TCB (Taking Care of Business) After My Layoff

          Apologies to Elvis Presley for using TCB in the title. So what have I done so far since I became unemployed last October 29th? First things first: I applied for unemployment benefits online which was a pretty easy process as long as you know what your income was every quarter for the past year. That's because the Employment Development Department (EDD) bases your weekly benefits on the quarterly incomes. About a week later, I received EDD's approval in the mail including information on how much a week I can expect to receive. I was also required to sign up for CalJOBS (caljobs.ca.gov), upload my resume, and complete some information about my work history, supposedly so that employers can look for me.

          Next, I waited for Keenan Benefits company to send me my COBRA information which shows how much I have to pay to continue my medical, dental, and vision insurance. While working, I (and the other employees) only paid approximately one third of the total amount. With COBRA, I would have to pay for the whole thing plus a processing fee. Here is the breakdown per month: medical= $501.60, dental= 43.82, and vision= 8.02. That was a shocker and way beyond what I thought it would be. So I had to shop for medical insurance in the open insurance market and was able to sign up with Anthem Blue Cross whose monthly price, deductibles, and co-pays were more or less affordable even though they are much higher than my previous insurance at work. I have to pay a slightly higher premium (25% more) than the base price because I have preexisting conditions of high blood pressure and high cholesterol which I am taking medications for. I am supposed to pay for a full month plus a prorated fee for the few days left before January 1, 2014. And why is that date very important? It's when Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act takes effect. Then it was time to sign up for Obamacare which I already previously blogged about here: http://aboutlifeandrunning.blogspot.com/2013/11/my-experience-with-obamacare-sign-up-in.html. With the high cost of medical insurance, all the more reason to try your best to stay healthy.

Afterwards, I took care of my bank accounts which I also blogged about here: http://aboutlifeandrunning.blogspot.com/2013/11/taking-care-of-bank-business.html. After sorting out how much money I had left, I decided to pay off my mortgage: http://aboutlifeandrunning.blogspot.com/2013/11/paying-off-mortgage-good-or-bad-decision.html. I finally received the Payoff Letter of Satisfaction from the bank a few days ago and am still waiting for L.A. County Recorder's office to send me a copy of the Deed of Reconveyance which I guess acts like the title to my property. Yes folks, I paid off my mortgage which has been the biggest amount I've owed for more than a couple of decades.

          Needless to say, I have also been looking for a job in between what I've done so far that's mentioned above. All of my applications have been online and the original plan was to look for job openings in nearby hospitals with psych units. I've sent applications for every one of them that I know of. The next plan was to widen the search area and also apply for jobs not related to the psych field. That included searching in the CalJOBS listings which included companies where you can send your resume via CalJOBS or external company websites you are redirected to. I also set up a few job agents using keywords of what kind of job I am looking for. With all that effort you would think that I would get at least one call for an interview. Zip, nil, zilch, nada! Wow, I didn't realize finding a job would be so difficult especially with my experience. Well, that might pose a problem actually, because I've worked in the psych field for the last 32 years, I may be pigeon holed (I hope I'm using that term correctly) as being too experienced therefore inflexible, or just plain too old for the available positions. After all, 32 years is sometimes longer and older than the age of a lot of workers in the psych field. So three weeks after I was officially laid off and six weeks after I started looking for a job, I'm still unemployed.

          With all the paperwork from all of the above, things are starting to get confusing so I have to get more organized. I guess one way of sorting them all out is writing about it. I have paper files in different folders, digital files in the computer, and a dedicated browser bookmarks folder for websites I've applied to and/or planning to apply to. Some days I feel that I'm not catching up and some days are just plain boring if I didn't have any projects planned.

          Part of what I've done to prepare for long term unemployment was to make a projected monthly budget. If you think I've done well during the recession by cutting my spending, well you may be right, but now I have to cut it to the bone. I actually conducted a poll among my classmates in our Facebook group, whether it would be more feasible for me to live in the Philippines (I have dual citizenship) based on a certain budget. I asked for their input on how much I need each month based on what part of the country I may move to. Their opinions mattered a lot since we are of similar ages and have to deal with similar things like housing, food, utilities, and healthcare in our middle aged years. One question I asked myself is why I would want to go back and live there when Filipinos want to come to the U.S. to live here to improve their way of life? Well, that's where the matter of monthly expenses come in. If it costs pretty much the same living here as it would in the Philippines, I might as well stay here. Regardless of where I decide to live, the budget is going to be very, very tight.

          And this is where unemployment benefits are going to help. If I remain unemployed for the next six months and as long as I keep looking for a job, the money I get from the government is enough to sustain me without having to touch my nest egg. I still hope to qualify for Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California) so I don't have to pay for medical insurance starting January 1, 2014. And if I don't, I've factored that into my projected monthly budget. Unemployment benefits are going to save me from going bankrupt for now. So far I've received the benefits for two weeks. Boy, being unemployed sure is inconvenient! Even though I'm trying my best to TCB, it's looking more like HBH.

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Paying Off The Mortgage - Good or Bad Decision?

          Just a couple of days after I learned I was going to get laid off, I began to weigh the pros and cons of paying off the remainder of my mortgage. It was something I already thought of months ago when we got hints that the hospital we worked for may be in trouble. The main consideration was the worst case scenario of - what if I never find a job again, and this is based on the dwindling numbers of psychiatric hospitals/units in the area and my age which has become unattractive to employers even though that fact is never mentioned.

          The main reason for not paying off a mortgage is one needs liquid assets to be used for everyday expenses. While paying it off significantly decreases one's monthly overhead. The mortgage being the largest expense in my case. Now for a lot of people, this may not work, especially those who can revert back to renting a home or apartment which may be substantially less than paying a mortgage. That argument no longer applies to me because renting a similarly sized apartment (1 bedroom and 1 bath - living within my means meant that was all I can afford. Believe me, I'm probably one of the poorer Filipinos in the U.S.) is going to cost more than what I pay the mortgage lender each month. So after crunching the numbers, it came out that I could save the interest of almost $3000 in the 5 years I had left in the mortgage. In separate columns, I also lined up my monthly expenses with and without the mortgage to see how much money I have left will last in case I remain unemployed. After weighing all that, I decided to take the leap and pay off the mortgage balance.

          I sent an inquiry to the bank and they sent me a statement showing how much I will have to send them to retire my debt. I then moved some of my savings from one bank to another to come up with the final amount, then mailed a cashier's check to the mortgage company. A few weeks later, I received an escrow check from them for the amount I overpaid. The check was for a bigger amount than I expected, and knowing that my L.A. County real estate taxes were due, I assumed that the mortgage company didn't send that payment to the county. I checked with the bank and the county to make sure and upon learning that the taxes were not paid, I immediately sent payment. Fortunately I made it before the cut-off date and didn't have to pay a late penalty.

          The next concern was - what's next? Do I receive the title to my property? A statement from the bank saying I paid my debt and it has been retired? The L.A. County Tax Assessor's Office told me that the Deed of Reconveyance (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/deed-of-reconveyance.asp) was already sent by the bank to the L.A. County Registrar for recording. Am I to receive something similar to that from the bank or from the county?

          Those are questions which answers I still am not sure off, but it is certainly a great relief not to have to pay a mortgage next month, or next year, or forever, although I still have to pay the monthly homeowner's association dues. Now it's just a matter of surviving with whatever leftover savings I have plus the unemployment checks which only lasts for 26 weeks. If things still don't work out and for some reason Obamacare gets repealed, I may just have to sell the condo and move back to the Philippines. That would be another set of pros and cons that I have to consider.

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