Don't Be That Guy

... please

Anyone who’s been close to the tech world recently, or maybe any other world, has probably seen and heard about the never-ending wave of layoffs that have been coming fast and strong.

Just last week, both Meta and Oracle laid off a ton of people, and that is only a small drop in the bucket for the last few years.

Who knows whether AI is really eating all the jobs? It’s hard to say; it's probably just an excuse for cost savings in a world that is full of uncertainty. That’s neither here nor there; we are where we are, and some of us are simply not ready.

Are you?

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The sad side effects of mass layoffs.

I was recently scrolling through that much-hated and much-loved LinkedIn, which is very much depressing these days. My eyes were met with a long list of sad tales of unsuspecting layoffs hitting someone when they least expected it. It’s hard to be mad or down on people caught off guard; much of the fault lies at the feet of the corporate overlords who see people as little widgets, not humans.

• The stories are all over the board: some people have been working somewhere for 30+ years, while others have been there for a month or less.

It’s clear you also have folk who are ready for it, and some who aren't, which is all the more heartbreaking. Once it’s too late, it’s too late.

The one that caught my eye on a Monday morning was a Meta contractor who got the old boot, had just moved into a new house, and was basically begging for help right away because they were “out of options and will be homeless.”

It’s hard not to want to help everyone who finds themselves in hard situations like these. You want to help everyone and hope for the best, but that simply isn’t possible.

Take notes, don’t get caught.

If we can’t help every person who loses their job and finds themselves in a hard spot, the best we can do is help spread the word about being fiscally responsible and prepared for the bumps in life that eventually happen.

Firstly, a few facts.

• Fiscal responsibility (budgeting, investing, etc) is not tied directly to income

• Folks of all income ranges live paycheck to paycheck

• “It’s” never going to happen to me

• We live in uncertain times

• The costs of living are very high

• Digital culture and lifestyle have a negative impact on society at large

One, if being honest, has to ask the same question I did when I read that sad post about the Meta software engineer losing their job and immediately being without money …

Unfortunately, too many people want to spin and weave a complicated tale of corporate greed, out-of-control housing costs, and other spider webs of reasoning to explain how such a thing can happen.

I don’t deny that any singular piece of information given above is untrue.

Levels.fyi provides comprehensive salary information for many tech companies, including Meta. Even if someone is a contractor, it’s not hard to deduce that anyone with the title “software” in their name, anywhere in this entire country, is making “good money.”

So again, it begs the question: how does someone end up broke?

I think the answer is less complicated and more obvious than most people would think. It’s simply death by a thousand cuts. It’s simply never being taught from elementary school age, through college … with all those classes … personal finance 101.

If no one ever tells you, even though it might be obvious now to personal finance fanatics, that you should spend less than you earn. Then you will do what the average American does. Spend it. Every last dime.

Yeah, it doesn’t help that …

• Student loans are through the roof

• Housing costs are insane

• Everything from gas to groceries is exploding in cost

• Instagram and TikTok are designed to make you believe the lifestyle of the rich and famous is for the average Joe.

• Car loans and credit cards are marketed as totally normal things

Well, if you actually step back and look at the big picture, it’s actually a surprise that more people aren’t on the street about 2 minutes after a layoff or job loss. People get caught with “their pants down” because not a single person, or at any point in our culture, has bothered to tell them the obvious.

In fact, their entire life from music, movies, friend, and social media have reinforced the idea that you should spend it, and flaunt it.

The results are predictable. Painfully so.

Whatever the true numbers are, or are not, it’s not the place to be when the creek rises.

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The simple answer.

The truth is, we can never really be ready for what we don’t know is coming, even if we might suspect it, or try as much as we can to battened the hatches. The only way to “not be that guy” is to do the simple work that most people are not willing to do.

Spend less than you earn.

And then do something with the difference. If you need some ideas …

At the end of the day, you have to do a few boring things consistently over a long period of time to put yourself in a position to weather a little storm. With the way the storm clouds seem to threaten these days, it’s probably a good time to start.

• Do a budget

• Live a conservative lifestyle financially

• Invest every month automatically (auto-pilot)

• Get out of debt and stay out of debt

That’s it. No three back-flips and meeting under the old oak tree at midnight. Nothing. Fancy.

It’s math and numbers, combined with a little hustle. It requires you to go against the grain a little bit. To not care what your broke friends and family think about your house, car, or vacations.

It will lead to a more peaceful life as a pleasant side effect. Who doesn’t want more peace and calm?