Is the economy still affecting your vaca plans?

[dvrliz1]

Hi All!

I'm doing some research and wanted to get an idea as to how the economy is REALLY going, according to the general consumer. All of the news channels (FOX, MSNBC, BLOOMBERG, ETC) are saying everything is looking good, but our guests are saying something different, they are still watching their pennies and things are still tough out there. Would love to hear your feedback, and I am posting a poll.

If you don't see a choice in the poll and feel comfortable, let us know why or how it has affected your diving vacations.

 

[TSandM]

dvrliz1, I don't see the right answer in your poll. We had been doing okay, but the economy has finally hit us. It IS affecting our vacation plans, but we are taking fewer trips and trying to make the ones we do take as economical as possible. But we aren't driving to all of them (MX is a long drive).

 

[cappyjon431]

From a dive shop perspective, it seems that the economy is turning around. May and June are traditionally very slow months for us, but this May and June has been way above average for us. The number of students that we have certified over the last two months is nearly three times the number we have certified in the last two years during the same months.

We cater primarily to backpackers (from all over the world) travelling through Central America. We were concerned that the volcano's effect on European travellers as well as the World Cup might lead to a decrease in visitors, but that has not been the case. It seems like this has been the busiest May/June in recent memory, not just for us, but for hotel/hosel owners here as well.

Perhaps it is because backpackers are budget travellers anyway, but we do not seem to have been impacted by economic woes in the US and europe.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

It is hitting me kinda tough along with other things. I had plans to go south this season but no raise in Jan and my wife passing hit very hard. Then they upped our quota for bonuses effectively giving us a pay cut because the salesmen are not doing their job and getting work in the shop. So I'm doing more local diving and I mean local. Like 2 hours drive max. I'll be doing a 5 hour in July for a weekend but in reality that is a seperate thing because students are effectively paying for that trip out of tuition they pay. I only have 6 days vacationl left and my son is coming home from Afghanistan so there are some of those days spoken for. I have not seen him in two years.

The first 8 years with the company I got a raise every year. Not big but there was one. Since November of 2008 we have had 5 rounds of layoffs, no raise, and insurance premiums have gone up. I may be taking a permanent vacation in about 3 years if things do not change. My loan on the 401K will be paid off for a year, I have no relationship ties right now at all, and I don;t see my job as getting much better money wise. I may just cash out everything, head to the Caribbean, Asia, or Italy (have friends and agency contacts as well as an invite) and see if I can find work teaching and living cheap. I see nothing in the immediate future to indicate that things will get better. I live in a country that is under siege, no leadership, and no direction. Time to seriously think about checking out of here for somewhere less stressful and complicated. Preferably with half nekkid women and warm temps year round.

 

[robint]

didn't see the correct answer for me either really...
We had a bad year, 2009 due the fact that my husband's contract ended with one company and we had no idea if he would get a contract with another. We spent the first part of '09 waiting for the shoe to drop, and then it did, and we had other things happen healthwise that made us curb back our diving for 6 months. He did get another job but had to start off at square 1 with vacation time again, and take a slight pay cut. All this right after we had both made big $$ upgrades in underwater photo and video gear.

This year we have taken only 1 weeklong trip (to Cozumel, as it is cheap and can get in plenty of dives), and we are heading to NC for a week to dive. Don't know if we will make it out to Calif this summer like we usually do for 2-3 days. It's not so much the economy as it is all the other factors. We'll be diving here locally during the year, but probably won't go anywhere else until spring next year.

robin

 

[scubafanatic]

It is hitting me kinda tough along with other things. I had plans to go south this season but no raise in Jan and my wife passing hit very hard. Then they upped our quota for bonuses effectively giving us a pay cut because the salesmen are not doing their job and getting work in the shop. So I'm doing more local diving and I mean local. Like 2 hours drive max. I'll be doing a 5 hour in July for a weekend but in reality that is a seperate thing because students are effectively paying for that trip out of tuition they pay. I only have 6 days vacationl left and my son is coming home from Afghanistan so there are some of those days spoken for. I have not seen him in two years.

The first 8 years with the company I got a raise every year. Not big but there was one. Since November of 2008 we have had 5 rounds of layoffs, no raise, and insurance premiums have gone up. I may be taking a permanent vacation in about 3 years if things do not change. My loan on the 401K will be paid off for a year, I have no relationship ties right now at all, and I don;t see my job as getting much better money wise. I may just cash out everything, head to the Caribbean, Asia, or Italy (have friends and agency contacts as well as an invite) and see if I can find work teaching and living cheap. I see nothing in the immediate future to indicate that things will get better. I live in a country that is under siege, no leadership, and no direction. Time to seriously think about checking out of here for somewhere less stressful and complicated. Preferably with half nekkid women and warm temps year round.

...interesting that you should mention 401K loans, I work in the 401K department at the largest 401K recordkeeper in America, and we're getting plenty of requests for loans/hardship withdrawals, especially during this ongoing recession. My concern is that I'm seeing a BUNCH of people raiding/liquidating 401K's to pay present life expenses, and sabotaging their retirement nest eggs....this trend is really going to come home to roost in the years to come, and citizens of this country can't even conceive of the grim financial future they face upon retirement based on their short-term thinking now.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

That is why I don't plan on being here. If I'm going to be miserable I want to be miserable someplace warm and where I can get wet. Plus I never expected to have anything in a 401 by the time the gubmint gets done raiding em. I got in too late anyway to have any real investment and with my salary there is no way I can afford to increase the contributions now. When my wife died I had to actually cut them just to get by. Bad decisions in my early 20's cost me dearly now. Biggest error of my life was not going into the military and making it a career. I'd have been retired 5 years ago and with a decent income. Young and foolish is horsecrap. It is young and bag of hammers stupid is what I was.

 

[dvrliz1]

dvrliz1, I don't see the right answer in your poll. We had been doing okay, but the economy has finally hit us. It IS affecting our vacation plans, but we are taking fewer trips and trying to make the ones we do take as economical as possible. But we aren't driving to all of them (MX is a long drive).

TS,

I've made it so you can choose more than one. Its like you ARE going to a destination and spending less (going to mexico, but as economical as possible). Fewer trips, I would just put under "long weekends etc).

Liz

 

[dvrliz1]

Hi Robin,

Tough year, just like i'm hearing out there. I would consider your circumstances for the pol that you are taking a destination vacation but spending a lot less, and that you are taking less vacations, as well as long weekends. YOU CAN CHOOSE MORE THAN ONE ITEM!!! I understand about the medical, my diving has been limited for the last 5 years due to medical issues, and it's not fun living on Bonaire when you can dive as much as you want, though I do really appreciate the snorkeling!!!!

Enjoy.

didn't see the correct answer for me either really...
We had a bad year, 2009 due the fact that my husband's contract ended with one company and we had no idea if he would get a contract with another. We spent the first part of '09 waiting for the shoe to drop, and then it did, and we had other things happen healthwise that made us curb back our diving for 6 months. He did get another job but had to start off at square 1 with vacation time again, and take a slight pay cut. All this right after we had both made big $$ upgrades in underwater photo and video gear.

This year we have taken only 1 weeklong trip (to Cozumel, as it is cheap and can get in plenty of dives), and we are heading to NC for a week to dive. Don't know if we will make it out to Calif this summer like we usually do for 2-3 days. It's not so much the economy as it is all the other factors. We'll be diving here locally during the year, but probably won't go anywhere else until spring next year.

robin

 

[scubafanatic]

That is why I don't plan on being here. If I'm going to be miserable I want to be miserable someplace warm and where I can get wet. Plus I never expected to have anything in a 401 by the time the gubmint gets done raiding em. I got in too late anyway to have any real investment and with my salary there is no way I can afford to increase the contributions now. When my wife died I had to actually cut them just to get by. Bad decisions in my early 20's cost me dearly now. Biggest error of my life was not going into the military and making it a career. I'd have been retired 5 years ago and with a decent income. Young and foolish is horsecrap. It is young and bag of hammers stupid is what I was.

Jim, I have conversations with people like you all day, every day...I hear the good, the bad, and the ugly....often tragic and very personal/intimate details of peoples' personal and financial lives, and am paid to help people solve problems and provide options/investment education. Obviously my firm (and federal regulations) prohibit me from doing any of that here on the internet, and of course, I don't know enough detail about you to do any such thing, nor are you asking anyone here to do such a thing. That being said, some generic things I can say are:

1) are you contributing to your 401K at a sufficient level to receive full company 401K matching $ ? (assuming your firm offers 'matching'.)

2) if you're 'cynical' about the stock market and very risk averse, consider at least contributing to your 401K to the extent you're getting full company match, and then considering (assuming your 401K plan has this option, and the vast majority of them do) putting your $ into a money market/stable value oriented fund, focusing on capital preservation...that way at least you can (mostly) guarantee you won't lose your contributions and matching $.

3) don't leave your firm until you're fully 'vested', otherwise you will forfit some/all your company matching $.

4) stick around at your firm until you're at least 55 yrs old and if you do a withdrawal the year you turn 55 yrs old (or older) there's no 10% age based withdrawal penalty.

5) did you have the forsight (or option) to make ROTH 401K contributions ? The earnings on such contributions are exempt from taxes/penalties IF you don't withdraw them before (a) you're 59 1/2 yrs old AND (b) the 1st ROTH contribution was made at least 5 yrs ago. (that's not to say ROTH 401K contributions are necessarily the best way to go....there are pros and cons to everything, but if you did choose that option, and pay taxes on those contributions already, when you had more income and could more easily afford to do so, then it will feel nice to not have to pay those taxes in future)

6) depending on the country you are going to move to, and depending on if you plan to remain a US citizen, the US has 'tax treaties' with many countries such that, if you go through the appropriate process/procedures your 401K withdrawal will not be taxed as though you're a US citizen....in many cases the US tax rate would be 0% and you're just subject to the tax laws of your 'new' country.

7) I'm assuming you've 'run the numbers' on your retirement ? If not, my firm (as I'm sure all the others that are in this business too) offers free WWW based financial planning tools/spreadsheets/projections to help you see if you're on track to fund your retirement, or if you're not on track, these tools can quantify (via projections/assumptions) what it would take for you to get on track to adequately fund your retirement.....you REALLY should take advantage of such free services that are likely available within your 401K....our firm also (for free) offers professional help with the tools via our 'lifetime solutions' group too. These tools can be a real eye-opener and I'm convinced that I help change people's lives on a daily basis, so my job is both high stress but sometimes highly rewarding too. Some people who call me walk away saying 'WOW!', it's like I showed them a brand new universe they had no conception even existed!