Category Archives: Money

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How to Find Your Dream Job

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThis is graduation season. A lot of freshly minted graduates are streaming out of our colleges, high schools, and technical programs. A lot of new graduates are looking for their dream jobs.

How do you find your dream job?

I want to share some insight from a good friend of mine named Bill Martin. Bill is an octogenarian with a lot of wisdom. If I told you his entire career history you would be amazed at this man’s success. If you could meet him, you would be amazed by his humility and charm.

He recently spoke to engineering graduates about how to find their dream jobs. Here it is in all its wisdom and simplicity:

  1. Get a job. Work hard and do great at it.
  2. Get a better job. Work hard and do great at it.
  3. Keep repeating this until you…
  4. Get your dream job.

I sort of understood this when I was young. I did not expect to have a dream job right out of the gate. I knew it was out there if I worked and produced value for my employers. A job well done leads to a recommendation and to advancement. The idea of an entry-level position is that you do not stay there long. It is simply where you enter.

In your pursuit of a dream job, don’t forget to get a job and do really well at it. That will lead to good things.

Thanks, Bill!

 

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How to Eat on a Budget

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Market

This relates to our general topic of Forward Story because one realm of life we all have to consider is the realm I call Business. Part of the Business realm is Money. Learning the skills required to successfully handle money takes effort and focus. If you do not care about mastering your money, you never will. My wife and I squandered more money than I want to admit because we did not know what we were doing and because we had developed very bad behaviors.

We recently had a discussion with our college student son about money and about how to create and live on a budget. A budget is nothing more than a spending plan. It is a document that we create to define how much income we expect in a given time period and what we expect our expenses will be in that same time period. Both the income and expense side of the budget need to be as accurate as possible.

In any budget there are some expenses that we know are not going to change. For example, the rent or mortgage is well defined. Your landlord is not going to call you this month and tell you the rent is a different price. There are other expenses, however, that will fluctuate. In our budget we identify several expenses that can fluctuate but that we want to really control. If we do not control these expenses, they will kill our budget and turn it into a fantasy instead of a guide. For these expenses we use a control technique that we learned from Dave Ramsey called the envelope system. Dave says he learned it from his grandmother.  This is one of those cases where “old-fashioned” really works.

For the envelope expenses that we need to control, we go to the bank and withdraw actual cash. This cash gets inserted into literal envelopes with the name of each expense written on it. In our case we use envelopes labelled with the following categories:

  • Food
  • Gas
  • Clothing
  • Entertainment
  • Blow Money

We then purchase these items with cash only, and when the cash is gone we stop spending on those categories Simple, powerful, and effective.

You may be arguing with me about this approach or justifying your other way of doing things. I understand. I resisted as well until I learned the freedom that this brings. Let’s take a closer look at how this works with a budget category that gives a lot of people trouble: Food.

Example: Imagine that you have done your budget for the month and determined that you will spend $450 for food this month. You go to the bank and withdraw $450 (or you may do this on the 1st and 15th of the month and withdraw $225 each time).

This $450 must last until next month. Is this enough money for you?  We will assume 30 days for this month. This means you have budgeted $15 per day for food. In my world that would be very tight. To break it down into breakfast, lunch, and dinner, this means I could spend $5 on each meal. That’s a lot more “value menu” than “gourmet restaurant.”

Actually to me a food budget is neither fast food nor gourmet restaurant — at least not much of either.  Before I share some techniques that help us stay on track, let me say that our goal in food is to eat as healthy as we can while still staying within our budget. We value our health and want to eat good food that we enjoy and that fuels us for life. For us this implies going to the grocery store or market and doing a lot of cooking. I will leave the issue of what “healthy eating” is for another time. I have my view, but there are plenty of different approaches to this.

If you do not cook at home, you are going to have a really hard time not overspending on food. “But, but, cooking at home is hard. ” I know. So is running out of money because you do not cook at home.  Here is the way we make this work.

  • We commit to eating almost all meals at home. We have nothing against restaurants and we do eat out a few times per month. But we simply cannot make our food money last if we are paying someone else to do all our work for us. When you buy food at a restaurant you are paying for many things: the food itself, the labor of the cooks who prepared it, the electricity and water required to cook it, the property costs of the restaurant, the labor of the food runners who bring it to you, the restaurant’s marketing, the insurance they have to pay, your server’s labor, etc. All of these costs can be called “value add.” In other words, you have to pay the restaurant for the value they add to the cost of the food itself. These are legitimate costs, but I cannot pay them constantly and still stay in budget.
  • We plan our meals for the week. In order to avoid restaurants and do our own cooking, we have to do some planning. We use Evernote to plan our meals, but a yellow legal pad will work just as well. We just list the days and dates and determine what we want to eat for dinner each night. We try to plan meals that will produce some leftovers for lunches. If we plan to eat out, we write that on the plan as well for the selected night. One more tip here is that we use Evernote for our favorite recipes. We are constantly adding new recipes to our favorites. This makes it easier to create variety in your meal plans.
  • We build our grocery shopping list from our meal plan. Once we know what meals we are going to cook, we can begin building our grocery shopping list. Again, we use Evernote. We break the list into the general grocery store sections: Produce, meat, dairy, baking, frozen, household, etc. We scan the recipes for the meals we have planned to cook and add those ingredients into the shopping list.
  • We take cash from our envelope to buy food. I take my cash, my iPod with music and podcasts, my pen, and a printed copy of my list.
  • We keep a running total while buying food. My chief objective is to be sure I know that I have enough cash when I get to the register. My little trick for being sure is that as I am shopping and crossing items off my list, I keep a running total of what I have spent so far. If the butter is $3.78, I round it up to $4 and add $4 to my running total. This ensures that the actual cost of the food at the register will be a little less than my final running total. That keeps me stress-free.
  • We learn while cooking. Look, I know that not everyone enjoys kitchen time. My wife and I both do, but not everyone does. One way to transform this mundane task into something useful is to listen to music, an audio-book, or a podcast while cooking. This has been a big help to me.
  • We stay on top of the dishes. When you cook at home, you will create dirty dishes. One of the keys to being able to have an efficient kitchen, and therefore to be able to stay on budget with our food, is to be sure to stay on top of the dishes. Again, I do this while listening to something on my iPod. Between my wife and me, our goal is to have the dishes all washed before we go to bed and then put them away into their places the next morning.

There are thousands of variations on our practices, but I do believe that if you follow this process, you can make it on your food budget, assuming it is at all realistic.

What do you do in order to not overspend on food?

 

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Mind-Mapping the Nearer Term – Adding Age 25

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In our last article our 18 year-old John completed his mind map for the time-frame 12 years down the road when he is 30 years old. He put in writing in his mind map his various dreams and goals across three areas – family, career, and personal. However, there is a large gap between where John is right now at 18 and where he wants to be when he is 30. Now comes a crucial step for John. He must answer the question, “How do I get there from here?”

When we introduced John in this series we identified the time-frames that he will plan for. The exact time-frames are flexible and can be defined as John desires. The most important thing is that these time windows make sense to the person creating the mind map – in this case John. Here is the mind map we laid out for John: (all images will enlarge when clicked)

With his age 30 mind-map completed, the next time-frame for John is the next seven years. At the end of that window he will be 25 years old. This period is exactly five years before the age 30 period he has already completed. With each new time period, John has to review the plans he has already written to make sure that what he plans in this new time-frame truly enables him to accomplish what he has already written in his longer time-frames. For example:

  • Family. John wants to be living near his parents when he is 30 in order to be able to take care of them. The likelihood of that happening will depend in large part on John’s decisions by age 25. He has to make sure that this new time-frame takes location into account.
  • Career. John said that when he is 30 he will be in his 7th year of work as an engineer. In order for this to happen, John needs to have already been an engineer for two years by the time he is 25. If he were now to write that by age 25 he wants to start his first job as an engineer, there is no way he will be in his 7th year of work when he is 30. This is why he must review what he has already written.
  • Personal. Since John wants to be under 190 pounds by the time he is 30, he will want to make sure he is setting a realistic goal for his age 25 time-frame with regard to his weight and health. If he does not pay attention to his weight and instead gains weight in his early to mid twenties, John may have weight problem to deal with when he is 30.

In this way John reviews what is already planned in longer time-frames and begins to write a coherent plan for the shorter time-frames. It is important to note that John’s already completed age 30 plan is not chiseled in stone. In working on an earlier time-frame he may discover that something he has written for age 30 cannot be accomplished by that time. OR he may determine that he has been too conservative and that he can really accomplish more in that more distant period. In either case he will need to go back to age 30 and make changes so that his plan has a realistic shot of success. In this way, the entire process is really an iterative process. That is, it will likely take several iterations (or repetitions) to develop a coherent plan.

Back to Age 25

After reviewing his age 30 mind map, John will now begin writing for age 25 across all three realms. Here is the blank template for age 25 with the familiar fields to guide John in his planning.

Since John has already completed his more distant time-frame, he can more easily step back in time and create his goals:

Family

  • Family Status: Mom & Dad 62, Steve 27, Jane 24, Kate 20
  • If we are not already living near Mom & Dad, we will look for career opportunities to move closer.
  • Steve may have children by this time, and it is important to me to be a good uncle to my nieces and nephews. This is true even if we do not live near one another.
  • I will have contributed my love and help to Jane and will have a healthy, supportive relationship with her as an older brother. I will maintain healthy boundaries.
  • I will continue my strong relationship with Kate and assist her in whatever ways she needs me.
  • I may be an uncle to Jane and/or Kate’s children at this point. As with Steve’s, I will invest in these nieces and nephews and be a wonderful uncle to them.
  • Robin and I will be celebrating our third anniversary.
  • I will support her in her career, life, and interests.
  • I will spend quality time with her and work seriously on making our marriage great. I will invest in us.
  • We may have children by this time. I will take fatherhood seriously and will look out for the well-being of them all.

In reviewing his age 30 map, John notices that he failed to say anything about his in-laws in what he wrote about family. He address this now in the new time-frame by writing:

  • I will make it easy for Robin and the kids to spend time with her parents.
  • I will look for ways to help Robin’s parents.

Also, now that John has identified this oversight from the age 30 plan, he will go back to that age 30 map and add his thinking about his in-laws.

Career

  • I will be in my 2nd year of work as an engineer.
  • I will establish a reputation as a person with a strong work ethic.
  • I will cultivate relationships with engineers I admire in order to learn from them and grow my network.
  • I will look for and participate in continuing education opportunities.
  • I will earn at least $60,000 per year.
  • We will practice wise budgeting and will pay off all student loan debt.

Personal

Body/Health

  • I will keep my weight under 190 pounds.
  • I will play tennis and walk regularly.
  • I will eat a healthy diet, and continually educate myself about the latest in nutritional science.
  • I will get annual physicals from my doctor.

Fun

  • I will take guitar lessons and review the fundamentals of music.
  • I will play in at least one charity golf tournaments each year for fun and to support good causes.
  • I will hunt annually with my Dad and brother.

The World

  • I will explore various charities and volunteer my time to determine the place I am most passionate about serving.
  • I will explore the mentoring a young person through Big Brothers/Big Sisters.
  • I will financially support humanitarian relief efforts through world-class charities.
  • I will vote in local, state, and national elections as an exercise of my civic duty and of patriotic gratitude.

Spiritual

  • I will continue to learn and explore my own spiritual nature and the nature of God.
  • I will focus on my spiritual journey with my wife and grow along with her.
  • I will explore and identify a good group of people/church to belong to and to do spiritual work with.
  • I will strive to be consistent in my religious beliefs and allow them to guide my actions in work and personal life.

Here is all of this information in the mind map for age 25:

When both the age 25 and age 30 map are included, here is John’s map. Remember, this image will enlarge:

Now that we have gone through two different time-frames for John we can begin to understand the process for doing a complete mind map. I think you will agree that it is actually hard work. We have not even completed John’s plan yet for his two closest time-frames. One thing that will emerge as we look to the closer time-frames is that the specific goals will become more like tasks as he begins to realize actions he will need to take to make his longer vision a reality. In our next article we will examine how the closest time-frames will drive John’s actions.

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Getting Personal About Forward Story Through Mind Maps

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This article is part of a series that began with “Using Mind Maps to Develop Your Forward Story.” We have used fictional 18 year-old John as an example and have started building his Forward Story by using the creative tool of mind mapping. In the last article we continued looking at John in twelve years when he will be thirty, and we focused on his career realm. He defined his career ambitions in light of his commitment to his family. As a reminder of where John is so far with his age thirty mind map, here is the map with those two realms completed. (All images will enlarge when clicked).

John has set some excellent goals for when he is thirty. The statements contained in each branch feel right to John. He gets excited thinking about it. The old saying goes: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” John wants to be a mature adult, but he also wants to have some fun. He does not want to be a dull boy. He wants to enjoy life and to live in a meaningful way. So the next realm he will think about is what we will call the Personal realm. We include in this realm body, health, fun, the world, and spirituality.

Body/Health

John knows that thirty is still young, but he wants to take care of his health so he will be able to handle all of the other goals he has already chosen for himself. If he gains a lot of weight, develops diabetes, and suffers from heart disease (like his father has), he may not be able to take care of his parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, or his wife. He  has seen this happen to other friends and family members, so he is determined to make his health a priority.  John writes the following statements:

  • I will keep my weight under 190 pounds.
  • I will exercise at least three times per week.
  • I will eat a healthy diet, and continually educate myself about the latest in nutritional science.
  • I will get annual physicals from my doctor.

For fun John really likes playing guitar. He is currently a novice, but would like to be much better in twelve years. He knows he can do it, so writes the following about guitar and other “fun” activities:

  • I will be able to play guitar for my family and friends without embarrassing myself.
  • I will play in three charity golf tournaments each year for fun and to support good causes.
  • I will hunt annually with my Dad and brother.

Also in this personal realm, John needs to think about the larger world in which he lives. He is aware of people in other places and of his responsibility as a citizen of his own country. He writes:

  • I will regularly volunteer my time to help with our local food pantry.
  • I will mentor a young person through Big Brothers/Big Sisters.
  • I will financially support humanitarian relief efforts through world-class charities.
  • I will vote in local, state, and national elections as an exercise of my civic duty and of patriotic gratitude.

Finally, John will address spirituality. He is not quite certain where his spiritual life will take him, and he has a lot of questions. John considers himself a seeker after spiritual truth, so he has some expectations that by age thirty he may have found some answers to his questions. He contents himself with the following for now:

  • I will have an understanding of my own spiritual nature and the nature of God.
  • I will continue my spiritual journey with my wife and grow along with her.
  • I will find a good group of people/church to belong to and to do spiritual work with.
  • I will strive to be consistent in my religious beliefs and allow them to guide my actions in work and personal life.

Putting all of this together into his mind map, here is what John’s personal realm looks like at age thirty:

John’s final mind map for age thirty is pretty busy. Here is what it looks like all put together:

This branch of John’s map represents a lot of hard work in thinking, visualizing, and writing. As good as this is, this is what John envisions his life looking like in twelve years. In order for this to be more than a fairly tale, he has a lot more work to do to bridge the gap between now and then. So, as a reminder, the thirty year branch is only a small part of John’s overall mind map. Here is a visual reminder of what is left to define:

In our next article we will look at the way John’s closer timeframes relate to this age thirty branch.

How do you think John’s completed branch will affect his thinking about the next few years of his life? How is it likely to impact his behavior?

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Continuing the Story with a Career Mind Map

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In our last article we added the family realm to John’s mind map in order to help him write his Forward Story. John chose to start with his family because he sincerely values his parents, siblings, and future spouse, and wants the rest of his life and plans to revolve around the obligation he feels toward them. This is really a matter of personal choice and priority. If John had a different family situation or a different commitment toward his family, he might not start with that realm. An important point to understand is that if John had not begun with family first, his mind map (and his resulting Forward Story) would likely be quite different. You must decide where to begin your thinking and planning. It will depend on what is most important to you. It will relate to your ambition.

As a reminder, here is the age 30 mind map John developed for his family priorities. (All images will enlarge when clicked).

The Career Realm

The question for John now is what kind of education, work, business, and money will he need by age 30 in order to fulfill his desires for his family? For convenience’ sake we are going to lump all of these areas into a category we call Career. Remember that John is 18 years old. He has just completed high school, and truly stands at a threshold. A big reason he is creating his Forward Story now is because he knows that his next moves will be critical to the kind of future he will have. In order to fulfill his 12 year plans for his family, John will need to be living near his parents when he is 30 or perhaps have enough financial resources to move them near him (if his father’s health really declines) or to be able to care for them from a distance. This all requires financial resources. In other words, he will need to have a job in his hometown or be making a lot of cash elsewhere.

What Does John Want to Be When He Grows Up?

There are scores of books dedicated to the subject of career choice and vocation. There are professionals who have built successful careers themselves based on helping guide people to a good career choice. What John is about to decide and write about his career is going to have sweeping implications for him. The huge question he must answer is: “What kind of career or job do I want to have?”

It is important that we not pass over this too quickly. For John this may well involve a lot of soul-searching, research, conversations with other people, and quite honestly, stress. It seems a little strange that people as young as 18 often must decide something so serious at such a young age. However, many of the more financially rewarding career tracks will require specialized education and training that John must start right away if he wants to pursue them.

A Cold Hard Economic Reality

This seems like a good place to state an obvious economic fact. The more specialized and rare a skill set you possess, the more income you can earn. The less specialized and more common a skill set you possess, the less income you can earn. For example, a lot of people can use a shovel to dig a trench. It is not that hard to learn how to do it. Because of this, trench diggers cannot earn much over minimum wage to do this job. There is a lot of competition from people who can do that. On the other hand, not very many people have the education, training, and skill to do a heart transplant. If you can successfully do heart transplants, you are going to make a lot of money. The tough part of this is that it takes a lot more time and work to become a heart transplant surgeon than it does to become a trench digger. It is not that digging trenches is not important. It is also not that there is no dignity in hard physical labor. There can be. It is just that in the law of supply and demand, there is a lot more supply of trench diggers than there are people needing trenches dug. Conversely, there are a lot more people needing heart transplants than there are heart transplant surgeons. This drives the cost up.

Given the economic facts of supply and demand, John decides that he wants to earn far more than minimum wage. He wants to get some skills and education that will enable him to earn a good income to be able to achieve his family goals. He begins to research various careers, the education required, the projections for how those careers will be needed in the future, and how much people in those careers earn. This is not a neat and tidy process for John or anyone else. It is a struggle for most people. There are a rare few that seem to know from an early age exactly what they want to do and then do it. For the rest of us, we wrestle, struggle, and come to a decision.

John’s Decision

After much time and effort, John decides that he would like to go into engineering. He is not yet sure what type of engineering he wants to study, but is content that he will figure that out once he gets to college. For now he can envision earning a good living as an engineer. The city where he grew up and where his parents live has a strong job market for engineers, so he thinks this is compatible with his family goals. With that direction set, John can proceed with his Career realm on the mind map. His 30 year-old Career realm includes:

  • I will be in my 7th year of work as an engineer.
  • I will continue establishing myself as a competent engineer.
  • I will work with an older experienced engineer who will serve as my mentor.
  • I will take advantage of continuing education opportunities to remain current.
  • I will earn at least $75,000 per year.
  • We will practice wise budgeting and investment practices to achieve our family financial goals.

Here it is in his mind map:

Please notice that John has not yet dealt with the intervening years between his current age of 18 and his age 30 plans. That is for another step. What John has written and planned so far in regard to his life at age 30 has implied certain things about the years between those two ages, but he has not explicitly dealt with it yet.

John might have chosen any number of careers, some of which would not require college or trade school. Had he chosen a different career track, the years leading up to age 30 would look different and his earning potential might be different. The critical thing to realize, however, is that John has the right and the responsibility to choose. In our next article John is going to fill out the Personal realm in his age 30 plan.

What resources have you found helpful in the areas of career choice, salary information, and personal money management?