Pathway to Financial Freedom

Most people in America feverishly  count down the days until they get paid. Broadly, the financial ground most people are  standing on is incredibly shaky because more than two-thirds of the population are living paycheck to paycheck. According to Colley(2012), a contributor for the Christian Science Monitor, 68 percent of the 30,600 people surveyed in a recent study conducted by the American Payroll Association said it would be somewhat or very difficult if their paycheck was a week or more late. This confirmed the fact that more than two-thirds of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. The bottom line here is that living paycheck to paycheck is too dangerous. Just ask yourself this questions: Suppose your paycheck bounce or arrives late? Or suppose an emergency that will consume your entire paycheck suddenly happens? This will cause  the financial tightrope you are walking on to snap. You may then have to borrow money from family to keep from being evicted from your apartment or your car being repossessed. The message is clear: To avoid this from happening to you, you will  have to change something in your financial life. Here are a few tips that will help you to avoid living paycheck to paycheck.

Adjusting Your Attitude is Very Important

For many Americans, living paycheck to paycheck can be a lifestyle choice. This category of people  never got ahead because  they chose to ignore their  financial reality and live beyond their means. Generally speaking, creating a vision of what you could have in the future can make it easier to make better financial choices. It is sufficient to state here that by making a list of three important goals, you can change my attitude toward money. First, understand that paying off debts to improve your credit score means that you could one day own a home. Second, building  an emergency fund means that you could start saving for fun things like a vacation. Third, avoiding wasting money on little things you didn’t need also means that you can buy bigger things you did need later on. All these goals can help you change your attitude to money and expenditure.

Have A Savings-Friendly Budget

To meet your goals as well as realize your financial vision, you will need to have  a better budgeting system that would include every purchase you made in the month – like groceries, personal care products, dog food, and the little extras. You should also include putting money into savings. For instance, you can put 10 percent of your income into your savings account automatically. Just like rent or car insurance, this should be a part of your budget(Colley, 2012).

Track Your Spending

To avoid  running out of money every month, save every receipt for a month. Add it all up by purchase at the end of the month. You will be surprised to  realize you are spending far more than you thought. All of those $2 purchases here and there, running to the store to get one thing you forgot, or buying a pricey latte can be a death sentence to your budget.

Trim the Fat On Your Credit Card

Paying down your credit card debt should be your next goal after you get your spending under control and had some money set aside for emergencies. If you have a credit card debt of, say $2000,  you can  set a one-year goal date to pay it off by. To achieve this goal, you will have to trim some things you really don’t need or even use that often out of your  budget. Here are what you may need to  cut: gym membership, cable TV, magazine subscriptions, and so on. To compensate for this, you may have to start  watching movies in  Netflix, take your dog for a run every day(instead of going to the gym),  and read blogs. This way you will be able to pay off your  debt in two years. 

References

Colley A.(2012): Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck: 5 Steps. Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved October 29, 2012 from http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Saving-Money/2012/0929/Stop-living-paycheck-to-paycheck-5-steps

Why You Should Invest in Mutual Funds

Why You Should Invest in Mutual Funds

A  mutual fund  means a collection  stocks, bonds and other securities  that are owned by a group of investors  but are managed by a professional, known as a portfolio manager. The main role of the portfolio manager is to carefully select the stocks, bonds or other securities that he or she  is convinced will offer the best returns for his investors or clients. As an investor, you are actually  buying a small piece  of all the companies in the portfolio  when you invest in a mutual fund. Hence the main reason to invest in mutual funds is clear: they offer five benefits that I believe investors will like. These benefits are explained below.

Mutual Funds Offers Instant Gratification

When you buy a mutual fund, it means that you have invested in all the companies in that fund. So because your money, which in some cases may be your life savings, is not resting on the success of only one or two companies. This limits risk because, although the performance of different securities varies, when some of them are up they will offset others that might me down. Note that diversification is an investing strategy that can be neatly summed up as "Don't put all your eggs in one basket." Spreading your investments across a wide range of companies and industry sectors can help lower your risk if a company or sector fails. Some investors find it easier to achieve diversification through ownership of mutual funds rather than through ownership of individual stocks or bonds.

Professional Money Management

Mutual funds are managed by investment professionals whose job is to  research, analyze and select   the best stocks and other securities day in, day out. This increases your chance of making more money and increasing the return on your investments.

Mutual Funds Offers Liquidity

When you invest in mutual funds, you will also  have easy access to your money, especially when you need it most. For instance, if you have a mutual fund, you can redeem  or buy shares  at almost any time at the net asset value(NAV). Note that NAV   means the value of your shares of the mutual fund.

Simplicity

Because mutual funds provides a variety of services such as custody(holding your money), tax reporting and other record-keeping services, you can take these burden off yourself. Besides, you can read and know about your fund’s performance because most mutual funds offer 24-hour call centers and websites as well as quarterly reports and the portfolio manager’s commentary.

Affordability

Some mutual funds accommodate investors who don't have a lot of money to invest by setting relatively low dollar amounts for initial purchases, subsequent monthly purchases, or both. 

Panel Interviews – How to Conquer Them

For the job seekers, panel interviews can be a real challenge.   In addition to quickly assessing how scenarios proposed by the panel  could be  managed, candidates in these  types of interviews  have to impress  and engage the panel members all at once as well as address situations that may directly affect prospective positions. Generally speaking, companies use the panel interview method  to get multiple viewpoints. This is because of their belief that one person making a decision is not always the best approach for the affected company since there are many cross-functional workplace relationships in this modern days. If you as a job applicant is nervous about facing an interview panel, the following advice can be useful.

The Panel’s Agenda

Do not forget that each person on the panel has his or her own agenda. Even though collectively, the objective is to review the applicant, each member of the panel has separate challenges and needs to address during the interview process. Hence doing your research on the committee/panel members and its departmental need prior to the interview will be helpful particularly in boosting your confidence level.

Prepare Good Answers

Preparing good answers also means tailoring your answers to reflect the expertise of individual interviewers. For instance, if any member of the interview panel is a finance manager , s/he may be more focused on your plans for cutting costs for the company and for the management of material resources.  If s/he is a representative from human resources department, then he will definitely expect an explanation of how you can manage employees.  Hence you will need to prepare yourself accordingly. It is also important that you examine how your departmental position  impact the overall function of the firm as well as examine the various strategic opportunities to present and discuss during your interview.

Making Connections

You will need to make a connection with everyone in the interview room. So try as much as you can to engage each person  via eye contact  and  a relaxed  but confident body language. In other words, you will need to orchestrate the interview session and make it your own. Offer sound information and perspectives that unites the group. It is equally important to demonstrate your ability to function as a member of a team since you will be in the presence of different department leaders with varying agendas.

            By adopting the approaches described above, you will definitely nail a panel interview. After all, such interviews are all about agility and adaptability. While you may not  prepare for every possible scenario or question, you can at least be able to manage change and expect the unexpected. The bottom line: Be confident and offer your authentic perspective based on the knowledge and on the insight you have regarding the position you applied for. 

Making A Successful Career Change

Making A Successful Career Change

According to the Odle (2012), a career training specialist and business feature writer, about 50 percent of employers target mid-career changers whenever they are hiring new employees. So if you are planning to make a career change, selling your skills and yourself to potential employers requires taking a few steps. Here are some tips that will make you successful.

Have A Genuine Reason

It should be noted that being unhappy in your current job is not a strong enough reason to make a total career break or a career change. So it is important that you carefully analyze whether it is your employer, supervisor (or office situation) or that you dislike your current job is the problem.

Work Experience

Even if you are considering another entirely different career, work experience is a plus. So re-work your resume – don’t throw it away. Just like every other experience, you will need to quantify all the experiences you had in the past. For instance, if you are in field of budgeting, list how large an amount of money you had responsibility over or how much money you saved for your organization (Odle, 2012).

Your Focus Should Be on Skill Transfer

Highlight all the skills you have and which you can transfer to the job in your resume and during the interview. The reason for this approach is that many skills in your previous job can be transferred to the new job. For instance, if you are a technical writer, explain to the potential employer that you understand release cycles, can handle a lot of details of a job and can easily meet deadlines. If you are transiting into the health care industry, for instance, explain to the potential employer that you have specific experience with Six Sigma technique (and be honest about it). This can make you very attractive to the potential employer.

Planning! Planning!! Planning!!!

Plan ahead. To make a major career change, you will need to plan ahead of time and be well organized. For instance, you may need additional training on your new area of interest. This means that you should start early to put money aside so as to pay for a full-time program in your new area of interest. To be successful, you can work during the day and attend evening classes. This will show a potential employer that you have your act together.

Research! Research!! Research!!!

It is very important that you examine all possibilities before you attempt a career jump. Get advice from people in your network. You will also need to read career and job profiles in books and magazines at your local library. If you can afford it, meet with a career management professional. You will be more successful in your career change if you arm yourself with more information.

Get Additional Help

Make inquiries about the new field or industry you plan to join. You can ask someone in the new field to tell you what is going on in the industry. Get as much information as possible on the job prospects of the new career. This information will help you to better prepare your resume and perform well in the interview. The bottom line: You should get a feel for the field that interests you.  To do this you will need to talk to people in the profession about what they do, read industry journals, and attend conferences. You should also learn whether or not your target industry has growth potential. Fortunately, many entrepreneurs, trade magazines, and organizations have created many websites that offer searchable databases where job openings in many specific industries are listed. So it is necessary that you start looking at these sites on a regular basis in order to make a successful move.

References

Odle T. (2012, September 23): How to Make a Successful Career Change. Baltimore Sun – Business & Jobs Section, p. 6.