John Grogan was a hard-working writer.
He rose up through the ranks of journalists, winning lots of awards and recognition. The pay wasn’t bad either–by journalist standards. But it certainly wasn’t enough to fund his real dreams–those aspirations that bubbled under the surface. The ones that his friends and families probably rolled their eyes when he mentioned. The ones that “didn’t pay.”
John wasn’t deterred, though.
John worked hard and wrote a tale about his attention-deficit dog, Marley. The book
–Marley and Me–and the movie
based on the book became blockbusters and the financial freedom opened up new career paths for the writer, including his dream of becoming an editor of an organic gardening magazine.
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Dreams Come True, Money, Online Investing AI, Success
aspiration, dream, employment, inspiration, job, John Grogan, marley and me, work
michelehrv @ Flickr
In perhaps the biggest no-kidding study of this young century, a recent study indicates that job satisfaction is at an all time low.
Can we just say, no kidding?
Job satisfaction is down. Scratch that. It’s not down. It’s plummeting, according to The Conference Board.
The Conference Board’s survey polled 5,000 households, and found that only 45% were satisfied in their jobs. That’s down from 61.1% in 1987, the first year the survey was conducted.
A total of 61 percent of the workforce is looking for a way out!
But it gets worse. Workers younger than 25 were the most unhappy in their jobs. These are our future. They’re saying they don’t have one.
And I say it’s all good news.
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Accelerating Technology, Automated Trading, Business Strategy, Dreams Come True, Internet, Money, Online Investing AI, Success, US Economy
company, corporation, employment, job satisfaction, jobs, portable empire, work
beadmobile @ Flickr
Here’s the big lesson: nothing has changed.
The main misconception of what’s been termed (at least for now) the Great Recession is that the rules of personal finance have suddenly and inexplicably been changed.
This recession, though, isn’t an aberration in personal or macro financial laws, it’s the culmination of those rules. A contraction proves that the system works and smart money moves are still smart. Maybe even smarter.
We may have forgotten these lessons. We may have dismissed them. But they’re still relevant.
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Online Investing AI
economy, employment, lessons, Money, personal finance, wealth
Amazing photo by Zara @ Flickr
Despite the prodding of Tim Ferriss and Jonathan Fields, some folks don’t feel comfortable about quitting their day jobs, starting their own businesses, and traveling to Thailand to learn Thai stick fighting techniques.
We even talk about escaping the cubicle life.
That’s cool.
But the one thing that is true in the Wealth Singularity and the thing that drives us to create advanced Automated Trading technology is that lifestyle design is lifestyle design. You don’t have to shed your job. You don’t have to travel to exotic locales. You don’t have to become an Internet marketer.
You approach life on your terms and no one else’s.
If you’re ready to move toward lifestyle design, but aren’t prepared to dive in head-first, here’s a way to test your lifestyle design skills without a lot of risk.
I call it the 10 percent self-employment solution. Here’s how it works:
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Accelerating Technology, Online Investing AI
employment, financial, Investing, job, jobless, Money, personal freedom, saving, unemployment, wealth singularity
AndYaDontStop @ Flickr
There are more than 6 million people looking for work. The rest are looking at work and seeking signs that their job is safe.
The truth is that no job is safe. Jobs will become less safe because the confidence in the economy has crumbled and business leaders have become business leaners, hanging back and trying to predict the next move instead of driving that move.
That attitude is a business disaster-in-the-making as the winds of creative destruction begin to turn into a hurricane-force gale, tossing non-performing companies into the dustbin of economic history.
Your job leaders will never tell you that they’re worried about the future and warn you to begin looking at other employment options. But you can tell it’s going to happen.
It’s called organizational panic. In the individual, you can see signs of panic. Sweat. Fingernail chewing. Shaking. Screaming. An organization is different. You have to look for other signs.
Here are some signs that panic has set in at your place of work.
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Business Strategy, Money, Online Investing AI, US Economy
economy, employment, job, occupation, organizational panic, panic, unemployment, work, workplace
The unemployment rate is considered a lagging indicator. In other words, once the economy revs up, it takes awhile for the unemployment rate to change.
Since the process of determining company employment levels, reviewing applications, interviewing, and hiring people can take weeks, if not months, the unemployment rate lags the rest of the economic indicators.
In our current economic climate, we’re seeing economic indicators that indicate a recovery is on the way. The market has adjusted. Earnings are improving. When this happened in other economic periods, the unemployment rate slowly dropped.
But this economy isn’t like other ones.
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Business Strategy, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, US Economy
debt, employment, jobs, Money, regulations, tax, unemployment
Y @ Flickr
In order to free yourself from the domination of arbitrary standards and discover the true standards by which you should behave, you need to find the courage to do what you must without regard to what others may think.
–Chin-Ning Chu
Can you imagine an animal gets caught in a trap, frees itself, and then steps right back in the trap again?
It happens every morning.
People are hypnotized to believe that holding a job means they are secure and that this job is source of wealth and freedom.
Sadly, as many people are finding out, it is neither.
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Automated Trading, Business Strategy, Investing, Online Investing AI
employment, financial, Investing, job, jobless, Money, personal freedom, saving, unemployment
The precarious economy has lots of people worried. They’re especially concerned that they’ll lose their jobs. It’s no wonder that you see more “How To Keep Your Job” articles on the web and in today’s newspapers and magazines.
If you can sum up the advice in these articles, like the one written by Martin Lindstrom, author of Buyology: Truth and Lies About What We Buy, in the prestigious Parade Magazine, it’s “become indispensable to your boss.”
Lindstrom proceeds to offer five pithy tips to make sure your neck is far from the chopping block when the ax falls. They include:
- Define what makes you different from your colleagues. (Maybe a lack of integrity?)
- Do one thing well. (How about: stroke your boss’s ego?)
- Communicate your brand. (Hmmm. How do you brand desperation?)
- Create a signature look. (Like a clown suit?)
- Leave a personal mark behind. (Like a lip mark on the behind?)
I have no doubt that these ideas might keep you on the job, but at what price? That’s the question.
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Business Strategy, Great Books, Success, US Economy
buyology, employment, financial freedom, martin lindstrom, working, workplace
Flickr photo by Bohman
When those pink slips are passed out and those cardboard boxes appear on desks, most workers have pity and remorse for their soon-to-be departed colleagues.
But, it may be the unemployed who should pity the workers who still have a job.
First, the work load will increase without their fellow helpers there to shoulder some of the burden.
Another reason is that while the laid-off worker has accepted his or her fate, the current employees are still left with the anxiety that their positions may be the next head on the chopping block.
And, according to a survey (found in the June 29the edition of the Investor’s Business Daily), workers who are laid-off actually getting their lives together!
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Money, Online Investing AI, Success, US Economy
employment, freedom, jobs, laid-off, personal finance, worker, working
If you’re sensing a layoff, or have already received word that the firing is coming, you can take some steps to not just survive the downturn better, but also set up a new life.
I call this transition planning. Here are some tips:
If they ask you to sign a severance agreement, don’t sign it hastily.
You can talk to your supervisor about negotiating the terms. Ask for more money, job search assistance, and health benefits extension.
Ask for an extension to tie up loose ends.
If you are in the middle of a project, for example, ask to stay on as a consultant or freelance worker. You may have to take a cut in pay, but it would at least give you confidence (and money) while you enter this transition period.
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Automated Trading, Dreams Come True, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI
Automated Trading, employment, finances, financial, layoff, stocks
is one of my favorite financial books of all time. It's an allegory about a guy who has a terrible job, and how he overcomes challenges to achieve his dreams.
