When I was 18, I had an encounter that got me noticing the phenomenon of robots replacing jobs in our society.  And the sad part is how easily the person in this story let it happen.

I was a teenager busing tables part-time and collecting tips.  They had just opened a branch of the bank I went to inside a local super-market near my work.  “Great”, I thought.  “Now I can just conveniently swing by on my way to work and deposit my money.”

Well, little did I know, things weren’t going to be that easy.  Every time (it seemed) I would walk in, there was always this one grumpy bank-teller who just looked disgusted every time I would approach the counter with my deposit slip and money.  “You know …”, she’d say “there’s ATM right around the corner.  You could just deposit the money in there instead of coming up here”.  It was pretty obvious she did not want to do her job.

An ATM?  Nonsense.  I was depositing money the way I had seen my Dad deposit money thousands of times before this.  Why should I do anything different?

The next time I stopped in, she told me the same thing.  But this time she was more gruff about it.  “I told you last time – you can just use the ATM if you want to make these kinds of deposits”.

That was the last straw for me.  I had had enough of this rude lady.  After that day, I started going to the ATM instead.  And you know what?  It was kinda awesome!  There was barely ever a line, and I was able to deposit my money in a fraction of the time I used to take me.

About a year later, that bank branch closed down.  But you know what?  The ATM still remained.  “How ironic …,” I thought.  That lady pushed me (and who knows how many other people) over to the ATM to do her job.  And now the ATM is still here, but she isn’t.

This got me thinking: Had that bank teller been a little more helpful, would the branch have provided a better service?  Would they still be open today?  Might she still have a job?

Robots are Coming to Replace Our Jobs

For most people, there is nothing more devastating than the loss of a job.  Their only source of income is suddenly cut off.  Their livelihood at risk.

That certainly wasn’t the last time I witnessed jobs being replaced by robots (if you want to call them that).  In the decades to follow, the trend becomes more and more apparent.

Technology is a bit of a double-edged sword.  It’s supposed to make our lives easier and do the things that we humans don’t really want to do.  For companies, its particular important because it can improve efficiency, increase throughput, and make fewer mistakes.

But with each new technological advancement, something humans used to do becomes extinct.  Their service becomes obsolete.  I can think of several ways in which that has touched our daily lives.

• Why drive to an actual store when I can just buy it on Amazon? (How many times have you said to yourself “Hey! Look at that – this one ships for free with Amazon Prime!  I’ll just get it in 2 days.”).  Soon, drones will deliver our packages.  So what then of logistics companies?
• Travel agents have been replaced by DIY online travel websites.
• Stock brokers have been replaced by DIY online discount brokers.
• Video stores have been replaced by Redbox kiosks and Netflix.
• Music stores are literally a thing of the past thanks to services like iTunes, Pandora, and Spotify.
• Even restaurants like Chili’s and Applebees now have tablets at each of their tables where patrons can order food or pay their bills – jobs that a server used to perform.

In my home-state of Michigan, this has been a very stark reality to the entire automotive industry.  Much of the 2016 presidential race was based on the promise of the return of manufacturing jobs.  But the reality is that those specific jobs are never, ever coming back.  Manual labor has been replaced by automation – robots took the jobs that real people used to because they can work around the clock tirelessly without dispute.

Physical labor isn’t the only human service that technology has come to replace.  In the recent NASA movie “Hidden Figures” (or any movie about the space program), you’ll notice that these places used to employ rooms of white-collared engineers performing scores of calculations by hand.  However, all of that became obsolete once IBM computers came online and were able to perform those same calculations in fractions of second.

You could say “That’s not fair.  They took our jobs!”

But advancement is going to happen, whether we like it or not.

So the only logical question we can ask is: What can we do about it?

Preparing For Unknown Opportunities

As I see it, there are really only two strategies we can embrace.

The first is to realize that if your career is going to evolve, then you need to as well.  It’s unrealistic to expect that the tasks you performed 10 years ago are going to be the same ones you will do today.  This is largely thanks again to the pace of technology.  Within a decade, most professional companies will change their software applications at least a handful of times.  This of course means the way you will interact with these programs will be different.

But this change can also go a lot further.  In many respects each time technology renders an old occupation obsolete, it creates a new one in its place.  Let’s go back to our earlier examples and expand upon them.

• Amazon will need an army of individuals to help them handle the logistics of their orders.
• Travel websites need to interact with databases of available flights and hotels, and someone needs to support this.
• Online discount stock broker programs have to proactively provide research and data in order to remain competitive, and someone will need to coordinate this.
• Redbox kiosks are machines that will require setup and maintenance; which someone must provide.
• Netflix will need to negotiate licensing and pricing with the major movie houses in order to have options to stream, and someone will need to make this happen.
• The options and playlists we find on Pandora and Spotify will need to be programmed by someone.
• The IT behind those tablets at the casual dining restaurants will need to be installed and carefully looked after.
• The use of robots in manufacturing introduces a whole new industry.  There will be needs for people to engineer, build, repair, sell, and train on these devices.

I think you get the idea…

This reality is why U.S. Department of Labor predicts that 65% of children will be in jobs that have not yet even been created yet.  The world is constantly innovating, and therefore none of us can accurately predict what it will look like in 10 years from now.

So while your old job may be replaced by a robot, there is a high probability that you will be able to side-step into an entirely new one.

The question we all need to ask ourselves is: What are we doing to be ready for it?  How can we prepare and be ready for something when we don’t even know what it will be?

My belief is that this can be achieved if we just keep an open mind.  Be open to the fact that you may be asked to something tomorrow that you’ve never done before.  Get accustomed to operating outside your comfort zone, and embrace the challenge of learning something new.

To quote Whitney Young, Jr., an American Civil Rights Leader: “It is better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have one and not be prepared.”

We Need to Provide Better Value

The second solution I will suggest is a simple one.  It’s something that we as humans can do better than machines if we really try …

Technological advancements are often rooted in our own personal short-comings.  We look for machines to do the things that people don’t do very good or could do better.  But our brains are still at least 30 times better than the any super-computer.  We have the ability to innovate customized solutions for employers and the customers they seek to service.  We need to focus on this talent and make it the core of our skills.  For as long as we possess this, nothing can replace us.

I think back to my opening story about the disgruntled bank-teller.  Now of course I will never know why she was the way she was or why the bank branch ultimately closed.  But I’d like to think that if she had been a little more inviting and helpful, this would have lent itself to much greater opportunities.  She and the other tellers could have better promoted other products, loans, investments, refinance opportunities, etc.

Just maybe … they could have provided something helpful to someone that they didn’t even know they were looking for.

While we often think of speed and lower price as being major components to purchasing decisions, don’t underestimate the “people factor”.  Lots of people shop in higher-priced stores or eat in nicer restaurants because they want that fundamental sense of human interaction.  When we challenge ourselves to provide such service, we earn this loyalty, and that makes it harder for us to become indispensable.

Readers – How have you witnessed robots and technology replacing our jobs?  What do you think we can do to overcome the situation and preserve our employability?

Image courtesy of Flickr

The post How To Keep Our Jobs From Being Replaced By Robots appeared first on My Money Design.

It was one of those situations where he worked at the same place for 11 years and worked his way up the ladder.

Then, one morning, he was asked to come up to the front conference room.  Without much of a reason or excuse, he was told he was done.  Hit by a train that came out of no where.

I’m always a little unsettled when I hear the news of someone I know and respect being let go from the job they’ve worked so hard at.

Perhaps it’s because it reminds me of just how vulnerable we all really are when it comes to this thing we call employment.

One of the hard truths that we must accept about our jobs is that they’re really just paradigms made of glass. As we get better and deeper into our careers, we think we’re building up our empire.  We think we’ve got castle walls and defenses.  With every promotion or victory, we’re adding more and more to this structure.

But at any time for practically any reason, someone else can come along, swing a hammer, and – in an instant – the whole thing will come tumbling down.  You’ll have the look of “surprise” as it takes the floor out from right beneath your feet.

Only then do we actually see how fragile the whole thing really was this whole time.

Sometimes the Employer Decides for You

It seems to be that 50 or so years ago, situations like this were not the case.

Whenever you talk to an elderly person, they’re very proud to tell you that they worked at one job or another for 30+ years.  They took care of the company, and the company took care of them by giving them  a pension for life.

However, this is just simply not the case any more.  Today, the average person switches jobs 12 times!  I’m sure that the primary reason is because the person decided to leave.  But I’d bet you that somewhere up in the Top 5 Reasons, the employer itself plays a big part in this.  Sometimes it’s not your decision whether you stay or go. Sometimes someone else makes that decision for you.

With “at will” employment, an employee can legally be terminated for any reason (or no reason at all) at any time; so long as it does not violate any discriminatory laws. This means something as trivial as your boss not liking your haircut or that blue shirt you wore last week is enough to let you go.

I’m sure if most people knew the real story behind “why” they were let go from a job, the capital offense would be nothing more than you simply pissed off the wrong person off. Perhaps it was something you did that unintentionally but inadvertently made that person look bad. Maybe you simply stood up for yourself or refused to do something you knew was wrong.

Sometimes you’ll never know.

Work is Not the Same As School

The longer I’m in the work force, the more I recognize that there is a very weird disconnect between the way we were raised as children going to school and how the work environment actually works.

As children, school IS your job.  You go there every day.  You do the work and get good grades.  You’re taught to be respectful.

If you were a bad kid, then you got in trouble. You’d stand in the corner, go to the principal’s office, or (worst of all) get kicked out of school.

But if you just did what you were supposed to, then you were fine. No problems.  You keep going to school and will eventually graduate.

Then you get your first real job and the rules change.

On the surface, there are still the same basic rules about being respectful and completing your tasks.  You boss gives you an assignment, and you get it done.  You have your first review, and everything is cool.  You mingle well with your co-workers, and everything seems fine.

But as a former manger myself, if you were to go behind closed doors, I can assure you that you’d find out that it’s a lot more complex than that.  The higher-ups talk.  Opinions are made.  Impressions become fact.  There’s not necessarily always a rhyme or reason.  Maybe someone a little higher up than you doesn’t like you. Maybe you’re a threat. Maybe the employer simply wants a change to happen, but has absolutely no idea how to go about it.  And so you become the sacrifice.

At that point, the grades you got as a child no longer matter.  In fact, your performance up to this point no longer really matters.  You’re being evaluated based on a snapshot in time; one out of a billion possible photos that could have been taken.

More than we’d like to believe, the grounds for termination is based on nothing more than a matter of “opinion”. There are no tangible offenses. No dereliction of responsibility. Someone up on a higher glass structure than you simply decided that “you’re not the right guy” anymore.

I’ve heard of people who were awesome at their jobs for 30 years. Great reviews. Raises and bonuses every year. Then a new manager comes in and everything changes. All of the sudden, the employee is no longer deemed to be doing well anymore. What was good enough yesterday is not unsatisfactory performance.

You can try to fight it if you want. But the new manager is judge and jury. Their opinion becomes fact.  And when they sit you down and the train comes, the shit gets real.

The Truth Behind What Employment Really Is

For as long as there has been the concept of employment, there has been a sacred contract:

• A Person needs money for food and shelter.
• The Employer needs workers to get jobs done, and is willing to pay for services rendered.
• Person becomes a Worker by exchanging service to the Employer for money.  Hence, they enter the Employer-Worker arrangement.

That’s it.  There’s simply nothing more to it than that.

It wasn’t really until the last 100 years that this idea seemed to change.  Perhaps one of the most significant contributing factors was when Henry Ford started paying his employees double at $5 per day.

(Though that was well-praised as a glorious social model for an Employer taking care of his Workers, make no mistake.  He didn’t do it because he wanted to help humanity.  The real reason was more selfish than that.  In his 1926 book Today and Tomorrow, Ford explained that the real motivation behind the wage increase was to turn his Workers into future customers.  He simply did it to sell more cars.)

Yes, it’s exciting to see pictures of modern work facilities like Google with smiling people working happily on bouncy balls and taking ping-pong breaks.  We’d like to think to ourselves that the modern contract between the Employer and Worker has evolved.

But make no mistake.  Brush aside all the shinny company perks and the bonding experience of pot-luck Tuesday, and at the core there is still just that one simple Employer-Worker contract: Service for money.

The Only Unemployment Insurance You Need 

When you drive your car, you get auto insurance in case you get into an accident.

When you buy a house, you get home owners insurance in case the house burns down.

When you get married and have kids, you get life insurance to cover years of bills in case something tragic was to happen to one of you.

But when you lose your job, you’ve got nothing.  (Yes, I know – the government provides unemployment benefits.  But let’s be real.  There’s a big difference between the way sluggish government unemployment benefits work and the swiftness of an auto or home insurance claim.)

This leaves us with one VERY important conclusion: Our only insurance against a job loss is the equity we build in ourselves.

Remember: This is bigger than just money (however, we’ll talk more about that in a minute).  Don’t underestimate:

• The experience you’ve gained.
• The connections you’ve made.
• The degrees and certifications you’ve earned.
• Your ability to communicate.
• Your attitude.
• Your ambition.
• Your flexibility.
• The way you solve problems.
• Your gifts.

Think of Steve Jobs

Could you imagine firing someone like Steve Jobs?    Believe it or not, in the 1980’s, Apple let him go after an internal power struggle among management.

Even though he was fired, he was still Steve Jobs.  He still had ideas and drive.  And with or without Apple, he was going to succeed.

Jobs went on to create NeXT and help start Pixar (the company that made in the wildly famous Toy Story movie) while Apple floundered.

Then in the late 1990’s, the company and people that had rejected him years ago asked him to come back.  Apple went on to become one of the strongest companies in the world to date.

After all, he was Steve Jobs.

Why We Need Financial Freedom

In this Employer-Worker exchange, when it comes to money, there is one thing you should be focused on with laser accuracy: Building up your wealth as quickly as possible to decrease your dependency on this arrangement.

In other words, achieving financial freedom.

People often confuse the goal of financial freedom with wanting to retire early or quit your job at a young age.  But in reality there is a lot more to it.  Financial freedom is really about having complete peace of mind that money is no longer an issue.  Whether you work or not is irrelevant.  You’re prepared for anything.

It’s your insurance.

Jim Collins and F-You Money

Perhaps this concept is best explained (and certainly more entertaining) with the legendary F-You Money post from blogger Jim Collins. If you’ve never heard of this, I highly recommend listening to Jim’s interview on the Mad Fientist podcast where he does a brilliant job discussing it.

But just in case you don’t listen to it, here’s a summary of the story he tells:

As a young man, Jim was a good saver and had stashed away $5,000.  He decided he wanted to go away to Europe for a while.  So he asked his employer for the time off, but they said “no”.  Knowing that his $5,000 would carry him for several months if he didn’t work, Jim decided he was going to go to Europe anyways. So he went back in to his employer and told them he was going to resign.  The employer, realizing they needed Jim more than he needed them, quickly renegotiated and gave him the time off he wanted.  

In the end, Jim kept his job and got what he wanted.  But he also gained something more important that day: He learned just how much F-You money can empower you! 

All You Have Is You

By the way: NONE of what we’re saying here is meant to be interpreted as that you should “hate your job” or be afraid of it.

I actually wish more people would do the opposite: Love their jobs!  Take pride in your work and what it is that you do everyday.

Though this Employer-Worker arrangement is a contract, that doesn’t you can’t have good times or take away good experiences.  If the end is going to come, then its going to come.  But until then, why not make the best of it?  Why not:

• Feel good about what you do.
• Dig deep into the parts that interest you.
• Learn new skills that you can take anywhere with you.
• Meet unique people.
• Travel the world.
• Challenge yourself.
• Become an expert.
• Stay relevant within your career.
• Have some fun.

Take the Time for Yourself

I remember years ago as a young professional, I was caught-up (like most people) with climbing the corporate ladder and trying to be the person on top.

Then, after a brief (disappointing) talk with my boss, a wave came over me and I asked myself: What am I doing?

All of this work?  All of this effort?  Who was it really benefiting?  Me or my employer?  

I decided that I would honor the Employer-Worker arrangement.  BUT every extra spare minute beyond that, I was going to work on me.  I was going to “lean out” rather than “lean in”.  I was going to focus on the skills that would make me valuable ANYWHERE; not just here.

But on top of that, I was going to work on my life at home, my relationships, and my family.  I was going to invest the time required to learn how to grow our fortune.  With each day, my dependency on the Employer-Worker arrangement would weaken.  I’d be putting “me” in charge and slowly become my own boss.

When you work for yourself, you can never be fired.  You’re indestructible.  And that’s the greatest form of unemployment insurance you could ever ask for.

Readers – If you lost your job today, how prepared do you think you’d be to handle it?  Does job loss factor into your goals for saving and trying to reach financial freedom?  What skills and talents are you working on that will make you indestructible?

Featured images courtesy of Flickr Shanelevl, USB, Wayne S. Grazio, Josef Grunig

The post F-You Money & Talent – The Only Unemployment Insurance You Have appeared first on My Money Design.

Management is a funny gig …

I should know.  I was a manager for many years.

And even though I’ve switched jobs and am not currently in charge of anyone, I’m sure that I will be again some day as I carve out my new career path.

Depending on your industry and how far you take things, managers can often make several times more compensation than their lowest paid employees.

In fact, to illustrate how extreme this situation can be, Forbes reported that CEO’s (the highest position of management you can have) make 331 times as much as the average employee!

Why is this??

It’s because organizations often associate managers as being able to produce greater overall results than individuals can.  They set the direction and make decisions that could result in thousands or even millions of dollars of savings.  Therefore, there is quite a different perception of value.

Plus, there is another great thing about being in management: It will always be necessary. Humans on every level need structure like government, teachers, and other leaders to guide them. At work, even the best performing and well intentioned group of individuals will need someone to give them direction and keep them on track.

As someone who has managed other people, I can tell you that some days are certainly more challenging than others. But there is something to be said about the satisfaction of bringing an entire group of people towards reaching a common goal.

So if you believe you have any talent in this area or would like the opportunity to earn more than you are already, take a few minutes to reflect upon this management skills list and ask yourself if you’ve got what it takes to lead others and yourself to success.

The Top 10 Skills Good Managers Have

1. Leadership. A great manager will get others to see the big picture. This is often the most important and hardest of all the management skills because sometimes even managers don’t know where they’re going. That’s why in the field of management there is a lot of debate over whether a “manager” and a “leader” can or should be the same thing. In my opinion, a great one will embody characteristics of both.

2. Charisma. Another of the hardest items on this list is having what it takes to get along with others. A good manager doesn’t have to be everyone’s best friend, but they do have to know how to get the most out of people. And as the old saying goes, you can more flies with honey than with vinegar. Therefore, a little personality and charm can go a long ways!

3. Passion / Ambition. Believing in the greater overall goal, a good manager will be passionate about what they do and internalize their duties. A great manager will find a way to motivate others to do the same. Usually this will be accomplished by getting others to perform the best they can and/or fearing the consequences of not doing so otherwise.

4. Produce Results. Have you ever received poor service from a clerk or server, and then were treated completely different by the manager? That’s because as a manager, they know that they always need to find a solution. Always being able to create choices and produce results is an important part of being a skilled manager because it’s how successful managers create results where others would otherwise fail.

5. Decisiveness. Managers don’t know everything. But they do have the call the shots when no one else will. So whether it’s the right choice or the wrong one, a good manager will make a decision and be able to support why they feel it is the best choice.

6. Listens to Others. Even though a manager is the one to make the call, a smart one will first consider the opinion of those who are more qualified to make the judgment call.

7. Leverages the Talents of Others. A successful manager will see the strengths in others and use them where they are the most appropriate.

8. Challenges You to Develop. At the same time, a successful manager will also see your weaknesses and give you tasks that will force you to grow your skill-set. They will find what motivates you and use it!  We can all use a little coaxing out of our comfort zone!

9. Creates Other Leaders. A single person can’t be in charge of everything. For an organization to grow, a truly great manager will need to develop other people into future leaders with the same qualities as you find on this list. Where would Apple be today if Steve Jobs had not groomed Tim Cook?

10. Makes Themselves Not Needed. As ironic as it sounds, the truly successful managers are the ones who develop their people so well that they are rarely needed for all the mundane, everyday decisions.  This because they create a well-oiled and efficient machine that requires as little maintenance as possible. By doing, their time freed up to work with other leaders on bigger goals, future growth, and development of the organization as a whole.

Readers – How many of you are managers? What do you consider to be a must on the management skills list, and how do you embody this? 

Images courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The post The Management Skills List – Do You Have What it Takes to Earn More This Year? appeared first on My Money Design.

That is … until it drives you INSANE because all you do is work – all of the time!

All too often we make the mistake in our careers by having the notion that taking on more and more projects will convert proportionally to more income. But then we’re disappointed when all that happens is we end up working way too much and the whole thing just blows up in our face.

Believe it or not, there’s a theory in economics that can help explain why this is an effort in vain.  But as you’ll find out, where one door closes, another one can open.

Let’s take a dive into understanding how this all works together.

The Law of Diminishing Returns:

When I was studying for my MBA, there was a really interesting concept they taught called “the law of diminishing returns”.

What in the world does it mean?

Though that many sound like a fancy term, it’s really a pretty easy concept to understand.

Example – Building a Deck with Your Friends:

Suppose you decide to build a deck for your house.  For one single person, that would be quite an undertaking!

So you decide to get some help.  You get one of your friends to come over and help you.  Now there are two of you to work on the deck.

That’s better, but there is still quite a bit of work to done.

So now you call over two more friends for a total of 4 people.  Now the work is very manageable for each person.

So what would happen if you invited two more friends over for a total of six people?

Each person might work, but its likely that at least a few of the people wouldn’t be working as hard as they could be.  They’ll probably share some of their work load with some of the other friends and not really be working at maximum capacity.

Now what if we had 8 or 10 people?  That would be quite a deck-building party!

But in all honestly its not going to be a good “party”.  I’d be willing to bet that half of the people are probably standing around doing nothing while the other ones are working at about half efficiency.

Lesson Learned:

Notice something?

The more people we seem to add, the less productive everyone seems to get.  Plus the more chaotic the project seems to become!

If we could go back, we probably would choose to just keep the number of people working on the deck to just” 4” because that seemed to be the “optimal” number of people to do a good job.

That’s the law of diminishing returns at work.

It demonstrates how throwing more resources at something doesn’t always produce the desired effect.

Noticed how as we went from one worker on upward, things became more productive.  But then at some tipping point adding more people to the project actually made things worse.

Feeling the Effects of Working Too Much:

I know what you’re thinking …

… I’m not building a deck any time soon.  What does this got to do with me?

Though you may think this law has no relation to your life, the truth is that it can actually reveal something very important about your day to day work life that you may have never considered before …

How Many Hours Do You Work?

Think about how much effort you put into working every week at your job.

Remember that “effort” could be measured by lots of different factors:

• Hours
• Physical stress
• Emotional stress level

A lot of people start a job or new position with lots of ambition!  They sike themselves into believing the more they work the more they will start to see their pay go up!

They say to themselves:

• I’ll work more hours!
• I’ll take on more projects!
• I’ll take on more stress!

Now you start to take on more and more.  Your superiors are very pleased with what you’ve accomplished, and thus the reward is now even more handsome!  The initial notion that work and reward are proportionally related seems to be holding true!

So what’s the only logical thing to do?  If you want more money, keep on piling on the work!

And so the cycle of madness continues.

… until one day something strange happens …

You start to see fewer rewards.

Not knowing what to do, you continue working too much and putting in more effort than you probably need to.  You’ve got way too much on your plate.  AND again there is no-to-little increase in reward.

With too many balls in the air, you start dropping them.

• Deadlines get missed.
• Details are over-looked.
• Communication is poor.

Your superiors start to get upset with your performance, and now not only are you not getting any rewards, your job is on the line!

At the same time working way too much has now negatively affected:

• Your marriage
• Your kids
• Your health
• And pretty much every other aspect of your personal life.

The law of diminishing returns has again held true.

The Lesson Learned:

Taking a big step back from this scenario and looking at the big picture, again you will see there was a bell curve.

For a short while harder work and more effort paid off.  But that strategy didn’t work forever.  In fact it worked against you if you worked too much!

This is NOT to say that we shouldn’t work hard or do good at our jobs.  We certainly should provide a good service for the wage we’re paid.  But simultaneously we must also be smart about this and know when the scales are not in balance.

As the captain of our own ships, we absolutely need to make sure that we keep a good work-life balance!  We need to find out what our own personal optimal point is on our bell curve and stick to it.

Chasing endlessly after bigger rewards is a fools game; only to ultimately end up costing us more than we stand to gain.

The Beauty of Diversification:

So this then poses an interesting challenge:

… If working more hours won’t make me richer, what will?

Simple:

Diversification.

My Working Through Lunch Example:

It’s become somewhat of an institutionalized office concept in some industries that everyone works through their lunch hour.

Work gains one more hour from you.  You lose one more hour of your life.  BUT we tolerate it because we believe it is necessary to chase after that bigger reward!

Consider for a second what would happen if you took back that hour.  All for yourself.

What if instead of filling out forms or responding to emails (or whatever you do at work during this time), you instead learned more about investing.

As we’ve proven time and time again on this blog and in my eBook, understanding simple concepts like how tax-sheltering can ultimately make you millions of dollars richer by the time you decide to retire!  (If you don’t believe me, just check out this post here.)

Ask yourself – What would you rather do?

• Those mindless work tasks that no one really cares about OR learn the skills that add over a million dollars to your bottom line someday?

I thought so!

To illustrate another example, there have been many times I’ve returned to my desk around lunch time to respond to blog advertising requests.  Within that hour I might pull in an extra $100, $200, or more of extra income!

Not a bad haul for a lunch hour!

I think those forms and emails can wait …

Diversifying Your Income Streams:

If you’ve felt this way at your job for a while now, I want you to do this:

1. Think about a place or time where you could shave off 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or even a full hour from your daily routine. It might be your lunch hour, not staying so late, etc.
2. NOW devote that time to some other money making effort!

It doesn’t matter what it is!  It could be:

• Investing
• Blogging
• Writing an eBook
• Researching real estate
• Or any other extra income idea! (Check out our whole list here)

Put your talents and knowledge to task and challenge yourself to get a BETTER rate of return for your time!

And also remember – have some fun with it!

After 4 years of blogging and continuing to be a life-long student of personal finance, I can guarantee you: The rewards are there!

You won’t be disappointed with what you find.

Readers – Do you believe in the law of diminishing returns?  When do you feel working too much doesn’t pay off any longer?  What are you doing to diversify your income streams and get a better rate of return for your effort?

Featured image courtesy of Techniker Krankenkasse | Flickr

The post A Better Alternative to Working Too Much appeared first on My Money Design.

Don’t think that that’s true?  Then how is it that you and your colleagues can all be so diverse in your backgrounds and academics, yet you all do the same job.  You probably all get paid roughly about the same too.  In some instances the people who did worse in school are the boss or actually make more than you do.

If that’s so, then do grades really matter?  What’s the point of killing yourself for a 4.0 grade point average or going to a good college if you’re all going to make the same amount of money and end up in the same place anyways?

Aren’t all the best and highest paying jobs reserved for the smartest kids with the best grades?

You Want to Get Good Grades:

Now don’t get me wrong.  I’ll never not reinforce getting good grades with my kids.  You’ll always want to shoot for good grades.  Bad ones never accomplish anything.

Consider:

• All throughout elementary all the way up through high school – good grades are what get you to the next level. If you did well in one class, you were invited to join the harder ones.  If you managed to stick through those ones, then you could skip some of the more basic classes by the time you got to college.
• Getting good grades would literally make or break whether or not you got into a good college. Sometimes it was the basis as to whether you’d receive a scholarship.
• A lot of employers will base their tuition reimbursement on your good grades. Why should they pay for your grad-school classes if you’re just going to flunk?
• Even some car insurance companies will reward you for having all A’s.

If those are the rules of our society when it comes to getting good grades, then why should we even question it?

Because that’s what we’ve all been programmed to believe.

Operant Conditioning:

I remember being a small child and doing everything I could to make my parents proud.  I would compete with the other kids in the class to win the attention and adoration of our teacher.  As kids we’re taught that straight A’s are the ultimate prize and the very definition of a job well done.

As you get older this only becomes harder because your class sizes grow and your competition becomes greater.  Class favorites from the other schools are soon integrated into your class and you are all trying your hardest to out-shine the others.  Why?  To get into a good college of course.

Once in college the ultimate treasure is to get that degree!  Why?  Because you NEED that degree to get a good job; a high-paying job!  To some extent a degree has become the social equivalent of being prequalified for a credit card offer; the employer knows ahead of time if you’ve “got what it takes” because you’ve got the right degree and supposedly know your stuff.

And then it happens.  You enter the void.  That armor that used to be your good grades suddenly disappears.  You’re naked in a strange world you don’t quite understand.

Getting Good Grades is Not How Real Life Works:

There is a slow invisible transition that takes place after you leave school and go to work.  Grades no longer become what we hold so dear.  Your GPA is forgotten.  Your degree hangs quietly on the wall in a picture frame.  The teachers and professors you worked so hard to impress are now distant memories.  You are alone, and in your path stands the one true thing that will determine whether or not your career will move ahead or folly-up in reverse – the opinion of your superiors.

Your superiors are the ultimate grade that matters.  They are the final exam.  They are the judge and jury.  Without them, expect no pay increases.  Expect no bonuses.  Expect no promotions.  Expect to do all the crappy jobs that no one else wants to do.

This is the great equalizer.  This is where a D student and an A student are suddenly in the same Roman arena with weapons they barely know how to wield.  But now here you are – in a match to the death.  Who will win?

Why is this?  It’s because despite your grades employers want results.  They want people who are going to add to their bottom line.  They want employees they can control.  And they don’t necessarily care how they do it.

You could be a thousand times better “on paper” than your colleagues.  You could be doing everything correctly, and by the book!  You have every reason in the world to succeed.  But if the other guy is more likeable, adored, (fill in the reason) by the superiors, then forget it.  You lose.

So When Do Grades Really Matter Then?

There is an interesting phenomena I’ve witnessed at work many times.  Someone will come up with a great idea, they will institute a new process or procedure, and people will begin to follow it.  But then over time it gets diluted.  Years later people keep following the process, but they don’t know why.  They just do it because they have to.  They’ve lost the reason why.

To some degree that’s how I feel about school and getting good grades.  Getting good grades really does matter – but you have to focus on the why instead of the result.  Sharpen your talents.  You have to train yourself in the art of problem solving and creativity so that you can be ready to handle those enemies in the arena.  Getting good grades for the sake of having them is meaningless.

That is the only real value I can think of to earning good grades – developing your talents as a problem solver.  That’s only true talent that anyone really values.  And more importantly what happens as a result of it.

Your ability to accelerate in your career will be tied to what you can produce, and that will always be a function of what you know and who will help you.  I’ve seen people with nothing more than a high school education master the second part (the who you know) to leverage more than they could ever think up or produce on their own.  As “A” students, I think we sometimes forget about this half of the equation.  We think that just because we know something that the reward belongs to us.  In reality the reward belongs to whoever the king bestows it to.  And if you’re not the one who gets there first, then shame on you.

Good grades are the key to the door.  But it’s what YOU know how to do once you go inside that really counts.  There are skills to master, talents to develop, and people to impress.  You are always being judged and challenged.  Be ready.

Readers – Where do you stand on this?  Do grades really matter, or is your GPA just a number?  As adults in the real working world, what have your observations and experiences been like?  

Images courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The post Do Grades Really Matter?  What Really Counts When It Comes to Your Career appeared first on My Money Design.

That creates a little bit of a situation for me.  How can I really know if that’s what I want to do with the rest of my life if I’ve never actually gave it a try?  What if I test it out and find that its not for me?  What if I’m no good at it?

Or more realistically – what if I find out all this (what I think is) great advice I have to offer is really nothing more than superficial tips that barely scratch the surface?  Perhaps I’ll find that I need to dig deeper into certain topics to really be effective.

Taking a step back from all of this, I ask myself: Why wait?

It’s time to put my money where my mouth is and find out what I need to know.  And luckily that means I’ve got a very sweet deal for you:

Let Me Be Your Money Coach!

Starting today, I’m willing to start on this adventure and take on ONE client completely for free.   This is not a joke.  All you have to do to qualify is leave a comment below and explain to me why it should be you.  If you’re the one selected, then I’ll send you private email and we’ll get started.

You can be a My Money Design reader, a friend/relative of a reader, a non-reader – it really doesn’t matter.  This offer is open to practically anyone who wants help with managing their finances.

The ideal candidate would be someone who ACTUALLY needs help with money.  If you’re already maxing out your 401k and IRA and have practically no debt, then you’re not really going to make a great first candidate.  And quite frankly – you probably don’t need my help.  The type of person or couple I’m looking for is someone who needs guidance on how to save for retirement or struggling to get out of the paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle.

What You’ll Get From This Deal:

To start off we’ll have a phone or email conversation about what it is you want to accomplish.  I’ve got some check-points that I’ll want to hit on.  But realistically I’m more interested to hear what your struggles are and to see if there is anything I can do to help you.

At a schedule that works for both of us, we’ll check in with each other and see how the changes we make are taking shape.  Are they working?  Not working?  Do we need revisions?  These are all the kinds of things I want to discuss.

I will need the candidate to be very transparent with me about their finances.  I don’t need your social security or anything shady like that.  But I will need you to be honest with me about your savings and spending habits.  Otherwise it will be impossible to make a budget or figure out how much money you can be saving if you don’t let me see the complete picture.

Keep in mind this will be an evolving process as it progresses.  I’ll be learning just as much about how to actually be a money coach as you are about how to manage your finances.  So we’ll really be helping each other.

Full Disclosure:

As I’ve already stated – I’ve never done this before!

I’m not really a true money coach.  I’m in no way a financial adviser.   I have no certifications or credentials.  I’m just a regular guy who runs a money blog and is looking to gain some experience at this profession.

I’m pretty sure legally I can’t give any specific advice about which stocks to invest in or things like that.  I’m also certain that because I’m not a tax professional I can’t really comment on specific tax related items.  But I can make well known generalities about stocks and taxes that you could easily verify on the Internet.  For example: It’s common knowledge that capital gains and dividends are taxed at lower rates than ordinary earned income.

One Catch – You’ll Be Published On My Money Design:

Here’s the one catch to this whole thing and an absolute MUST to qualify:   You have to be willing to allow me to discuss the whole thing on my blog here.

Don’t worry!  No names or identities will be revealed.  Everything will remain completely anonymous.  The only thing people will ever see are snapshots of your financial situation.  That’s it.  They could be anybody’s financial situation.

One big benefit that the candidate may not even realize is that by publishing this information on my blog you’ll actually be opening yourself up to advice from not just me but the whole personal finance community.  That could turn out to be more beneficial for you in the long run since my readers might have advice and suggestions for you beyond what I would think to offer.

Again, if you’re interested in taking me up on my offer and feel you could work within the requirements I’ve laid out here, then please feel free to respond below and let’s get started!

To anyone who is a money coach already – what kinds of questions do you think I should start off my asking?  I’ve got quite a few in mind but would like to hear what you think?

Images courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The post I Want to Be Your Personal Money Coach – A Free Giveaway appeared first on My Money Design.

Sometimes it happens.  We think we know what we want to be when we grow up, and we make every honest effort to get there and fit that role.

But then reality sets in.  The job isn’t quite as glamorous as we thought it would be.  The hours aren’t great.  The pay or advancement opportunities aren’t really there.  And all around everyone seems pretty miserable or complacent.

Is this how you really want to spend the next 30 years of your life?  Surviving?

Fortunately starting a new career isn’t really as tough as some people think it is.  In my career I’ve seen engineers leave to become doctors, project mangers become financial advisers, and some people make the move to the greatest profession of all – entrepreneur!

But nonetheless it is not a decision that should not be taken lightly. There is every chance that by making the move to a new field, you will lose your status and a portion of your salary in the process.   Helpful job search sites may be able to help you find a new career opportunity, but are you prepared to make such a big change?

Here are five things you should consider before you decide on starting a new career and beginning a new chapter in your life.

Why Are You Interested in Starting a New Career in the First Place?

If you are unhappy with your current career, take the time to sit down and really ponder what it is you want. In some cases, it may not be the career itself, but rather the company you work for or your co-workers that are making you unhappy.

If a career change is in order, you need to think about what you truly want to do. Explore your options and do plenty of research on the topic. Once you know what you want, it will give you direction in your job search.

What Skills Do You Have?

Do you have any skills or experience that can transferred to your new career? Even if you do not have direct experience, consider other universal skills. Always play on your strengths and choose skills or experience that employers will value. For example, if you have managerial or IT skills, this can be used in just about any industry. Relating your skills and experience to the career you have in mind is a great way to make your resume stand out despite being inexperienced.

Can You Afford to Change Careers?

In an ideal world, each person would choose their career based on passion and interest alone. Unfortunately, money is what makes the world go round. Can you truly afford to make a career change? In all likelihood, you will find yourself starting at square one and will need to work your way up in the company. If you have a family to support or have grown accustomed to a certain lifestyle, you may need to reconsider this decision.

If you can afford the pay cut or your new job will actually increase your salary, changing to a new career may be an excellent move.

How Much Do You Know About the Industry?

Do you really know what you are getting yourself into as far as the industry you’re looking to enter?  Do have any first-hand experience. Regardless of how little or how much you know, you should take the initiative to learn all that you can. Find out what challenges workers face, what your responsibilities will be, if there is room for growth and general information on the industry itself. Not only will this improve your chances of landing a job, but will also help you prepare for the obstacles that lie ahead.

How Will You Get Your Foot in the Door?

It can be difficult to get started in a new career without first knowing a few people in the industry. Networking can go a long way and it will help you find opportunities you would have otherwise missed. Use social media websites like LinkedIN or industry events to meet with other professionals in the field. Get to know the decision makers of companies and make friends with whomever you can. In many cases, it’s more about “who” you know rather than “what” you know.

Images courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The post Make Sure You Know What You’re Getting Into Before Starting a New Career appeared first on My Money Design.

Does that phrase bring up images of young fit people in business suits smiling as they rush to the next meeting holding their cell phone to their ear and a Starbucks treat in the other hand?

While this is often a popular stereotype seen on TV and the media, for those of us that actually make it there it can come with a lot of sacrifices that we might not even be sure (or even aware) that we’re willing to make.

So ask yourself this: Why does being successful have to stem from only your job?  Aren’t there other ways or other things you can participate in that would be just as rewarding or fulfilling?

You may not realize it, but developing a healthy separation between work and home so that you can focus on your own personal goals and activities could be your ticket to even bigger greatness.

To Lean In or Lean Out?

I recently had the pleasure of coming across a great story in Money Magazine.  It started out talking about the book “Lean In” by Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg.

Her book was about how women could be more successful by advancing their leadership positions and presence at work.

For anyone who puts their career as number one, that is certainly true.  Work can be a very competitive place, and being a force for accomplishment is the best way to establish yourself as a figure of success.

Then the Money magazine article took a different turn about for some people it may be better to actually “lean out” – meaning disconnect from work.

I was in love!….  Not because of what this article suggested, but rather because it was confirming something I had been doing more and more for years.

When Doing More Actually Accomplishes Less:

It’s not that I don’t love my job.  It’s not that I don’t want to be any less of a productive employee.  In fact I DO want to be a productive employment and I do want to be a valuable resource to my employer.  Not only do I find it to be very self-fulfilling, but it also makes great practice for being successful in all niches of your life.

But consider this:

• What happens when you work 1 or 2 extra hours when needed?  Everyone would probably praise you for your extra effort and hustle.  It might get reflected in your next raise or promotional review.
• What happens when you work 1 or 2 extra hours every night?  Again you’ll make life easier for some of the senior management and you may again get some reward.  But now ask yourself what you’re giving up to get there.  Is that raise going to be worth it?  Will the new promotion mean doing this all the time?  And how long do you have to keep this up these new hours anyways?
• Now add on working every Saturday for 4 or 8 hours?   Now you’re probably completing the work or 2 or 3 employees in one week.   Is that promotion, raise, or any other financial appreciation going to match all those hours you’re investing and be worth it in the end?
• What if you worked all 168 hours every week?  Theoretically that’s not possible since you have to sleep.  But I’m making an example here.  Now you have NO TIME for anything.  Ask yourself: Even if they made you the owner of the whole company, would it be worth it?

In all of these examples, I think we can all agree: At some point the amount of extra work we put into our job does not match the benefit we receive.  It may not match it emotionally, financially, or any other sense of the exchange.  But clearly there is some kind of very personal line in the sand where a person has to say “no more”.

Being Successful In Our Own Way:

A lot of people associate being successful with only their jobs:

• Making a lot of money
• Having a lot of power
• Traveling often or networking with the right people

All of these are great accomplishments.  But you can also be a success in your own way.

For example:  What if you went back to the example above of our misguided employee, took those one or two hours of extra work you were doing for your own job, and investing them back into yourself?  What would the reward be then?

Speaking from personal experience, that’s exactly how this blog got started.  Rather than pour more hours than I needed into my job, I decided to start investing my time back into myself by looking for things I could do outside of work that would be both fun and financially fulfilling.  That led me on a path to discovering lots of different passive income ideas and trying my hand at them.  Those were things like:

• Creating a blog and making money from the advertising
• Experimenting with niche websites
• Dividend stock investing
• Maximizing my credit card rewards
• Selling stock music
• And investigating lots of other ones …

There hasn’t been any overnight successes.  It’s been work.  But my ultimate goal is to eventually get each one of these activities working automatically.  The ultimate goal is that one day these activities will either earn or raise enough cash to completely replace our current income.  How would that be for success?

Again:  I’m not implying that you slack off at work or do the bare minimum or be any less productive than you’re potentially capable of.  No matter what you’re good at you should do it well.   Whatever you do, don’t check out mentally and get yourself fired.  That’s not going to help anything and will only frustrate you even further.

Instead, I am asking this: Whenever anyone invests their money, the first thing they want to know is what they will make in return?

Why shouldn’t your time, effort, and passion be any different?   Take a step back and consider if certain areas of your life are producing the kind of return you’d like to be seeing.  If it isn’t, then maybe you’ll have to rethink your approach to being successful and try something different.  Every person deserves the opportunity to make things better for themselves.  The only question that remains is what you will do with it when you have the chance.  What will you do?

Images courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The post How Being Successful Might Include Leaning Out From Work appeared first on My Money Design.