High fuel price costs jobs

About two weeks ago, when I was waiting for my car to be serviced, I had an interesting conversation with the mechanic at the car dealership. It goes something like this.

me: "Did see the price of petrol today? It is getting pretty high."

mechanic: "When I drove in to work this morning, I saw about $1.70 per litre."

me: "I hope that it goes down a little in the next few weeks"

mechanic: "Well, I think the damage is already done. Some of my mates had to quit their jobs because the petrol prices are too high."

me: "Really?!?"

mechanic: "Yeah. They had to travel about an hour to work, and the cost of petrol is around $125 per week. They just couldn't afford it."

At that point, I start the feel how lucky I am to be working about 5 minutes drive from home. In a city like Melbourne where the suburban sprawl of extremely wide, it is quite common for workers to travel for more than two hours each day between home and work. The lack of public transport to service the widening suburban sprawl does not help these people.

The mechanic went on to say that his friends would have got more money in their pockets if they went on the dole, or unemployment benefit, however they manage to find similar jobs closer to home.

If I was in a similar situation, I probably would have seriously consider this option as well. In the current economic climate, having enough money to provide for your family the number one priority.

What would you have done in a similar situation?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you enjoy this post, you may also enjoy the following post:

Public Transport vs Private Transport
4 cents/litre or 8cents/litre

You are only worth at market value

Back in 2002, my wife and I went into semi-retirement. Well, more really like putting our working lives on hold and recharging our personal life. Since graduated from university in 1992, I have never had an extended period of holiday or even a time to reflect on my life and where I want to head towards.

At the start of 2002, I told my boss that I am resigning my position, I told my family that I am selling the house going traveling around Australia in a caravan. Their reaction was a bit of disbelief and telling us that we are quite mad.

So we sold the house in Feb 2002, paid all our debts and put any remainder into a term deposit.

We reached Brisbane after six months of a traveling up the east coast of Australia from Melbourne. I started to look for a job and ended up with an offer of a job that I thought would paid a bit more. They offer me $45K, and I rejected their offer. That is one of the biggest mistake that I have ever made!

I rejected their offer because I believe that I am worth more than the offer, and my mistake is that assumption. The reality of what I am worth is that I am only worth as much as the job market is willing to pay for my services.

You may be the the most talented engineer in the country that is worth $150K, but if the hiring companies can only pay $50K, that is all you are worth.

What do you do if you think you are worth more? Well, the following may be worth attempting.

1. Wait for the job market to evolve. The job market may change so that your position is worth more, but are you able to wait that long?
2. Move to another city where the job market is willing to pay more. Many people do this, think of how many country folks come to the city for the bigger salary.
3. Switch profession. If a different job market pays more, consider switching. However, the time it takes to reach the equivalent career level may take a few more years, and then the job market may change again!

We finally returned to our working lives when our travels brought us to Adelaide and I got a position to work in Singapore for three months. My wife enjoyed it very much, and I enjoyed the food very much as well ;-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you enjoy this post, you may also enjoy the following post:

What questions would you ask in a job interview?
How has the soaring dollar affected you?

What questions would you ask in a job interview?

OK, we all have been in job interviews gunning for that dream job, and one of the certain questions that your interviewer will ask you is "Do you have any questions you would like to ask us?". So what do you ask?

If I was looking for a job, not that I am looking for a job, the following would be in my top 5 questions to ask...well, maybe only from a financial perspective anyway.

If there is zero income coming into the business today, how much longer are you able to keep trading before declaring bankruptcy?

By hiring me, how will I help the company's bottom line?

What is the salary ratio between the companies highest paying job and my job?

How will you ensure that my job is secure for the next 2 years?

How high is my welfare on the companies priorities?

These questions are framed from a perspective of job security. One of the worst things that you can do is to join a company that is on a downward slope and you are not in a position to influence it to be come an upward slope. It is like jumping into a sinking ship with a smile...

Most people that I know of go to an job interview to secure an income, so what not ask the questions that would directly affect your personal bottom line.

What are some of your questions?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Post Sponsor: With over 8000 mortgages to choose from Thrifty Mortgages will help put you in touch with a qualified mortgage broker

Converting an Annual Leave Day to Sick Day

I just returned from work today, and was exchanging my holiday stories with my colleagues. I told them that I got a bout of gastro over the Christmas holidays and was not able to do much over a couple days. He suggested that I get a doctor's certificate for the days that I was sick and submit them to the HR department, essentially converting my Annual Leave Days to Sick Days.

I came home today and though about his suggestion. It does have some merit.

1. Sick days are stricter to obtained, and needs to be backed up with some documentation like a doctor's certificate.
2. You have the freedom to do whatever you want on your Annual Leave Days, but on your Sick Days, you are only allow to recover from your illness.
3. When you depart from your job, your Annual Leave Days are worth more and than your Sick Days, so it is worth more in your pocket.

However, during the days that I was sick, I didn't visit the doctor, so I can't claim or get a doctor's certificate. Maybe next time.

How has the soaring dollar affected you?

In recent months, the humble Australian dollar is soaring against the American. Today, 1 Australian dollar will purchase about 92 American cents, and the financial commentators are predicting that it may reach parity before year end.

What does that mean for the average man on the street? We will have to look at it from two perspectives. There is the perspective of the consumer, that is how our spending habits may change. There is also the perspective of the worker, that is how our jobs and work is going to be affected.

Spending the dollar

The majority of the products that we purchase, especially the manufactured products such as plastic goods, electronics and cars, are manufactured overseas. The goods being imported into Australia should be a deal cheaper, when compared to the start of 2007 where the Australian dollar only was only buying 78 American cents.

I think for the big value items such as cars, it will take a period of time before the current stock are sold and the new stock purchased at the higher exchange rate.

There are already some products that are already being sold at a lower price, such as computer software where the turnover in stock is a lot quicker.

For primary products like fresh fruits and vegetables, the current pricing is high because of the drought, and should not be that depending upon the exchange rate.

One of the products that I wish were more dependent upon the exchange rate is the price of fuel, but for some reason, it is always been high for one reason or another. The oil company always seems to have some reasons.

Earning the dollar

If you are working in an export industry, such as manufacturing or the resources, it will be harder to sell your product overseas as it will be expensive for them to purchase them from the Australians. However it seems that the Chinese is not perturbed by the high exchange rate and buying our coal and others as fast as we can dig them out of the ground.

In some ways, some of the raw materials that goes into the manufacturing industry are purchased from overseas, so the price of these raw materials will be cheaper, and perhaps, the cost of the manufacturing may also be cheaper. It all depends on how and what goods are manufactured.

The bottom line is that job security for the man on the street may be an issue if the Australian increase further. So be prepared.

The increasing Australian dollar will affect people in many different ways. How has the changing currency affected you?