F***ed Through No Fault of Your Own

 

The big news is that True Fitness, one of Singapore’s prominent fitness companies has just shut down abruptly. People have suddenly found themselves out of a job and the chatter is about how people are going to get on. The story can be found at:

https://theindependent.sg/singapore-customers-face-s-609k-losses-after-true-fitness-true-yoga-closures-including-those-who-paid-lifetime-membership-up-to-s-21k/

 

 

I’m going to leave the story of the collapse of True Fitness to cleverer people that myself. I will, however, like talk a little about being thrown out of work. Whilst I have been in a “steady” job for the last 14-years, I deal with the issue of unemployment on a regular enough basis. Prior to that, I worked freelance for the most the time, which meant that I was out of work and out of money for stretches of time.

Let’s start with the obvious – the mindset. Retrenchment and unemployment can happen to you, regardless of where you work and what role you play. This is especially true for people in white collar jobs who once saw “innovation” as the thing that only happened to blue collar workers. Machinery made it such that we needed less hands on the farms and then on the factory floor. It wasn’t supposed to happen to people sitting in offices – doing what we called “brain” work. However, innovation has no longer just reducing the need for manpower on the factory floor. Thanks to AI, innovation has now entered the office. If your skill was writing minutes or doing simple data entry, you better start expecting a pink slip. AI can write minutes or analyse bank statements better than the most qualified human being.

Once you adjust your mind to the fact that you can get kicked out of work, you then prepare for it.

Firstly, you except that you can get the sack, you then prepare for it. What do you need to prepare for?

Essentially, it’s about ensuring that you have enough “f*** you money” in the bank in the event that things go wrong. A case of having enough money coming in and managing the money going out.

First priority is to look after your health. Unemployment is inevitably stressful and the body does get worn down. Hospital bills are costly and there’s nothing worse than being stressed out and not getting any money. For me, I discovered exercise in my late forties partially because it was cheaper to run or pump for two hours a night than say, pay a couple of hundred at the doctors. Being a 50 something year old who trains regularly has allowed me t stay relatively active, something which anyone who is unemployed needs to do.

The second point about being unemployed is to stay busy. Depression sets in easily and as they say “Idle Minds are the Devils Workshop.” The best way to keep busy is to find something that gives you a bit of pocket money until you find an alternative source of income or something that turns your liabilities into income generating assets. I’ve actually advised someone who owns a car and has lost three jobs in the space of a year to become a Grab driver. She owns a car and should she take on the task, the car that is costing her monthly becomes something that earns her money.

Then, there’s education and training. The Singapore government has been big into getting people into training courses so that they can switch job scopes or even industries. The reality of work these days is that industries change. As such, one cannot hope to stay in the same job forever. I went from media relations to insolvency. It wasn’t that I lost skills, I just used them in different context (angry creditors instead of press people).

Finally, one needs to remember to put money aside. A cash cushion always helps when the income stops. The standard rule of thumb is to have at least six months to a year stashed in the bank.

Retrenchment and unemployment are unpleasant. However, if you are prepared for it, such things can be considerably better.