I don't understand this.

[Ajax]

I just received a promotion and a large pay raise.

Instead of being happy and grateful, I feel a crushing weight to perform (not that I didn't already perform) and I feel more vulnerable to being laid off, because now I cost more to keep around. I feel beholden.
I had finally got my finances organized where I was meeting my retirement and savings goals and had adequate disposable money. I didn't need the raise and I care not for awards or recognition.

What an odd, and crappy day.

[SemiSalt]

Perhaps a touch of imposter syndrome?

[Orestes Munn]

You're a sick fuck, but I know exactly what you mean.

Congrats, by the way.

[Jamie]

Congrats!

Just keep in mind the higher the monkey goes up the pole, the more you see of his ass.

[BeauV]

Ajax,

As we gain experience and see what can happen, we worry about things more. If you were 25 and got this raise you'd be buying us all a round !!

Seriously, the company obviously thinks you're great. They most certainly do not want you to fail, nor do they want to lay you off. Despite what many folks believe, I can tell you that having run a number of operations the LAST people you want to lose are your good ones. You, my friend, are one of the good ones.

Finally, I'd point out that the reason this makes you nervous is that primarily because you have a hard-wired sense of responsibility and work ethic. That is why you're one of the good ones. At least your company knows what you're doing and rewards it.

Have a drink, look in the mirror, realize you're worth it.

Now get back to work so they don't fire your ass!!

LOL!!

B

[kimbottles]

When we had to face a true crisis and actually had to lay anyone off we kept all the high priced employees because they were the most productive.

Fortunately that very rarely happened and the people we did let go generally should have been culled much earlier anyway.

To have a successful company you MUST retain your most productive core employees no matter what. An investment in keeping the best employees during tough times always paid very substantial didvidends. At least it did for us.

[Tim Ford]

What Beau and Kim said, Ajax, but I feel your personal pain.

ABout a year ago, I got transferred to a much higher reporting line (and got a minuscule raise) and am sort of liking it, but the increase in expected productivity is a bit daunting. I feel like I need to cover my rear end a LOT more.

Fortunately, the guy I report to, Dean of the College of NMS, is a great guy and wants us to innovate. I'd love to do that if I were 12 years younger, but I'm 12 months from retiring for crying out loud. I'll still bust ass, but having someone who's a catherine wheel of new ideas and programs is not. exactly. what. I. had. in. mind. as I coast into the cut-off date.

Okay, gotta get back to work instead of racing at BCYA tonight

[snaggletooth]

Ajax,

I licke youre commercialles, I thick they greate. You disearve the raise, so enjoye it.

Snaggs

[Tim Ford]

Stronger than dirt!

[Chris Chesley]

I'll pile on with Beau and Kim....

The good ones you keep! (and you pay them enough to make them stay!)

Congrats!

It's only the bean counters in faceless corporations who look to shave 'costs' with high priced help. If the faceless corporation has any good leaders at the top, they won't let the bean counters get away with it. There are 'costs' and then there are COSTS!

[Olaf Hart]

They are not overpaying you now, they were underpaying you before .....

[Slick470]

When we had to face a true crisis and actually had to lay anyone off we kept all the high priced employees because they were the most productive.

Fortunately that very rarely happened and the people we did let go generally should have been culled much earlier anyway.

To have a successful company you MUST retain your most productive core employees no matter what. An investment in keeping the best employees during tough times always paid very substantial didvidends. At least it did for us.

We have done this during down turns as well. Even keeping a recent college grad who had an engineering background who was on the PE track over keeping draftspersons who had been here for several years. Long term it has been a solid decision, but it definitely raised a few eyebrows at the time.

Rich, congratulations/condolences on the raise.

As I gain more and more responsibility at my job and increasing compensation, I also sometimes wish I could just engineer stuff and less management of the parts of the company that I have taken over. I'm working through a big technical challenge tied to a roll out of new company laptops that I spec'd and purchased, I really wish it were someone else's problem and I were just along for the ride.

[Ajax]

Well, I work for a large, faceless corporation so sometimes bad decisions get made.

Fortunately, I'm not being drawn into management. I'm just fixing more things and designing more things, but that has been going on for the last 4 years or so. Sequestration has forced a reduction in labor costs but the DoD's appetite for new systems has not abated, so that means more work for fewer people. This continues, despite the improving general economy.

Since '08, I've been operating under the "I'm just glad I have a job" premise. I've kept my head down and not asked for anything. Hell, we just had another round of layoffs on my project recently. The LAST thing I expected, was a pay raise.

Since I don't feel especially secure here, I'll pump all the extra money into my savings and retirement funds and accelerating my car payoff. That way, if I get laid off the only bill I'll have will be my mortgage.

[kimbottles]

Well, I work for a large, faceless corporation so sometimes bad decisions get made.

Fortunately, I'm not being drawn into management. I'm just fixing more things and designing more things, but that has been going on for the last 4 years or so. Sequestration has forced a reduction in labor costs but the DoD's appetite for new systems has not abated, so that means more work for fewer people. This continues, despite the improving general economy.

Since '08, I've been operating under the "I'm just glad I have a job" premise. I've kept my head down and not asked for anything. Hell, we just had another round of layoffs on my project recently. The LAST thing I expected, was a pay raise.

Since I don't feel especially secure here, I'll pump all the extra money into my savings and retirement funds and accelerating my car payoff. That way, if I get laid off the only bill I'll have will be my mortgage.

Smart move Rich, a long time ago we decided to live well below our income in order to become debt free, we accomplished that many years ago, best feeling in the world.

[TheOffice]

Rich,

don't be foolish! Pump the extra money into important things like new sails, cushions and canvas.

Take the money, do your job and you'll sleep better at night knowing you have a cushion.

Joel

[kimbottles]

Rich,

don't be foolish! Pump the extra money into important things like new sails, cushions and canvas.

Take the money, do your job and you'll sleep better at night knowing you have a cushion.

Joel

Don't listen to him Rich, he is like the Sirens‎ on the Island of Anthemoessa‎........

[TheOffice]

Dacron, Laminate, Hydranet!
Dacron, Laminate, Hydranet!
Dacron, Laminate, Hydranet!
Dacron, Laminate, Hydranet!
Dacron, Laminate, Hydranet!

[kimbottles]

Dacron, Laminate, Hydranet!
Dacron, Laminate, Hydranet!
Dacron, Laminate, Hydranet!
Dacron, Laminate, Hydranet!
Dacron, Laminate, Hydranet!

Joel, you are dangerous!
(Now you have me thinking about new sails.......)

[LarryHoward]

We'll work on your new budget this weekend. The Power Ranger will thank me.

[BeauV]

Well, I work for a large, faceless corporation so sometimes bad decisions get made.

Fortunately, I'm not being drawn into management. I'm just fixing more things and designing more things, but that has been going on for the last 4 years or so. Sequestration has forced a reduction in labor costs but the DoD's appetite for new systems has not abated, so that means more work for fewer people. This continues, despite the improving general economy.

Since '08, I've been operating under the "I'm just glad I have a job" premise. I've kept my head down and not asked for anything. Hell, we just had another round of layoffs on my project recently. The LAST thing I expected, was a pay raise.

Since I don't feel especially secure here, I'll pump all the extra money into my savings and retirement funds and accelerating my car payoff. That way, if I get laid off the only bill I'll have will be my mortgage.

Smart move Rich, a long time ago we decided to live well below our income in order to become debt free, we accomplished that many years ago, best feeling in the world.

Rich, my lovely Admiral and I did exactly what Kim and his SWMBO did. As soon as we could, we got out from under debt. Recently, with interest rates so low we've borrowed some money to put it into another investment that pays more. But for most of my adult life, there was never a time when that made sense. We've been living in weird times. I'm guessing that the low-interest binge will fade soon.

I've always found US Gov. funding of things a bit demented. They want all the toys but also want to cut spending... weird that they'd think they could have both, but they consistently have.

I think your strategy of just being a super individual contributor is a solid one.

[Ajax]

Dacron, Laminate, Hydranet!
Dacron, Laminate, Hydranet!
Dacron, Laminate, Hydranet!
Dacron, Laminate, Hydranet!
Dacron, Laminate, Hydranet!

Joel, you are dangerous!
(Now you have me thinking about new sails.......)

Come to think of it, the boat does need a new main sail to complete the set. It's the original main. Joel, you are a pot-stirrer.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not sitting on a pile of revolving debt. I have the car note because I wrapped my Forester around a tree, 3 winters ago and I have the house.
The problem, is that I took a zero-down VA mortgage. The VA part is smart, the zero down part wasn't. That is what makes my retirement date "on time" instead of "early."

At least the house has equity now, instead of being underwater.

[Chris Chesley]

Well, I work for a large, faceless corporation so sometimes bad decisions get made.

Fortunately, I'm not being drawn into management. I'm just fixing more things and designing more things, but that has been going on for the last 4 years or so. Sequestration has forced a reduction in labor costs but the DoD's appetite for new systems has not abated, so that means more work for fewer people. This continues, despite the improving general economy.

Since '08, I've been operating under the "I'm just glad I have a job" premise. I've kept my head down and not asked for anything. Hell, we just had another round of layoffs on my project recently. The LAST thing I expected, was a pay raise.

Since I don't feel especially secure here, I'll pump all the extra money into my savings and retirement funds and accelerating my car payoff. That way, if I get laid off the only bill I'll have will be my mortgage.

Smart move Rich, a long time ago we decided to live well below our income in order to become debt free, we accomplished that many years ago, best feeling in the world.

Rich, my lovely Admiral and I did exactly what Kim and his SWMBO did. As soon as we could, we got out from under debt. Recently, with interest rates so low we've borrowed some money to put it into another investment that pays more. But for most of my adult life, there was never a time when that made sense. We've been living in weird times. I'm guessing that the low-interest binge will fade soon.

I've always found US Gov. funding of things a bit demented. They want all the toys but also want to cut spending... weird that they'd think they could have both, but they consistently have.

I think your strategy of just being a super individual contributor is a solid one.

Being debt free was the way I retired at 52 and was the best thing I could have ever done. Talk about freedom!

Oh, wait, now back to running a business instead....hmmm, not so much freedom but mostly fun and financially far more rewarding than working for someone else..

I'm now currently leasing a car (to preserve cash for the business. at current interest rates I sort of consider it cheaper than burning capital or not much more expensive than) and have a relatively small mortgage and 2nd on the house (still total below 50% of value) It serves as my 'lender of last resort' again, for the business which has a very definitive annual cash flow cycle.

[Tigger]

I pulled the plug at 54, took a years leave of absence, and then officially 'retired' at 55 with the maximum penalty for leaving early. The logic went like this: if I had not completed the masters degree and had not been a principal ... I'd have to teach until I was past 60 to get the same $ amount I get now. The one priceless commodity we all have is time, and these 5+ years are my gift to me for a stressful (and simultaneously very rewarding) career. Also, the statistics ... principals who retire at 55 have a life expectancy that is the same as the general population. Those who retire at 65 ... 18 months.

[Olaf Hart]

The old Boeing study found the earlier you retire, the longer you live.

In theory, I retired at 60.

[kdh]

Working for my wife at home is harder than anything I do around here. I just turned 56.

[Orestes Munn]

The old Boeing study found the earlier you retire, the longer you live.

In theory, I retired at 60.

There is at least one recent study showing big declines in health after retirement. I am in no danger, myself.

[kimbottles]

The old Boeing study found the earlier you retire, the longer you live.

In theory, I retired at 60.

There is at least one recent study showing big declines in health after retirement. I am in no danger, myself.

I am busier now "retired" than I was when I co-owned and co-ran the company.

Lots of projects and I can't seem to say "no" to more.

Good news is the projects tend to be boats, ham radio, cycling and traveling oriented. (AND, Some house projects thrown in to keep me honest and Susan happy.)

[BeauV]

I've read a lot of stuff about retirement killing folks, so I'm trying to avoid it. That said, I just had a great meeting with a young woman who is trying to talk me into running her company and after reviewing the situation and the various stresses involved I'm not sure I want to step into that particular mud-bath.

I think stress is pretty bad for a person. I have distinct memories of various times when I've left companies and it's as though a massive weight has been lifted off me, as though gravity is at partial strength. Then, after a few weeks, I find myself missing the challenge, the pace, and the intensity. I end up doing something stressful again. I guess I'm a stress-addict.

[Orestes Munn]

Having interesting, challenging, satisfying, work is a great blessing. It is hard to give up, especially when your whole identity is tied up with it.

[Olaf Hart]

Having interesting, challenging, satisfying, work is a great blessing. It is hard to give up, especially when your whole identity is tied up with it.

Yup ...