, a head or package of romaine lettuce can cost between $3 and $6.

Your car went kaput? A new car, according to Kelley Blue Book, goes for $37,876.

In addition to or instead of posting on the official GoFundMe site, you can establish your own kind of request for help. 

Have a blog or operate a podcast? Acquired lots of followers on Twitter, Instagram and/or Facebook? Make your situation known. 

Put out there a number for what it would take to solve your financial problem. For example, specify that to not be evicted and to pay off the bill to the Emergency Room (you have no medical coverage) the magic number would be $8,435. 

During the worst of times, at least for me (here is the story of that), my therapist recommended I use my syndicated blog to ask for help. At that time, those in California were, well, fat and happy. They not only sent money. In the old-fashioned postal service arrived gifts such as religious icons and books in the inspiration category.

Yes, there is plenty of reason to hope. 

It took 11 years but I did exit six-figure debt. 

I also learned to market my two boutique in provocative ways. That produced the revenue to begin investing again. My financial planner is Michael Hernan (michael.hernan@edwardjones.com) at Edward Jones. 

The timing was right to cash in on the bull market as well as the fast recovery from the COVID-19 crash. Unlike too many of those in financial services, Hernan custom-makes every investment for my unique circumstances. 

In four years I can semiretire. That seemed unthinkable in 2003 when my industry had collapsed.

Meanwhile, during this era of severe financial struggle, the silver lining is that the stigma has been lifted from embracing radical frugality. Yes, make a penny scream. Everyone is doing the same thing - or should be. That ethos has caught fire. More of the ghostwriting assignments I do focus on cool ways to embrace a life of minimalism. 

A simple example? Rent in a complex without amenities such as a pool and tennis court. In itself, that can save you $150 or $200 a month. 

Another path to minimalism is to never again buy clothes new. By shopping at Goodwill and the Salvation Army you not only save a bundle, you are doing good by those served by the nonprofits. 

Soon enough, you will be ready to invest. Over time, equities build wealth. One former manager in Pharma whom I coached navigated from Chapter 11 to astute investing. He wound up doing a FIRE (financial independence, retire early). 

The Future is already underway. Ghostwriting/Marketing Communications and coaching on those issues. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

In itse

In Your 60s or 70s - Don't Assume You Can't Shake Debt

"The total debt burden for Americans over age 70 increased 543% from 1999 through 2019, to $1.1 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. For those in their 60s, debt grew 471% to $2.14 trillion." - Morey Stettner, MarketWatch, November 11, 2020.

There are three reasons for that surprising situation:

Credit cards. With income from working getting less or going poof entirely, the aging are using credit cards to make ends meet. They are surprised how much more it takes to even live a modest lifestyle than they anticipated. Although inflation isn't double digits, it's still there.

Unpaid medical bills. If they aren't as eligible for Medicare, their age makes any health insurance expensive. They may even be proceeding without any medical insurance. Then they become sick and that bill for thousands of dollars comes in. They can't pay it. 

Even with Medicare and a supplement such as AARP's United Healthcare Medicare Advantage there can be big bills. For example, my medical doctor recommended a series of tests related to my heart. Among them, I was responsible for $80. In itself, that's not the end of the budget. But when those kinds of what-we-still-owe pile up, debt can become a reality.

The monthly payment on student loan debt. That can come from co-signing for children's or relatives' student loans. Or, that kind of burden can happen when the unemployed decide to pivot to another career path by returning to school. If that's to a community college or a certification program the debt could easily be paid off. However, it there is an "investment" in an academic degree the eventual payment on student loans could be unmanageable. Also, it's not unthinkable that the new shiny degree won't land the aging that great-paying job.

Often, when finding themselves in serious debt, the aging retreat into financial despair. They assume they can't pay off the debt. The result tends to be catastrophic: They don't even try to become debt-free. They just hope they die. 

Yet, for those willing to embrace a long-term strategy, it is possible to not only be out of debt but also to pay in full every month the entire balance of one's credit card bill.

As I was approaching my 60th birthday, I found myself in six-figure debt. Most of it was from credit cards. Here is that story of tumbling into financial hell in 2003 in Connecticut and in 2014 to be enjoying days of heaven debt-free in Arizona. 

Financial experts have many excellent guides for that journey to peace of mind by not being behind in bills. However, here is what has proved out effective for not only myself. Those I coach also, if they were willing to experiment with living differently, emerged from debt.

The 5 Fundamentals:

• Stop from adding on new debt. No, even though you need another car for work, don't buy a new one. Research how you can purchase a reliable pre-owned car. Another way not to take on any additional debt is to embrace that you're not 30. Back then you could land on your feet spending money which you didn't have. 

 

• Immediately reduce fixed monthly expenses. If you're going to hold onto the family house, consider renting out spare space. If you're willing to sell it and the market in your area is up, do that. The most efficient way to get your financial house in order is to relocate from a high-cost region such as either coast to where all lifestyles are more affordable. Yes, that can be soul-wrenching but without debt you will be able to sleep at night. In addition, you'll have the energy to start building a new life for youself.

 

• Look for work. It's there. Here, a free read, is my book on how to be hired and even move on to better work, no matter your age Download Outwitting ageism.

 

• Steer clear of making major financial investments in career transitions. By time you finish the degree the labor market might have changed. Also, because of age bias you might not receive the high pay you anticipated. Instead research new career directions you can take with minimum training costs. An example is becoming licensed to drive trucks long-distance. Some programs are free if you agree to work for a certain employer for two years. Others can be around $4,000. Another sensible option is the certification route. Become certified in a narrow specialization in digital marketing.

 

• Stop being generous. No, you can't afford any longer to shower family and friends with pricey gifts. Be candid. Share your emotional distress about debt. 

From 2014 to today I have been able to live within my means. That has required a 180-degree shift in how I see the world. No longer do I regard it as a pleasure dome. For my mental health I have to trade off buying what I want for playing in a sandbox with toys I could afford.

The Future of Work is now. Ghostwriting/Marketing Communications on those issues and coaching for job search, transition, personal branding, re-entry after recovery and reputation restoration. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com