Tag: career

the whole life sabbatical (part 3 of 3)


Creative Commons License photo credit: mistress_f

In part 1 of this three-part series I talked about walking away from various responsibilities in your life. In part 2 I talked about whether it would be easy to leave them. Now I’m going to bring it together with my thoughts on “walking away from it all.”Would it make you happier? In each area, it really depends on how happy you are now. Simply dropping a responsibility doesn’t make you happier. It can, however, free up enough time to allow you to pursue other activities that DO make you happy. I will argue this – almost no personal growth is possible without giving up something; without walking away from something else.

Work: For most people, this is the big one. I have a picture of a “workless” life and a picture of a “better work” life. I think most people say “oh, I couldn’t be happy without regular work, something to do, yada yada.” That’s not the case with me - I really get a lot of enjoyment out of learning and engaging in the regular business of day to day life. I’m not sure I need an avocation, per se. But I realize nobody is going to pay me to play with my kids all day every day, so I imagine “walking away from my work” ending up as walking into another job. I’d just like the hours to be flexible and more or less self-directed. But I do recognize this point: nobody will get a dream job, a dream career, the flexibility they’ve always desired without walking away from the one they have now. In order to achieve fulfillment in your work/career, you must be prepared to walk away from everything you have now.

Family: In the example I mentioned (should you take an infirm elderly relative into your home or support them by placing them in an elder care facility), it’s a tough choice people make all the time. My family has done so. You can’t ever abandon your family, but you do have to be able to let go and move on to develop other relationships. I see less of my brother than I did when I was younger and we lived together. I see less of my parents than I did when I lived at home. I even spend less time with my wife once we had a son, and now that we have a daughter, also, I have to spend less time with him. But each time when you take a little time away from someone, it doesn’t mean – or at least it doesn’t HAVE to mean – that you lose any of the strength of that relationship. In some ways it makes time you spend with those people even more intense, if you value them. By giving up time with one person you can grow your relationship with another – and it’s not a zero-sum game. I don’t love my brother or parents or wife or son any less as more people have been added to my family – if anything, it makes me appreciate everyone even more.

Finances: Walking away from your financial responsibilities is one of the best things you can do for yourself – unless you enjoy having a financial responsibility to your digital cable. Each time I’ve jettisoned a financial commitment it has not felt like a sacrifice – it’s felt like freedom. I have a long way to go, and some responsibilities are better than others: I don’t mind my mortgage because it allows me to keep my investments liquid and enjoy a pleasant home. But completing the lease on my car and buying the next one for cash, and ending that once-a-month reminder of money floating away was a source of huge satisfaction. Sometimes I think happiness can be defined more easily – on a financial basis – as the lack of things, rather than the possession of things. I will be wealthy, but I want that wealth to be expressed in a house and financial freedom and security for my family and travel and experiences, rather than in Wii’s.

Life: And finally, life. Can you walk away from your health? No. Can you walk away from other parts of your life? Yes: you can walk away from everything about your life that’s negative. How many people do you know who cling to failed relationships, or bad habits, or make themselves sick by living in unhealthy environments? Life is the one area you have to learn to walk away from. Don’t accept the idea that you have to have some misery in your life. Don’t accept “no pain, no gain.” There is gain without pain.

So what was I getting at with these posts? Too often I read about, and think about what I need to GET or ACQUIRE to achieve goals. Too often people think I NEED that to be happy, or I have an OBLIGATION to stay in this situation. Try not to think of life as a series of things you HAVE to do. These are not powerful words. Try to think of life as a series of experiences you WANT.

Identify what’s not working for you, and walk away from it – what are you waiting for, your next life?

Corporate coffee cost cutting

Over the course of my audit and consulting careers I have worked in a number of different office environments. I have worked in polished-steel and black marble floored high rises in Manhattan. I have worked in banks, in suburban office parks and in drab skyscraper cubicle farms. I have worked in hotels, in family-owned businesses and even once in a closet which had been converted to an office.

Most of these offices spaces shared one characteristic, which seems to be dying away: a coffee maker. I am not a huge coffee drinker, although I like coffee. I have a cup at home and maybe one more when I arrive at the office. However, I have recently cut back on my one cup at work and drink tea I buy at the supermarket instead. Why? Because in the last 4-5 years I have noticed that coffee makers are disappearing.

There may be a number of reasons, first among them safety hazards. But I think the root problem might be a horribly misguided corporate cost-cutting effort. I think most corporations look at a coffee machine and think:

  1. We must be spending a fortune on Maxwell House!
  2. How much does all of that filtered water cost?
  3. Think of how much it costs to replace a coffee machine once every decade - it might be $25 or more!
  4. Think of how much time we lose when employees meet at the coffee machine and chit chat while pouring milk, adding sugar and stirring!!

Three of the last four corporate offices I’ve worked in did not offer coffee. One had a horrific machine that dribbled out some instant powder and then some hot water to make some swill. One served Starbucks coffee, brewed with filtered water and changed out by the office staff once per hour to keep it from getting burnt or stale. And two simply had no coffee available except in the company cafeteria on a different floor.

So how much is keeping a coffee machine on each floor costing the company? At the company where Starbucks was provided, I would linger occassionally talking to someone at the machine, sure, but usually I walked over, got a cup, and was back at my desk in 2 minutes holding a nice, pleasant cup of coffee. It made me more enthusiastic about the work and the company (stupid, I know).

However, at the two companies offering nothing I had to go downstairs to the cafeteria, get some coffee that’s been sitting in one of these giant brew-pots for hours (so it’s too harsh) and pay approximately $1.50 for a small cup. I have to wait in line to pay, and the whole process probably takes 15 minutes or more. I am irritated at paying the money. I am irritated because if I want a splash of hot coffee to perk up my cup after it’s cold, I can’t. You don’t get the friendly hanging-around-the-coffee-pot chatter that’s one of the few bearable moments in most cube farms. And the company loses far more productive time from me.

I understand there may be safety concerns, but I doubt it. I see microwaves and hot water dispensers in break rooms. The technology is there to buy safety or timed coffeemakers, or work with an office coffee vendor to ensure equipment is cleaned and working properly without any effort on your part.

Going outside the office isn’t an option - the nearest coffee shop is a 5 minute walk away so by the time you go out, wait, come back you’ve wasted even more time. Plus, I just don’t like going “off campus” because then I really feel obligated to go off the clock on my hourly rate. I know I should just switch to drinking tea (hot water is free, still) or water, but I really enjoy that morning cup of coffee.

So what do you think? Am I being unreasonable and whiny or are these corporations being penny wise, pound foolish?

giving gifts in the office

dunder A pet peeve of mine, for a long time, has been the corporate office “pitch in for a gift” routine. If you aren’t a corporate employee, what happens is that there’s usually one perky busybody in every department who decides to buy a flower basket when co-workers gets sick, or a teddy bear when they have a baby, or an item from the registry when someone gets married, or even a little gift for everyone’s birthday. This busybody goes around and asks everyone for a “donation,” knowing full well that for most people refusing is an embarrassing proposition.

I have never liked this business of pitching in.

  • 1. I don’t always like the person for whom the present is being purchased.
  • 2. Sometimes the reason for the gift is trivial - someone is having a birthday? What, are we 12?
  • 3. There is a subtle discrimination - someone who has been around longer, or has a better position, or is simply more popular gets bigger or better gifts.
  • 4. If the busybody is encouraged, soon you are shelling out $10-$20 a week for “voluntary” gifts.

I am also very uncomfortable accepting such gifts, and have often said point-blank that I don’t want any gifts. Maybe I have a distorted view, but to me if I receive a gift I feel an obligation to return it the next time I’m asked to contribute. Then I’m “stuck” as a regular contributor.

Now that I’m a consultant - and technically not “part” of the department - I find it easier to refuse. I am stingy enough with gift-giving for my family and friends (and myself) that I resent any “required” gifts for my co-workers. I know, in a sense, that this just reflects the realities of most people’s lives - that they spend more time with their co-workers than with their friends and families and therefore want to contribute to the morale of their workplace. Yet every time I’m asked to pitch in $10 for a co-worker’s cheese-and-sausage gift basket I see $10 that could buy my son some books, or $10 to add to my nieces’ and nephew’s custodial accounts, or even $10 that Bubelah and I could put towards an occasional evening out. I am selfish that way.

So am I crazy? Do you have people asking you to contribute to “departmental” gifts at the office? Do you participate? Am I just being a jerk?

(photo credit by makelessnoise)

is college worth it? (part 1)

guinea pig reading a book

Based on a few recent comments on some of my articles about careers (this one, for example), I started wondering about the difference in wealth between college graduates and skilled non-college graduates. A college graduate can usually expect to go into the professional world as a “white-collar” worker, earning substantially more than his non-college graduate peers. However, the college graduate - unless he is very athletically or academically gifted - will probably come out of college with at least some student loan debt. He will probably start earning money several years (4 or more) later than a non-college graduate.

So I decided to do a comparison of the two career paths, and see what those big choices meant for someone later down the road. Specifically I wondered if I could answer a few questions:

  1. Can the late start in saving by the college graduate be overcome through higher salaries?
  2. Does the lower earning potential of a non-college graduate mean that the non-college graduate will be required to “work until they die”?
  3. Who will be able to quit the rat race first?

I made a lot of assumptions and put together a spreadsheet to try to come up with answers to some of these questions. I’ll cover that in part 2. I ignored a few things - I didn’t worry about inflation, for example, since it would affect them both equally. You could argue this is wrong, because inflation moves at different rates in different parts of the country, commuting costs (gas, etc.) might expose one or the other to more inflationary pressures, etc. I skipped that. I also assume that both are highly disciplined savers, always saving 10% of their income and getting decent returns over time. If, of course, both started saving as soon as they start earning and never reduce that amount, they would be in the .000001% of the US population that does so.

My findings were a surprise and weren’t a surprise to me. The main point of the exercise was for me to challenge my own personal context (a concept Robert Kiyosaki talks about a LOT in his book “Retire Young, Retire Rich“). My context is that smart people go to college and get desk jobs. My context is that wealth is created through earning as much as possible. I am trying to challenge my own prejudices about what “building wealth” and “escaping the rat race” actually mean to me. It’s interesting, because I don’t have much exposure to people who don’t subscribe to the “go to college, earn money” credo; but fortunately I’m learning more about the opposite mindset and it’s interesting for me. It’s too late for me to undo my decision to go to college for 7+ years. There were alternatives - I could’ve started a business and educated myself. It’s not too late for me to learn something new.

Stay tuned!

(photo by GirlReporter)

is it better to be busy or have nothing to do?

Being busy or taking it easy at work. It’s a tough choice sometimes. I know that many people think it would be easier to sit in one place all day and do nothing. But it’s not. Another question is whether it would be better to be busy in short spurts, or better to be busy almost all the time. I’ve had my experience doing both as a consultant, and the answer is clear to me.

There’s nothing worse than having nothing to do. Nothing. I didn’t think that when I was younger, but doing anything was always better than having a full day with nothing to do. Doing nothing all day isn’t fun, even if you are still getting paid for it. I have learned, through sad experience, doing nothing – no matter what the pay – is not worth it. Much of a professional life is made up of boredom and ennui. In fact, the main goal, at least in my opinion, of a professional life is to avoid such boredom and ennui.

If you are busy at your job count yourself lucky. If you are busy at your job, and enjoy your job, then count yourself doubly lucky. It’s everything to both enjoy your job and be busy doing it. Most Americans are one, or the other…or neither. The worst, of course, is to be neither busy nor to enjoy your job. This is, sadly, the fate of most corporate workers.

I’m lucky. I’ve done enough consulting work that I am able to select the types of projects that I want to do. Not everyone is like this. Many people have to accept jobs that either do not engage them, or do not keep them busy enough. I was like this earlier in my career, of course. But now I value this ability to stay busy more than almost any other aspect of a job. If the client can keep me busy for the better part of the day, I can absorb myself in my work and do a good job. But if a client tells me, well, we’ll have something to do for you next week, but for now just wait - well, it’s hard to stay motivated, and in fact I’ll likely end up reading the newspaper. And since hippies don’t like the news, I don’t want to end up doing that, either.

I know it’s popular in blogger circles to talk about finding your passion. I know it’s a good idea, and I have like to think I can do the same. But the simple truth is that sometimes busyness can substitute for passion. Sometimes simply staying busy for the best part of the work day can be an adequate substitute for enjoying what you do. Of course if you’re making widgets, and you have to spend eight hours a day twisting a widget head on to a widget body, it’s not fun. But if you have a job that is marginally satisfying, and you can work hard at it all day long, that job is probably more satisfying than the more interesting job which does not keep you busy.

It’s counterintuitive … I know. You’d like to think that you need passion to continue working with fervor. But you don’t. Often, it’s enough to simply be working hard at something you tolerate. I can’t say that I love my client work. But when they keep me busy, it’s enough. The work’s moderately interesting, and frankly I don’t have enough time to sit around and think about what I’d rather be doing. Maybe I’d rather be building sand castles, or working on the next Great American novel, but the simple fact is I’m doing a good job and staying focused on the task and… getting paid.

So tried thinking about that the next time that you are looking for a new job. Focus on jobs that allow you to stay busy. Obviously, you should focus on jobs that utilize your skills and your abilities to the best possible advantage. But past that, you also need to find a job that allows you to stay busy. Trust me, in the long run you will be much happier.

making overseas experience count

Erevan city street

(A reposting of what is - in my opinion, at least - an interesting post from 2007, including the original comments)

A reader asked me an interesting question a while back: “I lived for 2 years in northern Peru as a missionary. Although this wasn’t with a corporation, I still gained tremendous experience and now speak Spanish fluently. How can I make this overseas experience look valuable to future employers?” As I mentioned once in 8 steps to a six-figure career, I think an ‘weird’ assignment like an overseas posting for your company is a great career move. However, just because you spent time overseas in a non-business role doesn’t mean you have to gloss over it on your resume. These can still be powerful resume-boosters if you present them in the right way.

  1. First of all, don’t sell YOURSELF short. Many people in the business world will be convinced that analyzing a spreadsheet is “better business experience” than leading a team of people building a house. They are wrong. When you come across people like this, don’t let them discourage you. Managing a team is managing a team. Analyzing problems and developing solutions are the same skills whether you’re talking about building a house OR building a brand.
  2. Keep “on message”. If your missionary work involved building homes for poor people or organizing a new congregation or similar types of projects, make sure you sell the activity, not the description. What does that mean? Say “organized and led a team of 18 in repairing structural damage to an 1800 square foot building” instead of “helped rebuild a church.” Stay specific. Even people who are IN business make this mistake: telling someone you “participated in a project to reengineer a corporate reporting process” is not as impressive as saying “saved the company $2.3 million per year by making 13 reports paperless.” Participating in big projects may sound grand, but leading a small project with definite, measurable results is far more impressive.

  3. Write it down. Related to the point above, write down everything you did while you were overseas. Try to write a bullet point list, and keep descriptions down to one or two lines per activity. Imagine you are writing instructions to your successor: relay basic information and bare details. Don’t add any extra information. This list is important because it allows you to focus on what looks impressive on paper. Your first, best and often only chance to impress is in a resume; don’t assume that the stories you can tell in an interview will translate well to paper.
  4. Use the experience to show you are independent and a risk-taker. In the reader’s example, northern Peru missionary work is something most people would be afraid to do. Go ahead and play up the independent/risky aspect of it. They don’t need to hear about how the trip had been undertaken by 15 missionaries before you - they need to hear how you spent 3 days in a small village with no phones and nobody who spoke English. Emphasize how risk affected your work.
  5. Language skills, especially Spanish, are staggeringly important - in the right company. They can be pointless in the wrong company. Spanish is often incredibly useful, but I worked with one company that had a minimal presence in the Latin American market and didn’t really care about having Spanish language skills. Identify companies that need Spanish speakers. If the company doesn’t need Spanish speakers, one of your key selling points is worthless, and you should really consider whether it’s worth pursuing work with that company.
  6. Be careful claiming fluency. If you are fluent in a language, say you are fluent. Offer casually to conduct interviews in Spanish or English - hiring managers will be impressed. However, there is a BIG caveat. I can’t tell you how many times I have tripped up people with this question in an interview: if you claim you are fluent in a language, tell me how to say “balance sheet”. Make sure you brush up on common terms. If you’re going to interview with a publishing company, make sure you know how to say “publishing industry” or “royalties.” Don’t assume fluency means native speaker. When I was working in Russia I knew how to say “limited stock share equity” in Russian, but didn’t know the word for “pillow.” The context for fluency can be tricky!

It’s not impossible whatsoever to translate non-business experiences into selling points, but it does require thinking in a different way than you may be used to. Finding a job also requires identifying good opportunities and being realistic. If you think that missionary work is a good first step to being an Oracle database administrator, you’re probably wrong. If you think that management, risk-taking and teamwork are skills that are universally needed, you’re right!

how to take time off from work

I remember about two years ago when a fellow consultant expressed amazement that I was planning to take a Thursday off - after having taken Monday off. He couldn’t understand how I was able to afford to take two days off in an average week - let alone two weeks before I planned on going on vacation.

The simple truth is that I have certain rules that, if anyone follows them, makes taking time off a snap. I have five, off the top of my head:

1. Pay yourself first. I save money every month before it hits our bank account. It’s gone and saved before I even realize it exists. That makes digging into savings tricky. It also means that I’m not worried about grubbing for a dollar at the end of the year.

2. Consider whether you need it. Bubelah and I make dopey purchases - we are not ultra frugal. At the same time, we do not buy useless things on a regular basis. It doesn’t take much - try not buying overpromoted fashion and consumer electronics for a while and voila, savings. A little time off is worth passing on the XBox, isn’t it?

3. Pay in cash. I use a credit card, for the sake of cash back bonuses, but for all intents and purposes I pay cash; we wait until we have cash in hand to buy anything. I mean anything. I paid cash for a new Honda minivan two years ago. I paid cash for new rechargeable batteries last week. We don’t buy anything without the means to pay for it. We never have to worry about the upcoming credit card bill.

4. Diversify your income. I blog, and I work on a couple of other income streams. My “other” streams make up maybe 5% of my income, but at the same time that means I’m making 105% of what I would be making on consulting income alone. Better than nothing, I think. But that 5% away from work means I can take 5% off my normal work and still come out even, right?

5. Pick your battles. I have never understood people who won’t take off a beautiful day in summer. Listen, 20 years from now that extra $100 for a day’s work won’t make a difference. A day in the sun making a stab at accomplishing that wee bitty thing called life will be worth it. Maybe it’s better to stay late in the office in February and ditch in summer.

I feel sorry for so many of the employees and consultants I see around me who will complain about “needing” to work one minute and then about their new plasma TV the next minute. Not because I think they made a bad choice - because it’s not my place to judge - but because they seem unhappy with their choices. Nobody is ever happy trading their time for crap. Put yourself in a position where you can forgo money for time and you’ll be a happier person.

small company roundup

I’m back into heavy-duty contract consulting again, after a few months of doing piecemeal work.  It’s tough, but as with any work it’s rewarding to know that you have a client who needs help doing X, and … hey, I can do X!  Here you go!  Plus I’m having an interesting experience working for by far the smallest client I’ve ever had.  I typically work for very large corporations – to give you an idea of scale, I spent a year working in Morgan Stanley’s corporate headquarters as a consultant.  So taking a brief turn here with a small company about .01% of Morgan Stanley’s size is quite interesting for me.  It’s early to make snap judgments but so far the comparison is positive.

Oh, and go Jets. 

Blogger’s Favorite Personal Finance Books: I recommended Rich Dad, Poor Dad, which should be no particular surprise to anyone who reads this blog. A few other decent selections here, too.

9 Ways to Prepare for Food Inflation: I’m not worried, but it will occur (and already has, if you like organic foods).

The Frugal Wedding: How to Save Money When Getting Married: The best way to save money getting married is to marry someone who understands what a wedding costs versus what it’s worth.

How HP/Palm’s webOS Can Compete with Apple iOS and Google Android: Well, OK. I still like the market leader, Blackberry.

Opening a Bank Account for a Toddler: Something we’ve considered but so far rejected - our poor kids keep all their hard-earned money (or gifts from grandparents) in piggy banks and "money envelopes." But it might be time to revisit that.

Vacation Without Kids: I have fantasies.

10 Wacky Safes – Home Security Safes for Your Money: Once, in Moscow, I had a fake Coke can - you unscrewed it while pressing a button on the bottom and it opened. I kept all my American dollars tucked in there. I had a big party one night and a bunch of people crashed there - friends, friends of friends; the next morning I woke up and saw someone had hacked, torn and pulled at the ‘fake coke’ with a knife trying to get it to open. Money was still there, but the fake Coke idea was, well, over.

7 Simple Tax Organization Tips To Use All Year Round and 2011 Tax Changes: I’m all fired up about doing taxes. Give me a hooah!

Eating Healthy is Becoming More Expensive Every Day: Been so for a long time. I feel it’s worth it with dairy, meat and some fruits and veggies. Not so worth it with things like juice, bread, etc. Just my medically uninformed idea, though.

25 Toughest Interview Questions of 2010: They are all tough, simply because the job market is so competitive.

What I Learned During the Year of Penury: Words to live by (reorganized slightly):

  • Your greatest asset is good health, should you be so lucky to have it and keep it.
  • You can live frugally and still be reasonably comfortable, most of the time. • No matter what anyone says about the alleged tax advantages of carrying a mortgage, when you’re unemployed a paid-off roof over your head is your second-greatest asset.
  • If you’re not in debt, you can live on a lot less than you think you need.
  • If you are in debt, you’d better have a good stash of emergency savings to cover payments.

The Lifestyle You Want: I am a long way from walking away from TV entirely, but I have come to recognize that advertising is a clear and present (and continuing) danger. It corrupts almost everything about your life, whether you think it does or not.

Caring for Aging Parents: Something us Gen Xers are going to be facing. Later rather that sooner, hopefully, but we will.

Betelgeuse to be second sun for Earth as supernova turns night into day: And finally, in the ‘holy crap’ category, we have the prospect of months without night. A supernova might cause endless sunlight for months! It’s a funny story, because the kicker is the tiny addendum I’ve seen at a few different sites stating that Betelgeuse might explode anywhere between this year and a million years hence… making the probability of a current-year explosion, eh, slightly remote.

I don’t want to leave this job in a coffin

This post was inspired by a great post over at Money Smart Life called Life’s Too Short for a Crappy Job; I left a comment there, but I felt like I should repost and expand what I talked about there. I’ve been a victim of the keep-your-job-at-any-cost mentality. This is what happened to me.

I vividly remember about 12 years ago working at a consulting firm I hated. The hours were ridiculous. During the busiest part of the year 80-90 per week was standard. I broke the magic 100 one time; I’ll save you the math and point out that’s 14 hours a day, 7 days a week. In at 8 or 9 am, out at 11 pm or so.. The pay was pathetic (on an hourly basis less than minimum wage, since I didn’t get overtime). I worked so much that my girlfriend at the time dumped me after one too many cancelled dates. And worst of all, my hatred for the job and exhaustion started to cause me to make mistakes, which made me work even longer hours to fix them. But worse problems loomed.

In the story at Money Smart Life, a few of the people sticking out their terrible jobs develop tooth-grinding conditions that require dental care and maybe even surgery. And here’s what killed me about that: someone develops a teeth-grinding condition and doesn’t realize their job is killing them? They complain about their job, they suffer terrible illnesses, and don’t DO something about it? Like quit, right away?

I thought “that’s ridiculous” and then I remembered that close to the end of my awful consulting job I developed an ulcer and threw up blood a few times…. and didn’t quit. I was throwing up before and after work and thought it was just because I was stressed. Think about that and wonder why I’m not crazy. Or why I am.

What finally made me quit was this: I was getting ready to go to work one morning. I had a cold and was feeling a bit woozy, but it was a big meeting. As I put on my tie, I fell down on the floor and passed out for a few minutes. When I got up, I STILL went to work (not the hospital). I waited until after the meeting to go to my doctor, who informed me that I didn’t have a cold - I had pneumonia AND bronchitis. And that I would probably be dead in six months if I didn’t address my health.

Really - he said that. Dead in six months. He wasn’t kidding. He said it in a very doctor-ish tone, so I knew he was serious.

It took that to make me quit. And I was single and didn’t have a mortgage or car payments or anything that really tied me to that job, other than the idea that this was MY JOB (in all caps). I had destiny, and the Protestant work ethic, and I would NOT QUIT (again, in all caps). There was no reason I couldn’t quit, though, except that I was career driven. I’m not in that line of work anymore, by the way. What a waste.

I look back on it and wish I could go back and punch myself in the head and tell myself “life’s too short for a crappy job.” Completely true. Well worth remembering here, close to the start of a new year. If you’re having health problems because you hate your job that much – don’t kid yourself. It’s not you… it’s the job. Quit.

Photo is Some rights reserved by longhorndave

crappy jobs, Wal-Mart and links

florida sky

This week I came across a couple of articles that I had something to say about, and a couple I simply enjoyed for reading pleasure – plus a bunch of others that might be useful to you or that just caught my attention for one reason or another.

I’ve gotta say…

Two articles are going to prompt a few comments from me. First came Life’s Too Short for a Crappy Job. I wrote a fairly lengthy comment at the end of this post, so hop over there to read it, but the gist of my comment (and the post) was this: do not kill yourself for a job. Work hard, sacrifice, fine. Endanger your health, your sanity, or your mental stability? Never. Times are tough – I’m having a terrible time with my consulting business – but don’t assume that a job that is going to hurt you in the short term, or the long term, is something you need to pursue.

The other article was “Wal-Mart Saves You Money Even if You Never Shop There.” Well, of course it does. It depresses local communities so buying power is lower. It uses near-serf labor from developing countries for many of its goods. It doesn’t respect unions, or help with health care costs like most major corporations. It’s a bargain. I’ve come all the way from being a Wal-Mart shareholder – I made a lot of money off their stock in the 80s and 90s – to refusing to shop there. Companies like these simply can’t be the future of American capitalism. Don’t shop there for the holidays. At least shop at their marginally more responsible big-box competitors like Costco and Target (and of those two, Costco is far better).

And then a few more comments…

Using a Health Savings Account to Lower Your Medical and Health Insurance Costs: Health care costs are on the rise. Learn how a Health Savings Account can help you save money.

Should I Use a Debit Card or Credit Card? Frugal Dad examines the pros and cons of both credit cards and debit cards.

I’m switching to e-bills and e-statements: No more paper for this guy!

Best Small Business Credit Cards - Have a small business? Consider one of these cards to help provide the cash flow flexibility to meet the needs of your growing small business. Provide purchase protection and earn rewards too.

6 Things To Consider When Moving For A Job. Moving for a job can be a bad thing, or a great thing. Make certain you make that decision with your eyes wide open.

What Is Peer to Peer (Person to Person) Lending? - A description of what peer to peer lending is and how it works. Best Military Movies Giveaway. Share your favorite military movies and enter to Win $100 in Amazon Gift Cards!

And lastly, the grab bag:

working for a salary - a bad deal?

Office Politics: A Rise to the Top

Chances are you’ll never be rich as an employee. If you work for an employer, chances are that you get paid a fixed amount and it is increased every year. Chances are also good that you are being paid in money, which is subject to inflation. The result is probably that your real wages are probably stagnant. In fact, in the most recent “boom” (2000-2007) the median wage in America actually declined (and before that it had been stagnant for 20 years). The real estate boom was a false one, not based on increased wealth or productivity, but on leverage; everyone borrowed money to make money. But unless you worked on Wall Street in a revenue-producing position (investment banker, etc.) it’s doubtful you saw an increase in your real wages.

I calculated my own raises year over year during the time I was still receiving a salary. My best year was a 62% raise, and my worst was a three-year tie at 4%. The 62% raise was an exception to the rule. I left a stable job in a small Southern city, Memphis, and moved to the gargantuan metropolis of Moscow and received, in effect, hazard pay. The actual raise in real terms was even more, because I didn’t have to pay US taxes on it. It was early in my career and my wages increased thanks more to changes in location than anything. I entered a field as it boomed. I moved to Russia as it boomed. I moved to New York it boomed. Then I switched to consulting

Over the last 5 years I worked as a salaried employee, my average annual raise was 5% - so my salary rose 27% during those five years. For those 5 years, the inflation rate was approximately 18% (inflationdata.com). Therefore, my real purchasing power increased approximately 9% over 5 years. This is not tremendous growth, despite the fact that I already had a six-figure salary – so the numbers looked good even if in reality they weren’t that impressive.

If you had an investment that had returned no more than 9% over five years you would probably dump it. Isn’t your career an investment of sorts? I am a consultant and I (usually) work for an hourly rate determined in a contract signed with the client at the beginning of a project. My rate fluctuates due to several factors: demand, the overall economy and even my own interests (for example, I hurt my rate by tending to refuse jobs with business travel involved). But I have a lot more control over that rate than I ever did over my salary.

I was a senior manager when I snuck out of the workforce and into consulting, so if I went back, I would probably go back in as a senior-level manager or a very junior executive. I know from talking to various that I make significantly more as a consultant than salaried people at a similar stage in their career. Granted, I have higher expenses (health care, insurance, etc.) but on a net basis I still come out ahead, and considering salaried people don’t get paid for overtime I get paid a lot more if you compared hourly salaries. The difference is when you hit the executive level, where there has been no wage stagnation in the last couple of decades. Between 1989 and 2007 (latest data I could find) executive salaries rose almost 107% while overall wages remained flat.

So while you might eventually hit the big time executive salaries, chances are good that you won’t, and your raises will likely not top 4%. Realistically, given the economy, raises in general seem unlikely – I’ve seen a lot of data indicating that pay cuts are becoming common. Another consideration is time: to make it as a junior executive requires pulling long hours trying to prove your worth to the organization and putting in face time. But if you work in a salaried job and love it and feel you have what it takes to make it to the executive level – go for it.

But if you are expecting to become rich as a salaried non-executive employee, sit down and calculate your raises over the last five years. Then honestly assess your chances of becoming an executive at what you do, because that’s the only way to become wealthy as a salaried person. I think you’ll find that while being employed can maintain your standard of living, it’s unlikely to make you wildly rich. That may be your comfort zone – not everyone wants to go into business for themselves. You may like your job, and if so, good for you. But unless you’re planning to put in the effort and hours and politicking to become an executive, chances are good your wages won’t ever make you wealthy.

AttributionPhoto credit: Some rights reserved by Alex E. Proimos

Insufficient Education: Then and Now

Steve writes about the “31 Causes of Failure” included in Napoleon Hill’s seminal work on financial success, Think and Grow Rich. High on that list, holding down the #4 slot, is education. The discussion of education tends to center on keeping your mind active with constant learning activities, or on “continuing education,” which can amount to community college classes, seminars, or self-help books. There are many professions, nursing and teaching among them, that require some element of continuing education as a prerequisite for retaining a professional license. Accounting is another, and you can get a degree like Warner Pacific’s bachelors of accounting for adults as a great start before pursuing advanced degrees.

But there is also a case to be made for redefining insufficient education within the context of the economic changes that have swept this nation over the past decade. The last three years have seen a prolonged financial and employment downturn, but in both cases they are signs of trends that have been underway for some time. The offshoring of the U.S. manufacturing sector has been devastating to millions of wage earners and (former) homeowners. Nonskilled jobs have been followed to the developing nations by skilled positions including IT jobs, accounting and actuarial jobs, many other white collar support roles, even freelance writing: I am constantly underbid on writing gigs by people in Bangalore or some other exotic time zone.

It is not unreasonable to suggest that insufficient education today may be because a job for which a bachelor’s degree was sufficient a decade ago now requires a master’s degree. That may be due to the increasing complexity of some professions – civil engineering comes to mind – or it may mean that employers can be more selective in their baseline requirements for professional employees. The IT requirements for many jobs have shot up over the past ten years; today you can find graduate degree programs in nursing informatics and financial engineering – two examples of professional niches that didn’t exist for the last generation.

For someone who is currently unemployed, has gotten through college and put in several years of successful work experience based on those undergraduate studies, the suggestion that they lack sufficient education isn’t a fair statement. The education that many of us obtained prior to entering the work force simply isn’t applicable in today’s domestic economy or doesn’t meet newly established benchmarks for professional advancement. Fixing a situation like may require a more concerted effort than continuing education.

Today a wealth of online graduate degree programs designed for experienced and/or working professionals exists. Many are part time, for those of us who are still working; others are accelerated programs that can get you through a master’s program in a hurry. And today, most of them are offered by traditional universities that have expanded into distance learning. The morphing job market can be a frightening situation, especially for people who have embarked on a career track. Sometimes the best insurance for someone who has to change direction is an advanced degree to bolster those years of experience.

Article Source: Bob Hartzell is an in-house editor for Masters Degree Online.com. He writes about the current state of traditional and for-profit education including student loans, scholarships and distance learning.

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