congratulations, V! We knew you could do it.
excellent job melting the C.C.s, been C.C. free for over ten years. You'll love the extra lung capacity, you'll feel like lance armstrong.

I'll see you around. 'been busy lately, the next month may see more time.

:celebrat:
Great news, V. I'm glad you're back.

Hooray! Don't worry, the debt will be back down in no time. You used it exactly the way responsible people are supposed to. You'll recover in no time.

A clarification:

wrt the credit cards--I do feel they were used in the situation when they were most needed, and mostly in a responsible way. But my reference to "melting" them was an allusion to the affect on the poor little plastic rectangle from *heavy use*. Industrial freakin use, and it was not an industrial grade tool.

I'm in the position now of having lived on credit for, say, three months. My new income isn't twice my previous level consumption, and I will have to live well below my means to retire the debt. That's the only way, of course, and I know that, and I'm really ready to do it. Looking forward to it. But I can't retire it at the rate I accumulated it, probably not at half the rate. :frown: But. I have a well established habit of paying down debt. It has been steadily diminishing since...dunno, maybe ten years. The unemployment caused the total debt level to increase, and there have been some high dollar expenses that increased the level as well (college for two, a new roof), but the number will go away.

Possibly tmi--as much as a I hate the debt load, I will not sacrifice our savings to accelerate the debt retirement. I have to save for retirement too, and there are no loans for living expenses when you're 80.

Hey BigV - congrats on the job!

Nice to see you back!

I've heard this before but still don't understand it. It doesn't make sense to me, to pay two or three times the interest you're earning, on money you owe. Unless, of course, you feel you (and yours) can't stick to a strict savings schedule to replace those savings. :confused:

ALRIGHT! someone gets it. there are a lot of strategies for eliminating debt. they all require discipline. pulling out retirement funds to eliminate debt is a huge NONO. (time value of money and all that).

Bruce - if he is running at 25% interest then sure, he may want to look at alternatives, but even at 10% or so - his retirement savings is more valuable where it is at. even if he only gets 6% this year and 7% next year. staying in the market is absolutely crucial. you can't time it - you just gotta be there.

@BigV...... don't know you, but empathise.......

I was out of work for 18 months tiill last August...... too old, too overqualified, too expensive et al....

my credit cards melted too.....


Defer the day......

I don't know that his money is in the market. Or that he's getting 6/7%, for that matter.
So, you're saying pay thousands in interest, for the chance to recoup it if the stock market suddenly skyrockets? :confused:

no, no that isn't what i meant. what i am saying is that having a little money invested NOW in the market is a lot more powerful than investing a LOT later. the most powerful component in successful investment is TIME. not timing, not always picking the hot stock, not getting out before a downturn - TIME in the market.

sometimes there are no alternatives, but if there is any choice at it is better to pay your debt off via the tried and true method of sending in your monthly checks and keeping your retirement funds, exactly that - retirement funds.

it isn't a get rich scheme or a screw the system system - it is just simple common sense combined with knowledge of the markets.

1) i don't know when the markets are going to have great years vs crappy years. so if i'm always in with a balanced portfolio i have no worries about missing a run up. think in terms of real estate. imagine someone sold their house in 2002 and didn't purchase right away because they were considering relocating (or any other reason). he was finally settled and stable by 2005 and ready to purchase the market had gone insane. home prices had doubled and sometimes tripled. the sorry sucker is going to have difficult time getting back into the housing market and will never regain that ground. the same thing happens in the market - just in a less noticeable way. i have client that was in Stock X. he complained that although he really liked the company and wanted to own it for the long haul he was going to sell it and buy his new car because he didn't like owing anyone money. sounds like a great plan - but now Stock X is trading 40% higher. he missed his chance.

2) it is far easier for most people to pay bills than it is to invest appropriately. i'm sure BigV is different, but most people will find something that they have to buy on a monthly basis rather than invest the money. if they keep their money invested they will without fail send the money to the creditors and pay the debt down while still watching their retirement money grow.

good financial management is quite counterintuitive. if it feels good, you'd better think again. if it feels really really crummy - you might just be on the right path.

Update:

Two credit cards have just been paid off!!! :celebrat:

Both cards were on auto-pay auto-pilot with the credit union, and so I didn't "really" see the money each month. But now that I don't have to pay them anymore, I could easily "see" the money again, and be happy for it. But.

But I still have a couple of credit cards to go. :sniff: So I'm redirecting some of the cash flow previously used to pay off credit cards A and B to credit card C. C is also on autopilot, but now I'm able to shift it into a higher gear. By the way, I did some back of the envelope math on that card... :rar: The minimum payment meant that the balance forward would be reduced by 0.1% or so. Is that legal? Moral? Usurous? I digress. I am now paying at about 3.9 times the minimum payment. This one will take a couple more years to disappear, as I have no more low hanging fruit to harvest and redirect towards its retirement. Plus I have no guarantees that the balance will only go down. This is the last card to pay off (well, the last one that's an open account. I'm still paying down another closed account :sigh: ).

I mentioned that I'm taking some of that newly available cash flow and putting it toward this last credit card. What of the rest of that cash flow? Well, I have increased (not intitiated, but increased from an already respectable number) the amount I'm contributing to my 401k account. By a lot. I expect the net cash flow to *decrease* measurably. But for the first time in my career, I'm going to be within spitting distance of the Federal maximum dollar contribution limit. It feels scary good. Well, it feels good now, I have only just turned in my form. Check with me again after a couple of paydays...

OR....you could get some really cute goats.:lol:

Two down in less than a year, way to go BigV! And congrats on the bigger 401K investment, you and your kids will both appreciate it someday.

Well done. Keep grindin'

**BUMP**

Because I only have a minute here and I will want to return to this thread for the good advice from all of you. I need it again.

I have another interview tomorrow.

Good Luck. I got a possible lead on something today as well.

Excellent! I wish you the very best luck.

I just got back from the mall. I asked BD for a favor--a ride and would she please be my fashion consultant? $450 later I have a handful of new slacks, shirts, socks and shoes. She picked them, I got to say how they felt. I have promised to wear a tie, but I told her that I'd be the only guy in the building wearing a tie. She countered that I'd be the best looking guy in the building then.... OK, I'll wear a tie. Thanks doll, I loveya!

Very good. The appearance and the extra confidence it should give you could well tip you over the line.

Interview them thoroughly. Make sure they are competent and worthy of your joining.

Dear USA,

Please put BigV in charge of your economy. That is all.

Z

This thread doesn't get much play, does it?

Well, it will get some play today, as I have a phone interview in a couple hours. It is for a Systems Engineer position at a local internet company. I am optimistic about this for a couple reasons. 1--Why not be optimistic. It sure beats the crap out of the alternatives, which are sure losers. 2--My friend, T, sent me a link the other day, "Hey, what about this job description, X, can I submit your resume for it?"... ??? what is this a trick question?? Yes, please, by all means, do so. We noodled around with my resume for an hour (Jeebus after all these months I **still** had a couple grammatical errors? W. T. F. ???). So, we beat it into submission, then he sent it for submission. Yay. The next day, I get an email message from the person, DG, this new hire would report to and he wants to arrange a phone call so we can talk a little bit. Oh, and it sounds like you'd be a good fit for open position Y here (also reporting to DG. I followed the link and the second one, Y, is a higher rank/responsibility/experience than X. I take this as a very good sign. He clearly read my resume, and decided/hoped that I'd be better fit for the "higher" position. By higher I mean instead of two years experience, they advertised six years experience. Instead of delivering tier 2 support, I'd be providing tier 3 support to the junior staff members who would bring me problems they couldn't solve. Leading/training junior staff, stuff like this. I am encouraged.

I've done a little googling about the fellow who sent me the email, DG. Nothing very revealing, though speaking to the person I'd be reporting to means I'm likely talking to the decider. This is as good as it gets. If I convince him that I'm interesting enough to pursue, I'll have the very potent ally. The work looks like the same kind of work I've done for decades, Computer Wrangling. This I can do.

Wish me luck! I'll report back this afternoon.

whoo hoo.

You have a positive *flair* for understatement, my friend.

I just saw this. Best of luck to you , V.

thank you thank you thank you... interview in ten minutes. I'm very nervous and excited.

AAAuuugh!

Good luck Biggie.

Yeah.

I'm hired.

Awesome!

Congratulations

What a feeling! Fabulous! BV! :thumb:

Awesome!

Congratulations !

Your colleague, T, also gets Congrats for being a good friend.

woot!

Good for you!

HIGH FIVE :slap:

Suh-weet!

Holy Crap! Thats awesome!! !! !!

Out STANDING V !!!

Nice One!

...

Hey, me again.

Some explanation about that previous post.

I don't believe in jinxes, so I risked a bold prediction. They *will* hire me. It was a phone interview with the person who will decide, and it was about a half an hour of me talking about how I can do or have done the things he has on his plate. It was entirely favorable. "Well, that sounds really good." "I agree." "I've done that a couple times at X and Y." "So you have that experience, that's good." repeat repeat repeat... By the end of the call, we were practically making out. Metaphorically speaking.

There is a very good match of what they need to get done with what I have done. There is considerable overlap in what they're looking for in non technical terms and what I'm looking for in company culture. To my amazement, he brought up the subject of salary requirements near the end of our talk. This felt kinda like getting to second base on a first date. This was another area of agreement, what they had to offer and what I am expecting to be paid.

The last part of the conversation was DG saying he would pass on my information to their HR department so they could begin to process my paperwork. Another good sign I feel. Sure enough, twenty minutes later I get a message from the recruiter fellow DG said I'd hear from. We have arranged to meet/talk this week. Things are moving forward as though each party wants to make a deal.

I am very excited, but the literal truth is that I have not had an offer tendered to me. I believe they will make one, and soon. That will be fucking awesome.

Just finished second phone interview.

It was short and sweet. He verified some details about my experience, the job description, my salary expectations, etc. He closed with by saying that the next step is to schedule some in person interviews, what is my schedule like, timing, etc. He told me to expect to be contacted by the scheduling administrator (or some title like that). I suppose I'll have this next round of interviews within a week, pending the availability of the people in their office.

Continuing to move forward, gaining momentum. I'm still excited!

***

On a different note, same subject, the office for this outfit is downtown. I live north of downtown, still in the city. Blah blah blah, what this means is that I won't have to drive on the freeway to get to the job. I could take the bus, or ride my bike. This is much more appealing when you consider that parking my car downtown could cost as much as $300 a month... compared to a free bus pass. I am very happy about the prospect of not having to be a bridge rat anymore!

Excellent. Your last commute sucked, IIRC.

:thumbsup:

Good news!

I just received an email (and a followup phone call) from my prospective employer scheduling my in person interviews. I will come into their office Monday afternoon. There are four interviews scheduled with six different people over the course of two hours.

I've already spoken with two of them, each one in one of my phone interviews. I'll do some googling of the other four names to see what I can see, I'll shave, get a new shirt and a shoeshine... print up a few copies of my resume "just in case". I know where the place is (heh, you guys do too, I might have posted a picture here. I'll look for it.) and where to park. I'm really, really excited!

Brilliant!

Good luck V. I'm sure you'll dazzle them.

eh hem ... update?

Wow, this all happened really fast! Good luck to you!

Hi friends. Sorry for being silent on this matter lately. I don't have any news at all. Monday's interviews went very well, I met seven people in four interviews. It was quite favorable, there were two kinds of questions, technical pop quizzes of a sort, what is CAT5, what is a Global Catalog, etc. and interpersonal style questions, how do you handle competing priorities and deadlines, how do you use your presentation skills to convince a group of people about a technical subject, etc.

I believe I met most of the team I'd be working with, including the director of IT, the main decider, in my opinion. He was very friendly. I *think* he wants me (not like that), but I don't know yet. I asked when I'd know, when they'd know and he said he had one more person to interview, that was yesterday. He said they'd have a decision by today or Thursday.

The hours have crept by.

I came home from the interview, had a sandwich and promptly fell asleep for six hours. I was exhausted. I told them I want the job, now it's up to them. I'm stiiiiiiilllll waiting. :)

This just in
 

Dang.

Sorry.

Sorry. That sucks. :(

grrrrrrrrrrr ... Very sorry.

Awwww crap.

crappity crap

That sucks !!

Or i bet the other canadate had Bigger Boobz than you did ;)

damn man. I definitely know the feeling. keep on chuggin' bro. it *will* happen for you man. if i can get a job back in my old field given my past, you have it a lot easier than i did. hang in there sir!