Holding Off?

[crazydadguy]

Christmas bonuses? What are those? Definately not something Lockheed Martin believes in. Our Christmas bonus is usually some $15 piece of junk that breaks within 2 weeks. Guess we need to keep the corporate profit margin high so the CEO can get another $24,000,000 bonus this year instead of the employees. Can you tell I am a little aggravated at LM and how the treat their people?

 

[annnewjerz]

Christmas bonuses? What are those? Definately not something Lockheed Martin believes in. Our Christmas bonus is usually some $15 piece of junk that breaks within 2 weeks. Guess we need to keep the corporate profit margin high so the CEO can get another $24,000,000 bonus this year instead of the employees. Can you tell I am a little aggravated at LM and how the treat their people?

I feel your pain. The Christmas bonus I get (or have the past few years) is more profit-sharing, but for the staff rather than the attorneys. It was only $500 (which I am more than happy to have!!!) but I do know what you mean about the CEOs and whatnot. I work with people who make upwards of a million dollars a year and they expense everything, even a $4 room service charge for a bottle of water. I guess you have to save money to get rich, right???

It's hilarious because this year, an attorney that I work for was complaining he didn't get a pay raise or a big enough bonus (he is single and currently makes $250,000 per year). Needless to say, I had to do an for that one, because we are lucky if we get a 3% raise each year and he was complaining he only got $15,000 bonus instead of the $30,000 he usually gets.

I will never understand those types of people, but what are you going to do.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Christmas bonuses? What are those?

Hey, crazydadguy, I think I got you beat.

Ours is a $5 coupon for a meal in the hospital cafeteria...

and if you go over, they charge you the difference!

 

[MarkBarbieri]

We don't get a Christmas bonus. We have two incentive plans. The first gives us a bonus based on how well the company met it's goals and based on our individual performance. Everyone has a bonus target that gets adjusted based on the company and personal performance. As you move up the pay scale, much of that movement occurs in the form of larger bonuses rather than larger salaries. They range from below 10% for more junior level employees to 30% or more for very senior staff or management.

We have another incentive plan that is based on how our stock performs relative to 11 companies that we consider peers. If we are in the bottom half (where we are right now), we don't get anything. If we are in the top six we get a bonus based on our original bonus target. The multiplier is .25 (6th), .5 (5th), .75 (4th), 1 (3rd), 1.25 (2nd), or 1.75 (1st) times our bonus target. So someone with a bonus target of 20% would get an additional bonus of 10% if we came in 5th place (.5 multiplier) on top of their 20% incentive bonus.

I've seen other incentives in the industry. I've seen many oil and gas companies offer stock options, restricted stock grants, and stock purchase plans as well. All of these bonus plans and stock deals are designed to do the same basic things - retain talented people and get them thinking like shareholders.

Last year, we did well with our company plan and we did well relative to our peers. A lot employees showed up with new cars not long after bonuses were paid. My wife built an arbor in the backyard and I paid down more of our mortgage.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I should add that we get a lot of non-financial benefits as well. We can choose from a bunch of different health care plans. We have a company doctor we can visit without having to leave the office.

We have a really nice gym in our building (with training classes, top-class equipment, showers, and little rewards for using it).

We have a great cafeteria (although it's only subsidized, not free).

We have flexible schedules (start as early as 7:00 or as late as 9:00 with some people getting exceptions for even more extremes) and we can work five 8 hour days or we can work a 9/80 schedule (9 hours M-Th, 8 hours on alternate Fridays and the other Friday off).

We get loads of vacation time (for Americans). It's based on age. I'm 43 and I get 6 weeks annually. That is actually "PTO - Paid Time Off". Sick time comes out of the same pool of days, so it isn't quite as much as it sounds.

The company also cares a lot about it's employees. During the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, they set up an emergency help line. They also called every employee in the area to check on them. They gave out free generators, gas cans, and gasoline to those in need. That's where we got our generator.

There are lots of other nice things (college scholarships to employee's children, matching charitable contributions, a bunch of activities for take-your-child-to-work, a great Christmas party for kids and another great one for adults). All-in-all, it's a wonderful company and a great place to work. I'm thrilled to be there. I'm also thrilled to be able to live and work in a great suburban community small enough for me to bike to work.

 

[annnewjerz]

I should add that we get a lot of non-financial benefits as well. We can choose from a bunch of different health care plans. We have a company doctor we can visit without having to leave the office.

We have a really nice gym in our building (with training classes, top-class equipment, showers, and little rewards for using it).

We have a great cafeteria (although it's only subsidized, not free).

We have flexible schedules (start as early as 7:00 or as late as 9:00 with some people getting exceptions for even more extremes) and we can work five 8 hour days or we can work a 9/80 schedule (9 hours M-Th, 8 hours on alternate Fridays and the other Friday off).

We get loads of vacation time (for Americans). It's based on age. I'm 43 and I get 6 weeks annually. That is actually "PTO - Paid Time Off". Sick time comes out of the same pool of days, so it isn't quite as much as it sounds.

The company also cares a lot about it's employees. During the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, they set up an emergency help line. They also called every employee in the area to check on them. They gave out free generators, gas cans, and gasoline to those in need. That's where we got our generator.

There are lots of other nice things (college scholarships to employee's children, matching charitable contributions, a bunch of activities for take-your-child-to-work, a great Christmas party for kids and another great one for adults). All-in-all, it's a wonderful company and a great place to work. I'm thrilled to be there. I'm also thrilled to be able to live and work in a great suburban community small enough for me to bike to work.

Why don't you keep rubbing it in, Mark? Your company sounds like a great one. As much as I complain about the law firm I work for, we have a lot of the same things going at our office.

They don't do 401k matching, they just put 7% of your pay in automatically, whether you contribute or not. We have a variety of healthcare plans to choose from and on top of the Christmas "bonus" they also have an incentive bonus program based on points for doing things like training in computer programs, coordinating office events like the Christmas party, etc. I'm 24 and I get 4 weeks of PTO, a lot of the people I work with that are older get 7 weeks...I can't WAIT until I have that may days off, it'll be wonderful...I just hope I can afford to actually use them going tons of great places!

Being a legal secretary wasn't ever my dream career (funnily enough I wanted to be a lawyer and a lot of the lawyers I work with try to convince me to become one). Right now, it's a job. I don't ENJOY my work everyday, but I don't hate it either.

The commute, on the other hand, I do hate. I would LOVE to ride my bike to work everyday (if that would be possible in a dress and heels) 70 miles round trip each day. In theory, it should take me 35 minutes each way, but with NJ traffic I usually spend about 2.5 hours in the car per day. I'm glad I have a fuel efficient car, otherwise I might be forced to look for employment elsewhere.

 

[Gdad]

I'm not feeling too much direct pain from the turmoil, but it definitely has me thinking about minimizing risk and reducing expenses.

This pretty much sums up where we are at right now. I am definately glad that our two home improvement projects were completed months ago, our vacation was taken over the summer, and I am done tinkering with my camera kit (for a bit anyway ) - With all that the first half of the year definately had some serious negative cash flow. Right now seems like a pretty good time to just chill out for a while.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I've decided to make a pretty hard stop on purchases. I canceled my order for the Adobe Master Suite. I'm going to cancel my 5D Mark II order if things don't recover before it ships. I'm going to return my field recorder unopened. I've told the family that we are eliminating almost all discretionary spending until things settle down a little.

My company's stock is down 37% since the start of October. One of our peers, a company that I almost took a job at a few years ago, dropped more than 20% today. GM lost almost a third of it's value today and someone told me that it hasn't been worth this little since 1950. I'm not planning to sell any of my holdings any time soon, but I'm definitely going to stockpile all possible excess cash flow until I get a better sense for how bad things will get.

 

[mabas9395]

My company's stock is down 37% since the start of October.

Wow, only down 37%??? Us bankers think you oil men are the lucky ones. My company's stock is down 100%!!!

My last day at my job is the end of the month. With my last paycheck they cash me out of my unused vacation time. With that I'm getting myself a new Canon 50d (somebody has got to keep this economy going).

 

[tripodjw]

Wow, only down 37%??? Us bankers think you oil men are the lucky ones. My company's stock is down 100%!!!

My last day at my job is the end of the month. With my last paycheck they cash me out of my unused vacation time. With that I'm getting myself a new Canon 50d (somebody has got to keep this economy going).

And there's the catch-22 with this whole thing.

Everyone is tightening belts in case it gets bad, which means no-one spends anything except on essentials causing the problem to get worse. Not that i blame anyone for tightening belts, because it is a scary time.

Personally i blame the media for making it all spiral out of control. I don't know what it is like in the US but here in the UK, every piece of news is about the financial collapse. (I've no doubt if there was anothe tsunami or earthquake in asia like inr ecent yrs then that wouldn't even make the top 10 new items).

Well if they shut up and let the brokers etc get on with it, i'd hazard a guess that the falls would be massively smaller. yes there are fundamental problems but scaremongering in the media always makes something worse (lie the Bird-flu epidemic that never came, from the news outlets you'd think the whole of the UK was going to die of bird-flu and people acted accordingly - overwhelming hospitals etc. If i recall correctly something like 6 people caught birdflu and maybe 1 or 2 died.)


I'm lucky, my job is pretty secure, as Intellectual Property is about the last service that any business cuts, even in really hard times. And so far we've not seen any downturn in work or cashflow. SO i'm not really reducing outgoings . Maybe its foolhardy but i figure why make things worseby not spending money. I can pay my mortgage, buy food and heat my home, so why not have some fun aswell as long as i can pay for it.

The only thing i've balked at recently is a future holiday booking, we were planning to book a 2010 Disney Cruise but the prices are significantly higher than i expected. So i'm undecided on what to do there - not because i want to cut down but because i'm unsure if i want to commit that amount of money to one holiday. So i'll prob just go to WDW instead.

 

[crazydadguy]

We are still going, we have a week long trip booked for Thanksgiving. Its all paid for and we have the dining plan. Grand total about $1500. Lockheed Martin is still doing OK, our company stock dropped $6 yesterday though, but we are still at or around the $96 a share mark. The good thing about defense contractors are the gov contracts that MUST be met. Its some job security.

 

[MassJester]

I had been looking forward to the 5D MK II, but that's off my radar screen for now. I am definitely slashing expenses. I've not had consumer debt for a while, but I want to build cash reserves and pay down my mortgage. I don't think the world is ending, but times are not good -- therefore spending as I did when they were doesn't make any sense to me.

Fortunately, I've got more equipment than skill at this point stand still with the former while working on the latter seems to be a good idea.

Disney at New Years is still on--I pay for my vacations in advance.

 

[Steve's Girl]

We are still taking our trip to Disney in two weeks - it's been paid for since the spring and it's the only vacation we had planned this year.

But, we are really cutting back on everything else. All discretionary spending is on hold. My husband works for a nuclear power plant, so his job is stable. However, I manage investments and my income is directly tied to portfolio values. So, I've had a pretty major pay cut. We can pay our basic living expenses with DH's income. But the cut in my income means that all extras are eliminated. I also bought a new office this summer. So, between increased business expenses and deccreased income, I'm netting about zero. The tough part for us is that I am funding the kids' college accounts out of my income. That is a real priority for me, so I'm going to really be counting beans to try to keep that up. We have always been pretty conservative with our finances, so if we really buckle down and are careful with our expenditures, we will be OK.

 

[WVDisGeek]

The markets are taking another beating today....
Nothing is based upon fundementals right now, the markets are all reacting out of emotion and fear. Don't know when the bottom will be found, but it isn't looking good.

We still will be going on our December trip, the only silver lining is the price of gas continues to drop which will help. I paid off my truck early and my wife will be paying her car off early as well. Other than that, we have no debt and no children. Our jobs are fairly stable (for now, but with the recession, everyone is vulnerable) so I think we are in pretty good shape to weather the short term. My big question mark is the longer term implications. We will be re-thinking our discretionary spending and cutting back on things that really aren't "essential". I was planning on getting a 50mm 1.4 before our December trip, but I will be putting that on hold until some of this settles out.

Our Anniversary is coming up in a couple of weeks and instead of going somewhere for a long weekend, we will most likely just stay home. We were going to try a Disney cruise next year, but I think we are now going to stay at my in-laws condo in Florida for a week instead. It will save us a couple thousand bucks so it is hard to justify. My wife will likely suffer VERY severe Disney withdrawls, but she will get over it. I'm not thrilled either, but as I am 7 years older, my retirement horizon is shorter and I am a little more worried than she is.

Best of luck to everyone! Here is hoping it gets better soon!

 

[Colleen27]

our area's economy has been dying/ dead for about 2+ yrs, so long before all this stuff happened, ie lots of business who have been solid businesses for decades are gone and others are scrambling to stay alive or moving south so i can't imagine it is going to suddenly improve in this area anytime soon( and hub being in construction is one of the first to feel it)..i'm not buying anything new unless the old one dies an irreparable death first

That's where I'm at too. DH is in construction and business is slower than it has ever been. The writing has been on the wall here for years though, so we were prepared. We've got enough squirreled away that we're not hurting for the essentials, but we're definitely rethinking our priorities and looking for ways to minimize expenses because we're slowly chipping away at our savings just to make ends meet. We're planning to take advantage of the weak real estate market to buy a home with cash and rid ourselves of our mortgage payment, so all non-essential spending is on hold to preserve as much of our savings as possible for when the right opportunity comes along.

So the prime lens and external hard drive I'd planned on getting myself for Christmas (I buy my own gifts for my tech-dumb DH to wrap, else I'd have a jewelry box full of bling I'd never wear and a depressing lack of electronics LOL) are on hold, but it is for the greater good.

 

[crazydadguy]

We were thinking of a new used car (Does that make sense?) come January, but Im not so sure now. We own both cars currently, plus I have some classes I wanted to take in the spring, and I just dont know if it is justifiable. My current car is about 12 years old now, but it still runs decently and the AC works. Barring a promotion at work (which I am not holding my breath for), I am really thinking about not spending the money on a monthly payment. Our stock took a pummeling yesterday, but on the other side of the coin, in a little while, there should be some really good bargains on stocks.