the recession...

[danno]

if it is a recession or it isn't, i'm sure alot our concerned with jobs and spending.

my question is have you changed your habits or continue on the way things have been going?


for me i want to buy alot of things but as a electrician i have no security in a job so i have to play it safe. i've got work till at least september, well that's when we have to have the job done. either way i have to finish my basement and i want to buy a new motorcycle. not sure if i should play it safe or live for the moment??

[GINCH]

Re: the recession...

Can't say i've changed too much in my lifestyle. Granted, I've never really had debt other than my house and the wifes FJ. I guess if I owed a lot of money I'd maybe change my habits!!!

[danno]

Re: the recession...

i'm in the same boat with just the house and the car. i can't decide if i'm going to play it safe and save in case of long term recession or just live life. hmmm....

[RobG]

Re: the recession...

I'm still living the same, no changes really.

[Canadian Turbo]

Re: the recession...

My job is very secure, but I have been trying to cut back a bit, but more based on the fact that my wife has been concentrating on her schooling and has not had a job for over a year now.

[R_Ethug]

Re: the recession...

kinda.. with the wifes car lease up in a month we DON"T need a new car right now as i still have my old baron winter beater to drive in (and no car payment is nice)

the bad part is cars are CHEAP now which makes me want to buy one even though we don't need it right now..

we are eating out less though if that helps.. but i did just blow 400 bucks at costco the other day :( mod money bye bye hahaha

i still plan on buying new wheels and some other items for the car this year.. i just hate that i pretty much have to get wheels from the US and our dollar bites again!!

[turbomeyers]

Re: the recession...

I have scaled back a bit but only because my wife is to have our second kid here in may . so we will be back to one income . for a year

[gaffer]

Re: the recession...

I dont think the recession is as bad as the media is making it out to be, especially here in Alberta.

I was in Toronto in January and then in California last week, perhaps the 2 hardest hit areas in thier respective countries.

Very different to what is going on here. People are crapping thier pants and not buying anything.

I think that one of the main problems with recessions is group think, where people act like sheep and do what the masses do. That combined with the north american media which has gotten out of control reporting on only the bad news.

Myself, I am doing the opposite of most of the people out there. Buying new houses, starting new businesses and seriously considering quitting my job. I figure if it work for Warren Buffet, it should work for me. No time like the present to go bargin hunting.

Andrew

[Aleks]

Re: the recession...

My spending has been trimmed just because I've been off work since I broke my knee back in january.....so my pay is 90% and no OT.....effective to about a 20-25K pay cut for me right now....Hoping to be back to work soon!

[stefan]

Re: the recession...

I'm in the land surveying business, mostly oil and gas. Most of our competitors have done layoffs, and in some cases 20%+ wage cuts. My office just shed 14 jobs out of about 45, and upper management rolled back wages to last years. Anything with a direct link to the oilfield is being hit pretty hard. We also didn't get bonuses this year, which sucked, because last year they were over 10% of annual salaries in many cases. I haven't changed spending too much, but I'm a little more on edge.

I've put more of my time to overhead in the last three months than I have in the last 6 years that I've worked here combined.

The recession certainly isn't a myth, but is defiantly effecting some industries more than others.

I miss my bonus... was going to build me a garage with it this year :(

[Russell]

Re: the recession...

I am just coming out of the U of C with a engineering degree and it is crazy hard to find a job. I am looking at going back to do my masters or work on a second degree.

[Automan]

Re: the recession...

i am in my last week of work due to lay offs. For me it's due to the low price of oil which has canceled hundreds of millions of dollars worth of work. I work for an industrial construction company. I am looking into infrastructure construction now. There are still a lot of projects going ahead there. New car plans are on hold now and i was so looking forward to it.

[liquid]

Re: the recession...

The reason the oil industry is laying off so many individuals is obviously due to oil price reduction and capex limitations - but another huge reason is the insane salaries they were offering. After packing people in their offices by whatever means necessary during the boom, they are reviewing a lot of their HR practices. Paying new grads $60k+ per year plus bonuses and 4 weeks vacation is absurd.

This is no doubt a recession, but it's also just a smack back to reality. Bloated companies are realizing the need to streamline.

[R_Ethug]

Re: the recession...

yea from talking with friends in the industry for example at drilling camps before companies had personal chefs and stuff there.. the chefs were getting paid 50-70 bucks an hour to sit and cook eggs..

no more chefs today!!!

[Kordain]

Re: the recession...

Well weve been hit pretty hard with the missus losing her job and struggling to find another so weve had to role back the spending a bit but kinda do that over winter anyway. The good is that the mortgage rate has dropped dramatically saving me a bunch. Work wise nothing has really changed being in engineering but not related to oil n gas were actually seeing more work from the recession so I should be reasonably sound fingers crossed.

but overall yes, knocked back on spending as much as we can.

This is deffo the time to make some investments though if you do have the money, property and education are excellent areas right now