Having a job is great; you have income, you pay your bills, you can raise a family, and you may even be able to do a few things you want to do in life.
But ultimately, having a job means that you sacrifice a lot.
It Isn’t Freedom
You wake up early enough to be on a set time.
You go to bed to wake up early enough to be on a set time.
You are told what time you can eat.
You are told when you can go sit down.
You are told how much your time and skills are worth to someone else, and I promise you it is way below what your time and skills are worth.
For 40 hours a week, you have absolutely no decisions.
But it gets better:
For five days a week, you plan your day around someone else’s 40 hours, and once you’re told you can leave, you get to deal with all the pragmatic offensive drivers on the road rushing to get their errands done.
By the time you’re home, you may only have about four or five hours to do all the things that you still need to get done while stressing about what you haven’t done and feeling guilty about not doing the things you haven’t done.
You Get Paid After Everyone Else
You worked overtime last week, and you see that a nice paycheck hit your account. Very nice, but take a look at the paystub you ignore, won’t you?
Do you see all those strange little names that took their share before you got your cut?
Yeah, you’re working for a lot of people.
Check your net pay and check your gross pay.
What’s the difference between the two? At least a few hundred dollars.
When you have a job, your employer is the first person you’re working for, and you spend 40 hours a week making them rich.
Your employer sends your paycheck to uncle sugar, and he takes his share, and then he sends it over to you.
Then, the bank comes knocking, reminding you that you still have debt that you need to pay.
You have to pay your rent or mortgage, groceries, utilities, insurance, and everything else needed. Then you can keep whatever is left.
These pain-in-the-ass things are called responsibilities and liabilities.
Welcome to being employed. How do you want it tonight?
Having A Job Isn’t Security
The 2008 crash was vicious; in 18 months, the economy was in shambles; people with careers in companies that were thought never to fail went bankrupt; countless people were homeless and living in tents and their cars, and had the “security” of their jobs cut from under them.
So how did all of this go down?
Banks offered subprime loans comprised of mortgage-backed securities to anyone who could breathe.
What does that even mean?
The banks pooled many loans together that were given to people with poor credit and high-interest rates, backed by the idea that people don’t default on their mortgage payments.
These pooled together bonds were then sold under the idea that they were completely secure and guaranteed because they were comprised of good fico score ratings.
When people defaulted on their loans, the bonds failed, which happened on a massive scale, and the banks began to fail, too, and companies that had their money tied up in the banks felt the tremors.
Trillions of dollars were lost in the stock market; 401k, IRA, and pensions were wiped out.
People quickly realized that what they thought were their “securities” for their money was just an illusion of security.
Then Came 2020
Covid-19 brought more than just the loss of our loved ones – countless people lost everything. The world economy was brought to its knees; Covid-19 brought unprecedented challenges to the world’s systems.
Europe adopted a short-time working system that Germany used in 2008. It allowed workers to be paid most or all of their salary during the shutdown, which kept the system working.
Unfortunately, the U.S. does not have a national insurance system for workers when the shit hits the fan.
The benefits are barely enough, and they expire like a gallon of milk outside on a mid-July day.
Three months into the Covid-19 apocalypse, 25% of workers under 25 lost their jobs.
Covid-19 came, saw, took a shit on the economy, and said to us, “hey, clean that up for me.”
There is no security in having a job because the world is such a complex place, and there are an endless number of variables that can come about.
Companies are vulnerable to the changes in the market, and your job is tied to that. So if the market takes a dive, your job will be threatened.
Sometimes it isn’t anything as drastic as these two examples. Sometimes, it’s just that our boss woke up on the wrong side of the bed and decided that, for whatever reason, you’re the next one up for termination.
Maybe you were late too many times; maybe you just made a mistake; perhaps the economy took a nosedive.
The simple fact is this: shit happens, and you can’t control it.
Everyone in the workplace is replaceable; this doesn’t mean that you bring no value to the company you work for, but it does mean that you have no security beyond how the business you work for, or the economy, is doing.
You Trade Your Time for A Paycheck
You must take the time to understand that your work-life involves at least 40 hours a week of your time. That’s 2,080 hours per year, and that is almost 24% of your time each year spent at your job.
In other words, that’s a quarter of your life given to someone else each year.
Is your job worth trading up to 24% of your life?
I didn’t think so.
It’s important to step back and think about what you truly value in life, and if your job makes you sick to go to, and you’re not being paid what you deserve or even need, then it’s probably a sign to move on.
In his book Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki said, “Workers work hard enough not to get fired, and owners pay enough so that workers won’t quit.”
It’s that simple.
Set-Up Options in Your Life
The world is full of smart and talented people who spend most of their time working and earning just enough to get by. However, if you only depend on a job for your income, you will probably never be where you want to be.
First, it’s important to understand where you want to be.
Do you want to be financially independent?
Do you not want to worry about money?
When do you want to “retire?”
What does retirement look like for you?
What does financial independence look like for you?
Everyone is different, and your situation is unique for you, not Bill, who is talking about how he is building his cat grooming business and is going to retire at 45. That has nothing to do with you.
One thing that many people are realizing and doing is to start a side hustle and grow it into a business.
Starting a side hustle is not that complicated.
It’s going to be challenging but not impossible.
What are some skills you have? Good with people? Great with numbers? Are you a manager? Are you a carpenter? A painter? A babysitter on the side?
These are great skills that you can develop into a small side hustle and eventually grow into a business.
Take what you enjoy doing in your free time and find out how you can make money doing it.
Do you like fishing? Why not start a class where people can come, pay you to use your equipment, and relax and fish?
Do you like horses? Start a riding class business on the side and learn how to care for horses.
Do you enjoy cutting your grass and trimming the hedges on your lawn? Then, make money doing that for other people.
Eventually, as you learn about your side hustle, you can grow it into a business, quit your job, and start doing what you enjoy.
And don’t get stuck in the mindset that you have to do this for the rest of your life; the goal here is to set yourself up so you have options in life.
You could also invest in getting your real estate license, which would open an entirely new world of financial options for you. Yes, it costs to get your license. And yes, information costs, but it pays for itself.
Making money isn’t the problem; it’s about having the will to do it.
Become Financially Literate
Alvin Toffler said, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.”
Most of what people have come to understand about finance are wrong.
How many of us recommend to each other to invest in a 401k?
It’s such an everyday conversation in the workplace, but how many of us understand how it works?
Did you know there is more than one type of 401k?
Did you know there is a limit on how much you can contribute?
Did you know there is good debt and bad debt?
There is so much involved in finance that it is enough to make anyone’s head spin, but keep in mind that you don’t need to be a financial expert overnight.
You’re not testifying in front of Congress tomorrow, so relax.
But you need to learn how to build assets in your life that will generate monthly income.
So, if you are not where you want to be, it’s time to ask yourself, “why am I not where I want to be?”
Becoming literate in any subject takes time, and gaining a deep understanding of finance is also going to take time, but the sooner you start, the better off you will be, and what got you to where you are today will not get you to where you want to be tomorrow.
So, Having a Job Sucks
You get a job to gain some sense of stability, and after 45 years, you can sit in a rocking chair to watch the rest of your time fade away; this is called “retirement.”
You sold your soul for 45 years to wander around aimlessly, wondering what to do with all your “free time.”
Then you realize that you never stopped to learn what you truly value, what you enjoy, and what you want to do with your life.
By the time you come to these conclusions, you come to another realization: uncle sugar came knocking, and you need more money than you thought to get by for the rest of your life, and now you have to go back to work.
The truth hurts, and there is no happy ending in this scenario, but you do have options, and becoming financially literate is one of the most brilliant things you can do with your life right now.
Build your life around what you would be doing if you didn’t have to work, make money doing those things, and educate yourself on making your money work for you.