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Take a deep breath. You have multiple years of savings. You have an in demand skill that won't go out of demand any time soon. You have enough fundamentals of

Take a deep breath. You have multiple years of savings. You have an in demand skill that won't go out of demand any time soon. You have enough fundamentals of that skill so if you had to switch from one language to another it wouldn't be a huge stretch. Sounds like you have yours and your wife's health. Also sounds like you don't have to worry about immigration problems from losing your job (not on an H1B or some other work permit). This is what helped me when I was feeling anxious about losing my job due to immigration issues in the USA. 1. I continued to keep in contact once every 3 months, just saying hi, to previous co-workers. It's a system I learned here: https://courses.jordanharbinger.com/courses/6-minute-networking https://courses.jordanharbinger.com/courses/6-minute-network.... Literally just saying "hi" and not asking for anything. This means I always have a warm network of people who'll gladly send me a job in case anything ever were to go wrong. 2. Because of #1, I'd have an inbound interview probably once every 3-4 months I would take. Most of the time I'd turn down the job, but it helped me emotionally know "I got this". 3. I paid off all my debts, cut up all my credit cards, and stopped borrowing money from anyone for any reason. Ya I'm losing some arbitrage opportunities. I don't care. I'm optimizing for psychological comfort. If you have skills and relationships you will _always_ make money. Full stop. A lot of engineers only focus on the skills. Keeping relationships is VERY easy. EVERYONE is bad as proactively reaching out and saying hi to people so if you JUST spend five minutes a day proactively saying hi people WILL remember you. You don't need to make new relationships, you just need to nurture the ones you have.

defrost 4y ago
This. Networking and contacts are hugely important, good relations with others will buffer you through bad times (and be sure to support others). Investments are also wise, however they can go bad in ways that "bricks and morter" that you can touch won't. So, you can't afford a house (yet) - one decent way to get a leg in is to put a solid deposit down on undeveloped land on the outskirts of an are that will grow over the next decade .. preferably within half a day or so of where you live | work. You can pay that off over time, you can build a solid (slab floor) lockup prefab shed for ~ $10K that can act as storage space and a fall back space to camp | work in the worst case. It's an investment you can trade up on for a starter home down the track, etc. It's real estate baby steps with cheap storage included.
- dsfyu404ed 4y ago
  >put a solid deposit down on undeveloped land on the outskirts of an are that will grow over the next decade This is not without substantial risk. Land that is developable in a certain way today may not be be tomorrow. If the area is in fact getting wealthier you're basically racing to develop faster than it gentrifies. You have to thread the needle of buying when cheap and developing before "the wrong kind of people" show up and make that impossible except at the highest end (unaffordable to the private individual) in order to make bank selling to said demographics.
esel2k 4y ago
Wow, great post. @OP I have the same fears and just survived layoffs but not years of money on the side. But I live in central europe with a more stable safety net. I do the exact same think as mentioned here, but on top of that I even go as far to have a list of 3-5people that would get me a job instantly. I keep in touch and ask what skills I should refine (in case I would jump ship in 6mth to 1 year).
dev_0 4y ago
rockbruno 4y ago
I'm curious why you consider credit cards a bad thing. I find them to be very convenient because I then don't have to keep track of how much money I have on my bank account; I just buy everything on it, pay it all in one go once my salary drops and repeat. I get cool bonuses and the good benefit of being able to revert fraudulent purchases, and it's all free because I don't buy things I can't afford to pay immediately.
- m463 4y ago
  When I was younger, I would frequently come up with reasons to buy something "early" because there was some perceived benefit. But I would carry a balance and end up paying more for EVERYTHING. So I tore them up, used a debit card for everything and only bought things I had money for. When everything was paid off and I had no debts, there was a real change in my demeanor. Best thing I ever did. I will say I tried to buy a car a few years after having made this change. When they ran my credit, I remember the guy saying - I'm having trouble getting you a loan. It's not that you have bad credit, it's that you have NO credit. So at that point I got a loan for a couple consumer purchases to build credit. Later I caved and got a (costco) credit card, and paid it in full every month. Now a credit card is not a big deal, but I think I had to get to the point where I was ahead (and maybe slightly more mature)
- jameshush 4y ago
  They're not inherently "bad" or "good" it's just one layer of abstraction I personally don't need. I like dealing with just one big global money state variable for personal finance. What made me switch was one day I had to come up with a deposit for a new apartment with a couple of room mates. Two days before I went to get a cashiers cheque my credit card auto-paid itself and I had significantly less cash than I thought and couldn't cover the deposit. I felt embarrassed and stupid. Should I have checked better? For sure. Now I _always_ check because the money _always_ comes out of the same account. If I'm cash short one day and want to buy something... I just wait a few days. I also make 90% of my purchases via cash day to day. Every Sunday I take out a chunk of cash and use that for coffee/beer/taking my girlfriend out to eat etc. Part of it is because I live in Taiwan and it's still very a much a cash based society (e.g. they'll take _cash on delivery_ for most things too). I'm not particularly frugal. I order Uber Eats all the time, I have a personal trainer at a nice gym nearby, I go to nice restaurants with my girlfriend, I'll buy a round of drinks for friends at the bar, etc. But for me, there's definitely something to looking at my wallet, not seeing as much cash as I thought, and thinking "On second thought, I went out two nights in a row, I don't need to go out again." I don't ever take out personal loans on anything either. Including car loans, those have always been cash. I'm not opposed to taking out a mortgage in the future, but I do like the idea of buying a house all out in cash and not having to owe a single person anything.
gaws 4y ago
> You have an in demand skill that won't go out of demand any time soon. How do you know? OP didn't mention what he did.
- jameshush 4y ago
  You're right. I just assumed they worked in a tech or tech adjacent role. OP if you're working as a newspaper printing machine repair person disregard everything I said and get a new trade :P

defrost 4y ago

This. Networking and contacts are hugely important, good relations with others will buffer you through bad times (and be sure to support others). Investments are also wise, however they can go bad in ways that "bricks and morter" that you can touch won't. So, you can't afford a house (yet) - one decent way to get a leg in is to put a solid deposit down on undeveloped land on the outskirts of an are that will grow over the next decade .. preferably within half a day or so of where you live | work. You can pay that off over time, you can build a solid (slab floor) lockup prefab shed for ~ $10K that can act as storage space and a fall back space to camp | work in the worst case. It's an investment you can trade up on for a starter home down the track, etc. It's real estate baby steps with cheap storage included.

dsfyu404ed 4y ago
>put a solid deposit down on undeveloped land on the outskirts of an are that will grow over the next decade This is not without substantial risk. Land that is developable in a certain way today may not be be tomorrow. If the area is in fact getting wealthier you're basically racing to develop faster than it gentrifies. You have to thread the needle of buying when cheap and developing before "the wrong kind of people" show up and make that impossible except at the highest end (unaffordable to the private individual) in order to make bank selling to said demographics.

esel2k 4y ago

Wow, great post. @OP I have the same fears and just survived layoffs but not years of money on the side. But I live in central europe with a more stable safety net. I do the exact same think as mentioned here, but on top of that I even go as far to have a list of 3-5people that would get me a job instantly. I keep in touch and ask what skills I should refine (in case I would jump ship in 6mth to 1 year).

dev_0 4y ago

rockbruno 4y ago

I'm curious why you consider credit cards a bad thing. I find them to be very convenient because I then don't have to keep track of how much money I have on my bank account; I just buy everything on it, pay it all in one go once my salary drops and repeat. I get cool bonuses and the good benefit of being able to revert fraudulent purchases, and it's all free because I don't buy things I can't afford to pay immediately.

m463 4y ago
When I was younger, I would frequently come up with reasons to buy something "early" because there was some perceived benefit. But I would carry a balance and end up paying more for EVERYTHING. So I tore them up, used a debit card for everything and only bought things I had money for. When everything was paid off and I had no debts, there was a real change in my demeanor. Best thing I ever did. I will say I tried to buy a car a few years after having made this change. When they ran my credit, I remember the guy saying - I'm having trouble getting you a loan. It's not that you have bad credit, it's that you have NO credit. So at that point I got a loan for a couple consumer purchases to build credit. Later I caved and got a (costco) credit card, and paid it in full every month. Now a credit card is not a big deal, but I think I had to get to the point where I was ahead (and maybe slightly more mature)
jameshush 4y ago
They're not inherently "bad" or "good" it's just one layer of abstraction I personally don't need. I like dealing with just one big global money state variable for personal finance. What made me switch was one day I had to come up with a deposit for a new apartment with a couple of room mates. Two days before I went to get a cashiers cheque my credit card auto-paid itself and I had significantly less cash than I thought and couldn't cover the deposit. I felt embarrassed and stupid. Should I have checked better? For sure. Now I _always_ check because the money _always_ comes out of the same account. If I'm cash short one day and want to buy something... I just wait a few days. I also make 90% of my purchases via cash day to day. Every Sunday I take out a chunk of cash and use that for coffee/beer/taking my girlfriend out to eat etc. Part of it is because I live in Taiwan and it's still very a much a cash based society (e.g. they'll take _cash on delivery_ for most things too). I'm not particularly frugal. I order Uber Eats all the time, I have a personal trainer at a nice gym nearby, I go to nice restaurants with my girlfriend, I'll buy a round of drinks for friends at the bar, etc. But for me, there's definitely something to looking at my wallet, not seeing as much cash as I thought, and thinking "On second thought, I went out two nights in a row, I don't need to go out again." I don't ever take out personal loans on anything either. Including car loans, those have always been cash. I'm not opposed to taking out a mortgage in the future, but I do like the idea of buying a house all out in cash and not having to owe a single person anything.

gaws 4y ago

> You have an in demand skill that won't go out of demand any time soon. How do you know? OP didn't mention what he did.

jameshush 4y ago
You're right. I just assumed they worked in a tech or tech adjacent role. OP if you're working as a newspaper printing machine repair person disregard everything I said and get a new trade :P