Don't Be Totally Dependent on Your Job

I had never really given too much thought to how dependent I was on my job until I read an article about 10 years ago on the disparity between the rich and the poor, in this country. Even back then, the article was discussing how the national trend was for the rich to continue getting richer and the poor to get poorer. We've all heard that for years, but it was pointing out in this article that if a person were to survive this trend they would need to become more self sufficient. We can no longer depend on employers' loyalty to their workers in the way of providing for them after their working days are over. Pensions and retirement plans are quickly becoming a thing of the past and jobs continue to disappear through downsizing or being relocated overseas. I got the message from this article back then, but old habits tend to creep back in on you and I had become settled too much in to my current job and my dependence on my income and benefits. Which brings me to my current situation. We had new owners take over the business about 2 years ago. Since that time, everyone in the workplace has had their hours cut and have lost benefits in the form of cuts in insurance coverage, no raises in pay and cancellation of Christmas bonuses. All of this has started to have a detrimental effect on my personal finances. But more importantly, it has reminded me of the need to not be so dependent on a job for my lively hood. So I have taken steps lately to escalate my savings and investments and to build up my own small business to break this reliance on a paycheck. It is not an impossible task and I'm finding that I much prefer working for myself over working for an employer who doesn't have their workers interests at heart. I don't mind hard work, I just don't want to have to have a job anymore and I'm doing all I can to reach my goal of becoming independent of the workforce as rapidly as possible.