I spend a lot of time thinking about money, between work and my own personal interests neuroses. Here are some conclusions I’ve recently reached.
I don’t believe in hopes and wishes. But I do believe in setting your sights on a target.
I work at the exact organisation I once imagined would be an ideal place for me, in a newly created role that perfectly suits my skill set, at the salary I was determined to reach.
There’s something to be said for knowing where you want to go – how else will you be able to get there?
I believe in plans. But I also believe in taking little leaps of faith.
The two biggest financial decisions I’ve ever made – taking a six month leave to travel, buying a house – were not airtight. The general plans were pretty rock solid; I’d been working toward them for awhile.
But I didn’t have quite enough saved by the time we left the country. I was pretty confident I could make it up while freelancing on the road (and I did, almost to the dollar…) and at the worst, I knew I had a job to come back to.
And in many ways I bought a house at the worst time, my accounts having been decimated due to circumstances beyond my control. But I felt secure in my job and was earning a reasonable income, and a down payment that met requirements.
Life is fickle and while we can – and should – do our best to plan and prepare, nothing is ever 100%.
I believe your pay is not necessarily reflective of your worth. But I believe in negotiating for what you believe you’re worth.
As above, I honestly never thought I’d earn what I’m making now. If I’d stayed in journalism, I wouldn’t be. But out of it, my skills are marketable enough to justify what seem like insane pay rates in comparison. (Not that these go all that far in NZ or Auckland, or impress mortgage brokers, but it’s a huge step up from before.) I look back on the jobs I’ve done and the call centre and hospitality work I once did was so much harder and so poorly compensated.
Whatever you do for work, do it to the best of your ability, and remember that nobody else will fight as hard for your best financial interests.
What do you believe about money?
I believe that money is a social construct and its distribution within a corporate setting is largely dependent on other social hierarchies. I believe the closer you are to “making money” the more you typically make (e.g. sales > content producers > support staff). I believe that we have a lot of preconceptions about who “deserves” money vs. those who don’t based off of long held class distinctions (e.g. area of employ, class markers such as college education) that have little to do with quality and productivity. I believe that having money neither makes you a good nor a bad person (also not having money does not make you good or bad). However having money makes you less stressed and it is much easier to be generous, graceful, and “good” when there is less stress in your life.
In the same vein, too much money can also warp you. I’d like to just have enough. Now what “enough” means for me at this point is a paid off house and a million of cash/investments in the bank. Anything above that is gravy but if I had too much I wonder if I’d become a complete monster…
One of my close friends is fond of relying advice she got from her mother about money “You can always make more.” While I agree it’s possible to be always be making money for as long as one is willing to work, I don’t know that this provides the sense of security I need. I need to know that I can stop working for a while (because I’m ill or just need a break) and that my life won’t immediately fall apart (that I’ll be able to pay my mortgage and utilities and eat).
I really like this list – especially #2. We can make plans that account for all sorts of contingencies, but there are never any guarantees.
Lately, I see money as a multi-purpose tool. We get to choose how to use it.
Planning is the most important thing in securing financial freedom. When we plan, it makes things or tasks doable and easy to do. And I think when it comes to money, we tend to spend less and save more.
I believe money can support me in reaching my goals. Money in and of itself, is not the goal! Because of this, I’m much more in favor of spending wisely, as opposed to aiming to not spend.
I completely agree – you make your own luck and similarly, you make your own money – you have to make yourself be worth more and fight for it – your employer will try to keep as much as they can!
You have to take a risk, otherwise you’ll never achieve anything.
Tristan
Interesting post. I like the fact that you put yourself firmly in the driving seat and used your skills, capabilities and beliefs to get to where you wanted to be using money as a tool.