Does anyone feel poorer lately?

[Jane in NC]

As for those saying just move...um, for those part of a real community and not just islands to themselves, moving can come at a great non-cash but still financial cost. I know so many people here and any family I care to see lives here. We are fortunate. My husband has a very secure job and works for a non-profit that is supportive of the good union benefits he receives. He doesn't make a huge sum, but we would need quite a bit extra to even kinda sorta make up for the loss of our community.

 

 

Katie, I have a sense of community where I live too although mine is different from what you enumerated. Great list, by the way! I am sure others on this board wish they could find something similar.

 

Perhaps the mobility thing is tied to certain types of jobs? My academic friends rarely have a choice of remaining in a geographic area unless they want a position as an adjunct. Professors and researchers often find post-docs or fellowships that last a year or two here and there before they can settle into something more permanent. And this is nothing new. My husband's father was a professor. He ended up moving a fair distance from the place where he had grown up. This was pretty typical not only for his profession but for former GIs in general after the war. Many took advantage of the GI Bill and then followed the jobs.

 

I also think that small business people are probably more rooted to communities, although some may move for tax purposes. My husband is a corporate guy. He has actually been pretty fortunate (from my perspective) to stay in the same place but his job has at times involved a fair amount of travel. Some of his colleagues regularly have temporary assignments of two weeks or two months in other locations; one has been on a two year reassignment. There seems to be fewer location transfers these days because of the ease of telecommunication so instead people are temporarily reassigned to assist with projects.

 

But it is true that certain managers are expected to move. I know this is true not only within the corporation that employs my husband but for friends whose spouses work for other large corporations.

 

My neighbor was just telling me about their grandson who has been working for a large corporation for about two years now since graduating from college. The company wants him to live in Europe for a couple years. He is single and it seems he would jump on the chance. Apparently he is going to start looking for another job. The grandparents are mystified but they are of the WWII generation that followed the jobs.

[regentrude]

As for those saying just move...um, for those part of a real community and not just islands to themselves, moving can come at a great non-cash but still financial cost. I know so many people here and any family I care to see lives here.

 

Good for you. However, I find the connotation that people who move for jobs are not part of a "real community" somewhat insulting. In DH's and my area of work, nobody has the luxury to select where they want to work - just see my earlier post in response to cathmom.

I certainly wish I was closer to my parents and extended family and old friends and would see them more often than once a year - but it is completely unrealistic to expect that to happen. Yes, it is hard to constantly work to become a part of new communities because you move frequently. But for many people and professions, it is normal and expected. Those people are not "just islands" and certainly don't move because they don't want to be part of communities - they do because that's what it takes to work in the field. You just do it and make the best of it.

[QueenCat]

Good for you. However, I find the connotation that people who move for jobs are not part of a "real community" somewhat insulting. In DH's and my area of work, nobody has the luxury to select where they want to work - just see my earlier post in response to cathmom.

I certainly wish I was closer to my parents and extended family and old friends and would see them more often than once a year - but it is completely unrealistic to expect that to happen. Yes, it is hard to constantly work to become a part of new communities because you move frequently. But for many people and professions, it is normal and expected. Those people are not "just islands" and certainly don't move because they don't want to be part of communities - they do because that's what it takes to work in the field. You just do it and make the best of it.

 

We've moved for jobs... and will again.We aren't "islands" either. We choose to create communities for ourselves, wherever we go. Do I wish we were closer to family? Sure but I can get there in one long day if I need to, and do manage to see them 2-3 times a year. I talk to my parents almost daily, and my sister often.

[Joker]

We've moved 5 times for dh's career. We have no problem relocating and have been coast to coast with a few stops in between. The problem is that the last move was right before the housing bubble burst, so we are now stuck. There are many families that we know that are in the same situation. It's just not as easy today to move.

[Tutor]

our current income is a number I used to dream of, but ... it is barely enough. I can hardly wrap my head around that!!

 

Same here.

 

My dh finally has a job that pays almost double what he's ever made before, he gets a free lunch every day, and the school where he teaches paid our moving expenses. We're barely holding it together. I'm still in shock. So, he's taking on some after school duties that pay extra and I am starting a part time job at the beginning of Nov; the hours are a blessing and the pay will allow dh and I to have health insurance for the first time in over 5 years (although I have no idea how we are going to pay for all the medical exams the underwriters want us to have before they will approve our coverage, but I don't want to think about that right now :) ), but the money of those combined incomes will buy no where near what we thought it would.