G
Geo
Well-known member
My only worry, and not for me but friends and family, is that there is some kind of re-set coming.
The US will surely default soon and there are too many people who are not seeing it coming or have prepared for it.
The US will surely default soon and there are too many people who are not seeing it coming or have prepared for it.
rsm
Well-known member
In 45 years of working, I've had my position eliminated twice and never been fired. Disappointed with the changes I listed earlier that make it nearly impossible to hit my sales target numbers.
Management increased my 2025 sales target based on my 2024 performance and client list,; then they remove several of my top clients, replacing them with lower spend clients; while leaving my sales target number unchanged; then they ask why I'm so far off my target? SMH.
Is it really that difficult to understand?
Let's see, if you remove one client that will buy $20M+ additional product in 2025, and replace it with a client that will barely buy $3M additional product in 2025; then do that several more times with my top clients, and leave my sales target number unchanged...it should be obvious why my sales numbers are down and below target...not to mention my commissions.
I've never been a slacker; but this situation seems like a no win situation, even if I win every open deal, I'll be lucky to achieve 80% of target.
Management increased my 2025 sales target based on my 2024 performance and client list,; then they remove several of my top clients, replacing them with lower spend clients; while leaving my sales target number unchanged; then they ask why I'm so far off my target? SMH.
Is it really that difficult to understand?
Let's see, if you remove one client that will buy $20M+ additional product in 2025, and replace it with a client that will barely buy $3M additional product in 2025; then do that several more times with my top clients, and leave my sales target number unchanged...it should be obvious why my sales numbers are down and below target...not to mention my commissions.
I've never been a slacker; but this situation seems like a no win situation, even if I win every open deal, I'll be lucky to achieve 80% of target.
SatanicPanic
Well-known member
My wife is 60 and I've been pushing her to do a semi-retirement ASAP. She's worked a corporate job for 35 years, and we have an reasonable amount of retirement investments etc. The most concerning thing is health insurance. Our current plan is through her employer. Our future plan was to go through ACA after she stopped FT employment, then for her to get on Medicare at 65 and for me to continue through ACA until I'm eligible for MC (I'm a few years younger).
All this crap is in flux now. I just don't know what's going to happen with ACA, MC or SS over the next few years. We did what we were expected to do but the current political climate around these programs is so unpredictable. It keeps me up at night.
rsm
Well-known member
Yes, retiring early my concern is health insurance; I've been lucky and healthy so far, not on any meds, but there are some developing issues. All the years I've had employer health insurance I rarely used it, now getting older and need it, I won't have it - not worth the risk. I've seen statistics that said the number one cause of bankruptcy for US retirees is due to medical costs.
The best ACA bronze plan will cost me close to $1K per month just to insure me...but I don't have many alternatives. The future of Social Security is another concern, my breakeven age is around 79 years old IIRC (when taking benefits early vs FRA are equal; after the breakeven age those who waited will receive more money in lifetime vs taking early before FRA).
Other than medical costs, in general older retirees tend to spend less money than younger retirees, as their activities slow down.
There's no guarantee or perfect time...my retirement plan is to live off income from social security starting in 2026 combined with income generated by 1/3 or less of my retirement savings. I have money I can use to cover living expenses from now into 2026 when I plan to start taking social security...but I had other plans for that money (e.g., sailboat or sportscar)
Good luck!
rsm
Well-known member
I'm considering additional ASA sailing certifications with my son next summer...then maybe chartering bareboat sailboats vs owning....I'm more interested in cats and trimaran sailing
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SatanicPanic
Well-known member
If you don't mind me asking, where do you live? We're looking at an east coast relocation in the next two years then I wanna pursue the sailing thing. I was thinking about starting with learning single hull and working up to a Cat. YouTube has corrupted me, for sure. I've been following sailing channels for years. I know there's way more to it than I imagine.
rsm
Well-known member
Coastal Georgia. Planning to take ASA 103, 104 and 114 as a private package from an ASA school in Miami, FL next summer. I'd like to do them all contiguously with the same 1-2 instructors.
When we took ASA 101 there were other people in the class, and it gave us less time hands on sailing. I plan to be retired next year, so it will be up to my son's school schedule.
edit: we also have a small beach cat (XCat) we sail in a small bay at the ocean; a few years ago we took it to a bigger bay in Key Largo.
Our ASA 101 instructor said if we really wanted to learn, get a small boat to practice/learn on, since I want a cat or tri, I got the XCat. He also said things happen faster on smaller boats, so it's good training for bigger boats. It comes apart so no need for a trailer, it's a bit of a pain to put it together with one person but doable, two people make it easier. Worth a look IMO.
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Totally Bored
Well-known member
Respiratory Therapist for 40 years that quit at the peak of Covid, I had enough.
The dream I had with my 2 dead brothers telling me I was gonna die if I stayed working in Health Care kinda helped with quitting abruptly.
FWIW, I was planning on working till I was 65 but Covid and that Dream.
No Pension but fortunately my house, cars, motorcycle are all paid for and I have some money in 401k.
Started to get SS 2 years ago. I was really hoping Trump was gonna eliminate Tax on SS for senior citizens but I quess not
Thankfully I gig solo and make fair money doing that. Musician is my only skill other than sucking sputum out of peoples lungs
So far so good
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V
VonBonfire
Well-known member
You can probably save some money on that insurance with those certifications. Might be something to look into. You're a smart tech savvy guy you could probably do a vlog with your son or some sailing-writing and make a few bucks and build an audience over time.Coastal Georgia. Planning to take ASA 103, 104 and 114 as a private package from an ASA school in Miami, FL next summer. I'd like to do them all contiguously with the same 1-2 instructors.
When we took ASA 101 there were other people in the class, and it gave us less time hands on sailing. I plan to be retired next year, so it will be up to my son's school schedule.
edit: we also have a small beach cat (XCat) we sail in a small bay at the ocean; a few years ago we took it to a bigger bay in Key Largo.
Our ASA 101 instructor said if we really wanted to learn, get a small boat to practice/learn on, since I want a cat or tri, I got the XCat. He also said things happen faster on smaller boats, so it's good training for bigger boats. It comes apart so no need for a trailer, it's a bit of a pain to put it together with one person but doable, two people make it easier. Worth a look IMO.
That cat looks killer. I watched Sam Holmes sailing take a Hobie cat out to the Bahamas from FL in one of his videos, that was pretty wild.
JackBootedThug
MURDERATOR
Health. I couldn’t work anymore. I was a detriment to my coworkers in the environment that I worked in. Thank God I made it to my retirement date. Honestly they could have medically retired me but I was able to finish up in probably one of the safer positions in a prison. Sad part is I could work circles around the younger dudes without moving around much at all.
Floyd Eye
Well-known member
I’m planning on working until I’m 65. I’m in good health and like JBT I work circles around my young co-workers. Also like JBT I’m probably a detriment to my co-workers because most of them are lazy little pieces of shit and I have no filter and no fear. Pension kinda sucks but I’m doing pretty well in the 401k and other investments. All my shit is paid for.
SatanicPanic
Well-known member
That seems like a prescription to retire before 65, if you can.
Floyd Eye
Well-known member
I could I think, but I'll try to hold out as long as I can for the medicaid bullshit.
Wetordry
Well-known member
I'm curious RSM because you haven't said...did they give those larger customers(the customers they took away) to somebody who could never have grown those contracts on their own?Well changes at work for 2025 really killed my enthusiasm, drive and motivation.
In 2023, I exceeded my sales quota, and was one of the top 10 in North America; I got a performance raise in 2024.
In 2024, they increased my sales quota, and I managed to exceed my sales quota, though I was only in the top 20 in North America.
In 2025, they increased my sales quota, but removed most of my top clients, replacing them with clients who spend less money with us, and own fewer different products. At this point in the year, I'm at less than 50% of my quota, and best case scenario, I'll only be at 80% for the year.
They did this to me and several of my peers, a few I trust to talk to are in the same situation, we're far below our sales quota because of the client changes vs comparing our previous sales results, as I listed mine above. I have several individual sales people on my team who cover a subset of our products, and many of them are having similar issues with hitting their sales targets given the changes this year.
Our speculation is they plan to consolidate into larger sales territories and reduce headcount; but if we don't make our numbers, they can fire us and avoid having to pay severance packages, and not have to eliminate positions which they don't have to fill after we're fired.
it's getting ugly. Not to mention, my commissions $ are down by the same %, making the job less lucrative; meanwhile, the people who now have our former top clients are doing well meeting or exceeding their numbers. If I was paranoid, I'd see this as being targeted...but it sure feels like it.
rsm
Well-known member
My role is to grow small to medium spend customers into large+ customers; and once we (my team and I) do, they are "promoted" to other sales teams.
It's a standard process, but it's usually only 0-2 customers that are taken per year, and replaced with new customers, and our sales target number is adjusted accordingly (so they say).
For 2025, I had one customer that was "promoted" - taken away because of this existing process, and my team knew it was happening last year, so our sales target number for 2025 was adjusted to reflect the change (so they say).
What's different this year? I had four other top accounts "taken" due to a new promotion process they introduced in 2025. The four customers I "lost" due to this new promotion process were not expected, and our sales target number wasn't updated to reflect the change. This is what makes it nearly impossible to hit our sales target number, and I'm not the only one / only team getting hit with this. There is more to it, but this is the basic problem: they are expecting us to "replace" significant sales from our large customers with a set of these new "low-spend" customers...it doesn't work that way. It can take us 2-5 years of focused attention to grow one low-spend customers into a large spend strategic customer, now they expect that to happen in under a year with several clients.
These are all large customers based on their market cap; for us, "large" is determined by how much they spend (buy) annually from us.