Salary adjustment: -5%

[Contrary1]

Yea! Between losing half our retirement and this cut in pay, we are sailing toward an unhappy ending. Not enough working years left to make up our losses. And yet, we are still better off than so many.

No mortgage, but as both we, and our house get older and start falling apart, there will be no funds left for repair. We are losing ground rapidly.

Maybe all those detention centers were set up for the rioting senior citizens who will eventually end up in the streets.


:) And now, a bit of levity:

[TwilightGardener]

1. HA! Love the cartoon!

Guess if ya can't laugh, you'll cry.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

2. Once you are old enough to qualify, look into a reverse mortgage

The original ones were very bad so you will find some horror stories out there, but the newer versions do not have stuff like equity sharing, etc. that some of the first ones did. And I do think it's a good solution to aging in place. There are fees and costs, but hey! there's no free lunch. Plus, no one says you have to take the entire equity in a reverse mortgage. I know some people say do an equity line instead, but I think those are harder to qualify for plus, so many of the banks have not been honoring their equity lines lately that it makes me leary. Plus, you might look into putting your house in a trust while you're still somewhat young, in case nursing home care looms in the distant future.

[CoffeeCat]

3. I hear ya...

My husband was just asked to take a $1,200 per month salary reduction.

I share your pain. It's a challenge deciding how to deal with less money, isn't it?

And yes, we've lost money in the stock market and our house isn't worth as much--so the salary
reduction is just one more body blow.

After all of this, I do feel fortunate. We are ok. We still have a roof over our heads.
I count my blessings, which there are many.

I hope you are doing ok too. I know it's hard and I just wanted to let you know that I understand
and I'm sorry you're going through this..

[Greyskye]

4. Very similar situation

I also just got an indefinite 5% pay cut along with everyone else at my company. More than half our retirement savings has evaporated over the last year. We've got a mortgage on our small house, but we refinanced a couple years ago when the rates were rock bottom, so the monthly payment is well within our budget. Unfortunately, the house needs a new roof, a new deck, and a new driveway. :(

We're in better shape than a lot of people, but the future is looking pretty dim. Good luck to you!

[ComtesseDeSpair]

5. Do you work for HP?

I do, and I just found out I'm getting my salary cut by 5% next month.

[Contrary1]

6. My husband works for EDS, owned by HP.

I have to wonder where his company would be now if Ross Perot still owned it. It seems that the employees were treated a bit better back then.

In saying that, I'm not referring to this pay cut, we figured it was coming.

[ComtesseDeSpair]

7. Yeah, so do I (work for EDS).

We're getting the pay cut even though our department actually had a very profitable quarter. Oh well...