July: how has your income been affected?

[konapoppy]

Follow up to the May poll

[Mrs.flang]

We've been lucky.

The only change has been that DHs employer has taken back 9 vacation days (so no real financial impact to us - they keep carrying over and he never uses them all anyway), and forcing 2 days of furlough.

I think he had the option of taking longer furlough with less vaca days lost, so they are offering options to do their best to keep everyone employed. But he is still super stressed out about uncertainty.

My firm (CPA firm) has gotten a few new clients during all of this, so my job still feels stable, but they had postponed raises (usually effective 7/1) and haven't mentioned if they plan to do them even later this year.

[jinkies]

Sorry to be the special snowflake here, but I chose other. Technically, we are no change and no change expected.

But I started freelancing in December with one big client. That contract is secure. However, I had planned to start actively soliciting additional clients starting in March, once I felt well-established with my main client, and once some minor consulting work ended with my previous employer. With schools shut down, I couldn't take on any additional work. I've started casually putting feelers out now, but I am very worried about being able to handle more work once school starts back up if the instruction is not full-time in-person. It is hard enough now, just having the kids home and not at camps this summer.

Essentially, I started freelancing because I was expecting to have multiple long-term clients, which would have been a big bump from my previous income, within a year or so. But I'm limiting myself to just one for now, which is scary because my contract is only guaranteed until December.

[Poppy]

We've been really fortunate. We don't expect bonuses at the end of the year but our salaries are stable so far. The bonuses are typically just under 10% of our compensation.

[goldengirlz]

We’re at “no change” but I voted “other” because I’m not feeling confident that that will continue — but on the other hand, I can’t say for sure that cuts are coming “soon.” Cuts are just always in the background, looming. Our employers are still being pretty coy/noncommittal about whether and how badly they’ll affect us. And I think that’ll continue as long as they don’t really know how long this will last and how deep the cuts will need to be.

[Cappy]

Jul 2, 2020 9:20:46 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

We’re at “no change” but I voted “other” because I’m not feeling confident that that will continue — but on the other hand, I can’t say for sure that cuts are coming “soon.” Cuts are just always in the background, looming. Our employers are still being pretty coy/noncommittal about whether and how badly they’ll affect us. And I think that’ll continue as long as they don’t really know how long this will last and how deep the cuts will need to be.

Same! I have a job through June 30 of next year but would not be surprised to see cuts next July 1 or a % pay/benefit cut in January.

[awkwardpenguin]

My company halted merit raises, so I was supposed to get a 3.75% increase April 1 that never happened.

[formerlyak]

We are other. Currently, no change. In fact, for the next three months, we are up because I teach a summer class at a local university. I am also slated to teach in fall which is added income, but I also anticipate a 8-10% cut in my full-time salary in fall because of various budget factors. With my teaching that would put me at a net zero change for fall, but a decrease come early 2021 when I'm not teaching.

[Mushe]

I’m a salaried government employee, and we are taking 2 furlough days a month for up to the next two years, starting this month. They’ve halted a separate deduction of about 2%, so the cut is more like 8%. I’m a bit annoyed that this time around they negotiated for earning special hours that can be banked, rather than closing the office. I feel like there will be pressure to keep coming to work like usual, and I was hoping for some quiet time off, if I’m not getting paid for it.

H gets bonuses, and I’m sure he’ll be impacted, but we have no idea how much. Ironically, their business is probably ok, with so many companies having to buy new equipment to support telework.

[wildrice]

No change so far. My org has been adamant that there will be no furloughs or layoffs, and even if that changed, I don't expect my position to be affected (though you never know). One possible upcoming change could be to retirement contributions and health insurance premiums - I work for the state and our governor has proposed stopping or reducing retirement and reducing contribution to health insurance. It sounds like that might not pass, though, and even if it does, it may not affect the universities (it's this weird setup where we are state employees but also our own entity so it's not a given that everything the state does impacts us). So if that DOES get cut my pay will go down. I don't really expect it to be a huge percentage of my pay, though.  

My H's job is more of an unknown, largely because he is not getting the same level of information that I get from my employer. I believe his position is grant funded through the 2 years he is supposed to work there (he's a post-doc) so it's not likely to change if the grant has already been awarded, but I'm also not sure if that's been confirmed or just assumed.

[jamaicam]

My salary is unchanged and will remain unchanged (government employee). However BF has had his salary cut by 25% temporarily - but they didn't state how long the temporary would be!

[k3am]

Salaries are holding steady.

DH gets his (not super substantial) bonuses semi-annually, and for the first, they paid out all employees at "meets expectations." Not sure what they'll do long-term.

My bonuses are paid annually and make up a large portion of my comp. I'm setting my own expectations that... they'll be meager.

What I do expect to change is the amount we pay for childcare. Pre-covid, my before/aftercare budget for DD was $875/month. Depending on what ends up happening with school, this will either be non-existent (school opens, but before/aftercare can't - BUT we're working from home), or huge (school doesn't open and we have to make other arrangements - the private we looked at would be ~$2k/month.)

[gretchenindisguise]

H got furloughed 1 day per week for the past two months, but is starting a new job on Monday that is a 20% increase from where he was. So next month we will be coming out ahead again.

[kadams767]

I chose 51% or more decrease, because that’s technically correct, but since I’m having a bad day and feeling spiteful, I’m giving myself permission for an SS. My firm halted pay for equity partners and agreed on a capital call, so I actually OWE money to the firm and am at a negative for the next several months.

[dragon's breath]

We received our COLA in late May (on time for once), so mine actually increased. Otherwise, there would have been no difference.

[sdlaura]

We just found out today that my firm’s board is temporarily suspending Partnership distributions. Super annoying since they used to pay it annually on January 1, but just this year decided to do it quarterly instead. They say it will true up eventually.

[shortstax]

May brought a 20% paycut for me, June brought the elimination of my 401k match, July 1st started my furlough...can't wait to see what August brings /s

Job search starts after the 4th.

[fernweh]

Initially we were actually making more. H works for a grocery store so he was getting hazard pay plus a lot more overtime. His pay and hours have gone back to normal now though.
My company had announced a 20% pay cut but I fell under the income threshold so it didn’t effect me like I thought. The only real effect is they suspended 401k match for a couple months but they announced reinstatement of that for July.

I work in automotive manufacturing so I was really worried about lay offs but so I was able to work from home for a couple months and the plants are back up and running so my job seems safe for now.

[wanderingback]

I don't know the exact percentage, but my partner made a lot more than me on average and he's lost all work, so 51% or more decrease for the household.

He was supposed to be on 4 tours this spring/summer, plus some smaller shows and then other work that's all been cancelled.
Luckily things are picking up now that everyone has adjusted to the new normal and he's started to get work, do projects that'll bring in some decent income.

My salary for my main job stayed the same, although they threatened us if we didn't see enough patients they'd drop our salary. Luckily that didn't happen for me. I also picked up a side hustle in telemedicine to help as well. Thankfully I'm starting a new job in about 2 months and my salary will at least double. So once we get to that point things will be much much better. The past few months have been a rollercoaster financially, but thankfully we're hanging in there.

[macmars45]

I SAH with our DS.

H's company has frozen salary increases across the board. He works for a small company so I'm bracing myself for salary cuts in the coming year.

[tcu2003]

We’re at no change for right now. DH and I both work for the same company, so the following affects us both: no mid-year bonuses (usually distributed in July, usually around 1%-ish of salary); merit raises on hold (we are both in the 3Q review cycle, so hasn’t affected us yet, but in doubt they’ll be reinstated by then); likely no end of year bonuses (around 10% of my salary, 8% for DH); 401k matches likely suspended (they march in February or March for the entire previous year, so this won’t be confirmed until December or January); and my tech bonus has been suspended (due to my role, I get a bonus for cell phone, home internet and computer equipment - it’s usually paid in November).

We did have layoffs in early April, and there are some people that were furloughed (most from 40 hrs to 30 hrs per week, but some down to 20 or 10 hrs) or are still on furlough. The teams DH and I work on are both busy, so neither of us were furloughed or are likely to be furloughed in the future.

[aprilsails]

I’m out on maternity leave so I am currently unaffected. I am assuming I will receive no raise in the Nee Year after I return to my role in September.

DH has had a bit more of a roller coaster. In mid-March they were told no RRSP/401k match or bonuses (due March 31st), no raises as well. However he did receive a larger than expected bonus 4 weeks later (his team beat their targets last year so it wasn’t a complete surprise, more so that it happened at all). He then figured out that they never stopper the RRSP match for their limited number of Canadian employees. They then announced a global 3% workforce reduction and laid off two of DH’s counterparts in the UK. He has taken over a fair chunk of their portfolio and is attending meetings super early in the morning as well. He had asked for a raise before to match his increased responsibility but now he’s really trying to get a bump and so far there has been no movement.

[sandandsea]

We are still down 10% of my salary but have been told it will be back up to 100% by year end but they aren’t making us full for the 90% period.

[bugandbibs]

My salary is steady. MH is still at 50% of his regular pay. We’ve been able to absorb the costs so far by eliminating budget items (like private swim team and lessons for our kids) and using our vacation fund. I’m doing everything I can to avoid dipping into savings. It’s sucks and feels stressful. Grocery costs are up about 30% which is the big wildcard for our budget right now as a family of 5.

Luckily, we have only had to pay $20 OOP for the 6 weeks of care related to DS having covid. Everything else was covered by our insurance. My heart aches for the families coming through this with huge medical debt. The situation was stressful enough.

[carrotsmakemefat]

Salary is steady for FI and I. That’s the good news.
I had small biz loan money coming in that is no more as of this month (employee pay not for my own business).
FI’s side hustle went down a good 90%. That’s minimal as it’s savings money.

I expect to bring on maybe 50% of what I used to for heath coaching and yoga teaching in July and likely August. I’m on my own biz path and focused in the meantime.

[scout8]

I was reduced to part time, but I'm now full time again. So our income went down and then back up again. Our situation is a little unique as two months before covid hit, we made a major life change by moving to a new city and taking significantly lower paying jobs. So we are making way less money than we did last year, but that has nothing to do with covid.

[Velar Fricative]

No changes to our base salaries. However, we do also rely on DH's extracurriculars during the school year, plus he makes a decent chunk of money at his summer program, but all of that is cancelled. However, we're also still not paying for daycare or summer camp so that helps offset the reductions.

[CrazyLucky]

DH and I work for the same company and we have a 10% pay cut. It's been offset because one of us is working at home everyday, so we haven't paid for daycare.

[woowoo]

DH is still furloughed, I'm on a reduced work week.
I'm embarrassed to admit though that our savings account has never been better. The worry over DH's job being eliminated altogether combined with not being able to DO anything has created a surpluss that seriously embarrasses me (as I realize how much frivolous spending we did before).

[dr.girlfriend]

My husband went to part-time, which is actually something he wanted. It's freaking me out a little but I know in reality we would be fine on my salary alone, and it's better than him quitting his job which is what he was considering otherwise. In fact, he basically quit and they came back to him with the counter-offer of part-time. :-) Still trying to figure out how things will shake out in my work (a hospital). Definitely no raise and no incentive this year, but hopefully my job is stable. Very fortunate to be in a place with good governance that actually has a good handle on COVID, so we are starting to resume in-person services.