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Refusing Unemployment Benefits?
03-18-2009, 05:43 PM
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#1
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NC
Posts: 21,303
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Refusing Unemployment Benefits?
Fortunately my wife and I have never been unemployed in our adult working lives of 34-36 years. We've also been big on personal responsibility, so we never planned to take unemployment benefits no matter what. My wife was laid off today. She has been expecting it, and so she has been looking for another job for over 2 months with no luck, so she is really unemployed for the first time ever. It will force us to reduce expenses, but we can get by for as long as necessary without her filing for unemployment. She has no intention of seeking unemployment benefits, but I thought it would be interesting to hear the various POV's that might come from this audience. What do you think?
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No one agrees with other people's opinions; they merely agree with their own opinions -- expressed by somebody else. Sydney Tremayne
Retired Jun 2011 at age 57
Target AA: 50% equity funds / 45% bonds / 5% cash
Target WR: Approx 1.5% Approx 20% SI (secure income, SS only)
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03-18-2009, 05:53 PM
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#2
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Collin County, TX
Posts: 9,296
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If I lost my job, (if I had one, heh) the first thing I would do is apply for unemployment benefits.
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There's no need to complicate, our time is short..
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03-18-2009, 05:54 PM
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#3
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 7,733
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Sorry to hear about your wife losing her job.
I must say I don't understand why you would refuse the benefits. Generally, unemployment benefits are paid from an employer funded insurance pool not form taxpayers. (I.e. all of us retired folks aren't paying for those folks collecting unemployment benefits) Presumably if such tax wasn't paid you would have benefited from higher wages over the years.
I see no difference between refusing to accept payment from your auto insurance company after an accident, and not accepting unemployment benefits.
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03-18-2009, 06:02 PM
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#4
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 12,880
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Do you refuse your tax refunds?
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Al
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03-18-2009, 06:07 PM
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#5
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NC
Posts: 21,303
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I make sure I always owe, but I would not refuse a refund. Guess I'm not sure how the benefits are funded...so I'll Google that.
__________________
No one agrees with other people's opinions; they merely agree with their own opinions -- expressed by somebody else. Sydney Tremayne
Retired Jun 2011 at age 57
Target AA: 50% equity funds / 45% bonds / 5% cash
Target WR: Approx 1.5% Approx 20% SI (secure income, SS only)
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03-18-2009, 06:08 PM
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#6
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Lake Livingston, Tx
Posts: 4,204
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I have been unemployed twice when I could have claimed UEI. I did not either time. At the time I did not need the money, and I did not want to go through the hassle.
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03-18-2009, 06:08 PM
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#7
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: East Nowhere, 43N Latitude, NY
Posts: 9,037
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W*rking people unemployed by circumstance are completely different from the chronically unemployed by artful design.
I got laid off once in my life, way back in 1981. I filled out the forms and received the benefits.
Please reconsider...Unemployment benefits could make the difference between
tapping cash reserves now or tapping them later .
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"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." - Walt Disney
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03-18-2009, 06:09 PM
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#8
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 12,901
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I lost my job in 2002 and was unemployed for 4 months. I didn't take any unemployment benefits back then mostly because we didn't need the money (small severance, plenty of savings and we could easily get by on my wife's income) and quite frankly I felt too ashamed to stand in line at the unemployment office (I think that you can do everything online nowadays so that's less of a problem). It's silly, I know... But if that money were to have a huge impact on our survival, then yes, we'd get over our egos and file for unemployment benefits. But we would have to be in really, really deep trouble to count on a $240 a week benefit to survive...
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03-18-2009, 06:17 PM
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#9
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Oahu
Posts: 26,860
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Midpack
What do you think?
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You've paid for it, you've earned it, and you might as while file for it.
Even George Soros accepted unemployment benefits at one point in his life. Presumably he's more than made up for it.
If you have strong ethical issues with unemployment benefits, then consider this-- if you drew unemployment benefits and donated the cash to a local food bank, then how many other families would benefit from your charity?
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Co-author (with my daughter) of “Raising Your Money-Savvy Family For Next Generation Financial Independence.”
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03-18-2009, 06:36 PM
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#10
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Dryer sheet aficionado
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 44
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Good Grief!
Do you refuse police or fire protection? Have you ever used a library? Who picks up your garbage?
Good grief!
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03-18-2009, 06:42 PM
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#11
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: North Oregon Coast
Posts: 16,483
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Whether you agree with them in principle, if you paid into it (directly or indirectly through your employer), take what's due you.
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"Hey, for every ten dollars, that's another hour that I have to be in the work place. That's an hour of my life. And my life is a very finite thing. I have only 'x' number of hours left before I'm dead. So how do I want to use these hours of my life? Do I want to use them just spending it on more crap and more stuff, or do I want to start getting a handle on it and using my life more intelligently?" -- Joe Dominguez (1938 - 1997)
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03-18-2009, 06:44 PM
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#12
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 2,433
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I would definitely encourage her to take it for many of the reasons mentioned above. It's insurance, not a welfare payment. Besides, you (she) will be paying income taxes on it. Plus, if it matters, I believe the stimulus bill will pay 65% of her COBRA premiums for up to nine months.
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I'd rather be governed by the first one hundred names in the telephone book than the Harvard faculty - William F. Buckley
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03-18-2009, 06:47 PM
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#13
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 488
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I was laid off last year for 12 weeks for the first time in 40 years. I filed for unemployment online in Minnesota. No lines, no waiting. It took five minutes and two days later the money was automatically deposited in my account. There is really no reason not to take it.
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03-18-2009, 06:48 PM
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#14
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 5,214
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Responsible people get unemployed too. I would file for unemployment benefits.
I happen to be also big on personal responsibility like you. That to me has nothing to do with filing or not filing for unemployment benefits.
I have been paying taxes year after year and a few thousand dollars from the government wouldn't make me feel like an irresponsible person, or a lazy bum.
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03-18-2009, 07:28 PM
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#15
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Gone but not forgotten
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Sarasota,fl.
Posts: 11,447
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Do you plan on collecting SS ? Then what is the difference ? This is a benefit you paid for so use it .
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03-18-2009, 08:00 PM
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#16
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Los Angeles area
Posts: 1,708
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In my (now concluded) career of 27 years, I qualified for 1 week of unemployment benefits, which I also did not need. I did not hesitate to grab it.You never know when it might be needed and unavailable.
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learn, work, save, invest, fire
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03-18-2009, 08:08 PM
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#17
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gone traveling
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 3,864
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03-18-2009, 09:24 PM
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#18
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 4,764
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03-18-2009, 11:02 PM
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#19
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Chicago
Posts: 13,185
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Midpack
Fortunately my wife and I have never been unemployed in our adult working lives of 34-36 years. We've also been big on personal responsibility, so we never planned to take unemployment benefits no matter what. My wife was laid off today. She has been expecting it, and so she has been looking for another job for over 2 months with no luck, so she is really unemployed for the first time ever. It will force us to reduce expenses, but we can get by for as long as necessary without her filing for unemployment. She has no intention of seeking unemployment benefits, but I thought it would be interesting to hear the various POV's that might come from this audience. What do you think?
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Not collect unemployment benefits in Illinois...... whew..... you guys need to think about that! You're falling into the trap "those people" are setting for responsible folks like you!
Tell DW she doesn't have to go to the unemployment office or anything gross like that. You get the benefits started via the internet and a bi-weekly auto-phone call keeps 'em coming.
If your DW doesn't grab this money, Ill Dems will use it to promote further corruption. Don't you think Ill politicians are doing well enough as it is?
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"I wasn't born blue blood. I was born blue-collar." John Wort Hannam
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03-18-2009, 11:08 PM
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#20
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 35,712
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Midpack, I am sorry to hear about your wife being laid off.
About unemployment, we have never claimed it, because we were fortunate to always have left on our own; we quit, and I thought quitters did not qualify. We also thought about the hassle and the stigma that might come with it. Additionally, we were not actively looking for a job.
Reading other posters' comments show me that there is no shame in claiming this benefit if one gets laid off against her will. It's really no different than claiming SS. Of course it would be nice for us to be so rich that we can say we will not need SS, but that is not going to be the case. I also did not know that there wasn't much hassle in claiming unemployment. Remember that you have been paying for this, and probably never get back what you paid in.
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