#past #present #future
The past has passed.
The present is present – not absent.
What will come can become what you want it to be.
There are those who long for and, indeed, push for what was.
They see the past as their best time. They see the present as signaling a future of doom and gloom.
Therefore, they look for ways to bring back what used to be, even if that is impossible.
There are others who see the here and now as something to celebrate. Or, better yet, a good place to start.
They see it as a time to look for what they might become, and keep looking until they find it. They may think that what they have now is OK, but it is not entirely what they want.
They see the present as a springboard from which they can create a future.
Still others see a future of happiness, prosperity and dreams fulfilled.
Not only do they know it is coming, they plan to make it happen.
They have set up a plan not only to see themselves prosper, but they also see themselves as bringing many others with them – as many as possible. Those they will help may have different dreams and goals, but share a common desire to do what they must to achieve them.
So what type of person are you? Do you want to go back to the way things were?
Remember, the past has passed. Memories can be wonderful, even cherished. But, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to re-create yesteryear.
Look at the present as a time to dream, plan and execute. Then, go about creating the future you want.
The future is not what will happen, though things like a pandemic and other disasters will come. The future is what you decide to make happen.
So, you may be optimistic and ambitious. You envision a great future but are not sure yet what will take you there. Still, you are curious enough to look for something you can work on – something that you feel confident will get you to your goals, providing you do your part.
Fortunately, there are many such programs out there that can be the catalyst for the future you want to create. They require no specific background, education or experience. Instead, they require the desire to build a better, more fulfilling future, a mind open enough to see whether they are for you, and a willingness to ask for, get and provide help.
To learn about one of the best such programs, message me.
The lesson here may be that the past can teach, but may no longer be in reach. The present can motivate, but will not be permanent. The future will be made.
If you long for the past, despise the present and fear the future, it’s not too late to change. For some, it may take more work than others to change.
Yet, in the future, all good things are possible for those willing to create them.
Peter
Monthly Archives: November 2020
UNEMPLOYMENT RATES HIGHER FOR OLDER WORKERS
#coronavirus #COVID19 #FlattenTheCurve #pandemic #OlderWorkers #jobs
In this day and age, it’s tough getting old.
For the first time in 50 years, older workers are facing higher unemployment rates than those in the middle of their careers.
Sarah Skidmore Sell quoted that stat from a study by the New School in her article for the Associated Press. It was published Oct. 21, 2020, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The pandemic has hurt workers of all ages, the article says, but the New School researchers found that workers 56 and older lost jobs sooner, were rehired more slowly and continue to struggle keeping jobs more than workers 35 to 54, Sell writes.
In every recession since the 1970s, older workers were able to use their seniority to better preserve jobs, the article says.
Now, older face age discrimination, and employers are more reluctant to bring back older workers because of their health risks in light of the pandemic, the article says.
That means more early, and often involuntary, retirements and more financial insecurity as people age, the article says.
Let’s examine this more closely. Retirement in today’s world is not what it once was. That is, you could work as long as you wanted to, and as long as you were able, and retired on your own terms many years ago.
Today, workers don’t know whether each day they go into work will be their last. If employers don’t want you, or see your non-entry-level salary as a financial burden to them, they will find a way to get you to go. Though overt age discrimination may be illegal in most places, if an employer wants you out, he or she will find a way, within the law, to get you to leave, if not terminate you outright.
For the worker, it means planning as best you can for the day you walk into work, only to have to walk out for good.
When you walk out, think about your opportunities to find other work. Likely, you’ll find that most other, available work will pay considerably less than you were making.
What to do? First, if you live where the cost of living is high, think about moving. There are many locales with more reasonable living costs. If you have to take a job with a lower paycheck, you may as well cut your living expenses, unless there is some other non-financial reason to live where you live.
If you are lucky enough to land a job that allows you to work from home, and you don’t have to live close to your work, move anyway, if you can. Cut your living costs, if you can.
Also, there are many programs out there that allow you to augment, even well surpass, the income you have earned at your traditional job. These programs require no specific background or education, just a mind open enough to take a look, and the ability to devote a few part-time hours a week if you still have a job.
To learn about one of the best such programs, message me.
All this boils down to you having to take charge of your own financial well-being. Have a plan, or plans, in place that will prepare you for the day you don’t expect. Who knows? Those who plan well enough can walk into work, and walk out for good, with a smile.
It’s certainly wrong for employers to discriminate against older workers. Many of them can work circles around younger counterparts. But often, they only look at numbers and potential risks. That means discrimination can, and will, happen in some form to many.
So, expect the unexpected when it comes to your job. Many jobs are no longer there for as long as the employees want them to be.
Peter
LANDLORDS, TENANTS AND EVICTIONS
#coronavirus #COVID19 #FlattenTheCurve #landlords #tenants #rents #evictions
If you’re a tenant, and you’ve lost your job, how are you paying the rent?
If you are a landlord, and your tenant has lost his or her job, how are you collecting rent, while keeping up with expenses, paying your mortgage etc.?
Two articles highlight this issue. One, by the Washington Post, discusses how landlords, and their lobbyists, are launching a legal war on the federal eviction moratorium instituted after the coronavirus pandemic led to economic shutdowns, lost jobs – some temporary, some permanent – and left tenants with no way to pay rent.
The second article, by Anne d’Innocenzio for the Associated Press, discusses how landlords are being squeezed between tenants, who can’t pay rent, and lenders, who want their mortgage payments for the properties.
The articles were published on consecutive days in October 2020 in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
In one instance, if tenants have lost their jobs, they have no way to pay rent. The landlords can’t get blood from a stone. And, even if they get their jobs back, they will still owe back rent. Will they be able to catch up?
In the second instance, landlords have to make a living, too. They want, in most cases, to work with their tenants, having empathy for their situation. But they have expenses, too, that rent helps cover. Those expenses not only include mortgage payments, but also repairs to their rental units. And, of course, many landlords depend on that rent for their own survival.
Federal aid helped initially, but that aid has largely run out and the wheels of government are turning slowly to extend it.
Apartment dwellers and other residential tenants in the U.S. owe about $25 billion in back rent, the AP article says. It may reach $70 billion by the end of the year, the AP article quotes an estimate in August by Moody’s Analytics.
At that rate, some tenants and landlords may never recover from the fallout of the pandemic.
In fact, the National Council of State Housing Agencies in late September estimated that, potentially, 14 million renter households, totaling approximately 34 million Americans, will owe $34 billion by the time the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) moratorium expires at the end of the year, the Washington Post article says.
It goes on to say that 1 in 3 adults say it is somewhat or very likely they could face eviction or foreclosure over the next two months. It attributes that to survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
That would create a full-blown housing crisis.
What’s a person either in the landlord’s or tenant’s situation to do? One thing is to look for other ways to earn an income that one can do whether there is a pandemic or not.
Fortunately, there are many such programs out there that require a few, part-time hours a week, that anyone, regardless of education, experience or background can do to supplement his or her income – perhaps even dwarf one’s previous income. But, one has to be open-minded enough to check them out.
To learn about one of the best such programs, message me.
In short, this housing crisis is not going to disappear soon. Regardless whether you are a landlord or tenant, you may be in for some difficult financial times. If you were lucky enough to keep your job and keep up with your rent, consider yourself lucky. Your landlord undoubtedly is thanking his or her lucky stars for your situation.
But if you weren’t so fortunate, consider thinking a bit outside the box and look at other ways to put money in your pocket and keep up with rent, mortgage or other regular expenses. You may find that the pandemic can create an opportunity for you to be less vulnerable to circumstances you can’t control.
It may even allow you to not only survive, but also to dream of a better life.
Peter
PANDEMIC TO PRODUCE CHANGES IN EDUCATION
#education #coronavirus #COVID19 #FlattenTheCurve #teachers #students
It’s tough to go to school during a pandemic.
As a result, online learning at home has become not just popular, but necessary.
Education could change forever as a result.
Maureen Downey, education columnist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, writes that a college education is the most successful path to the middle class for students.
But going to college has changed during the pandemic, she writes in a column published Sept. 22, 2020.
She points out that every year, 500,000 high school students graduate in the top half of their classes, but don’t get a certificate or degree within eight years of graduation. She was quoting Anthony Carnevale, director of the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University. Carnevale conducted a virtual forum for the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education.
The pandemic-induced recession, leaving many parents with lost jobs etc., may present a problem for sending their kids to college.
In another issue, Downey, in a Sept. 29, 2020, column, posed the question: “Will COVID concerns cause more teachers to flee?”
She says that readers have sent her emails calling teachers “crybabies” for resigning, rather than risk bringing COVID-19 home to their families. She writes that some emails called teachers “un-American” for making their students wear masks in school.
What should we make of this? First, education has become a huge expense for both taxpayers and parents. If parents fear for the safety of their children, it’s no wonder they are opting to keep children at home. The opposite of that is also true. If parents don’t fear for the safety of their children, and encourage them to go to school and conduct themselves as if no pandemic existed, why not have schools open as usual?
If teachers don’t feel safe in school, why would they keep their jobs if forced to go to school? Is how little they get paid worth the risk? Certainly, most teachers want to be in school. They love it. It’s what they do. But they do not want to be there, in many cases, with a rapidly spreading disease running through the building.
Therefore, a potential teacher shortage, and a potential drop in public revenue from the recession, it’s likely some remote learning will take place in the normal course of life, once the pandemic is gone.
If college is your thing, or your child’s thing, how cool would it be if you, or your child, could take a course with Professor X in a faraway institution, and have teachers or graduate assistants grade the work at the institution to which you, or your child, have matriculated?
Finally, if college is not your thing, or if you or your family would have difficulty affording it, what if there were a way to become very successful, potentially make a great income and not have to go through the college experience? There are many such vehicles out there for those willing to check them out.
If you’d like to learn about one of the best such programs, message me.
In short, look for more permanent changes in education as a result of the pandemic. Don’t expect education, or life itself, to be entirely as it was prior to the pandemic. We are officially on guard. Don’t let that guard down. Expect a new normal, whatever that is. Roll with it.
Then, think about your own situation. What do you want from life? What are you willing to do to get it? Remember, as you ponder that, what was “secure” probably no longer is. You may have to think totally differently about your future.
Disease can, and will, change lives. Make your attitude such that you look at those changes as good, rather than bad.
Peter