I’m interested to hear thoughts on this. How much would you have to be paid to leave your job right now to sit on the couch and watch TV for a few months? I saw a commercial for Jos A Bank last week where you buy a suit from them and if you lose your job they will refund the cost of your suit and let you keep the suit anyway. This morning I read a headline that GM and Ford will be making up to 9 car payments of $500 each for people who have lost their jobs. A friend of mine was recently laid off with 2 month’s severance pay (full salary for 2 months). She immediately applied for unemployment benefits and is receiving unemployment pay at the same time as the severance so she has a higher income than ever before. She also has been complaining about the requirements to apply for jobs in person a couple times a week to keep receiving unemployment benefits. I understand that in some cases the beneficiaries of these programs are doing the best they can and were just unlucky, but these sort of things just seem like terrible incentives for workers. The consensus message seems to be if you are unemployed, it’s not your fault so just rely on others to fund your laziness. I hope no one who is involuntarily unemployed takes this personally, my gripe is more with the system and incentives than with individuals taking advantage of the system. I am sure my view is somewhat biased as well since I (luckily) still have a job.
So you’re saying if you know you’re going to get redundified you should go out and buy a bunch of suits from Jos?
JohnThainsLimoDriver Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > So you’re saying if you know you’re going to get > redundified you should go out and buy a bunch of > suits from Jos? Yeah and a car.
I have a friend who was recently laid off, and he knows he’s now eligible for unemployment for the next 14 months. So is he looking for a job? Nope, it’s taking an extended vacation. It bothers me because the guy hated his job, and it would be a great opportunity to go to school and get into a more rewarding profession, but he lacks the motivation to take advantage of the opportunity. It makes me sad because instead of making the most out of this, he’s sitting at home watching TV, and in 14 months time he’ll have another dead-end job complaining about how he doesn’t make enough money - while giving me crap for being more successful than him.
If you let things like this bother you you’re probably in the wrong industry. Call me an @sshole but if someone wants to disadvantage themselves I’m ready to step through that door opening in their place.
JohnThainsLimoDriver Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > If you let things like this bother you you’re > probably in the wrong industry. Call me an @sshole > but if someone wants to disadvantage themselves > I’m ready to step through that door opening in > their place. Does it not bother you that your taxes or future taxes are funding that “disadvantage” though? Shouldn’t you be able to get through the door without paying for their benefits?
There are a ton of things I’d want to do in my spare time (more volunteer and non-profit work, alumni stuff, traveling, and sports), but there’s a certain level of fulfillment that I derive from getting up in the morning, going to work, and trying to develop myself professionally. I’m sure that a large enough sum of money could get me to give up my job, but if I had to put a number on it, I’d have to say somewhere in the high five-figures (at a minimum). I know that an NPV analysis of things won’t necessarily add up, but there’s a certain sense of ownership and privilege I derive from my job that I can’t put a price on. There are days where I get slammed with work and other days that are comparatively chill, but in the big picture, I’m happy to be employed. I would probably be bored if I wasn’t. I also would feel a certain level of personal guilt if I just chilled out and allowed other taxpayers’ money to fund my potential unemployment, unless it were really the case that I was trying hard and still couldn’t find a job. I think it is a real insult to the people that basically view unemployment as a “paid vacation,” but I guess it’s always easier to take vacation when someone besides yourself has to pay for it. What do the rest of you think?
Heck Yea! Unemployment benefits in MA is 600/week for 14 months. Enough to cover my monthly expenses. So economically it wouldn’t break the bank. However I still need work experience for the CFA though so I would prefer to keep on working. If I were to get laid off I would study fulltime for the CFA, then take a break - a road trip maybe? Then spend sometime in between studying for the GMATs and looking for jobs.
If you get laid off and start a business do you still get unemployment benefits? I guess you are technically “employed” but it is likely the business is making $0 at first. How does this work? If you form an LLC the day after you are laid off, would this end your benefits?
there’s nothing wrong with it being considered a vacation as the rules are pretty strict between fired/laid off so it would be difficult to pin a job that starts at the end of your benefits. its a vacation to the point where you don’t know how you’re going to pay for shelter come 14 months.
I do not for the life of me understand people when they say, I want to study for GMAT. GMAT is a joke. It is. I studied a week and a half for it and got 700+ which was ok for my purpose. GMAT is hilarious.
good point.
XSellSide Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > If you get laid off and start a business do you > still get unemployment benefits? I guess you are > technically “employed” but it is likely the > business is making $0 at first. How does this > work? If you form an LLC the day after you are > laid off, would this end your benefits? I believe that is considered “employment” but not 100% sure. I remember reading about all sorts of rules and regulations and even volunteer work is considered employment.
Well you’re not meant to be able to study for it. There is no curriculum so going over some stuff as a refresher in the week beforehand is all the preperation necessary. I don’t see how that makes it a joke. The GMAT supposedly measures some form of intelligence. How much value you want to subscribe to it as a test is up to you. Are people who score well in the GMAT or IQ tests smarter than people who don’t? That is a matter of opinion. There are certainly many forms of intelligence other than scoring well in these tests.
It sounds like the GMAT was a joke… for you. I’m sure there are tons of people that spend MONTHS studying only to get a 610.
Considering that the “average” score is in the 500s, I’d say that’s probably true. I do think the GMAT is a joke in that it doesn’t seem to really measure skills that you need to excel in business. Good for you, you can multiply fractions in your head, remember what you just read, and point out incorrect grammar. XSellSide Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > It sounds like the GMAT was a joke… for you. > I’m sure there are tons of people that spend > MONTHS studying only to get a 610.
I’ve been “studying” for my GMAT’s, i.e. doing a ton of practice questions and trying to gain test experience. I’ve also taken several practice tests and have gotten in the mid-700’s (and once in the low-700’s), but I believe I can do better. I won’t presume that everyone needs to study for it, but I have been and it has helped me.
Carson Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Well you’re not meant to be able to study for it. > There is no curriculum so going over some stuff as > a refresher in the week beforehand is all the > preperation necessary. I don’t see how that makes > it a joke. > > The GMAT supposedly measures some form of > intelligence. How much value you want to subscribe > to it as a test is up to you. Are people who score > well in the GMAT or IQ tests smarter than people > who don’t? That is a matter of opinion. There are > certainly many forms of intelligence other than > scoring well in these tests. If you define intelligence as performing well on standardized tests then doing well on these would confirm this. The problem is that it is only a single component of potientially being successful in life. People with high GMAT or IQ do not necessarily become successful just go to a local Mensa meeting. Then again people with low scores can be successful. There are just too many variables in a person’s life experiences to make a direct correlation of an individual’s success. Schools will however be able to make comparisons across a population. They will use historical data to attach a higher probabilty of success to GMAT scores over a certain level. This however in no way directly correlates to an individual’s experience . The school is not necessarily focused on the experience of a specifc individual but on the experience of the population. Potiential does not always equate with results. People sit around saying I have a high IQ or I got a high LSAT or a GMAT. Great fine but its useless if you don’t go out into the world and interact with people and do something with it. I would hire somebody with lower scores that looked like they had drive and determination. Anyways JMHO
I’m sorry… I didn’t know everybody on Analystforum were suppose to get 700+ on the GMAT w/little studying. I would love to get 700+ w/o studying but that is not realistic so I have to study. Thats about it. Feel free to look down on me if you want.
I’m with ya BPBB. I took a course, studied for months, and only got a 580. I’ve been average as far as I can recall, got average scores on the LSAT/ACT, so the GMAT was not a huge surprise. I’m going to a grad good enough school for me. A top 10 is just not attainable given my background.