Withdrawal time... (before retirement)

Asset allocation, risk, diversification and rebalancing. Pros/cons of hiring a financial advisor. Seeking advice on your portfolio?
queerasmoi
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Re: Withdrawal time...

Post by queerasmoi »

On a positive note, the temp agency just called me and offered me an ongoing 1-2 days/week position doing odd jobs at a bank's ATM back office, sorting, counting etc. Two days training late next week, then guaranteed Monday shift plus other possible shifts subject to needs and availability.

Perhaps if that picks up to at least 2-3 days/week I'll be breaking even instead of withdrawing :)
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Re: Withdrawal time...

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queerasmoi wrote:On a positive note, the temp agency just called me and offered me an ongoing 1-2 days/week position doing odd jobs at a bank's ATM back office, sorting, counting etc. Two days training late next week, then guaranteed Monday shift plus other possible shifts subject to needs and availability.

Perhaps if that picks up to at least 2-3 days/week I'll be breaking even instead of withdrawing :)
Great news!
When I graduated back in 78 after getting my 3 yr degree in 7 years :oops: I found my career easily. Times have changed. All my nieces and nephews are finding it hard to get good jobs even with solid university degrees.
All the best to you and keep the faith.
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Re: Withdrawal time...

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Heh, I forgot to update this thread.

The temp job in question was a bust. After day four I was asked not to come back, and since that date the temp agency did not offer me anything more.

Flash forward - going into September-October my cash savings started to empty out. The parents staved off that depletion a bit, as did a few on-call shifts at the college and some online tutor hours, but going into early November I finally reached the point where cash (including accumulated dividends) was too low for the next round of bills. So I sold one of my smaller bond ETF holdings, and the money is on its way out of Questrade. This represented about 7% of my portfolio, although with equities down, my overall portfolio isn't all that out of balance after this withdrawal.

I've had a few interviews including science jobs but none of those worked out. So I applied to a call centre that had advertised at UBC's Career Centre - inbound only, no sales, and it's basically a switchboard for government services. I was hired today for 20 hours/week part-time, start date mid next week. Depending on demand, additional hours can be added some weeks, and I have my other casual work too. No path to a full-time job (I was very explicitly advised that I should not be applying to the P/T position if my intent is to try and get promoted to F/T) but on the plus side the P/T role still has access to (pro-rated) benefits after 3 months.

The only question is, will I actually be able to stand this job? I guess I will find out soon!

Presuming I am able to keep the job, the plan would be to refill my cash reserve again to about 6 months' worth before even thinking about what goes into the investment account.
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northbeach
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Re: Withdrawal time...

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Great that you found work.

Hoping your job is mainly helping people find needed answers and not complaining people angry and/or upset at something or other.

I admire call centre people that have patience for me (especially if I am pissed about something).
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Re: Withdrawal time...

Post by Shakespeare »

Congrats on the job.

Hope things work out.
Sic transit gloria mundi. Tuesday is usually worse. - Robert A. Heinlein, Starman Jones
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Re: Withdrawal time...

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northbeach wrote:Great that you found work.

Hoping your job is mainly helping people find needed answers and not complaining people angry and/or upset at something or other.

I admire call centre people that have patience for me (especially if I am pissed about something).
It's basically a switchboard. The only answers we give consist of either transferring the caller or giving them another phone number to call. It's certainly likely that there will be irate callers, because after all they are trying to reach government departments, but it's not me they'll be angry at ;)
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Re: Withdrawal time...

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queerasmoi wrote: It's basically a switchboard. The only answers we give consist of either transferring the caller or giving them another phone number to call. It's certainly likely that there will be irate callers, because after all they are trying to reach government departments, but it's not me they'll be angry at ;)
Another follow-up. After just over 4 months at the call centre, doing slightly better than breaking even with my finances, my "big" break.

An ex-colleague from UBC turned out to be the bassist for an indie band in which my friend plays trumpet. So when I went to see them play at a bar, we caught up and found out we'd recently both (unsuccessfully) applied to the same job. A few days after the show, he e-mailed me a posting for an unlisted job that he'd found out about through social connections. They offered him the job but he didn't feel it was much better than his current one given the commute (it's in south Burnaby and he lives just that extra distance further that would make transit a very long trip).

So anyway I applied on a whim, and got the offer two days after my interview. Moving on up! The salary is not huge by chemistry industry standards but it's more money than I've ever made in my life so I'm not exactly in a bargaining position.

Small startup lab, managed by an experienced chemist and also connected to the founder of a very successful local analytical lab who recently sold to a big multinational. Also connected to a natural health products company that intends to both market its own products and act as a reseller of ingredients from China pre screened for quality control. This lab is basically to in-source the analytical method development, so that their methods can be fine tuned before sending big batches out for analysis. The lab is currently in the "equipment has barely been unpacked" stage. They also are aiming to meet a particular ISO certification, and sending me for a two day paid course to learn about that.
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Shakespeare
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Re: Withdrawal time...

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Best of luck! Analytical Method Development is far, far better than running a lab (I've done both).
Sic transit gloria mundi. Tuesday is usually worse. - Robert A. Heinlein, Starman Jones
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Re: Withdrawal time...

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Shakespeare wrote:Best of luck!
Ditto! :thumbsup:
Analytical Method Development is far, far better than running a lab (I've done both).
I'd imagine it depends on the lab, e.g. a meth lab (as in Breaking Bad, a very good "film noir" TV series about a chemistry teacher with a terminal disease who decides he can better (and more profitably) apply his knowledge to cooking meth than to teaching students.)

P.S. This wasn't meant to encourage QAM to start a meth lab :rofl:
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Re: Withdrawal time...

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Yes, good luck. I know that it's hard to get a good full time job these days. Congratulations on your perseverance.

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northbeach
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Re: Withdrawal time...

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Great stuff.

Enjoy your new job.

Invest wisely.
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Pickles
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Re: Withdrawal time...

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Really happy for you, queerasmoi. Way to go! I'm glad you got a position that has some relationship to your education.

Open up a Peoples Trust TFSA (current rate is 3% if you follow the instructions in Under the Mattress's thread on savings accounts) and shove what you don't need into it. Until you have a bigger stake, that's all you need to do for now investment-wise.
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Re: Withdrawal time...

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queerasmoi wrote:Small startup lab, managed by an experienced chemist and also connected to the founder of a very successful local analytical lab who recently sold to a big multinational. Also connected to a natural health products company that intends to both market its own products and act as a reseller of ingredients from China pre screened for quality control. This lab is basically to in-source the analytical method development, so that their methods can be fine tuned before sending big batches out for analysis. The lab is currently in the "equipment has barely been unpacked" stage. They also are aiming to meet a particular ISO certification, and sending me for a two day paid course to learn about that.
I suspect that you might get an opportunity to have a much bigger role there. So, in addition to socking away more money, you might find the position grows into something extremely lucrative. Congratulations! :thumbsup:

(Maybe someday soon, you will be able to afford to live in Vancouver :twisted: )
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Re: Withdrawal time...

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Good show! I'd wondered now and again how things were working out, but didn't want to pry.
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Re: Withdrawal time...

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That's great news! Wishing you a long run that's both personally and professionally satisfying.
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Shakespeare
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Re: Withdrawal time...

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Bylo Selhi wrote:
Shakespeare wrote:Analytical Method Development is far, far better than running a lab (I've done both).
I'd imagine it depends on the lab
AMD is project work: single-tasking, intense concentration, focus, can be done by yourself or you and a couple of techs. Managing a lab requires both people skills and multitasking.

Grad school prepares you for project work and focus. It does not prepare you for people skills and multitasking.
Sic transit gloria mundi. Tuesday is usually worse. - Robert A. Heinlein, Starman Jones
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Re: Withdrawal time...

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Pickles wrote:Really happy for you, queerasmoi. Way to go! I'm glad you got a position that has some relationship to your education.

Open up a Peoples Trust TFSA (current rate is 3% if you follow the instructions in Under the Mattress's thread on savings accounts) and shove what you don't need into it. Until you have a bigger stake, that's all you need to do for now investment-wise.
Actually my TFSA room is almost filled up already with my existing couch potato style nest-egg investments. I've been using Ally's 2% taxable HISA for my emergency fund which got depleted during my underemployed months. I am not that worried about the taxation at this point because my 2011 taxes are going to carry forward a considerable number in tuition and education amounts. Nearly every dollar of tax that is taken off my pay in 2012 is probably going to get refunded (too bad that carry-forward amounts are not grounds for reducing tax deducted at source). Also I have a bunch of carry-forward capital losses (from before the days when I had actually taken control of my accounts) which will find use down the road.

For now, loosely, my plan is to split the difference - allow myself to sometimes indulge in spending as much as half the increase in my income on standard of living, fun, frivolity etc, and put the remaining half-or-more into the emergency fund. Once it tips past about 6 months of living expenses, then I'll start putting the spillover back into my couch potato portfolio.

RRSP I'm not thinking about yet until I'm considerably taxable enough to care. Unless there's a matching program but I'm not counting on it in a small organization.
Shakespeare wrote:AMD is project work: single-tasking, intense concentration, focus, can be done by yourself or you and a couple of techs. Managing a lab requires both people skills and multitasking.

Grad school prepares you for project work and focus. It does not prepare you for people skills and multitasking.
Let me tell you, the worst part about grad school was working on really long drawn out projects with very little feedback. I haven't really figured out my working style but I like a blend of solo and working with people, and I like to receive feedback that reinforces my good instincts and gets the bad ones out of the way. I did work with people in grad school but I could stand to improve on that. Multitasking I certainly did lots of when I was a TA - in one course I was managing up to 5 distinct experiments being done by different students in each period, and I had to time it right so that nobody would end up making fatal errors that would result in staying past the end.

I don't see "lab manager" as my future job, but who knows. The closest I can come to a concept of a career path is - do whatever work it takes to have some legitimacy as an analytical chemist and a scientist, and then down the road if it doesn't suit me, consider how my experience can get me a ticket to something that does.
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Re: Withdrawal time...

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Update again: After what will be 13 months on this job, the whole staff (4 of us plus manager) is being laid off as of the end of the month. I am definitely more employable in this field than when I started this gig.

I'm eligible for EI for the first time in my life, which will be an interesting experience.

I rebuilt my emergency savings very nicely over the course of the year and started adding back into my investment account. So in combination with EI I should be able to survive for quite some time. I will have to see what opportunities come along. But I also will take a bit of time to myself and maybe a vacation or two (even if they have to deduct my EI for the days I travel that don't involve a job hunt).

Might move back closer to the family in Ontario if that's where an opportunity comes up.
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Re: Withdrawal time...

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Your grit and determination is admirable. Best wishes on your job search.
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Re: Withdrawal time...

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parvus wrote:Your grit and determination is admirable. Best wishes on your job search.
+1 and I am sure from everyone here!
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Re: Withdrawal time...

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CROCKD wrote:
parvus wrote:Your grit and determination is admirable. Best wishes on your job search.
+1 and I am sure from everyone here!
Yes indeed! Best wishes for what will hopefully be a very short job search.
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Re: Withdrawal time...

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CROCKD wrote:
parvus wrote:Your grit and determination is admirable. Best wishes on your job search.
+1 and I am sure from everyone here!
:thumbsup: Best of luck QAM!
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Re: Withdrawal time...

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Hope everything works out. :thumbsup:
Sic transit gloria mundi. Tuesday is usually worse. - Robert A. Heinlein, Starman Jones
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Re: Withdrawal time...

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Wow! Hope your job search is short and the results are sweet.
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Re: Withdrawal time...

Post by 2 yen »

Seems to me that you are a poster child for financial responsibility - especially re the emergency fund. You'll be fine. Best of luck. :thumbsup:
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