The Weight of Money

Reading other personal finance sites is starting to paint a rather ominous airs about our near future. These ramblings have been going on for a while now and seem to be hitting near crescendo effect. I’ll admit that the more I hear, my nerves prickle just a little. I try not to get too worked up over popular media reports, especially because of their sensationalist nature, but money is a very touchy subject and the thought of tough, lean times is a little disconcerting.

All the doom and gloom feelings aren’t just from popular reports regurgitated by bloggers, I’m facing the commentary from the partner which leads to even more ominous second-hand observations. The partner works at a small start-up firm that is quickly approaching that magical sink or swim timeout-point for most new companies, and the waters seem to be pretty deep right now. Their recent financial struggles and budget trimmings has made me nervous. At first, I was confident that the partner’s position wasn’t in jeopardy because his position is essential to the company in terms of getting in more money — they can’t pursue contracts if they don’t have the engineers to develop items. I felt that all the other staff — overhead, prototyping, and production were in a much more vulnerable position because, while they’re needed to complete contracts, they don’t help bring them in.

Things have been quiet on his work front, but he still brings home occasional comments that send my panic sensors flying. The biggest concern is that the new contracts are running dry. In fact, there are no new contracts waiting for current contracts to build before progress can continue — this is a scary situation as many current contracts are reaching the end of their terms. The partner’s primary project for the past few years ends this month, after that, there is nothing waiting on his desk to take his attention. Also, he has made comment that he’s been getting help from other engineers eager for something to work on… a year ago that wouldn’t have happened as everyone was so buried in their tasks.

The other major stressor is that the partner’s supervisor will be leaving the company in a few months. This is a serious job-security blow because this person has made the past few years of new company growth bearable and is also, from my limited view point, the partner’s biggest advocate in the workplace. While I like the partner’s company, I find myself liking it a lot less when I picture it without this person present because he seems to help balance the overall energy of the company. Losing him will have a huge impact on my comfort level with the partner’s continued employment, and probably with his as well.

So, things are felling a little sticky at the moment and I’m getting a little nervous. Our continuing financial struggles aren’t helping, though I’m constantly just repeating how it’s just a temporary house-poor adjustment that will be a faint memory in a year or so (please, don’t burst my bubble on that one little, though not guaranteed, comfort I have).

Update: After writing this article and before posting it, the partner and I had a long talk about these concerns and for once I feel like we’re actually on the same page in terms of his employment prospects. It looks like he’s feeling motivated to make some steps, though tentative, at checking out greener pastures - what a relief from my perspective.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 27th, 2008 at 5:41 pm and is filed under income. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.