Have you done anything to prepare for a Strike?
Many of us are sitting on a resource we can tap if needed. For a $50 origination Fee you can borrow money from your 401K and pay it back at an interest rate of 3.25% from 1 to 54 months. You can borrow up to half your balance to a max of $50,000 as a General Purpose loan. Dont be tempted to take a Primary Residence loan as many workers have been terminated for using such a loan for other uses. I know all the experts say dont borrow from your 401k but they would probably also say we should seek employment in another industry if we were to show them the graph on how our pay has performed over the last thirty years. We are headed for (or already in ) a financial disaster if we do not change the trajectory of our compensation. I doubt we will be able to do that without taking this to self help. We need to prepare for this and the better prepared we are, and the company knows it, the less likely it is that we will have to do it.
I did mine this morning, so I will have enough funds on hand to carry me for a considerable amount of time. Enough to find another job if needed. If I dont use it I can pay it back and just be out the $50, since the Interest is going back to me I'm only losing what the earnings would have been had I left the money in there. For me the peace of mind is worth it. If you wait till we are on strike the loan may not be available to you so it would be better to eat the $50 and get the cash now.
Another option is the Credit Union, I believe you can even buy insurance where if you lose your job the loan is forgiven but I do not know the details. However the 401K loan option gives more bang for the buck in the psych battle between us and the company. Since payments are taken from our paychecks the company will be able to see exactly how many are suddenly taking out loans against their 401Ks and building up strike funds.
Either way you need to pad up your cash reserves and get yourselves financially prepared to go to War.
Many of us are sitting on a resource we can tap if needed. For a $50 origination Fee you can borrow money from your 401K and pay it back at an interest rate of 3.25% from 1 to 54 months. You can borrow up to half your balance to a max of $50,000 as a General Purpose loan. Dont be tempted to take a Primary Residence loan as many workers have been terminated for using such a loan for other uses. I know all the experts say dont borrow from your 401k but they would probably also say we should seek employment in another industry if we were to show them the graph on how our pay has performed over the last thirty years. We are headed for (or already in ) a financial disaster if we do not change the trajectory of our compensation. I doubt we will be able to do that without taking this to self help. We need to prepare for this and the better prepared we are, and the company knows it, the less likely it is that we will have to do it.
I did mine this morning, so I will have enough funds on hand to carry me for a considerable amount of time. Enough to find another job if needed. If I dont use it I can pay it back and just be out the $50, since the Interest is going back to me I'm only losing what the earnings would have been had I left the money in there. For me the peace of mind is worth it. If you wait till we are on strike the loan may not be available to you so it would be better to eat the $50 and get the cash now.
Another option is the Credit Union, I believe you can even buy insurance where if you lose your job the loan is forgiven but I do not know the details. However the 401K loan option gives more bang for the buck in the psych battle between us and the company. Since payments are taken from our paychecks the company will be able to see exactly how many are suddenly taking out loans against their 401Ks and building up strike funds.
Either way you need to pad up your cash reserves and get yourselves financially prepared to go to War.
