The Recession Hit Me By................. - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

albertGQ · 02-12-2009, 11:26 AM

If anyone wants to post what and how the recession affected you, feel free.

*My RSP portfolio took a $10,000 hit since summer
*We've been on a hiring freeze since last March. We went from nine mortgage underwriters in just our Calgary office to only three. Our most efficient underwriter now has her one year contract expiring and they won't offer her a permanent position, so work has been crazy busy for us. Rates going down doesn't help either
*I've been able to convince my GF to cut expenses and start saving by imposing fear about the economy onto her

I think that's about it. Other then that, I live my life the same this year as I did last year.

DementedReality · 02-12-2009, 11:28 AM

- i lost 25% of my portfolio
- i got laid off
- i might have to move to Toronto to find meaningful work in my field

but on the bright side
- i get to go to gym every day
- every day is saturday
- my family has its health and being out of work in a recession will pass. terminal illness doesnt.

CaptainCrunch · 02-12-2009, 11:30 AM

My junk looks bigger because my wallet looks smaller.

Frank the Tank · 02-12-2009, 11:37 AM

Our office staff got cut from 4 to 2 as far as people who do the same job as me, so I am busy as hell now, but on the upside, I am being compensated financially, which is a nice first for me.

metallicat · 02-12-2009, 11:37 AM

I've taken a pretty big hit in my investments, but I am not up to speed on what they are doing like I should be. I let my financial adviser handle that.

I also bought a condo last year that I couldv'e bought this year for a lot cheaper.

FlamesAddiction · 02-12-2009, 11:39 AM

To be honest, it hasn't hit me at all yet.

I don't have any big investments. I don't own a home and my job seems pretty secure. In fact, I have never been busier. I got a raise in January and still spend money like I did before.

Not that those are all good things though. Someone my age should have more investments and should own a home. I'm lucky that have a clean slate given the economic situation I guess.

The only way it has really affected me is that I am no longer willing to risk moving away from PG at the moment. Since my current job is secure, I figure I should stick with it until things improve (unless internal positions open up somewhere else).

Incinerator · 02-12-2009, 11:40 AM

- put off trading my car in for a new one

- more time off = more cheap vacations

- moped about 50% loss in my very small portfolio for 3 months

- decided to day trade crude oil, made it all back X2, pretty much lived for free in the past 3 months

- which has allowed me ample time to finish my studies for my next career move

- HELOC at prime went from 6.75% to 3%, combined with current equity after the drop, interest is still cheaper than most people's car payments.

to sum up, worked less, made less, and spent less compared to the boom, but it doesn't seem any worst really, maybe even better in some areas, like less traffic to deal with, not as much pressure at work, and don't have to worry about keeping up with inflation.

I don't think I can keep this good luck up for much longer though, so a speedy recovery of the economy would be most helpful long term.

Tyler · 02-12-2009, 11:42 AM

I'm in the gambling business. Thankfully we're relatively recession-proof.

Wookie · 02-12-2009, 11:43 AM

My house is probably worth 10 - 15% less. Mentally it causes me some grief, but has had no tangible change on what I'm doing. 20% more and I'd maybe consider walking and getting a new one haha.

My investments are down by 74%.

Incogneto · 02-12-2009, 11:43 AM

Got laid off, a nice payment, got a new job that I love, and am taking 6 weeks off to go on a monster Vacation.

Thanks old job!

Prototype · 02-12-2009, 11:44 AM

Literally and figuratively, it hasn't really hit me yet.

The only think I've noticed is my savings account, which doesn't hold much, is at around 1.85%, when it used to pay out 3.65%.

My RSPs are down around 10%, but I prurposly started when we were in a down swing in hopes that when we recover, I notice some Dollar Cost Averaging.

House wen't down 10%ish in value, but we made so much on the property we purchased pre-boom that we're still ahead of the game.

Incinerator · 02-12-2009, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyler

I'm in the gambling business. Thankfully we're relatively recession-proof.

I remember awhile ago you were talking about some sort of US law that would potentially screw your company and put you out of a job? Did that all work out in the end?

It might've been someone else on here too, my memory is foggy...

Russic · 02-12-2009, 11:46 AM

- I lost a few thousand in investments, but since I'm just starting to invest now it wasn't nearly as bad as some people.

- My work initiated a hiring freeze, so when people quit they weren't replaced which means I ended up getting a whole office to myself

- My work also initiated a freeze on marketing, which was one of my roles. This has cut back the amount I have to do and made me very bored at work. I have about 45 minutes of solid work each week. Not happy with my job right now.

- Mortgage payment went through the floor (Since September it has a few hundred dollars per month).

Overall it hasn't hit me hard or in an overly negative way. I'm in the position where if it continues to get bad I'll feel some of the ripple effect down the line, but for now I'm ok.

PsYcNeT · 02-12-2009, 11:48 AM

Making me feel superior to everyone else who doesn't work in an essential industry as the top performer in their work

I just got a raise too.

*dodges bricks*

Tyler · 02-12-2009, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Incinerator

I remember awhile ago you were talking about some sort of US law that would potentially screw your company and put you out of a job? Did that all work out in the end?

It might've been someone else on here too, my memory is foggy...

Yep that was me! Good memory.. that was back in 2006. The US gov't enacted UIGEA which basically made online gaming illegal in the States. As I work for a publicly traded company, we had to comply and ditch our US customers (90% of our total players).

We were in trouble for a little while, but thankfully had the foresight to move our gaming business to the UK and Western Europe where we're doing quite well!

Wookie · 02-12-2009, 11:48 AM

Oh right, company went into hiring freeze, promotion freeze, raise freeze. I was left out of the later two.

Ford Prefect · 02-12-2009, 11:52 AM

My investments took a 20 to 30 % hit, depending on the fund. The one place this has been rather troublesome is with our daughter's education fund. She's graduating from high school this year, but rather than going straight in U she's probably going to have to work for a year to replace the investment loss. In the end she'll have more money to start U with though, so that's not all bad.

On the good side, my business's revenues are up about 15 to 20 % from this time last year, and 2008 was a good year. Hopefully that holds.

Incinerator · 02-12-2009, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyler

Yep that was me! Good memory.. that was back in 2006. The US gov't enacted UIGEA which basically made online gaming illegal in the States. As I work for a publicly traded company, we had to comply and ditch our US customers (90% of our total players).

We were in trouble for a little while, but thankfully had the foresight to move our gaming business to the UK and Western Europe where we're doing quite well!

Sweet, glad it worked out so well for ya, gambling's probably the safest business in the world.

albertGQ · 02-12-2009, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prototype

Literally and figuratively, it hasn't really hit me yet.

The only think I've noticed is my savings account, which doesn't hold much, is at around 1.85%, when it used to pay out 3.65%.

My RSPs are down around 10%, but I prurposly started when we were in a down swing in hopes that when we recover, I notice some Dollar Cost Averaging.

House wen't down 10%ish in value, but we made so much on the property we purchased pre-boom that we're still ahead of the game.

You should open up an ING account. They're paying 2.70% as opposed to the Springboard Savings you're probably in

VladtheImpaler · 02-12-2009, 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyler

Yep that was me! Good memory.. that was back in 2006. The US gov't enacted UIGEA which basically made online gaming illegal in the States. As I work for a publicly traded company, we had to comply and ditch our US customers (90% of our total players).

We were in trouble for a little while, but thankfully had the foresight to move our gaming business to the UK and Western Europe where we're doing quite well!

Party P?