There’s a big difference between getting fired and getting laid off.  Most of what you read in the papers is about people getting laid off due to a “reduction in force”, or RIF as many companies call it nowadays.  Getting fired is almost always due to cause.

You may have sent out a blast e-mail with company secrets by mistake.  Or perhaps you said some sexist joke about women when the female HR manager so happened to walk by.  Whatever the case, you don’t want to get fired, nor should you quit if you don’t have to.

If you are fired or quit, a number of things can happen:

1) You will not be eligible for our government’s gregarious 99 weeks of potential unemployment benefits.  The logic is, you did something wrong that forced your company to fire you, hence it is your own fault you are unemployed, hence no soup for you.

2) You might have a black mark on your record if you’re fired, making you damaged goods for future employers.

3) You may lose supporters who would have written letters of recommendation.  But, since you were fired or quit, they might not want to risk their reputation on you anymore.

4) You might die alone.  Few things in life are worse than dying alone.  You’ll understand how difficult it is to do your own thing, or quit with no back-up in the post.

GET “RIFFED” AND BREATHE EASIER

Now that you realize the downside of getting fired or quitting, you should logically seek an alternative.  If you just can’t stand the company you are working for anymore, figure out a way to get laid off of course!

If you are laid off, you get a number of benefits:

1) You are eligible for government unemployment benefits.  Here in San Francisco at least, you can get $800 every two weeks.  Someone just told me they are getting $1,000 every two weeks, but that isn’t confirmed.

2) You may get severance.  Many companies offer 2 weeks per every year worked.

3) If you have deferred compensation in the form of stock or cash, you are eligible to receive these assets during the scheduled time table.  My friend Paul, for example, has some $400,000+ in deferred compensation he loses if he quits!

4) You will get all your unused vacation days paid.  You should get this anyway, but if you quit, not necessarily at all.

5) You will have no black marks on your employment record.  A key if you want to get back into the game at a future time.

HOW TO GET LAID OFF

Let’s say you’ve been working at your company for 5 years, and you’ve decided selling vacuum cleaners no longer interests you.  You are a bit burnt out, and you wish to take a 3 month break between jobs to recharge.  You can’t just quit because you’ll lose 10 weeks of severance pay and not receive unemployment benefits.  Here are some ways and thoughts to get laid off:

* Talk to your manager about the company’s staffing levels.  “Bloated, lean, just about right?”  Basically tell her that you empathize with how difficult her decision must be to lay people off, and ask how she copes?  As the dialogue ensues, bring up a suggestion that you are willing to sacrifice your position for the good of the firm if she is asked by senior managers to choose people to layoff.  This way, you seem like a good team player.  You should also make clear that with your sacrifice, you wish to receive severance and any deferred compensation you might have.

Being a manager is very difficult during rough times.  If you can help managers make some difficult decisions for them, more often than not, they will accept your proposal.  If you ever wonder why C-level execs hire consultants, now you know.  The consultants are often the scapegoats for letting go of staff, so the blame doesn’t go on the big bosses.  Of course, if you are one of the top performers, they will make it difficult for you to leave, and might ask how they can help make your life better and might even give you a raise.

* Bring up the topic of a sabbatical with your manager.  There’s never really a good time to ask for one.  When things are busy and booming, the last thing the company wants is for an employee to take a nice 3 month long break.  When things are bad, your manager will think you’re being thoughtless, and foolish with your career.  That’s fine, since you want to get laid off anyway!  You can recharge and enjoy your time off, and if you get back and find yourself laid off, then what a fine choice.  We’ll talk about whether one should take a sabbatical or not in a future post.

* Fade to mediocrity.  This is a riskier strategy that must be tactfully managed.  Companies let go of their bottom 5-10% performers every year.  Some call it the “Jack Welch Rule” from GE.  So long as you are one of the average 70-80% of employees, you’ll likely never be let go.  Falling to the bottom 10% in performance requires: not being a team player, but still being nice e.g. “Sorry, can’t stay late, gotta go!”, being out of sight, not feeling you’ve put in your best work, and maybe even arriving 15 minutes late at times.  Be very careful not to do anything wrong.

* Become annoying, but stay nice.  Are you the type of person who likes to whistle at your cubicle to the agitation of your colleagues?  Do you like to bring back from breakfast or lunch the stinkiest meal possible and disgust your neighbors?  Well then, you are on the right path for getting put on the “RIF List.”  I’ve had a couple managers tell me they can’t stand someone because of their loud noises and whistles.  Because they can’t stand that person, the manager finds nitpicking things to justify a RIF.  As the annoying person, you should continue to be nice and smile.  Just be a little oblivious.

Important: It’s really all about planting a seed of doubt in your manager’s mind.  Once your manager thinks you’re a pain in the ass, annoying, or not pulling your weight, you will have a very difficult time convincing him or her otherwise.  People are naturally biased and will find reasons to let you go if you sufficiently bother them.  For example, if your manager is a Republican, you can mention you are going to an Obama fund raiser.  Totally legal, but you will crawl under your manager’s skin to the point where you will get laid off.

Things to do or not to do when you are trying to get laid off:

* Do not write anything in e-mail that could condemn you to getting fired.  Assume all your e-mail are read.  If you are embarrassed to read your e-mail on the front page of the newspaper, the e-mail is not legitimate and should not be written.

* Do not abuse your corporate card or any channel where you can spend the firm’s money.  You should never abuse your corporate card anyway.  All expenditure must be above board.

* Do not harass your colleagues sexually or otherwise.  This is a given.  Now is not the time to go hit on the 21 year old intern at the other end of the floor.  Many companies have a non-interoffice dating policy.

* Do not come in late or leave early more than once a week.  Companies can terminate you for being incessantly late, so don’t slack too much.

* Read your employee handbook.  There are many dangers you must avoid that are contained in the hand book.

CONCLUSION

Getting laid off can be a wonderful thing if you have other things planned.  The better an employee you are, the harder it is for you to engineer your layoff because you are clearly more valuable to the firm than what they are paying you.  Also, if a manager lays you off, by many state laws, they can not replace you with another candidate for a certain time period, because that would violate the reason for a layoff.  If you were a bad employee, you should have been fired instead, but that opens up reputational risk to the firm as well as litigation risk.

If you are thinking about quitting your job, please at least attempt to engineer a layoff instead.  You will get severance, all your deferred compensation, as well as unemployment benefits from the government.  This is real money that shouldn’t be taken lightly, since there’s no guarantee that after the layoff you’ll succeed in whatever new thing you want to do.  Besides, after all these years of paying taxes, don’t you want at least some of that money back?

Sooner or later, our careers end.  If you want your career to end sooner, consider getting laid off instead of quitting or getting fired.  And if you have an incredible opportunity lined up already that will pay you handsomely, go ahead and quit.  Just make sure you know what you’re missing if you do!

Readers, have any of you engineered your own layoff before?  Have you ever tried and failed?  For those of you who had another opportunity in the background, how did you enjoy your layoff period and what did you do?

If you have quit your job, why did you do so instead of trying to get let go instead?

Photo: What you can do with your severance and unemployed benefits!

Regards,

Sam

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Housekeepers on cruise ships make around $40 a day working 12-hour days on average. They get zero days off for the duration of their contract of 6, 8 or 10 months. That’s right, zero days off, 12 hour days, and no visits from family or friends. You think your 10-hour a day job is hard?  Please, reconsider and think again.

What’s even more impressive than working for only $40 a day is the service staff’s positive attitude. For 12 days and 12 nights, never was I greeted in a less-than-happy manner. Whether I was asking for directions to the theater or requesting the New York Times in the morning, the service staff were always eager to serve.

The entire service staff was from either Indonesia or the Philippines. Hence, $40 a day might be equivalent to $200 a day back in America or Europe based on purchasing power parity.  Furthermore, after working for 300 days straight with not one weekend off, one could theoretically accumulate $12,000 US dollars + a bonus, equaling roughly $50-60,000 dollars of buying power back home.  Not bad at all!

The service staff I spoke to said that they send roughly 80% of their pay back to their families. Their expenses are little because they all get free room (two to a room) and board. A couple of them had the option of doing 6 month contracts, but insisted on 10 month contracts as they wanted to work more and make more. They wanted to take full advantage of their opportunity.

I asked whether it was easy or hard to get a job on the cruise ship, and they said, “not hard.” You just have to apply, and go through the training. “Always be positive”, they told me. Sounds pretty straightforward to me.

DON’T BE AFRAID

During one of our last buffet luncheons, our waitress from a different restaurant came by to say hello. I learned she was on a 10-month contract and wasn’t heading back from another 7 months. Her service was excellent and she asked if I was on online – if only she knew how much. We exchanged details, and at the end, she asked whether I could fill out the cruise-end survey. “Of course I will,” I told her.

What takes me 5 minutes could help make someone more money and achieve a promotion. In the survey I wrote, “Angely Siregar is excellent. She was attentive to our needs at Tamarind Restaurant where we dined for dinner and has a very positive attitude. Please take good care of her and consider her for any promotions.” I knew her full name because she took the time to say hello.

The Cruise Director started off as a drummer, while the Tamarind Restaurant manager started off as a bus boy. Through positive feedback from clients, management recognized them. Sometimes, you will be so good that clients will recognize you independently. But, often times, clients won’t know your name or provide specific details. Sometimes, they won’t even bother filling out the survey.

Just because Angely had the wherewithal to strike up a conversation and ask, she got my vote and then some. Everything is relative, and if there aren’t laudatory comments on her co-worker’s forms, she’s moving ahead.

THE WORK PLACE IS THE SAME

Nobody likes to play office politics, but I firmly believe it is a must. My mantra is that you must sell yourself internally as much as you sell yourself externally to clients. When it comes time for pay raises, promotions, and layoffs, who are you going to take care of if you are in your manager’s shoes: 1) The loyal employee who makes you look good and is always participating in team-building events, or 2) The loyal employee who is largely invisible at all company functions?

Managers won’t tell you this, but when it comes to firing people, they have a list and circle the people they don’t know well. They could be excellent performers, but if the manager doesn’t know the name of your husband, children, wife, etc… or has never seen you participate in a charity event the firm is hosting, you will undoubtedly be the first person to go, even if you are a slightly better performer. People take care of their friends, and when their friends become family, they certainly never let their family down.

CONCLUSION

Never be afraid of asking what you want when you feel 100% certain it is what you deserve. People want to reward people for a job well done and all you have to do is communicate your proof. You can’t expect your manager or clients to remember every single detail about what you’ve done. It’s up to you to highlight your achievements during mid-year, or year-end, and fight for yourself in a tasteful way.

You know that after building up all that goodwill throughout the year, you need to cash in. People don’t not promote or pay you because they are nasty. They don’t recognize you because they’ve either forgotten, or they’re busy worrying about their own situation! Help your managers remember, and at the same time, help others who’ve provided you with excellence service by filling out them forms.

What stops you for asking what you want if you truly feel you deserve it?

Regards,

Sam

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Despite taking 6 weeks off (30 days + weekends) last year, I’m having a difficult time repeating this feat this year.  Taking all my vacations is a new year’s resolution because it’s actually damn hard to do!  The guilt always washes over me like the monthly floods in Venice.  I recently took a two week cruise and now I want to take another week off just a month and a half later.  I can’t seem to pull the trigger.  Perhaps you’ve experienced the same paralysis?

Right about the 5th week of vacation time, colleagues and friends start guilting me.  A female friend who is having her third child in 5 years said, “Wow Sam, you really know how to maximize the system.  I need to do a better job of taking a vacation.”  I’m thinking, come on, did you really just say this after you’ve taken four weeks off already, and are going on a 3-month maternity leave for the third time in 5 years?  I’m all for a 3-month maternity leave, or even 6 months as they do in Europe, as someone has to give birth.  Just don’t make me feel bad for taking my allotted vacation time!

I asked my father whether I should take another week off before the end of the year to go visit him.  He said, “Sam, it sure seems like you are taking a lot of time off, and that you’re never there.”  How does he know if I’m never there since he isn’t there working with me?  That said, it doesn’t matter, because perceptions are important, and one should be careful not to err to far from center especially as we come to year-end.

UNDERSTANDING THE FEELING OF GUILT

According to a research survey firm named Ispos, only 57% of Americans take all their vacation days.  Meanwhile, the average US worker only gets 13 days off.  Compare that to Italy, where the average worker gets 42 paid days off, according to the World Tourism Organization!  Next was France with 37 days, Germany with 35, Brazil at 34, the United Kingdom at 28, Canada with 26 and Korea and Japan both with 25.

So what the hell is wrong with Americans?  I have 20 regular vacation days a year and 20 carryover days, yet can’t seem to take more than 18 days off a year on average for the past five years.  Let’s discuss!

* Fear of falling behind and missing out.  Every time I go on vacation, I feel some level of remorse for all the things I’ve missed out at work.  It could be senior colleagues visiting from out of town, education workshop sessions, client outings, or internal activities in general.  If you’re not eating your prime rib sandwich, someone else will!

* Fear of getting fired.  In an uncertain economic environment, everybody should be afraid of getting fired.  Even in good times, bad things happen.  There’s no doubt there will continue to be mass layoffs as long as corporations aren’t willing to spend due to an oppressive regulatory environment.  We might have 30 days off a year, but do we really want to risk being out of site when our manager decide who to lay-off?  I don’t, and neither do you.

* Peer pressure.  There’s always going to be somebody who is the work horse in your group or office.  No matter how hard you try, you can’t compete with his vigor and consistency.  I was that person for the first two years out of college, and I’ve since been surpassed by many others.  The worst is when your senior colleague is that work horse and has a say in your pay and promotion.  Whether directly or indirectly, she will throw jabs at you for taking more time off than her.  The guilt starts to rise.

* Guilt of living well.  I strive to live a balanced lifestyle nowadays and want to live well.  We all should have the right to live well if we feel we’ve worked for it.  Goodness knows I’ve put in my dues.  Yet, because I’m keenly aware that not everybody is as fortunate, I feel guilty for taking a vacation.  How can I spend $2,000 to go to Hawaii for a week when I see poverty all around.  $2,000 could materially improve the quality of a homeless person’s life.  Shouldn’t I just give that $2,000 to her instead?  I feel a tremendous amount of guilt with the inequalities of the world everyday.  At the same time, I realize there will always be suffering until the end of time.

RESOLVING THE GUILT AND FEAR

* It’s in your contract.  If your contracts says you get 4 weeks off a year, take the 4 weeks!  You aren’t violating any company protocol taking your allotted days off.  If you get an extra week for every five years you work, then you deserve the reward.  Your company bakes in your vacation time as part of your salary.  Hence, you’re just robbing yourself if you don’t use your vacation days.

* Carry-over days are limited.  It used to be that we could carry over 30 days of vacation in California and my firm.  They’ve since truncated the amount of days to around 12.  If you are about to lose 18 vacations days, that’s equivalent to 18 working days of salary!  Call HR and ask them what the carry over days are and plan accordingly.

* Did your boss or company screw you in some way?  Let’s say your boss said last year that he was going to put you up for promotion this year.  Unfortunately he doesn’t put you up, despite your good reviews.  You got screwed, and your boss basically lied to you.  Are you going to reward your boss for working more?  Probably not.  You’re not even going to cheat your boss for working less if you are an honorable person.  Instead, all you have to do is use that anger to wipe away your guilt of taking all your legally allotted vacation days!  Find something from the year or the previous year which made you unhappy and utilize that anger to overcome your guilt.

* Understand your skills and abilities.  If you haven’t been fired yet, it’s because you are deemed valuable enough to keep.  Simple logic, simple conclusions.  You have skills, abilities, and relationships other firms want.  Write them out on a piece of paper and update your resume.  Don’t sell yourself short as you are a valuable commodity!  If the company dares dock your pay or fires you because you are taking all your alloted vacation time, know that you have a list of three other companies you can potentially work for.  Cultivate those relationships yesterday, and continue cultivating them without any expectations you’ll need them to get you in the door.

* Make sure you have back up and things aren’t super busy.  A way to mitigate your risk of getting docked for taking too much vacation is to simply ensure you have the appropriate back up in place while you are away.  If you decide to take a week off when everybody else is taking a week off, you will be penalized for not thinking like a team player.  Instead, have an open dialogue and ask your manager which days you think he or she feels would be most appropriate to take off.

CONCLUSION

As Joel Goodson said in the movie Risky Business, “Sometimes you just have to say, “What the f#$k, make your move“”.  Vacation days are ours!  They do expire, just like airline miles.  We’d be fools not to use up at least 80% of them every year.

Readers, do you ever feel guilty and fearful of taking a vacation?  Do you take all your vacation days a year?  If not, what percentage of your vacation days do you take on average for the past three years?  How many vacation days do you have a year?

Photo: Guilty Dog, June, CQ, 2011.  Sam.

Regards,

Sam

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The older I get, the more I realize how necessary it is for people first starting out to find a mentor.  A mentor is there to guide you through all the landmines in a career or start-up venture.  In fact, I encourage everyone to get a mentor with every serious endeavor they are about to undertake.

“You are special.  You deserve the world and can do anything.“  These words do more damage to young people than any insult.  If all you hear growing up is how special you are, you’re going to develop the biggest entitlement attitude ever!  You’re going to think you walk on water and your shit don’t stink.

Is there any wonder why the most typical complaint by the 99% protest movement is not getting a dream job after going tens of thousands of dollars in debt?  What is wrong with picking crops and making hamburgers? College graduates are told to go to school, don’t be afraid to take out massive debt because their lives will be great since they are so special.  As a result, they aren’t willing to put in the hours to get straight A’s, work unpaid internships every summer to gain experience, and develop technical skills beyond the classroom.  Being told they are special DOOMS them.

This is why growing up in a free and developed country like the United States is pretty easy, ironically.  If you don’t have the “I’m special” attitude, then you will never be delusional.  And since so many of your peers think they are special, they aren’t willing to put the extra time and effort into whatever they are doing.  Just realizing you are just another nobody will put you far ahead in this world.

In “How To Succeed The Dumb And Easy Way” on Untemplater.com, I try and knock some sense into folks who need a nice kick in the pants.  I love the stories and interviews there because it shows how people can live differently.  The Untemplaters make it look easy, but that’s what skilled people do.  Feel free to share your thoughts here or there!

Do you believe you’re special?

Photo: Hissing Stray Baby Cat, Venice, 2011.  Sam.  Can you guess the symbolism?

Best,

Sam

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Peter and I were golfing buddies for years until one day he started asking me about my compensation.  I refused to tell him for weeks until he mentioned he was in a tough situation, negotiating a package with a potential new employer and sought my advice as someone several years his senior.

As I stood over my ball, ready to attempt a 30 foot birdie putt, Peter chimes up, “Sam, you’d really be doing me a favor by letting me know, so I can go back and counter them in case they are low balling me.“  Peter then proceeded to tell me what he was making at which point I felt forced to reveal my income because he was so upfront.  When I did, he quieted down, walked to the next hole and smacked his driver down the pipe.

“280 yards with only a sand wedge in!” I applauded after I missed my putt.  “Hmprh“, was the only sound that came out of his mouth as walked further and further away.

As weeks turned into months, I realized he no longer pinged me to play golf.  It also turns out that he never took the new job offer and remains at his company ’til this day.  Peter turned cold and I later found out that the reason why he never took the new job was because he countered them so high based on what he heard from me that they pulled the offer.  Peter blames me for not getting the job and not making the money he feels he deserves to make.  I have no control over what the potential suitor was willing to pay so why is it my fault?

NEVER REVEAL YOUR INCOME

I’ve known Peter for years, and it saddens me that we no longer hang out.  He asked me to be his mentor when he first graduated from college, and his competitive drive drove him overboard.  He compares everything from cars to property with everybody.  As an example, he purchased a two year old Maserati Vanquish around his 30th birthday.  All he had to do was buy a two year old Honda Civic and it would blow away what I was driving and most of our circle since we take the bus!

It was an absolute mistake revealing my income to him.  I like to wear worn t-shirts and jeans, because I don’t like to draw attention.  In fact, perhaps this is why I so often wear baseball caps, so I can be left alone to do my own thing.  Blending in is why I drive Moose, my 11 year old SUV that’s worth $4,000.  He’s handsome and clean, but will never turn heads.  It’s the best feeling when people look at me and think I’m just a kid with very little.

I’m not going to apologize for making more than Peter when I was his age.  I was just trying to help him out in his negotiation process as he wouldn’t relent on asking.  We could have come up with a strategy for negotiation, and use my figure as a realistic anchoring point for further talks with his potential new employer.  Instead, he decided to huff and puff and curse the world for life’s inequities.

THE UPSIDE OF KEEPING YOUR INCOME HIDDEN

* You can always play down your wealth.

* You can play up your wealth if circumstances dictate.

* You don’t have to feel like you always have to pay because you make more.

* You can buy things and go on vacations in peace.

* You blend in with everybody else.

* If you make more than the average, nobody will envy you or try and take you down.

THE DOWNSIDE OF REVEALING YOUR INCOME

* You start associating your identity with your income.

* You might come across as arrogant and boastful.

* You lose ground in salary negotiations if you ever change jobs.

* People will start expecting things from you i.e. “Larry makes $10,000 a month, let him get the dinner tab!”

* You might get reported to the IRS agent who might think, “Oh really now?”

* You will be judged by everything you spend and don’t spend your money on i.e. “You only donate that little to charity?”  ”How can you afford a $25,000 car when you only make $60,000 a year?”  ”You’re 45 years old and still only make that little?” “You make that much and still drive a beater?” “You’re selling the dream, and your client’s dreams are failing.” etc.

IF YOU MUST REVEAL YOUR INCOME

If for whatever reason, you just have to reveal your income to others, use this guideline to decide whether you should or not:

Reveal income if your income is equal to the median income of your peer group (industry, level, experience) up to +15% over.  If you are making any more, then it’s probably best not to reveal and speak in generality.  Any income below 115% of the median income of your peer group is fine.

If your business model is making money by showing others how much money you can make by making money off others, really try and reach out to those who’ve bought your products and failed.  Reimburse the occasional failure and set up some type of safety net fund or charity fund to help.

CONCLUSION

The next time someone tries to dig compensation information out of you, stand strong and don’t reveal any details!  If you must share info given the other party has bared their soul, talk in percentages and temper them while you are at it.  The other strategy is to provide a wide range below and above his or her salary so as to appease some of his/her desire to know, without making them feel unsatisfactory.

Look around at the most financially successful people out there.  You’ll never see or read about them disclosing how much money they are pulling in.  They are secure with themselves and understand the upsides of keeping their finances private.

Readers, what are your thoughts about revealing your compensation info to people, even your closest friends and family?

Why do you feel people like to reveal their income?  Is it true that those who reveal their income are either insecure or have suddenly found wealth and like to get their egos stroked?  Do you believe in the common response of “trying to inspire others”?

Is there a difference in revealing income off-line and on-line?

Is there a certain level of income one makes, which is the cutoff point where it starts becoming poor taste?

Regards,

Sam

Photo: Mediterranean Stash 1-2/NL, 2011. Sam.

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You’re mistaken if you believe the 99% will just rage against the 1%.  They won’t stop until they protest against half of America, and then they will turn on themselves.  After reading all the “We Are The 53%” submissions, I was inspired to write my own. The 53% figure refers to the percentage of working Americans who pay for 100% of all federal taxes in our country. The 53% blog is a response to the “We Are The 99%” Occupy Everything movement, which also shares some moving posts about people who are having trouble getting ahead.  Unfortunately, there are also some incredibly misguided posts that put blame on others for their own mistakes.

The 99% movement doesn’t represent all 99% of us because the 99% isn’t one big pity party that we’re being made out to be.  Some of the reasons for protesting are down right embarrassing.  If you have student debt and can’t get a job, please protest your school’s career service office.  If you are against corporations, please don’t use an iPhone and then go charge it at McDonald’s.  If the damn insurance company is denying you benefits, protest right outside their corporate headquarters and at the homes of their execs!  There are thousands of first generation legal immigrants who come to the States, don’t speak English, and find a way to live a better life.  We at least have a head start with the English language!

The 99% movement might represent 10% of Americans who are fed-up and outraged by the super wealthy and our inept politicians and want to protest. For the rest of the 99%, we aren’t complaining.  Instead, we’re focusing on making ourselves better. We’re not depending on the wealthy or the government for anything.  We’re depending on our own initiatives to make things happen.  You do realize that we taxpayers made money bailing out the banks to the tune of $10 billion dollars right? Thanks Wall St!  We’re still waiting for GM to give us our money back.

Stop thinking about yourself and what the country and the government can do for you.  Start thinking about how you can add value to society and help someone before you help yourself.  Being selfish gets you nowhere because nobody will want to help you, especially if you are protesting the very people who donate to charity, provide students scholarships, help fund cures for cancer, and provide employment opportunities!

Here is my note. I hope you can share your own.

REPRESENTING THE 53%

• At 16 years old I went to work at McDonald’s from 6am to noon for $3.25 an hour on the weekends. The manager was abusive and told us to never speak Spanish, even amongst ourselves. I knew then that I never wanted to be poor, and despite the bad environment, I became the best damn Egg McMuffin maker the chain had ever seen.

• During junior and senior year of high school, when my friends wanted to play hooky and smoke cigarettes and weed, I told them I had to go to tennis practice and then study. That was a 6-hour affair after school every Mon-Thursday, and 4 hours on Friday. I already fucked up badly once and wasn’t about to do so again.

• In college, when my friends wanted to get plastered and hit on chicks, I gladly came along for a couple beers and a good time, but I never blacked out, doing something I’d forget and regret. OK, maybe I did just once, but I don’t remember.  My girlfriend and I studied for 6 hours on average every single day, all throughout the day. Who would employ us if we did otherwise?

• After college, when my friends were still sleeping, I got up at 4:45am to get to work by 5:30am for two consecutive years. There I worked until 7:45pm on average because that’s when the cafeteria opened, serving free dinner. Damn, I got fat working so much, but I wanted to save money because the Big City was expensive and I always felt broke. I didn’t blame Jenny Craig.

• Two years later, I got a new job offer with a pay raise and a promotion. The only catch was that I had to move cross-country to San Francisco, where I had no friends and no family. I was scared, but what the hell. I was young and left on Friday and started work on Monday. Here I got fit again by running every day until I was back to my normal self.  Screw Jenny Craig and her diets.

• Over a decade later, I no longer work 14-hour days, but still get in by 7:30am and usually am one of the last to leave. There is no face-time involved anymore. I leave when the job gets done and only when I feel comfortable I’ve earned my day’s pay. There’s no way I’m taking this opportunity for granted. It is an honor to be employed and I’m thankful every single day.

• Because I only work 10-11 hours a day now, I started a couple sites called FinancialSamurai.com and Yakezie.com. After spending 3 hours a day on average for 2 years writing content and connecting with others, my online endeavors have grown to a size that enables me to retire from my day job. I won’t be living it up in retirement because it’s not that much, but I can live freely if I want to. Anybody can build an online business if they have the dedication.  Everybody should start an online business if they have no job especially!  The government didn’t help me one bit. Instead, the government made it difficult to start a business and incorporate. It took 3 months just to get the paperwork done. The amount of paperwork was incredible and I needed help from a lawyer, which cost $200/hour. What a waste of money.

• I’ve paid over $100,000 in Federal and State income taxes a year since my late 20′s and yes, I have an accountant.  The $100,000+ a year is used to build our schools, fund our libraries, expand our roads, protect our nation, and provide medical care for our deserved senior citizens.  I try and forget how much I pay in taxes because I know I will never get that money back in return.  Why are you angry with me? I’m not angry with you for whatever amount you’re paying. Despite paying more in taxes than the average American income, the government wants me to pay even more while half the population pays no Federal taxes? Talk about a kick in the nuts, but I shut the hell up and pay my taxes and don’t complain.  However, if more is what the government and protesters want, how about Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adam’s idea of letting me drive in the HOV lane by myself whenever I want with my $4,000, 11-year old beater as a small token? Or maybe just a short “Thank You” letter from any government benefits recipient each time a check is cashed? At the very least, don’t attack me for being a law-abiding citizen who pays a ton of taxes!

• How much have you paid in taxes? Taxes are what keeps this country running.  Did the government and greedy corporations really take any of your money if you pay little to no federal taxes?  Don’t you think the people who should have the most beef be the ones who’ve paid the most taxes not the other way around?

* Look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself if you can wake up at 4:45am in the morning and put in 14 hours a day for several years. I bet if you do, you’ll get way ahead. In fact, I firmly believe you will crush your competition and achieve whatever it is you want to achieve.

* Ask yourself if you were a manager in a difficult economic environment whether you’d fire your top 10% best workers or your bottom 10% worst workers?  Of course you keep your best people.  Would you hire yourself?  Of course you would, but do you really think a job is a right?  I tell myself I am nobody everyday, and so should you.  That way, you’ll never be complacent, and never fall in the bottom 10% ever.

* Last year I donated five figures to charity and spent 30+ hours volunteering.  With the help of the Yakezie Network, we started the Yakezie Scholarship / Writing Contest which allows students looking for educational financial aid to compete and win over $1,000.  I will do the same every year until I retire, and then maybe I’ll focus on giving back full time.  Why am I a bad person?  I don’t do any of this for credit.  I do it in secret just because it’s a good thing to do.

• I am the 53%. There’s no way you will ever join us if you’re sitting around protesting. Each minute you spend protesting is another minute someone else is out there making a living.  You can hate us for being in the top 53%, but you should start hating yourself instead.  That way, you’ll be so disgusted with yourself that you will go to the ends of the earth to succeed!

* I stand by every single American out there who doesn’t complain why life isn’t fair, who never gives up, and who looks to put others before self.  I stand by those in the 99% movement who are doing everything they possibly can to survive.  Seriously, the insurance companies are a joke if they are denying people affordable insurance due to whatever reason.  Here’s my story on fighting an insurance scam.  The government is disgraceful if they aren’t doing everything possible to help our honorable veterans find jobs and flourish back at home.  How much more do they have to serve their country for goodness sakes without having to fight at home?  There should never be jobless or homeless veterans!  Fight on people!  Let’s just focus our frustrations at the right people!

* We are the 53%. There are literally tens of millions of us with our own stories.  Won’t you join us?

Readers and fellow bloggers, tell me you aren’t the only ones who feel assailed for working hard and making a living? Why do we have to feel ashamed for striving to be successful in our respective fields? Shouldn’t we feel proud of our accomplishments? What the hell did we do wrong?

I encourage all readers and bloggers to write their own 53% letter and tell your story of why you deserve to live.  If you are a reader and would like to have your story published here, I will do so.

Regards,

Sam

It’s trendy to rage against the top 1% nowadays.  We’ve discussed how the world will go through further employment pain thanks to the decline in the stock markets, EuroZone debt crisis, US state-level budget problems, and political impotence.  Things are not pretty to say the least.

From my rental property article, you discover that the top 1% are a couple who met in law school at 25 and are now 28 year old 2nd year associates making $380,000 combined.  The top 1% is also the 28 year old Google software engineer from Caltech who brings in $450,000 a year and has $400,000 in savings.  The top 1% is the 35 year old cardiologist who is finally making over $300,000 a year after 11 years of post high school education and 3 years of residency work at $60,000 a year.  By the time he’s 45, he will probably make over $1 million dollars.

Where else can we find the top 1%?  Oh yeah, MBA grads who join Wall Street firms such as JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs at the standard $150,000 base salary and $30,000 sign-on bonus at age 29-30.  But, you knew this already since that’s who so many people are demonstrating against.  If they can last through the treacherous ups and downs of the markets, the multiple rounds of layoffs every year, the intense pressure of 60-80 hour work weeks, not to mention all the internal political landmines, they too will make over $380,000 a year by the time they are 35 year old second year Vice Presidents.

THE TOP 1%: COME OUT, COME OUT, WHEREVER YOU ARE

Public Schools: Public colleges regularly pay their employees hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.  The best paid University of California employee is Jeff Tedford, with a salary of $3 million a year coaching football.  Not bad for a job many would say they’d love to do for much less.  Practically every single Top 25 head coach in football and basketball makes multiple-six figures.  The UC’s last President earned $900,000 and UCSF’s Chancellor, Susan Desmond-Hellman made $450,000.

Politicians: In September 1999, President Clinton signed legislation that increased the presidential salary to $400,000, effective January 2001.  This presidential pay raise was the first since 1969, when the president’s salary was raised from $100,000 to $200,000. Adjusted for inflation, $200,000 in 1969 would be worth $930,232 today. On top of the salary and expense accounts, both the U.S. president and vice president are given free housing with plenty of amenities. The White House has 132 rooms, 32 bathrooms, a movie theater, bowling alley, billiards room, tennis court, jogging track and putting greens.  Pretty good perks!

Online Infopreneurs:  Bloggers making over $380,000 a year are a dime a dozen.  Here are some that make the list: Heather Armstrong (Dooce), Darren Rowe (Pro Blogger), Michael Arrington (Tech Crunch), Pete Cashmore (Mashable), John Chow (John Chow), J. Shoemoney (Shoemoney), Perez Hilton (Perez Hilton), Ben Huh (Cheezeburger Network), Peter Rojas (Gizmodo), Leo Babauta (Zen Habits), and many top personal finance bloggers.  There are hundreds more that we’ve never heard of.

TV Journalism: Anchorwomen and men make well over $380,000 at all the major stations in all the major cities.  Katie Couric sealed an eye-popping $75 million, 5 year contract for CBS.  Political comedian, Jon Stewart from the Daily Show makes around $15 million a year and has a net worth north of US$50 million.  Jon makes his money making fun of politicians and rich people. Documentary-maker, Michael Moore, has made millions from railing against the car, food, and finance industries.  Oprah is the queen of them all with mega-billions.

Executives: We then come to all the CEOs of the Fortune 500 companies who on average make a somewhat outrageous $10 million a year.  If you include the CFOs, COOs, and all other C-level execs, we’re talking about thousands who make in the multi-millions.  These aren’t the top 1%.  These are the top 0.1%!  Many Directors and VP of Fortune 500 companies all make well over $380,000.  You don’t have to be a C-level executive to get there.

Internet Start-Ups: And then there are the founders of all the great internet/tech companies you see today: Apple, Zynga, Twitter, Google, Youtube, eBay and so forth.  They are the creators of the tools you use everyday to communicate and entertain yourself with.  There are thousands more you’ve never heard of, who get acquired by the gorillas and make millions too.

Professional Sports: Every starting NFL player makes well over $380,000.  So do all the members of every NBA team and European soccer league.  Men and women who hit fuzzy green balls and whack dimply white balls earn over $380,000.  It’s hard for a Nascar and Indy driver not to make over $380,000.  Finally, baseball players have incredible multi-year guaranteed contracts that make all other sports envious!  They are in the top 1%.

Entertainment Media: When you come home from a long days work and switch on the tube, the stars of your favorite TV sitcoms are well into the top 1%.  When you take your significant other to the movies on a Saturday night to watch the highly anticipated Big Momma’s House III, the actors are all in the top 1%.  They entertain you and make you laugh, and you go out and support them as a result.

THE TOP 1% ARE EVERYWHERE

The top 1% of income earners are everywhere.  They walk among us peacefully, and often times invisible to you and me.  Why are we trying to hunt them down?  They have worked hard to get to where they are and many of them employ thousands of the rest of us 99%.  Many of them entertain us with their movies, or their witty morning banter.  Some of us even fix our broken bones.  Even more donate a significant amount to charity.  Shouldn’t we say “thank you” to the top 1% instead of eviscerating them?

Do you want to be in the top 1%?  It will take a lot of hard work and creativity that’s for sure.  The top 1% are no different from you and me.  The top 1% is that kid raising her hand in the front of the class and the scrawny 8th grader who plays JV baseball, but never varsity.  The top 1% join you in causes and vote along side of you.  The top 1% still have to wait in line at the security check-in and sit in middle seats.  The top 1% die from cancer and eat more than they should.  The top 1% have loved ones.

Some may have caught a lucky break, while others just inherited it all.  Those who didn’t earn their way to the top 1% are a minority. We can’t all get to the top 1%, but we can all certainly try.

Readers, if you are in the top 1% (those making over $380,000/year) and would like to share your story, please feel free.  You should have a voice, too, which I will happily publish here if written in good taste.

Do you have a problem with the 1%?  What are the steps you are taking to get there?

If you enjoyed this article, please sign up for my RSS Feed or E-mail Feed to keep in touch.

Best,

Sam

The Yakezie Network

Let’s pretend we’re Founders of a new high tech company.  Competition is fierce, but we’ve raised money from some Venture Capitalists to pay for equipment, marketing, and personnel.

We are looking for hungry recent college graduates in engineering, marketing, and sales who are willing to work hard and accept a “below market” rate salary of $30,000.  In exchange, they will each  get $25,000 worth of options struck at $1/share with a three year vest.

We believe our company will grow by 50% a year for the next 5 years.  In other words, a new hire’s $25,000 worth of options will be worth $200,000 in five years, and if the company keeps growing by 50% for another 5 years, the options will be worth $1.45 million, 58X the original amount.  Finally, employees get options every single year they work at a discounted price, meaning one could potentially earn multiple millions of dollars in 10 years.

Of course, we also realize that execution is key because ideas are a dime a dozen.  All our stock and options could expire worthless if we don’t property execute.  People are what will make our company successful.  Because we aren’t paying the market rate of $60-70,000 for recent graduates + options, we don’t have the pick of the litter.  If only everyone believed in our company as much as we did, they would be lining up to work for us.

One of your favorite posts is, “How Much Do The Top Income Earners Make” which makes a statement that “the rich will always pay more than their fair share” as the top 1% earn 20% of all income but pay almost double their share of taxes at 38%.  38% is 18% more than 20% no matter how much you think the rich should pay.

You then come across this one recent graduate who is looking for a job.  She leaves this comment as a retort to the post.  Obviously she’s brighter than most because she reads personal finance sites and spends the time to comment.  She’s available for hire and is willing to relocate anywhere to get the job.  However, nobody has hired her, she may have a difficult time working more than 40 hours a week, and she didn’t go to a great school.  Do you go for it?  You’re in desperate need of people to build your company!

READY FOR WORK, HIRE ME

Wow.. You really, truly do spew an insane amount of ignorance here.. First of all, if you are working more than 40 hours a week, then you either do not have a family of your own at all or you severely neglect any wife and/or kids that you do have (and they, with 99% certainty, WILL hate you for this for the rest of their lives). In fact, working at that rate.. Despite however much money you might bring in, you will likely only find a wife who is with you for your money (what else do you have to offer when she never sees you?), infidelity on her part, children who feel as though they are bastards, and a likely divorce as soon as the wife can claim that she has become acclimated to this style of living and is deserving of 50% of everything you own =]

Beyond this, I can tell you.. I am a recent graduate from Miami University (in Ohio). No, this is not a Harvard, Stanford, Cornell, Princeton, Dartmouth, or anything of that sort, but it is openly recognized as being one of the top 50 universities in the nation. I received a bachelor degree after completing two majors, Psychology and Sociology. No, these are not Business, Engineering, or Computer Science degrees, but they are respectable nonetheless. I was deeply involved in a few student organizations and involved in the leadership of two and the creation of one throughout my college career. I was also involved in research, and I worked full-time through all of my summers and 20 hours/week each of the school years while taking an average of 18-20 credit hours per semester. I graduated with Latin Honors: Cum Laude and a GPA of 3.67, which, in my opinion, is pretty good.

While all of this admittedly might not have prepared me for many jobs that are available in today’s economy, I believe that it does show that I am driven, committed, and capable of learning. However, over the past 6 months (before and after graduating), I have applied for and either been completely ignored or denied from over 100 jobs. I will admit that I began applying for jobs that offer around 50k/yr in salary, but, over time, I learned to reduce my expectations significantly. I began to apply for jobs that pay only 25-30k/yr and would have been more than happy, but found that I was not wanted there either. In fact, I have even reduced myself to applying to places like Best Buy, local factories, Wal-Mart, Kroger etc. and have still found that there is no job to be had.

Now, tell me, does this make me lazy? I can’t even receive unemployment, because I have not ever had any official employment that was not ended on my own volition. Where am I supposed to be working these two jobs when I can’t even find one? I can’t even find a place that will give me part-time work, much less those 40 hours. Even when I was working full-time over my summers, I was still only getting 30-35 hours in a week, and I’m supposed to be working more than 40 hours a week now? I would honestly prefer a job that pays me 35k to work 40 hours in a week, because I actually do have friends and a life…

So.. Again. Where are these two jobs coming from? Are you going to hire me? If anyone on here wants to hire me, then I will gladly relocate to wherever it is that you need me to be =D But.. I don’t see that one happening. All I see is people saying that the rich create jobs. I don’t see any of them actually doing it. And, by the way.. It’s obvious that many of you on here are rich. Just saying…

THE DECISION IS YOURS

As the CEO of your new start-up, do you or do you not interview this person to work for you?  You’re dedicating your life and your savings to your start-up and need to hire people now.  If you don’t hire within the next month, you risk losing your head-start advantage and having your competitors gain tremendous amount of market share and pull away from you.

Do you believe you can find someone better with your below market rate compensation in a month’s time?  Do you believe the above person will be willing to work weekends at your start-up to get the job done?  Can you see the person stay hungry for the next five years?  The difference between success and failure is depending on you, Mr or Mrs CEO.

Regards,

Sam