We're All Temporary Workers

According to data collected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, middle aged Americans are, on average, likely to have held 11 or 12 jobs by the age of 48.  See http://www.bls.gov/nls/nlsfaqs.htm#anch4.  The same group will have, on average, experienced 5 or 6 periods of unemployment by the age of 48. See http://www.bls.gov/nls/nlsfaqs.htm#anch42.  Only about 10 percent of these workers will have had between 0 and 4 jobs by age 48.  In other words, the long lasting, stable employment that we anticipate for adulthood is mostly a mirage.  Few of us enjoy that kind of certainty.  Indeed, it's fair to say just about all of us are temporary workers.

Of course, there are differences among workers.  Some are considered full time, others part time.  Some are permanent--either full time or part time--and others are temporary--either full time or part time.  But the average American, with about 12 jobs by the age of 50, is realistically a temporary employee, just with better benefits if he or she is considered "permanent" and is working full time.

The impermanence of employment means fewer employees qualify for defined benefit pensions, even in the few jobs that still offer pensions.  It also means that in the real world, workers have trouble building up their 401(k) and IRA accounts, because they're periodically hit with a spell of unemployment or have to rebuild benefits at a new employer.  Many workers draw down their retirement accounts during episodes of joblessness.  When they resume working, they have less time to build up their balances again.  The only ways to counteract the temporariness of employment is to save furiously, or, if you're lucky enough to have a job offering a pension, to somehow stay put long enough to qualify for the pension, no matter how boring the job or overbearing the boss.

The wobbly, and sometimes turbulent, work lives of most people place this year's politics in sharp focus.  The debates over Social Security, health insurance, trade policy, jobs programs and wage stagnation become all the more crucial when we consider that, in the end, we're almost all temporary workers. Proprosals that enhance stability for workers, like protecting and strengthening Social Security and Medicare will be popular.  Measures like free trade agreements are likely to be losers.

But don't count on the government to bail you out.  You're not a major financial institution, so assume that there will be no bailout for you.  Save as much as you can--and then save some more.

Planning For Your Obsolescence

The ongoing debate over trade policy highlights a major career risk:  the possibility that you could become obsolescent because of cheaper labor elsewhere and/or automation.  For example, in the auto industry, many car parts and some cars are made in other countries and shipped to America because labor and other costs are cheaper elsewhere.  In America's auto assembly plants, robots have replaced large numbers of people because robots are more reliable and cheaper.  This trend will continue as many other tasks become mechanized and/or cost-effective in lower wage nations.  Computer programming, radiology, legal research and legal document review have joined data entry and call center jobs as routinized work that can be done by smart people living in many countries.  What can you do about your potential obsolescence?

Keep up your skills.  Maintain and upgrade your professional skills.  People capable of cutting edge work will often have an advantage over foreign competition and robots.

Be flexible.  Keep an open mind about working in new and different jobs.  Many people have succeeded in fields they didn't plan on entering.  But they were open minded about learning new things and taking on new challenges.  The economy will keep changing, and success can follow if you change with it.  If you're unemployed, be open to taking temporary and part-time work in order to prevent your personal finances from eroding faster than necessary.

Computers and computer science.  Much of the reason for personal obsolescence is computerization.  Computers and related technologies (most importantly, the Internet) make it possible for workers overseas and robots to compete against American workers.  Don't get angry about this because computerization will continue--and most likely at an accelerating pace.  If you can't beat them, join them.  Acquire and maintain computer skills.  Go into a computer-related field.  Become a programmer, technician, data management engineer or something else computer-related that fits your skills.  Computers won't become obsolete, and people who can work with them have a better chance of staying employable.

Build your benefits.  Work as long as possible to build Social Security credits.  If you have the potential to earn a pension, stay in that job long enough to qualify.  Having a stream of payments that doesn't depend on your employability is a major victory over obsolescence.

Save.  Here's an ugly truth:  just as the wages and salaries of the middle class have fallen due to globalization and other reasons, the returns on capital have improved.  People who hold capital are becoming comparatively better off, while people who work are on average becoming comparatively worse off.  Save. Acquire capital and improve your chances for a comfortable life.  Then save some more.  Whatever your views on social issues like the distribution of income and wealth, you are individually better off with a pool of savings to protect you from the riptides of a free enterprise economy.

Managing Personal Risk

Modern businesses put a lot of effort into managing risk.  They take risks, because that's how they might make big money.  But they also work to mitigate the downsides of their risks, because employee stock options don't pay off real well if the CEO, or someone or something else, blows up the business.

Individuals need to manage risk as well.  Bankruptcies most often result from unexpected problems, like a medical crisis or job loss.  If you don't deal with the ways that life can fall apart, the chances of your life fallling apart increase. The need to manage personal risk may be one of the most under-appreciated aspects of financial planning. While there's no perfect or complete way to analyze personal risk, here are some things to think about.

Age.  As you grow older, reduce risk.  If anything goes wrong, you will have less time to recover, and less ability to recover as your value in the labor force declines (and it eventually will).  There are variety of ways to reduce risk discussed below.  The important point is that as time passes and you accumulate more gray hair, reduce personal risk.

Occupation.  Your occupation can be a major risk factor.  Some types of work can't be performed by older people.  This would include construction, law enforcement, military service, fire fighting and other jobs that demand physical strength and endurance.  It could also include jobs that don't demand physical strength, but do require certain abilities that deteriorate with age, such as flying, working as an air traffic controller, or performing surgery.   If your job has a relatively limited time span, start building wealth at an early age and persist.  You may be able to have a second career when the first one ends.  But then again, maybe not.  Don't count on what's highly uncertain.  Assume your first occupation is all that you'll ever have and base your financial planning on it.

Employment stability.  If your job security is unstable, build up a large pool of savings to tide you over the rough spots.  A year's worth of living expenses, or more, in an emergency fund would be a good idea.  If you work in a boom-bust industry, like construction or oil and gas drilling, or an unpredictable job, like entertainment, your savings account is your best friend.  If you have to take on debts, or lose a car and/or house, because you didn't prepare for a layoff, your long term financial future may be cloudy.

Health.  Factor into your financial planning your health problems, especially any chronic ones you have.  There is no way to avoid having health problems, especially as you get older.  That's why having health insurance is so important--you will definitely use it.  Also have some savings available for health care expenses not covered by insurance--these expenses are one of the leading reasons for personal bankruptcy filings.  If your health is good, save plenty because you may need to finance a long life span. 

Debts.  Debts are one of the most dangerous risks.  Jobs may not be secure, but debts, once incurred, are a certainty.  If you're poor, but debt free, you won't end up in bankruptcy.  Poverty doesn't lead to bankruptcy; unmanageable debts do.  But debts are also one of the most controllable risks.  Avoid taking on debt unless it's really necessary.  Pay off debts as quickly as possible, especially as you get older.  A mortgage-free house is better than a sleeping pill.  There are some financial planners who will tell you to have a mortgage and invest your cash in stocks.  Well, if stocks maintained a nice, steady upward trend all the time, this might well be a smart move.  But if stocks are sometimes volatile--well, some people do manage to eat dog food.  Avoid debt and you avoid risk.

Moral and voluntary obligations.  Lots of people help their kids pay for college--and then help some more when the kids rebound home after graduating.  Many help their aged parents.  Quite a few help siblings, nieces, nephews, friends and so on when the going gets tough.  If you are likely to accept these obligations, manage your finances to be able to meet them.  Being nice can be a major financial risk factor. 

Riskiness of your assets.  This isn't quite the same as asset allocation.  This is preparing for things to go wrong with your choice of assets.  Don't think your allocation is necessarily right.  Almost no one predicted the financial crisis of 2008 and hundreds of millions of savers worldwide got a big tummy ache as a result.  If you really think that you and your financial planner have it all figured out, contact me about buying a very nice bridge in Brooklyn, and at a bargain price, too.

But back to the first point.  Stress test your investments (see http://blogger.uncleleosden.com/2010/11/stress-test-your-retirement.html).  If you are uncomfortable with the potential losses you could incur, change your allocation.  Of course, no matter what you do, you'll end up with some kind of allocation.  The important thing is to end up with something that you can live with on good days and bad.  

Insurance.  Only Congress is less popular than insurance companies.  But having some insurance coverage is important to mitigating risks.  We've already covered health insurance.  Have homeowners or renter's coverage.  Maintain plenty of liability coverage on your auto policy, and buy an umbrella policy if you have a significant net worth.  Get disability coverage (first check to see what your employer offers, and supplement it if appropriate).  If you have dependents, like minor children, buy life insurance.  Think about long term care coverage if you have significant assets.  Granted, writing a check to an insurance company feels like eating sawdust.  But if life takes a u-turn, it's comforting to be able to forward the bill to an insurance company.

Boost your benefits.  Work as long as possible to build up your Social Security credits and any pension benefits for which you are eligible.  Okay, Congress, the White House, City Hall, the boss, or somebody is always threatening to trim or take away these benefits.  But they will very likely survive in one form or another, and you benefit from maximizing them because they may offer the best shelter available when cold economic winds blow.

The Good Deficit

You already know we're in Oz.  The government manages the federal deficit by making across the board cuts everyone thought would be so extreme that both Democrats and Republicans would work together to find a more rational solution.  Ha ha ha.  The joke's on us.  The government manages the debt ceiling by kicking the can down the road every few months.  The can is getting awfully dented.  And most tellingly, a surprisingly large number of the members of Congress bear a distinct resemblance to the flying monkeys in the movie.

But even as there were bad witches in the movie, there were also good witches.  There are good deficits as well.  Government spending for things that government is particularly good at is generally desirable, even if it requires deficit spending.  For example, government is good at national defense, education, law enforcement, and building or subsidizing transportation systems.  Government is also very good at funding basic research.  Deficit spending to pursue these goals is money well spent because it fills gaps that the private sector leaves open.  These kinds of spending protect and enhance the national wealth and welfare.

There's another problem that should be tackled, even if it requires deficit spending.  The unemployment rate for Gen Y (a/k/a the Millenials) is much too high.  It's generally about twice the level for Baby Boomers, and the less educated Millenials have even higher rates of unemployment.  Those that are African-American and lack college degrees need not apply, especially if they are male.  Large numbers of the better educated Millenials are burdened with heavy educational debts.  The ones with debts of $100,000 or more could face decades of 21st Century-style indentured servitude to their creditors, whose claims they cannot oust in bankruptcy proceedings except in extremely distressed circumstances. 

Millenials who are unemployed and underemployed represent wasted human capital. Modern economies are knowledge based, and human capital is the most important form of national wealth.  A vivid example of the overarching importance of human capital can be found in the aftermath of World War II.  Germany and Japan, the devastated losers (who deserved to lose), had only limited industrial capacity and not enough food to feed their populations.  But they also retained the advanced industrial knowledge they had acquired in building and supporting their massive and highly capable war machines.  Required by Allied occupation authorities to turn that knowledge to peaceful purposes, the two losing nations rebuilt their economies rapidly, and within three decades became industrial powerhouses.  Because they still had their human capital after the war, they could rebuild their tangible assets and prosper.

As a nation, we can't afford to let the human capital of Gen Y atrophy.  They are starting their working lives now, a crucial time for developing the skills of a self-supporting adult.  It's in your twenties and thirties that you learn how to apply all your book learning to the practical needs and purposes of the working world.  Learn those lessons well, and you'll be productive for 40 or more years.  Failing to learn them can result in permanent stunting of one's career.

Add a heavy load of school debt to the mix, and we can see how unemployed and underemployed Millenials could become a permanent economic underclass, unable to escape a shadow world of part-time jobs and episodic contract work, trailed by the baying of creditors hounding them at every turn. 

It's time to revive the Civilian Conservation Corps, 21st Century style.  The CCC of the 1930s employed some 3 million young Americans over the course of its decade of existence.  They were paid very modest wages, most of which were given to their parents (although the employees also received food and housing in addition to their pay).  They did mostly physical labor, as such work was integral to America's 1930s industrial economy.  The program was very popular with the American public, as it gave young people a chance to develop work skills and get a start in adult life.

A comparable program today could include jobs requiring manual labor.  America's highways, bridges and other infrastructure need a lot of maintenance.  America's cities need to be cleaned up, and abandoned buildings torn down, so that redevelopment can begin.  But there are many white collar jobs that need to be done as well.  Rural areas and inner cities lack physicians and other health care providers.  Many school districts are strapped for funding and need more teachers and staff for everything ranging from special education to music and drama.  Many jurisdictions have gravely inadequate funding for public defenders.  Criminal defendants, whom the law in its majesty presumes innocent until proven guilty, have little means to defend themselves and give their presumption of innocence tangible effect.  The poor need legal services for civil matters as well, such as battling indifferent landlords.  The list could go on.

CCC-21st Century jobs should be real jobs, not make work.  We can't ask taxpayers to pay people to dig holes and fill them up.  The pay should be low, because these aren't meant to be career jobs.  They are a way to give young people a start.  Part of the compensation should include generous provisions for government assistance in repaying school debt.  In effect, the government would help young people offload their school debt so they can get a fresh start in life.  Yes, yes, yes, there are countervailing considerations about holding people responsible for their debts and not bailing people out, etc., etc.  But we let egregious spendthrifts stiff their creditors for non-education debt as a matter of course in bankruptcy.  And we bail out really large financial institutions run by millionaire executives.  The burden of educational debt is getting to be too much.  As some guy put it about 400 years ago, the quality of mercy is not strained.  Let's be realistic instead of Puritanically moralistic.

Those CCC-21st Century employees who haven't gone to college could be compensated with the right to educational subsidies, akin to the GI Bill.  These young people could then go to college with less need for debt.  Their human capital would be enriched.

This isn't a perfect solution, and won't solve all the problems of Gen Y.  But it would give many of them a start.  And that's what they need.  Deficit spending for another CCC would be money well-spent.  The private sector isn't helping these people.  Government action is the only alternative.  We don't need more stimulus in the form of Federal Reserve money printing.  We could benefit greatly from stimulus in the form of deficit spending invested in our young adults.

Over the Fiscal Cliff and Through the Woods

Over the cliff and through the woods,
To a grand recession we go.
Congress knows the way to waste its last day,
raising taxes and adding woe.

Over the cliff and through the woods,
To a grand recession we go.
The Fed is on deck, printing money like heck,
Investors are losing dough.

Over the cliff and through the woods,
To a grand recession we go.
The Dems go their way to make the rich pay,
Republicans say no no.

Over the cliff and through the woods,
To a grand recession we go.
Where the deficit shrinks, while the jobless drink,
Eating cake is for the po'.

Happy New Year.

It's the Economy, Stupid, and Republicans and Democrats Are Stupid

Politicians make their livings bashing other people, so it's only right and fair to bash them. There's a lot of grist for this mill.

Republican Congressional leaders were quick to criticize the Obama administration on Friday, June 3, 2011, after bad unemployment numbers were announced. Total job creation in May was 54,000, and the unemployment rate rose from 9.0% in April to 9.1% in May. The weak job creation number wasn't surprising, given other recent data signaling stagnation. The unemployment rate increase naturally flowed from the economy's need for a net increase of over 100,000 jobs every month simply to keep up with population growth (which increases the labor force). In addition, some previously discouraged workers may have jumped back into the labor force to actively look for work. That expands the labor force and raises the unemployment rate when there aren't enough jobs for them.

How did the Republicans shoot themselves in the foot? The private sector increased employment in May by a net of 83,000 jobs. That's not a great number, but it shows hiring exceeded firing. The reason for the lower total of 54,000 new jobs was that governments laid off a net 29,000 workers. This is due to state and municipal governments cutting back to meet austerity demands from primarily Republican governors and legislators. Do we think these government workers who lost their jobs because of Republican policies will blame the Obama administration? (Hint: take a look at recent events in Wisconsin politics.) Government employment levels have fallen for seven months in a row, and that's not because the Obama administration is laying off federal employees. If unemployment trends continue like this, expect the growing numbers of unemployed government workers, and many among their family and friends, to vote Democrat. Republicans hoping to see their party do well in 2012 should be careful what they wish for because the jobless have plenty of time to vote.

As for the Democrats, the Obama Administration announced on Saturday, June 4, that it would make a renewed push for principal reductions on defaulting mortgages, in an effort to keep more homeowners in their homes. This is meant to help not only struggling homeowners, but also to keep more houses off the foreclosure and resale markets, where distress sales continue to nudge home prices lower. But principal reduction has been a fools errand. It hasn't worked well in the past and isn't likely to work well now. The people who need principal reduction the most--the jobless--won't qualify because of their lack of income. Banks aren't required to reduce principal, and have little incentive to do so. There may be arguments why banks and mortgage investors lose less from principal reductions than from foreclosure. But the legal latitude banks have to make principal reductions on mortgages they have sold to investors is less clear than proceeding with foreclosure, and banks may be stuck with some or all of the loss to lenders when principal is reduced. In other words, banks may be in a riskier position with principal reduction than they would be with foreclosure (where they can generally pass the loss onto investors because banks mostly sell mortgages they originate). So why would they put themselves at increased risk in order to give a defaulting borrower a break? Never forget that on Wall Street, money talks and bullswaggle walks.

A second, and more important point for political purposes, is that the neighbors are watching. Yes, they want to see if the person next door has a better big screen TV than they, or if the person across the street is having an affair, or if the teenagers two houses away are getting out of control. But keeping up with the Jones would become most urgent if neighbors got a reduced mortgage because they didn't keep up with their monthly payments. Talk about envy. The defaulting Jones would get, perhaps, the equivalent of tens of thousands of dollars over time because they were deadbeats. Principal reductions could have a bandwagon effect--give one to the Jones, and others on their block will start defaulting so they, too, can get a principal reduction. After all, how can you tell your kid to borrow tens of thousands of dollars for college because you wouldn't stiff the bank like the folks next door? If entire neighborhoods start having mortgage default parties, bank earnings will fall and bankers contributions to the Republican Party will soar. Neighbors too proud or too protective of their credit ratings won't default. But they will likely vote Republican to assuage their anger.

So politicians are stupid. That's not news. The scary thing is they don't move up the learning curve. Governance failures are now in vogue. The Japanese government's dysfunction exacerbated its slow reaction to the nuclear crisis that followed the recent earthquake. The Euro bloc's weak governance structure makes bailouts without a true restoration of fiscal discipline the only way to cope with its sovereign debt crisis. This is not a solution, but a deferral of the train wreck to come. California's governance failure has pushed its budget crisis virtually beyond the realm of resolution. And, last but certainly not least, the mud-slinging, gotcha-politics in gridlocked Washington have imperiled the creditworthiness of the U.S. government and the strength of the U.S. dollar. The dumb thing about all this is that Japan, Europe, California and America are all very wealthy. They have the resources to solve their problems. But they can't make their political processes work in a constructive way. Forget all the predictions for the economy and the stock market you're now hearing. Politics has thrown a wild card into the game, and no one knows how things will turn out.

A Tale of Two Recoveries

Near unanimity reigns on Wall Street that the economy will keep expanding and the stock market will rise further this year. Corporate profits are growing as worker productivity improves. Commodities prices are levitating. Retail sales have moderately increased. Even junk bond yields are relatively benign. Stock market investors, even if still shell shocked from two years ago, are doing better. In the tonier parts of Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas, things are looking up.

Evidence of recovery is harder to find elsewhere. Food banks remain heavily patronized. Unemployment levels cling tenaciously near the 10% level. The long term unemployed are becoming entrenched in joblessness. Wages are stagnant. Many unemployed who find jobs have to accept lower incomes. Real estate prices are dropping again, after a brief and shallow upswing. Mortgage rates have risen off record lows, dampening refinancings and home purchases.

There has never been a lasting economic recovery without a restoration of full employment and a strong housing market. Neither seems to be in the offing, not for years. America is dividing into two camps. There are the relatively few well-off, who own most of the assets and are the least likely to be laid off. They have more resources to ride out the bad times and greater opportunities to profit from a rebound. Then, there is everyone else, for whom the Great Recession continues.

Today's politics only exacerbate the divide. Many moderate and middle income taxpayers, frustrated by the disparate impact of the recovery, became Tea Partiers and voted Republican. But the resurgent Republicans made sure that the wealthy were protected in the tax deal they cut with President Obama this past fall. The same tax deal also gave everyone a 2% cut in Social Security taxes, while the more progressive $400 Making Work Pay tax credit wasn't renewed. The first legislative maneuver by the new Republican majority in the House is to schedule a vote to repeal last year's health insurance reform law. This symbolic digital salute will do nothing to improve the economy or help the unemployed.

Deficit reduction is on every politician's list of resolutions for this year. But you know how it goes with New Year's resolutions. There's more water to be found in the Sahara than spending cuts in Washington. Last fall's tax deal, the first major product of the new bipartisanship, widened the deficit. The only way to truly reduce the deficit is to cut Social Security and Medicare spending, and/or raise taxes. Recent polls show that a large majority of Americans, from Millenials to the World War II generation, oppose cuts in either program. Yet there is no way today's Republican-controlled House would sign off on tax increases (even though a recent poll shows most Americans favor increasing taxes on the well-to-do in order to balance the budget). So the new bipartisanship will produce, at best, nominal deficit reductions in highly visible ways (a la the two-year pay freeze for federal employees, which hardly affects the deficit but sounds good in press releases). Given that today's recovery is largely due to deficit spending and the slackest monetary policy ever adopted by the Fed, there is little incentive in Washington to control deficits. No politician wants to be the grinch that stole the recovery.

But for most Americans (i.e., the majority trapped in stagnation), there hasn't been much of a recovery to steal. Current projections are for high unemployment and depressed real estate prices to linger for years after 2012. America may be morphing into a society where a small group of elites enjoy prosperity while everyone else just gets by (or not). That's not a good development for a nation dedicated to the pursuit of happiness. America was founded by immigrants aspiring for better lives. If hope dies, the essence of the nation is lost. The damage from the Great Recession will be great, indeed, if the nation loses its heart.

Big Ticket Savings

If you've just been downsized, or have had your hours or pay cut, or you just want to stop the flood of money out of your wallet, saving is on your mind. Cutting out the $4 lattes helps, and over time can really add up. But economizing on small items takes years to have a big impact. If you've suddenly gone from being well-ensconced in the middle class to thinking about food stamps, you need big savings fast. Housing is the largest monthly expense for most households, but one that's very difficult to change. Here are some ideas for more immediate ways to save.

Cars. Keep your old car longer. Other than housing, few things cost a typical household more than the expense and depreciation of a new car. If you're part of a multi-car household, think about getting rid of one car. Drive less. Public transportation and/or carpooling are usually cheaper than driving your own car.

Home Cooking. Cut back on restaurant meals--and especially the bar tabs. Home cooking is generally less expensive, and you have much more control over the ingredients. Some restaurants dump salt, sugar and fat by the truckload on their dishes, for a variety of nefarious reasons. A home cooked meal can be quite tasty and satisfying without half the bad stuff. If you don't know how to cook, stay out of restaurants, buy a week's worth of frozen pizzas and TV dinners at the supermarket, and by the end of the week, you'll be avidly learning to cook.

Clothes. When you get down to it, most clothes purchases are discretionary, not essential. Cut back, and look for sales and discounts. You need a work wardrobe. But you don't have to dress like royalty at home or at the supermarket.

Entertainment. Entertainment is ultimately something that happens between your ears. You have control over what you find entertaining, and it doesn't need to involve a lot of money. When you were 18 and broke just about all the time, you probably had quite a few good times. You still can, even if you're broke today.

Shop for less. If you're a shopaholic, stop going to the mall. Shop at thrift shops, Goodwill and garage sales. Go to places where you can buy interesting stuff for less than $5 or even $2. That way, you can buy lots but not spend much.

Reduce your income. If you're still employed with a good income, arrange for some of your paycheck to be automatically transferred from your checking account into another account. It can be a savings account, a money market account, a mutual fund account or wherever else you might like. That way, you'll automatically save something without having to consciously decide what you have to do without. You'll have less spending money, and the thing of it is that you'll adjust to spending less.

Resources for the Down and Out

If you're running out of money, and think you're out of options, remember that, as harsh as economic conditions may get, there still is a compassionate side to America. Taking help from others isn't easy. But hard times sometimes require hard choices. Many who might go hungry themselves for the sake of maintaining appearances have a different outlook when their families are hungry. In this most nasty of recessions, many middle class people who were living paycheck to paycheck experience hunger if they're laid off. It's no longer unusual for visitors to food pantries to drive good cars and live in middle class neighborhoods; they've simply lost their jobs and have no cash for food.

If you think you're just about out of options, here are some resources to keep in mind.

Unemployment Compensation. If you think you qualify for unemployment comp, apply. It's a public benefit for those that have been laid off. Go to your state's website for information.

Food Stamps. This is a federal program that in the past you paid for with your tax dollars. It's there for you if you're in need. The states administer the food stamp program, so go to your state's website for information.

Food Banks. Many communities have food banks, food pantries and soup kitchens. Remember that donations to food banks are wasted if hungry people don't accept the donated food. Your acceptance completes the circle of virtue that comprises charity. When you get back on your feet, you can repay with dividends.

Welfare. The controversial federal Aid to Families with Dependent Children program ended in 1997, but welfare still exists as a federally funded program administered by the states. Go to your state's website for information. Many people who go on welfare stay there for a while and then get their middle class lives back together. Welfare can serve as a temporary safety net until the storm clouds roll away.

SCHIP. If you have children who are 19 or younger and don't have health insurance, there is a program called State Childrens Health Insurance Program that provides subsidized coverage for children in families with moderate or low incomes. It's a federal program administered by the states, so go to your state's website for information.

Medicaid. This is the federal health insurance program for those with low incomes. If you've gotten to the point where your income is low and you have pretty much burned up your net worth, you may qualify for Medicaid. It's a lot better than nothing. Of course, if you're old enough (65), there's also Medicare.

If you need more information about how to survive a layoff or unemployment, see our Survival Kit for the Laidoff and Unemployed: http://blogger.uncleleosden.com/2009/07/survival-kit-for-layoffs-and.html.

Health Insurance Help in the Stimulus Bill for the Unemployed

For many of those who have been laid off, there's help from the Obama administration's economic stimulus bill paying for COBRA health insurance coverage. COBRA is a law that gives you the right to continue employer-sponsored health insurance coverage for up to 18 months after being laid off or otherwise involuntarily terminated. It's a crucial benefit for those with pre-existing medical conditions, who otherwise could have a very difficult time getting insurance coverage.

The problem with COBRA is that you have to pay the full cost of the premiums; there's no employer subsidy and there is a 2% administrative fee. Full freight for a family policy can easily run over $1,000 a month--a steep bill for someone who's just been laid off.

The stimulus package provides a 65% subsidy for those who were laid off between Sept. 1, 2008 and Dec. 31, 2009. The subsidy lasts nine months and phases out for individuals making over $125,000 a year and married couples making over $250,000. Eligible laid off employees who didn't initially opt into COBRA should receive a notice about the subsidy from the their former employers giving them 60 days to enroll for subsidized coverage. Dec. 22, 2009: here's a little holiday cheer. The 65% federal subsidy has been extended through June 30, 2010, and workers laid off between Jan.1, 2010 and Feb. 28, 2010 are entitled to the subsidy, as well as those laid off between Sept. 1, 2008 and Dec. 31, 2009, who are covered by the original stimulus package.

Health insurance coverage is one of the most important things to maintain even while you're unemployed. Life without a job is hard, but it can become a disaster if you have major medical expenses and no insurance. Stinting on health insurance coverage can easily prove to be pennywise and pound foolish. If you're uninsured and can take advantage of subsidized COBRA coverage, buy it. No one likes paying for insurance--until they need it. Then, it seems like a wise purchase. Health problems are inevitable. The only question when you will have them. Since that's unpredictable, health insurance coverage is essential.

If you or someone you know needs more information about health insurance resources, see http://blogger.uncleleosden.com/2007/09/health-insurance-update.html and http://blogger.uncleleosden.com/2007/06/how-to-find-health-insurance.html.

If you or someone you know is facing the loss of a job, there are a number of financial considerations to keep in mind. See http://blogger.uncleleosden.com/2007/05/financial-checklist-for-job-loss.html.