There is a shocking connection between autism and unemployment. Here is why there is an astronomical rate of unemployment among people with ASD.
Autism and Unemployment
Trouble Passing Interviews
People with autism lack the social skills to pass interviews. An interview is about something other than testing a person to see if they have the skills for a job. An interview is about not allowing candidates to move on who do not seem like a good fit for a company. Jobs require working with people.
Interviews vet out candidates who lack the social skills that society expects people to have to succeed in life. During an interview, the interviewer looks for signs that a person understands social cues and soft skills. Soft skills are a shortcoming for people with ASD.
Lack Of Soft Skills To Move Up
Soft skills are needed to move up in a traditional workplace successfully. They allow a person to navigate the politics of a work environment. Social skills help to network, get along with colleagues, come across as warm rather than cold to bosses, and are the social lubricant that goes along with hard skills to move up in a company.
An employee is socially awkward or out of place without these soft skills. They may accidentally say something that comes across as wrong.
They come across as cold to employers. They have difficulty understanding non-verbal communication. An interviewer seeks someone to get along with other employees and contribute to the work environment. The hard skills are just the icing on the cake.
Hard Skills
Hard skills only matter to a certain point in the traditional work environment. Those may be what you are paid to do, but you still need to interact with people every day. It could be virtually or in person.
Soft skills. Networking. Understanding office politics and schmoozing the right people. Those are what help someone to move up in a company. That is the secret that employers do not want you to know.
Hard skills are just what a person goes into the office to do every week.
Employees can be fired for any reason, even if they are the best person for a job, because they do not get along with people. No soft skills. No job. At least no job that will be able to pay the bills.
Many Autistic Individuals Get Stuck Working Dead End Jobs
Since many autistic individuals have trouble passing interviews, they often end up working dead-end jobs. Those are the ones who can work. According to My Disability Jobs, “at least 85% of adults that are autistic are unemployed and have a college education.” That means only about fifteen to twenty percent of people with ASD work part-time or full-time jobs.
The biggest reason for that high unemployment rate is that they lack soft skills.
Solutions For People With Autism
The good news is that there are always solutions. For someone on the spectrum, there are non-traditional options to work today. Some options are:
- Freelancing
- Remote or online work
- Starting an online business
- STEM careers
Summary
People with ASD have a high unemployment rate. There is plenty of discussion about trying to find solutions to employ people on the spectrum, but there is little talk of discussing the cause of the autism epidemic. If you are on the spectrum, you may be able to find work. It may be work that is below your skill set, and you may be underemployed.
Views expressed in this article are the author’s opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of Secure Single. It is intended for informational and educational purposes only. It is not investment, financial, or legal advice. Consult with a financial or legal professional before making an investment or legal decision. James Bollen is the author of Thriving Solo: How to Flourish and Live Your Perfect Life (Without A Soulmate). It is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.
The American Dream says that if you work hard enough, a person can make something of themselves. That is true of traditional jobs that exist only in specific sectors today. For everyone else, there are now part-time and dead-jobs in America.
Dead-End Jobs In America
There may still be some traditional jobs that allow a person to work their way up. Those jobs are now mostly only in specific fields. Namely STEM fields. Outside of those areas, part-time and dead-end jobs are now standard.
Most people now work in some sort of retail job. The United States has become a service economy. The FRED says the rise of the service economy is a good thing, even though those jobs pay less than other jobs that require more skill. The job may pay just above minimum wage.
Service jobs often do not pay enough for a person to be able to pay rent and other expenses that are necessary to live. It may or may not provide benefits (most likely not). A person cannot live on that with the rising cost of living. A person will never be able to buy a house working a part-time or retail job in the modern economy. Yet, the St. Louis Fed says that the growth of the service sector is great for the economy!
Dead-end jobs are the new normal. Millennials grew up with dead-end jobs as the standard. Deloitte writes regarding the rise of dead-end jobs. “Today, this model [the traditional career] is being shattered. As research suggests, and as I’ve seen in my career, the days of a steady, stable career are over. Organizations have become flatter and less ladder-like, making upward progression less common (often replaced by team or project leadership).”
The consequence of having less ability to move up in a company is that more people are stuck working entry-level jobs.
Despite attending college and later graduate school, my experience has been working random dead-end jobs. This has become the economic reality for many people. A college degree is no longer a guarantee that a person can get a job in a career that will allow them to work in a company.
Global Competition
Manufacturing jobs have been outsourced. Millennials and Gen Z now must compete on a global scale. Freelance and contract work are more common. Past generations do not have to face the competition to get a job that millennials and younger generations must face.
Previous generations did not face global competition in the workplace. Competition for jobs was only national. Companies can get away with paying employees less for working fewer hours due to job competition. The job does not even need to cover the bills. This is why it is common for a person to work two or three part-time jobs.
Solutions
The solution for Millennials and younger generations is solopreneurship. Entrepreneurship has always been the option to escape the rat race. To escape working a job you hate. In the Internet age, a person can start an online business.
An online business can be focused on one or more of the evergreen niches:
- Health
- Relationships
- Money
In the 21st Century, building a personal brand and a business is more accessible. Create a YouTube or TikTok channel. Start a website or Substack. A business must sell products and services to people. That is the essence of a business. An e-commerce business can sell:
- Physical products
- Digital products
- Coaching and other services
- Subscriptions
- Merchandise
The main reason why many people will not want to start a business is because it requires self-responsibility. The business owner is responsible for working to build revenue streams. Once a company has made enough money, a business owner can hire people to regain the time spent building the business.
Freelancers and contractors are the most cost-effective way of doing this. They are not full-time employees. An online business does not need to pay them benefits that come with a full-time employee. An online business owner can use the trend of part-time and gig work to save money. A business owner can choose to offer full-time work benefits after the business makes a profit, and the founder can consistently take a percentage off the top to pay oneself. That can take years, depending on the business niche and how business-savvy the business owner is starting.
Summary
Part-time and dead-end jobs are more common today. Young people can escape having to work dead-end jobs by accepting self-responsibility and starting their own online business. An online business is an opportunity to build a personal brand and business. A business has always been the way to build wealth since it is a financial asset that allows the business owner to create multiple income streams while enjoying the legal protections of having a business entity.
Views expressed in this article are the author’s opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of Secure Single. It is intended for informational and educational purposes only. It is not investment, financial, or legal advice. Consult with a financial or legal professional before making an investment or legal decision. James Bollen is the author of Thriving Solo: How to Flourish and Live Your Perfect Life (Without A Soulmate). It is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.
Are you worried about a recession? You cannot control what happens in the economy, but there are certain things you can control. Here are seven strategies for singles to survive a recession.
Strategies For Singles To Survive A Recession
Signs Of A Recession
Are we in a recession? Go Banking Rates lists ten common signs of a recession:
- More people can’t pay their loans.
- Taxes bring in less revenue.
- Rapid increases in fraud rates.
- Oil price shocks.
- Rising interest rates.
- Decreasing home prices and sales.
- Declining prospects for bellwether companies.
- Stock market crashes.
- Unemployment rates drop too low.
- Inversion of the yield curve.
Those are just some common signs to be aware of to determine if we are in a recession. The prices at the grocery stores and gas stations continue to rise. Another option could be that we have an inflationary recession. That would mean that, along with the regular recession signals, we would experience inflation. It would be the worst of both worlds.
7 Ways To Survive A Recession
Save Money
You want to make sure that you have money saved. Most Americans do not even have $1,000 saved in an emergency fund. You will be ahead of most Americans simply by having money in a savings account. Once you have enough money saved, you can start investing in assets.
Precious Metals As Insurance
Once you are comfortable with the money in your savings account, you can decide to save a percentage of your money in precious metals. Precious metals are a form of financial insurance. It is generally recommended to have ten to fifteen percent of your net worth in precious metals. This is simply a way to diversify outside of a currency and into a hard asset.
Physical precious metals are often considered lifetime investments to be passed down to the next generation. If you want to invest in precious metals that are more liquid, you could invest in precious metals ETFs.
Negotiate A Raise With Your Employer
You could negotiate a raise with your employer. This means they may be unwilling to negotiate with an employee who wants their wage or salary increased. There are seven steps to negotiate a raise:
1. Research data for your current position.
2. Review the company’s financial performance.
3. Reflect and list your achievements.
4. Figure out what your target range is a raise.
5. Prepare a presentation to your employer.
6. Practice your negotiation skills first with your friends and family.
7. Schedule a meeting to negotiate for a raise with your employer.
The difficulty with doing this during a recession is that many employers will look for ways to reduce and cut costs. Employees will often be the first on the chopping block.
Get A Second Or A Third Job
You could get a second or third job to make more money. This may work, but you are still trading your time for money. You can only work so many hours in a day or week.
You may get away working multiple jobs at a time, but eventually, it may negatively affect your health and personal life. You could decide to look into side hustles.
Start A Side Hustle
You could start a side hustle. You could start a side hustle to turn it into a new revenue stream. When looking at side hustles, consider ones you can turn into a passive income stream.
Some everyday side hustles that are active income streams or other jobs include Uber, freelancing, or being a virtual assistant.
Some side hustles that could turn into passive income are starting a YouTube channel, writing a Substack newsletter, or writing eBooks.
Build Passive Income
The beauty of passive income is that it pays you while you sleep. Your paycheck from your employer is active income. You are trading your time for money. You can only work so many hours in a day. It has been found that the average self-made millionaire has a minimum of three passive income streams.
There are many ways to build passive income streams in the Internet Age. You want to learn to play to your strengths. You can then decide if you want to set up a business to be a financial asset to protect your passive income streams.
Start An Online Business
You can start an online business. A business is the ultimate financial asset because you can build it to be as large as you want. You can create as many products and services as you want for customers. You can then pay yourself through your business each month.
You built the business. You can then pay yourself for the hard work to make it once it generates revenue and eventually a profit. Some ways that you create revenue streams for an online business are:
- Advertising on a website, YouTube, or other social media.
- Sell merchandise.
- Sell physical or digital products like PDFs or books.
- You can sell products on a third-party company like Amazon or Etsy.
- You can find ways to earn royalties.
- Provide a consulting or coaching service.
- Sell a premium newsletter and have premium articles on a website.
You are your own limit when you are responsible for a business. You can also find creative ways to make more money with a business.
Secure Single recommends:
- Introduction For Singles On The Different Types Of Savings Accounts
- How Mindset Affects Success
- How To Be Single In 2023
- 15 Habits To Build Wealth For Singles
- 12 Reasons Why Young People Should Not Go To College
Summary
It is up to you to take action to prepare for a recession. These are just some strategies for singles to survive a recession. Whether you think there will be a recession or not, it is always a good idea to be prepared. One of the ways to be prepared is to save money and find ways to increase your income.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Secure Single. The content is intended for informational and educational purposes only. Subscribe to Secure Single’s Substack for free to receive more content like this directly in your inbox.
Anyone who has ever gone through the process of applying for jobs online knows how frustrating it can be. You can spend hours creating multiple versions of the same resume in an attempt to increase your chances of it getting seen by the right person. That means you must slightly change your summary, work experience, and skills to get past the keyword tools. All of your hard work to make an impressive-looking resume won’t matter if you are applying for ghost jobs.
Companies use multiple screening tools to ensure your resume never gets seen by HR or the person who posted the job. You can also be screened based on your social media history. Your resume may never even get noticed if you don’t support specific issues that are in fashion. The rise of fake job ads only makes the life of a job applicant more infuriating. There are now counterfeit jobs out there that are just using you to gather your data. How likely do you think the jobs you are applying for are fake and scams?
Welcome to the life of a modern job hunter.
Ghosting has moved on from relationships. Even employers do it now by posting ghost jobs. These jobs never existed in the first place.
Rise Of Ghost Jobs
How many jobs that you apply for have you never received a response from? Maybe you thought you didn’t meet the cut. Or, perhaps that was a fake job. It was a ghost job. The job never existed. The employer intentionally ghosted you.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
“Mr. Kelly, who has decades of experience as a technical and marketing writer, estimates that when he was job hunting in late 2021, about 20% of listings that interested him were posted and reposted without anyone evidently being hired. Since his layoff from a startup in August, he says he has noticed that most jobs that catch his eye have been up for months.“
I first thought of it as an anomaly, and now I see it as a trend,” he says.”
After you spend hours applying for jobs that you think are real, you may only receive an email saying, “Thank you for your application, but you have not been accepted for an interview or the role.” That is likely an automated response. The job may or may not exist. At least you feel somewhat relieved because you got a response, even if it was bogus.
To make matters worse, there may be jobs that remain up on job sites that are inactive. The job website or the employer has not removed the job yet. This further increases the chance that the applications you spend so much time on do not exist. Ghost jobs are another problem applicants must be wary of when applying online.
Employers And Fake Job Advertisements
Employers keep fake job advertisements up for appearances. This means that employers are posting jobs, or keeping job posts up, on online job applicant sites when they have no intention of hiring. Employers leave job posts up to make it appear that they are fairer about their hiring process than they are. They say they want to be open to all candidates to come across as being objective to job seekers. This creates plausible deniability for the employer.
Data is the new oil. Posting job advertisements on job websites is a way for employers to receive that information from job seekers. They may then add you to their database. They may sell your information to a third-party company. There are many wants that a company could use the data that you gave them when you filled out the job application form.
Your data is more valuable to them than interviewing you for the job.
America Has A Fake Economy
If ghost jobs and fake job advertisements were not enough, the United States has created a phony economy from cheap money and zero percent interest rates. To make matters worse, it has outsourced many of the country’s industrial jobs to China. That was a result of NAFTA. The United States is now primarily a service economy. The American economy is largely dependent upon other countries for the goods that it receives that Americans use every day. According to Forbes, roughly 40% of cotton apparel comes from China. That does not include other products. Many American brands that say their products are “Made In America” still manufacture them overseas. It just goes through a processing plant in the United States. The company can then put “Made In America” on its products. Many Americans will buy it because it says “Made In The USA” when it never was.
The reality is that the American economy has been butchered and gutted. There are still ways to make it today, but it will require non-traditional thinking and going against everything you are told to do, like going to college to get a “dream job.”
What You Can Do
The best thing you can do is recognize that there are no ghost jobs and fake job advertisements online. You can review the job descriptions if you are applying for a position on an online job website like Indeed. The more detailed the description, the higher the likelihood it is a real job. But, if they only want your data, writing a more detailed job description doesn’t take much extra time.
You can look for alternatives outside of the traditional job market. If you have transferrable skills, consider becoming a freelancer on a site like Fiverr or Upwork. It could start as a side hustle, but you could eventually make it into your full-time job. The same problem likely exists on those types of websites as well.
If you are more ambitious, you could start your own online business. To do this, you first need a website. You can then add social media to spread your content and message. You can then come up with products and services to sell. Once you have enough infrastructure and income, you can hire and delegate responsibilities to others. You will then have money coming into your business’ bank account that you could reinvest or invest in other projects. This one requires the most responsibility, but it could save you thousands of hours of the annoyance of applying to jobs that don’t exist. You can see the results for yourself since you built it from zero.
Recommended: 6 Reasons Why People Obey
Summary
Job hunters have too many things to worry about, from overly picky employers looking for a dream candidate that does not exist to now ghost jobs. The American economy is a service economy now. You will likely be working a service job unless you can get one in a STEM profession. That is true even if you go into debt to get a college degree.
Welcome to the ghost economy. Employers are now ghosting you, the job applicant.
Story At A Glance
- BRICS nations are actively working toward de-dollarization.
- The danger of bank bail-ins.
- Inflation continues to worsen as the Federal Reserve continues to print money, creating inflation. The government continues spending money it does not have, contributing to inflation.
- The Federal Reserve has unofficially restarted quantitative easing again, which means it has lost the war against inflation.
- A decade of easy money, they have forced people to look for higher yields elsewhere since they received zero percent interest in their savings accounts.
- U.S. government bonds are the new toxic asset countries will want to drop, seeing America’s financial troubles at home.
- The perfect economic storm leads to the Japanification of the United States economy, where inflation likely remains around 6%.
The reason why inflation won’t go away in 2023 is that the Federal Reserve will decide to continue to print. Central Banks are responsible for creating inflation by expanding the currency supply.
Why Inflation Won’t Go Away In 2023
De-dollarization
The geopolitical macro issue is the growing problem of de-dollarization. The United States’ policy of policing the world has justifiably made countries angry at the US. They are tired of the United States telling other countries and their governments what they can and cannot do to keep the dollar as the world reserve currency. Understandably, these countries are looking for a way to leave the dollar system. They also want out of the unipolar world of one dictated by the United States that revolved around American culture, politics, and economics. For this reason, they have been looking at options.
There is now a steady shift away from the dollar with the BRICS. The BRIC nations include Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Mexico is looking to join the BRICS. The BRIC nations are creating an alternative to the US dollar’s SWIFT system. The BRICS system plans to be backed by hard assets such as commodities.
The BRICS are also setting the role to move away from the United States’ influence. As the United States transitions from the global power it is to a declining empire (its current state), it could move to a multipolar world. Many countries could trade with each other in their currencies, backed by commodities or the agreed-upon currency of trade between BRIC partner nations.
These countries could start to transact in another currency, not the dollar. India is purchasing Russian commodities and energy while exploring a rupee-ruble payment system. There is also the option of the Chinese yuan. Russia supports moving toward the Chinese yuan to trade with Asian, African, and South American countries. China is working to negotiate peace between Russia and Ukraine, not the United States. This is another sign that the United States is a declining empire that the world wants no part of, while China is a rising power. China is the want at the negotiation table, not the United States.
In a multipolar world, multiple currencies could be used to transact. The dollar could still be used as a currency but would primarily be used in the United States after losing its world reserve currency status. The yuan and ruble could be used with a currency built on the BRIC commodities. There are many different ways that it could end, but it means the end of the unipolar world controlled by the United States.
The danger for Americans is that as these countries transition away from the dollar, they sell their remaining US treasuries and dollars. China has specifically been selling its holdings of US treasuries since 2010. Once those dollars return to the United States, higher inflation in America will result. Inflation comes from an increase in the monetary supply. As more dollars are returned to the United States, inflation will continue to rise. Moving toward a multipolar world not dominated by the United States only encourages countries to drop dollars and adopt a new form of currency not controlled by the United States.
The United States dollar is only backed by confidence in the system. Once that is gone, what little value the dollar has left will be devalued, and the currency could go to zero. Foreign nations using the dollar and holding treasuries are incentivized to drop both.
Danger Of Bank Bail-Ins
There is also the added danger of bank bail-ins. The Dodd-Frank Act Wall Street Reform and Consumer Act legalized bank bail-ins in the United States. The United States transferred the risks onto the creditors with the Dodd-Frank Act was passed in January 2010 after the 2007-2009 Global Financial Crisis. While what is being discussed with Silver Valley Bank are bailouts, bail-ins remain on the table and are legal. Bail-ins are another risk that Americans must be aware of to protect their money in what could turn into another banking crisis.
Financial Troubles At Home
There continue to be financial problems in the United States. The United States continues to shoot itself in the foot. The Federal Reserve and the United States government continue to find ways to increase the money supply by printing money. The creation of money, which the Federal Reserve is responsible for, creates inflation is known as quantitative easing. The government also does this with programs that cost billions and trillions of dollars. Since the United States does not have the money to pay it off due to trillions of dollars in debt, the Federal Reserve must create the money that leads to inflation. Inflation is an indirect tax.
[bctt tweet=”The inflation tax affects the poor and middle class the most because they often don’t have assets that appreciate with inflation.” username=”@secure_single”]
The cost of real estate to food means you must pay higher property taxes than a sales tax. The government likes this, and it does not have to increase taxes on its own, which would result in people getting mad at politicians and the government. The politicians then blame the businesses because politicians never take responsibility for anything and don’t understand basic economics.
Federal Reserve And Quantitative Easing
Barron’s summarizes what led to the banking crisis due to the combination of quantitative easing and low-interest rates:
“In sum, quantitative easing and the long period of low interest rates have increased vulnerabilities in the financial system that are emerging as the Fed tightens. The larger the scale of quantitative easing and the longer its duration, the more liquidity the banking system and financial markets get used to. Ideally, this means the Fed should take longer to normalize its balance sheet (and ideally, also interest rates).”
Now there is the growing problem of the concern of more bank collapses after Silver Valley Bank. The Federal Reserve has not helped to ease the public that it can manage and control the economy given its past actions of getting so many things wrong, from saying “inflation is transitory” to “there will be a soft landing.” That soft landing is starting to look potentially like a collapse of the banking system.
The Federal Reserve creates inflation through Quantitative Easing, increasing the money supply. It then tries to decrease inflation through Quantitative Tightening by reducing the monetary supply. The Federal Reserve has unofficially started doing QE again. They may call it something else, but just because you change the definition of a word does not change the word.
Peter Schiff explains what the Federal Reserve is informally restarting quantitive easing in podcast Episode 880:
“What [the Federal Reserve has] done is, in effect, quantitive easing. There’s no difference. What the Fed is doing is they are taking mortgages and government securities onto their balance sheet, giving the banks cash. Well, what did they do when they were doing QE? They took government securities and mortgage-backed securities onto their balance sheets, and they gave the banks cash.”
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck. A duck is still a duck. The same applies to quantitative easing. The Federal Reserve has unofficially started QE5.
Ultimately, the Federal Reserve has two hard choices: inflation or recession, and it cannot do both. It looks like it is choosing recession, and an inflationary depression is another realistic option.
A Decade Of Easy Money
As a consequence of a decade of easy money with low-interest rates, it forced people to take on more risk to attain more yield. They were not getting any returns in their savings accounts, forcing them to look for higher yields elsewhere. This meant that people who usually would not be in the financial markets, from the stock market to the crypto market, were forced to become retail traders. They were forced to take risks by getting involved in startups or figuring out how to work a business. The period of easy money resulted in ordinary people not being sophisticated enough to jump into spheres they were not knowledgeable about to receive a little higher yield.
The decade of easy money was directed toward startups, IPOs, and SPACs. The cheap money was funneled toward finding a higher yield. This led to the creation of zombie companies which never made a profit because they would receive capital from speculators looking to be the next big thing. Zombie companies have also become rampant in the stock market. The rise of zombie companies and the SPAC phenomenon is a consequence of the period of low to zero interest rates.
Young people grew up in a decade of easy money. They were not accustomed to getting a decent yield in their savings account for most of their working lives. They adapted by taking risky bets to find ways to make ends meet, from crypto trends with Shiba Inu to meme stocks like GameStop. After a decade of easy money, they made the economic system into a financial casino, from everyone getting involved in startups to speculating in the crypto and stock markets.
US Government Bonds Are The New Toxic Security
[bctt tweet=”The banking crisis is the start of the next financial crisis. Bonds are the new toxic assets.” username=”@secure_single”]
Government bonds, particularly United States treasuries, have long been considered safe-haven assets. The problem is that banks have gone long government treasuries. This is what happened to Silver Valley Bank. They held long-term bonds. As the interest rates increased, the bank was taking on more risk. This eventually led to the collapse of Silver Valley Bank.
Banks do not keep depositors’ money locked up in a safe. The United States has a fractional reserve currency system. This means that only banks need only to keep a very minimal amount of money on hand at any time. The rest they invest in various types of investments until their depositors need their money. Banks calculate that the risk of all of their depositors needing their money simultaneously that would facilitate a bank run is very low. Banks view government bonds are the safest investment for banks to put their customers’ money.
If the US treasuries are now a toxic asset, this is evident by the FDIC, which is supposed to insure bank deposits. The FDIC manages the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) throughout the United States to ensure customers’ deposits. The now-collapsed Silver Valley Bank utilized DIF for its customers’ deposits.
The DIF currently has a balance sheet of $128 billion. In total, that means that the Federal Reserve is also insolvent. The growing unrealized losses across the banking system are estimated to be $620 billion at the end of 2022. The Deposit Insurance Fund invests $128 billion in government bonds. This means that the FDIC’s insurance fund is suffering unrealized losses. The FDIC is supposed to be the one who ensures the banks. This is a significant problem once people catch on.
According to its Q1 financial statement in 2022, the Federal Reserve reported unrealized losses of $330 billion. That means that the Federal Reserve is insolvent. America’s entire financial system, which is entirely fake anyway, is now exposed as bankrupt to the American people. People are already losing confidence in the banking system. Once this catches on, the Federal Reserve will continue to lose credibility. Whatever credibility it still has left.
The U.S. Treasury, which holds funds at the Federal Reserve, only has operating funds of $208 billion. The combined funds between the Treasury and Federal Reserve are not enough to deal with what could become a major banking crisis resulting from the Fed raising interest rates.
As a result of America’s financial system now being in danger due to banks holding government bonds and the Federal Reserve, which was established to monitor banks’ activities being insolvent. There is now nowhere else left to run. The government’s debt is now a liability, and foreign countries acknowledge this. Once enough Americans realize this, confidence could be lost in the dollar. The public’s confidence is the only thing that has prevented the dollar from losing all of the little remaining value it has left as a currency. The best options are in real assets. You can also be non-traditional assets that can be transacted outside the dollar currency system.
Foreign countries that recognize what is going on and the connections between bonds from banks holding them to the situation of the Federal Reserve now see the American dollar as a liability. They want to get out of bonds as fast as possible because bonds are the new toxic assets. Those bonds will return to the United States, making inflation worse for Americans.
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The Perfect Storm Leads To Japanification
The perfect storm to create inflation last forever is here. There is also the added danger of bail-ins. Countries have every incentive to drop the dollar and leave the unipolar world that the United States has dominated since World War Two. In fact, given the financial risks connected to the dollar, from the United States’ debt to bank runs, it is in these countries’ interests to find a currency outside of the dollar.
They also recognize that the United States is a declining empire from its many failed foreign policy debacles to the many economic issues left unresolved at home.
As more countries join the BRICS or use the Chinese Yuan, dollars, and treasuries will return to the United States. Shadow Stats currently reports inflation to be closer to 15%. That is more than double the Federal Reserve inflation rate of 6%. As the Federal Reserve starts quantitative easing again, it will only worsen inflation for Americans.
Americans must know that the institutions such as the Federal Reserve, banks, and the government look out for their self-interest. They are there for their benefit, not the ordinary person’s benefit. It had become especially evident over the past three years when the government told people to lockdown, stay inside, and declared people “essential” or “non-essential” while the Federal Reserve printed money to create inflation. The system has created the perfect storm to harm everyday Americans struggling to get by worse with the inflation tax.
Japanification is a likely scenario that the Federal Reserve will have to compromise on since it could not achieve its 2% inflation target. Japanification will have the CPI record inflation of around 6%. There would continue to be moderate economic growth of about 2%. The S&P could then continue to hover around 4,900 to please the people in the stock market. Japanification would allow the Federal Reserve to maintain a version of the status quo, allowing most Americans to work, pay their bills, and make some interest in their savings account and from holding bonds. This option would also allow for moderate inflation, which could resolve some of the United States’ debt problems by inflating it away. It would make people feel like their lives are improving due to a steady wage rise.
Summary
It is best to prepare that inflation will not go away. It will likely not dramatically decrease to the Federal Reserve’s original arbitrarily chosen number of 2% inflation. You will need to find ways to maintain and improve your standard of living in a highly inflationary environment. An inflationary depression and bank bail-ins are a probability. The Japanification of the United States economy is the most likely scenario since the Federal Reserve has already lost the war against inflation.
Inflation won’t go away because countries will eventually send back dollars, the Federal Reserve has lost the war against inflation, US treasuries are the new toxic asset, and the United States economy is moving toward Japanification. All these issues point to inflation remaining around its current estimated rate according to the Federal Reserve’s CPI numbers, which are always lower than the actual inflation rate.
Views expressed in this article are the author’s opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of Secure Single. It is intended for informational and educational purposes only. It is not investment or financial advice. James Bollen is the author of Thriving Solo: How to Flourish and Live Your Perfect Life (Without A Soulmate). Now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon. Subscribe to Secure Single’s Substack for free!
When did The Great Resignation start? It did not begin with the pandemic. The Great Resignation has been in the news. It has been a topic people have been talking about since 2020 as employees left their jobs. Employees were leaving their jobs for many different reasons, wanting to learn new skills, work online, or they may have been retiring. This article will go into the causes of The Great Resignation and when it began. Here are thirty reasons for The Great Resignation.
30 Reasons For The Great Resignation
What Is The Great Resignation?
The Great Resignation, also called The Great Quit or The Great Reshuffle, is an ongoing economic trend in which employees decided to leave their jobs en masse starting in 2020.
The Great Resignation is still in the process and will most likely continue despite some mainstream outlets saying that it may be ending due to the pandemic coming to an end. It will probably not end soon as more businesses and people move from working in-person to online.
How Did The Great Resignation Start?
The Great Resignation began long before the pandemic. How so? Everything was already moving online from the Dot Com boom in the early 2000s. During the 2010s, people found they were able to start their website, blog, or discover that they could work online. The Internet has created digital nomads, online businesses, remote work for companies, and freelancing.
The Internet has allowed people to find creative ways to discover their passion, make money, and grow an audience. A person only needs a website. An email list. A YouTube Channel. Then a person can find creative ways to monetize those different online platforms. These platforms and new opportunities that Millennials and Generation Z have embraced have accelerated the transition from working a traditional job to working online, whether owning an online business or freelancing. In short, The Great Resignation did not begin with the Covid Pandemic.
Covid
The first reason is the Covid Pandemic. The pandemic is the main reason people may think of as the cause of The Great Resignation. However, as shown above, it began earlier with the Internet.
The pandemic only accelerated businesses to embrace moving online. It also drove small companies to find new creative ways to make money, often at a lower cost than a traditional brick-and-mortar business. It has also allowed people to find new opportunities and earn income outside of a regular job.
Government Mandates
The second reason is the government’s response to the pandemic. Covid, or the pandemic, did not mandate you to wear a mask, social distance, or get a shot to keep your job. The government and the health bureaucrats did that, not Covid. The government made the mandates. After a couple of weeks, if not sooner, some people got sick of these requirements and orders.
Businesses Making Employees Do Things To Keep Their Jobs
The third reason is that huge businesses enforced the government mandates by making employees wear face masks to get the Covid vaccine to keep their job. These employees got tired of their careers making them wear face masks, interacting with paranoid customers, and later their employer requiring them to get a Covid vaccine. These employees decided to resign or quit and find another alternative. These employees may have found a business that did not enforce the mandates or found an online solution, such as becoming a freelancer, or content creator, or finding a way to do an online business.
The Great Retirement
The fourth reason is retirement. The Great Resignation is also called The Great Retirement. Baby Boomers are finally starting to retire. For Baby Boomers who are beginning to retire or planning to retire, The Great Resignation can be called The Great Retirement.
Some of the reasons for The Great Retirement are that Baby Boomers who were preparing to retire could spend more time with their families. They saw that the stock market was going up. They believe that they are ready for retirement. They put in their time over the years at work. They have put money into their 401ks and pensions. They have money in the stock market. They have in real estate for their retirement.
Discovering College Degrees Did Not Help Their Career
The fifth reason is that younger people discover their college degree did not help them get a career. Millennials are the most educated generation, yet many find that they have trouble finding jobs that will turn into careers. Since more people have college degrees today, Millennials later went to graduate school or got a doctorate, thinking it would help their career. When they got out of higher education, they discovered that employers were not open to bringing on people with fancy degrees who had no work experience.
Relocation
The sixth reason is relocation. The people who could afford to move from the big cities moved out of the cities due to the pandemic. They wanted to leave the crowded cities somewhere with more space and fewer people. The people with the means to either move out of the town or stay in the same area. Or, people moved to another state which often did not have the restrictions that were being done in essentially big cities. These people either found a new job in another state or could work remotely with the company as more businesses began to transition to online work during 2020.
According to realtors, people were moving to other states. One realtor I follow on YouTube said that he was able to track where people were moving to gauge the real estate market using Uhaul moving data. In this article by Uhaul, you can see the top fifty states that people were moving to during the 2020 migration. In the video below, The Money GPS goes over the mass exodus from the big cities and shows where people are moving when they decide to leave a city.
Remote Work
The seventh reason is that more businesses are moving to remote work. Due to the pandemic, medium to large companies transitioned from in-person to remote positions. While this trend began earlier in the 2010s with websites like Upwork and Fiverr and people finding different ways to monetize websites, it did not go mainstream until 2020.
Now remote work is becoming a real option for people working from home rather than in the office while still working with a company. You can now search for remote work on job sites like Indeed, and various positions will come up. The majority of remote work positions are often related to technology, digital marketing, content creation, and video editing.
Freelancing
The eighth reason is that more people are becoming freelancers. In the 2010s, people could become freelancers and work from home. Freelancing offers people another alternative for working flexible jobs or making a career as a freelancer within their specialty. There is a range of different jobs that people can do as freelancers. The most popular freelancer jobs are writing blog posts, video editing, digital marketing, and virtual assistants. Of course, there are more jobs than those you can find on a freelancing website like Upwork.
A freelancer is a contractor compared to a traditional part-time or full-time employee. This has changed how people view the employer-employee relationship. As a contractor, an individual has more flexibility but will often not receive the traditional benefits of working at an established company. A freelancer will usually perform one or more jobs within their specialty unless they can find a full-time freelancing job on a freelancing website. Freelancing is different from remote work, where an employee will work remotely for an established company.
According to Flexiple, freelancing is a project to become the majority of the workforce by 2027. Two of the most popular freelancing website are Fiverr and Upwork. There are others as well. Freelancing websites will continue to grow as it is projected to grow and more people become aware of remote work and freelancing.
Reconsideration
Key Point: [bctt tweet=”The pandemic, and the government’s response to the pandemic, forced many people to reconsider their life.” via=”no”]
The ninth reason is reconsideration. As a result of people being forced with lockdowns at the start of 2020, people began to reconsider what they were doing with their life. This led people to reconsider what they had been told. People also began to review what they wanted to do with their lives and find other work solutions outside the traditional workforce. Some people spent that time watching Netflix and YouTube, while others used that time to learn more about themselves and to discover new ways to make money.
Learning New Skills
The tenth reason is that people began to learn new skills during lockdowns. During that time, people noticed that everything was going online and digital. These people recognized this shift and had to work to learn new skills to adapt to the changing economy. They may have discovered a new talent by watching YouTube videos on a topic, taking an online course, buying a digital system on a topic or a skill, or reading articles online on a skill they wanted to learn. As they learned new skills to prepare for the changing economy or hone their skills, they worked to become more competitive with employers. Some may have used this time to learn new skills to improve, grow their business, or move online.
Changing Careers Or Jobs
As people learned new skills, they were prepared to change careers due to the pandemic. They were working to improve their skills to work on their own. They began to focus on learning skills that could be done online or in-demand skills for the digital economy. These skills include e-commerce, content creation, digital marketing, keyword research, and search engine optimization.
The Great Reshuffling
The Great Resignation has resulted in The Great Reshuffling. It is called significant reshuffling. This is because people are moving states, transitioning jobs, or making career changes during the time of uncertainty that came with the pandemic. The tension and sudden changes that came because of the government mandates changed people’s behavior. People started to find different ways to make an income, move to another state, and even move to another country if they could be digital nomads.
Reluctance
Another reason is the reluctance of employers or employees to want to go back to work in person. Businesses may have concerns that if they do not enforce the mandates, they could get fined, which would affect a business’s bottom line. Employees were reluctant to return to work because they did not want to go along with the work requirements required by the government mandates that companies were enforcing on their employees and, to a certain degree, on customers. This reluctance made these employees search for alternative ways to make money, so they resigned. The employees who left may have become a freelancer, content creators, or agreed to work to start their own online business by going into business for themselves.
Gig Jobs
Key Point: [bctt tweet=”A remote worker, freelancer, or someone who owns an online business can work anywhere around the world as a digital nomad.” via=”no”]
The fourteenth reason is that the gig economy has created many different gig jobs. Gig jobs are the new entry-level service jobs. It is not uncommon for people, especially Millennials, to work multiple gig jobs if they can’t get a regular full-time job. They could work random gig jobs online as freelancers, test new products, resell things online with drop shipping, or find random jobs online. They could also drive with Uber, deliver food with Grub hub or Uber Eats, or deliver groceries with Instacart. All these types of gig jobs exploded during the pandemic in 2020.
Related Article: Life As A Single Woman Uber Driver [The Gig Economy Experience]
Digital Nomads
The Internet has created digital nomads. Digital nomads are people who make money online, which gives them the flexibility to work anywhere in the world. A digital nomad may be a remote worker, a freelancer, a content creator, or own an online business. Working online allows people who want to travel, see the world, work on the beach, or live in a country with a lower cost of living than a country like the United States.
Online Businesses
Those who were more entrepreneurial may have decided to start their own online business instead of continuing to be an employee and working for someone else. These people chose to spend their time learning how to set up an online business. This is easier today and costs less than starting a traditional brick-and-mortar business. It can be done for only a few grand or less if correctly.
An online business only needs a website, an email list, a YouTube Channel, later can add social media, and finally, needs to sell a product or a service. An online business can also create passive income from affiliate programs, advertising, and people buying digital products or services that only need to be made once. An online company can then hire freelancers to do a job as often as needed or keep them on for as many hours as required to do their job.
Solo Entrepreneurship
Since online businesses are leaner, they do not need the overhead of many employees. This has given rise to solo entrepreneurship. Online companies require less overhead and upfront costs than traditional brick-and-mortar businesses. For this reason, they are lean and don’t need full-time employees. A person can start an online business independently and work to grow it by adding freelancers as the business grows.
Becoming Content Creators
Another option was for people to become content creators. The most popular type of content creator is a YouTuber for Millennials. The most popular type of content creator is a TikToker for Generation Z. Being a content creator and becoming influencer on these platforms. Content creators can make money from advertising, then find ways to build an online business within their niche. They also can create content from anywhere, depending on the type of content a creator makes.
Physical Economy
While the physical economy of brick-and-mortar stores will never entirely go away, more businesses are moving to e-commerce, online business, or finding a way to add an online component to a physical business. Some features of the physical economy can never be replaced, like truckers, retail, grocery, delivery, or companies that need to be done in person. However, some of these jobs can be replaced by technology, further displacing workers.
With the lockdowns and incentives from the government through mandates, laws, and regulations, there is more incentive for people to move to the online digital economy. The cost of starting a business is less. You will need less overhead. You don’t need to worry about the types of insurance a physical business may need to have if an employee gets injured and wants compensation. All of your employees can be contractors. This will mean that you also won’t have to provide them with other benefits, depending on the size of your business.
Decentralization
Centralized institutions like the government, central banks, mainstream media, and the higher education system do not want decentralization because if it succeeds, these institutions are no longer needed in society. With the rise of the Internet, which is now moving to Internet 3.0, decentralization gives freedom to people. It provides more options and choices to people by finding a range of different.
Technology
Technology has played a critical role in creating more opportunities for people. Technology has given rise to digital nomads, remote work, freelancing, and online businesses. It has also played a vital role in moving toward decentralization. Technology has also given decentralized currencies like cryptocurrency, with Bitcoin being the most well-known, an alternative to the fiat currencies that central banks print and governments force their citizens to use in society. However, technology also has negative consequences that benefit businesses and affect employees.
Replacing Employees With Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence, or AI, is replacing jobs and will only continue to displace jobs in the future. The types of jobs that artificial intelligence will replace repetitive jobs, use patterns, are data-driven or come up with different ideas that someone may not think about. Artificial intelligence is being used more in software applications and technology that can scan a large amount of information and make recommendations. It can also automatically make changes that replace the need for a person to manually create the differences depending on the sophistication of the software or technology.
Younger people, Millennials and Generation Z are aware that jobs are being replaced by technology. There are many different jobs that artificial intelligence can replace or take away hours from workers with this technology. They are working to transition to set themselves up in a future with a job where they can’t be replaced. Software with artificial intelligence and machine learning can be used to read.
Replacing Employees With Robots
Along with artificial intelligence, robots are already being rolled out in some countries replacing workers. They will likely be seen in other countries as companies replace employees with robots. The two prominent examples of robots starting to replace employees are Flippy which flips burgers, and Chipotle’s new robot named, Chippy, which makes tortilla chips. Due to the worker shortage, businesses. From a business perspective, robots replacing these jobs will save employers money because they don’t need to pay health insurance, raise wages, or worry about an employee not showing up for work. This is a real risk from an employee perspective, depending on where you work.
Everything Is Moving Online
With the rise and popularity of the Internet, everything is moving more online. Social media helped this transition as people became comfortable sharing and posting about themselves on their social media accounts. The Internet gives people the freedom and flexibility to work online or start their own online businesses.
Wage Stagnation
People, especially younger people, are tired of working dead-end jobs. Many young people, including myself, bought into the broken promise that if you go to college, you will be able to get a good job, work your way up in a company, and enjoy the American Dream of eventually owning a home. According to Don’t Quit Your Day Job in 2021, the median income for men was $51,121, while the median income for women was $39,000. According to Zillow, the average cost of a house in the US is now around $330,533 up 20% from last year. The median work income compared to the price of buying a house has priced out many people. Logically, these younger people began to look at other options or find creative ways to create extra income streams. Wages are not keeping up with the rising cost of living and inflation. Real inflation is higher than the 8% reported by the government and the Federal Reserve.
Related Article: The Myth of Toxic Masculinity in a Gynocentric Social Order
The Rising Cost Of Living
People, especially younger generations, recognize that job security is no longer a thing, and they can’t work their way up the traditional route in companies like previous generations. The cost of living only increases, and young people continue to see themselves being priced out of the housing market. With the rising cost of gas and food, even more of the money young people make must go to necessities rather than trying to save, invest, and work to buy a house of their own. According to Zillow, the average price of a home in the United States is now $337,560. Rent also continues to go up as well across the US. The cost of gas continues to rise too, so if you have to drive to work, that is cutting into what you make as you go to and from work.
The average cost of energy went up an additional $1,000 in 2021 for American households. Americans continue to go into credit card debt, and that trend only grew in 2021. According to Study Finds, nearly 70% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. They struggle to make ends meet in their lives. The rising cost of living is only making it more difficult for Americans who live paycheck to paycheck. Combine already working Americans living paycheck to paycheck with rising costs due to inflation, and things are not looking good. The middle class is being systematically destroyed. The Federal Reserve and government policies are destroying the middle class.
Broken Social Contract
The social contract is a theory in political philosophy that there is a contract between individuals and their government. It has also been applied to individuals and society. The social contract theory has also been applied to the employer and employee relationship in the workplace. All three of these are breaking or have been broken if you go along with the social contract theory.
The government has not protected the rights of its citizens. It has infringed and taken away their rights. This is particularly evident with the pandemic and goes back even further with the agencies created after 9/11, further restricting people from traveling.
The social contract has been broken between individuals and society by the various institutions no longer doing their jobs. The mainstream media is the most prominent example of this, both on the left with CNN and on the right with Fox News. They are not the Fourth Estate as people are told that they are to keep politicians and the government in check. The mainstream media is propaganda, and more people are going to alternative, independent news sources online.
The social contract has been broken between employers and employees. In the West, especially in the United States, the average worker’s wage cannot keep up with inflation. More employers are moving from part-time or full-time employees who traditionally provided benefits to contractors, such as freelancers, because they can be paid less and don’t need to provide them with benefits. Employees are looking for new ways to make money to make ends meet and move up the social ladder.
A vital question must first be asked about the social contract. Do you remember signing it? If so, when and where? What exactly did you agree to? What were the terms and conditions?
Job Security Is A Thing Of The Past
Job security is now a thing of the past. Employees can no longer expect to receive the benefits, 401K, and pensions that traditionally came with a full-time job from an employer. People are starting to recognize that job security is no longer the case. They are working to find other ways to make money and an income outside of the traditional workforce. Freelancing, becoming a content creator, and starting an online business are three options for those who recognize that job security is now a broken social contract.
Work To Make Multiple Streams Of Income
While job security is now a thing of the past, the Internet and online businesses allow people to create multiple income streams. The Internet provides many different ways to do that. People can start a website and get revenue from advertising, affiliate programs, selling digital courses and products, and being a coach or consultants. A YouTube Channel is another way to reach people and make money from ads while reaching an audience to sell the products or services within your niche and sub-niche. It is also easier to write a book to self-publish today so that you don’t have to deal with a publishing house to keep more of the money from your book. There are many other options, from drop shipping to selling products on Etsy. It requires more creativity, thinking outside of the box, and knowing that there are options outside of a regular job.
The American Dream Is Dead
In brief, the American Dream is dead unless you can find ways to make it in the Age of the Internet. Entry-level jobs like fast food, retail, and even some tech jobs will be replaced by artificial intelligence and robots. The rise of inflation and the rising cost of real estate makes it difficult, if not impossible, for regular people to buy a house.
Conclusion
There are many reasons for The Great Resignation, The Big Quit, The Great Reshuffle, or The Great Retirement. No matter what you may call it, these are only thirty reasons for The Great Resignation. You may be able to think of other reasons that are causing people to leave the traditional workforce.
What do you think about The Great Resignation? Are you taking part in it? Do you believe that there is a social contract? Leave a comment in the comment section and let us know.
Views expressed in this article are the author’s opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of Secure Single. It is intended for informational and educational purposes only. It is not investment or financial advice. James Bollen is the author of Thriving Solo: How to Flourish and Live Your Perfect Life (Without A Soulmate). Now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon. Subscribe to Secure Single’s Substack for free!
I’m really excited to talk to you about my experience as an Uber driver and freelance experience (it’s a great way to get closer to a man’s yearly earnings). When you’re a single woman it’s a great idea to figure out a side hustle because the bills don’t seem to stop.
Life As A Single Woman Uber Driver [The Gig Economy Experience]
Having some Uber Driver money (or other side hustle) in your pocket can change your life
A trip to Ulta beauty to buy one lipstick from Urban Decay can cost you over 19 bucks. You can probably make this much money in about an hour driving Uber if you need to stock up on makeup or buy organic groceries for your persistently hungry teenagers.
First, let’s talk about the gender pay gap between women and men
Well, it’s no secret women in America earn an average income well below that of men (no kidding). I’m going to fill you in with some staggering statistics.
I got these numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and The Institute For Women’s Policy Research. Through these sources, I discovered full time working women only earn $0.76 to every working man’s dollar. Holy smoke! I’ve created a handy dandy chart for you here so it’s easy to understand how much more money men are making than you.
Men make almost $500,000 more than women make in a lifetime
When you add it up it seems almost unbelievable. I’m terrible in math and at first thought, it was $50,000. I wish I would have been right. It’s time for us to catch up with men.
In many households today the gig economy is a real thing because it has to be— especially for single women
We need to make more money— that’s the bottom line. And if you’re not doing any side gigs yet, you might want to consider it and pay off your Sallie Mae student loans for the English degree you’re not even using.
The gig economy became popular during the financial crisis of 2008 to 2009. During this to time, people had to find ways to make some cash.
Gigging is ever-expanding and hopefully, women’s pay will also expand enough to catch up
This gig economy now is estimated to have around 34% of the workforce, and by 2020 it’s expected to be closer to 43%. So almost half of Americans will be doing side gigs. There is a good reason for this (or rather, a bad one).
Debt is skyrocketing out of control for too many people
No wonder side gigs are happening— the approximate debt of the average American is about $38,000 according to CNBC. That’s more money than the average woman makes in the US until she hits her 35th birthday. This amount of debt is unacceptable!
This information (and rant) is coming from a woman who filed bankruptcy 5 years ago due to drowning in over $45,000 in credit card debt after a divorce
This whopping average debt includes mortgages, student loans, car loans, and personal loans and of course credit cards (with exorbitant interest rates). People today often don’t have a choice but to enter the gig economy.
You need money. I need money. We all need more money. You can do it with freelancing
Harvard Business Review estimated that about 150 million North American and Western European countries were independent contractors. I’m one of them (in many areas). I’m not a steady paycheck kind of person, and I’m used to fluctuating income sources. Maybe you don’t know anything different.
What’s it’s like being a full-time gigger and entrepreneur
I’ve been an entrepreneur for most of my adult life. I’ve also had brick-and-mortar businesses, bartended, managed restaurants, waited tables, sold stuff on eBay and Etsy, still have a concession stand and face painting business, and currently do lots and lots of freelance writing, branding, and copywriting for other businesses.
I live and breathe the gig economy. I haven’t had a “real” job ever— at times it’s scary (but it’s totally worth it!)
I’ve also been fired and squeezed out of more jobs than I can count on one hand. And it’s not because I’m lazy or don’t know what I’m doing. It was because I questioned authority— always. And wanted to live a life filled with freedom and of course, I love me some risk.
So I’ve embraced the whees! And OMGs! of the gig economy
I’m a bit of rebel and like doing something different every day in my life. The corporate world was never a good fit for me (not that I ever tried it). Living the life of a gigger isn’t always consistent, but it’s exciting.
So even if you like the 40-hours-a-week job with consistent pay, you can still dig up a few hours somewhere to be part of the ever-growing gig economy. You might get the gig bug and never look back. But if you’re not ready for that—
Becoming an Uber Driver is an easy fit for the single woman lifestyle who’s still in the regular workforce
It doesn’t matter if you’re a cashier at Wawa or a professor of Economics (who happens to have summers off). You can drive for Uber, meet amazing people and make some extra moolah.
There are many other things you can do to make extra cash too. You can clean someone’s house, sell clothes on Poshmark, do social media posts for a local business, or walk your neighbor’s furry bestie, named Jerry Seinfeld.
Or you sit on your butt in your car with the windows down and the radio turned up (and work whenever you feel like it)
Even when you work full time sometimes it feels like they’re still not enough money, and that is because there isn’t.
Single women have a disadvantage, but you have the power to figure out what you need to do to reach your goals and keep some gourmet pizza on the table
Hopefully, you have enough to pay your outrageous phone bill and have a little fun, but if you don’t, you probably need a little side hustle in your life
Let’s say you’ve been grinding 6am-5:30 pm every day for the past 20 years. You need a break. You love to go out for drinks and dinner with your girlfriend’s every week. After you get the tab for one evening out, you’re probably spending 20-50 bucks. Now if you go to the salon (a girl’s got to pamper herself!) we’re talking $100 or even more!
Besides buying new shoes and lipstick, you can use Uber bucks to save up to buy a home, or stash money away in your savings account or get a much-deserved pedicure
Even if you have a high-paying job, just imagine having a source of income that is purely for savings, or can get you to your dream vacation goals even faster. Where do you want to go? Venice, Italy, Machu Picchu or even New York City? Or how about all three? That’s what I’m talking about!
If becoming an Uber driver is something that actually interests you, I’m sure you’re wondering how much can I earn with Uber?
Lucky for you (and for me) I just finished doing my 2018 taxes. Some people aren’t quite so transparent with their money, but I don’t mind. So here is what I made driving very part-time. Ok, there are some one dollar bills under those hundreds.
Here’s the breakdown of how much I made driving Uber:
Completed trips: 945
Miles driven: 7310
Gross earnings (what I made before deductions): $11,190.76
Uber fees (there are several different ones): $4,195.23
My net payout (what I made after deductions in 2018): $6,995.53
I made an extra $7,000 driving Uber part-time
That breaks down to $583.33 extra per month. Not too shabby. I made more than enough in the past year to pay for plane tickets to Phoenix, Saint Pete and Myrtle Beach and also upscale hotels, food and $4.50 ginger ale at my bougie hotels.
Another great thing about being an Uber driver is I had a juicy deduction on my taxes thanks to the increased IRS standard mileage rate.
The standard deduction for business mileage in 2018 was 54.5 cents. So my $7,301 gave me a $3,947 deduction on my taxes. Yeah, baby. We can all use a little reduction.
Here’s one of my favorite Uber driver hacks:
If I need to take a trip to Target or the Aldi grocery store, I simply turn my Uber driver app on to destination mode. So while I run errands for my household I can make some money. I also can get compensated for mileage on my taxes.
When you pick up passengers while you’re out shopping or going to the post office, you can pay for your new sandals and gluten-free crackers
Then when I’m on my way home, I turn on my destination mode on again toward my house. Then I can also write off the mileage or travel time on Uber. My experience with Uber has been a great one. It’s given me more freedom and I’ve also made great connections in my community it’s a good thing when you’re single.
When you drive for Uber you can meet your neighbors, and even strike up business deals while you’re driving. The benefits to this side gig are incredible.
Do you want to know some more of the benefits of driving for Uber as a side gig?
- You can work whenever you feel like it.
- There’s no boss to answer to.
- You can eat on the job.
- Your favorite Thievery Corporation pandora station can play all day long.
- If it snowing you can stay in bed?
- When it’s beautiful outside, you can pick up a passenger, and make $10 on your way to the beach.
- You can write off candy and drinks for passengers, your car waxed, probably even a new iPhone (for mileage tracking) on your taxes. However, you need to talk to your tax professional about this, because I’m definitely not an accountant.
So if you want to become an Uber driver, you can click here for my referral link. I could receive a commission for referring you. So if you do you’ll be helping another single woman out while taking the wheel of your own life.
Here are some of the basic requirements to become an Uber driver
However, these could change at any time. They were relevant the day this article was published.
- You have to be 21 years of age or older
- Must have a four-door car truck or van that is less than 10 years old (usually).
- Have an insurance policy
- Have a current driver’s license in your state
- Current vehicle registration and license plate
- Social security number
- You have to pass a driving record check in a background check
Summary
These are the basics. I hope this has been educational and is giving you the inspiration to increase your income as a single woman. I know it can be hard paying all the bills by yourself and creating a lifestyle that you love. Doing freelance gigs have given me more freedom, an opportunity to travel more, and have some extra money in the bank. You can do it too!
Lots of Love,
Dina Colada