From Riches to Rags

By: Greg Jackson

The Wall Street Journal has begun divulging how the New York financial segment is in such awful straits at present that some past stock gurus have gone to the lowly life of being employed for a living. For instance, take Carlos Araya. He once used to be the Wall Street administrator you would see ordering big ticket dinners at the Palm Restaurant in midtown Manhattan. Now, he serves at the restaurant. As Wall Street started to hurt, he lost his work as a crude oil trader on the New York Mercantile Exchange in 2007. After awful luck at finding a new job in the investment business, he applied in August 2008 to be a host at the Palm to make end’s meet. He is earning just over 10 percent of his initial salary.

A number of ex- investment brokers, used to performing high end jobs that they are well trained for and making salaries some people would kill for, are required to agree to low-wage work because they just cannot convert their experience and preparation into a occupation like the one they lost. Now, Mr. Araya is heading in the direction of insolvency and is certain that he will never go back to the investment business.

Unfortunately, there are thousands of stories such as this one. Approximately 25,000 jobs have been lost in the financial sector in New York alone since August 2007. Before 2012, that number is supposed to hike up to 56,800. This figure started building in 2007 during the financial hiccup that was a predecessor to our current downturn, in which Araya lost his occupation.

John Carbonaro lost his occupation with Bank of America as a floor clerk in January 2009, and regardless of his experience and attraction, at present takes care of the home duties in the family. Joe Morrone, a previous Prudential trading clerk, has been out of work for two years and struggles to support his daughters and grandson. He has worked in a deli, as a doorman, and a bouncer. He used to own three cars for just his own use. Now he shares one family car they fight to pay for.

Araya sometimes sees ex- colleagues from Wall Street in the Palm at the time his shifts. Some are pleasing meetings, offering support. Other meetings are not so nice. “The way they look at you, you know they’re thinking unconstructively,” he says. Others come in asking if they can get a job at the restaurant too. With 25,000 laid off, it’s certain many of them wish a job there.

Araya’s daughter asked him if they might afford their house or if they would be obliged to put it up for sale. He told her he was not sure. She asked him if he knew how much money the family required. “The way she looked at me,” Araya says, “I could tell she was counting the money in her piggy bank.” The psychologically painful exchange with his daughter caused him to sprint into the bathroom and weep. “At the end of the week, I get my paycheck and I think, ‘I used to make this amount in a day,’” he adds.

Article Source: http://yourfinance.co.za