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3 Things You Should Consider Before You Take a Job "For The Money"

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1. People say you'll make a lot of money if you pursue a certain profession. But if you're bad at that profession, you won't make squat.

My friend Annie's father is a lawyer. Annie told me recently that her father never pressured her to become a lawyer (like so many parents who want their children to follow in their footsteps), because he "got it." He told Annie, "If you're a bad lawyer, you won't make any money." Given Annie's interests and disposition, it's better for her to do something else. Right now she's headed towards working in higher education -- doing career counseling or residence life or whatever else she likes. And she's going to do that very well.

Of course, Annie or you or I could be good lawyers, too. It's entirely possible to be good at something we don't like. It's just not likely that we'll be GREAT. And it probably wouldn't be any fun. So the better option is to pursue work you love simply because you'll enjoy yourself more. A common side-effect is that you'll work harder and longer without even noticing, which will probably lead to earning more money anyway.

2. You're not going to become wealthy from your day job. You have to do that in your spare time.

It's too bad that our education system is only set up to provide us with an academic education, and even that is done with limited success. If you're lucky enough to stumble on a good professional education program in college or elsewhere, then that gives you a bit of a leg up. But when it comes to financial education, you generally need to have wealthy parents to learn from or you're on your own.

If there's a shred of your brain that thinks you're going to get rich from working for the man, you've got a lot to learn. Here are a few ways to start.

Start by reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

Play the "Rich Dad" board game, Cashflow 101. (It's expensive for a board game, but it's cheap for changing your mindset.)

And to quickly cover some basics and continually learn about personal finance issues, check out my friend Ramit's site at
http://IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com/

3. If you need a high salary to justify your self-worth to your friends or parents or whomever, there is treatment to help you get better.

If you and a friend were both offered two jobs, one paying $60k and the other $50k, please don't worry about feeling less cool or important than your friend if you took the lower-paying job. But if you must assign dollar values to yourself and your friends, at least assign them by the offers you receive, not just the ones you take.

Actually, if you need a high salary to justify your self-worth, then it's probably a good move to purposely win a job or two that pay tons, just to turn them down. Sounds weird, I know. But the time investment to win a job that pays well but you might not like and then turn it down is much lower than it is to win the job and work in it for several years. You can always say you're worth whatever number someone offered to you. And then you can do the work you really want to do with peace of mind.

Posted by Ian Ybarra on 23 May 2005

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Posted by: Cap at May 27, 2005 06:59 PM