How to Have a Better Career and Succeed Financially?

Everyone want to have a better career. But, many people are still wondering how to get it. If you have a great career, you will become happy and you can easily succeed in financial aspects. However, not all career path are the best path to achieve financial freedom.

How do I know that not all “careers” are the best path to achieve financial freedom. Some careers are just enjoyable but they are not financially rewarding. If your plan is to get rich, choose career that are highly financially rewarding. What I mean is, you are working and getting tired. Why not get a career that can help you make a lot of money.

Engineers, physicians, architects, lawyers, accountants, policeman, teacher and a nurse are careers that acquired through formal education. These professionals get formal education. But do they earn the same amount? No. They both invest time and money in school, but who get rich faster? I am sure the physician, lawyers and engineers and architects are the ones who make the most money.

What about nurses, teachers, policemen and accountants? Some readers of InvestmentTotal.com do know about me. I am a teacher, I am happy with my career but when it comes to financial aspects, teaching has nothing to do with it. Unless you are teaching abroad, you can earn a lot.

Engineers do learn arithmetic because of teachers. Lawyers do learn critical thinking and analyzing because of teachers and doctors do learn how to read and spell the word “prescription” because of teachers. The question is, why do engineers, lawyers, doctors are earning more than the professional who teach them to become professionals? Is it unfair? Yes, it is!

What about nurses? They save lives, they care for the engineers’ lives, they care for the architect’s newborn baby, they feed old aged lawyer and they even assist the doctor’s daughter to take medicine. Why they are only earning small amount? Is it unfair? Yes, it is!

Take a look of a policeman, he is there to make sure the community is in order and peaceful. Where do high earners live? They live in the same community.

Accountants are not high earner. How do I know it? Unless your the CEO of the bank or the bank manager. Accountants count the money of the high earners. The sad thing is they don’t have their own money to count in.

On the other hand, there are careers wherein it is not required to go to school just to have it and succeed financially. I am not telling that formal education is not required. Formal education is a must! But don’t be contented to have a formal education.

What does this mean? You have to increase your knowledge and skills. There are useful knowledge and skills that are not taught in school. Example, personal finance is not available in school. But personal finance, in my opinion is the best way to help individual become financially free. Keep on reading and I prove it to you.

Can nurses receiving low salary get rich? Yes! Imagine if you start saving early for as low as $50 or equivalent to 2,500 pesos per month in 20 years that earns 8 percent interest per year. How much money do you have after 20 years?

A. $50 X 12 months X 20 years = $12,000 or half a million pesos savings

B. If you invest $50 or P2,500 per month in 20 years, you will have more than million pesos. How do I know it? The power of compound interest will help you accumulate and multiply your money. Just be sure you don’t just save. Invest and let the money grows!

Note: I am using dollars and other currencies for the sake of this discussion. I have readers in North America, they will never become interested if I will use peso as my currency.

See? Even you and me are receiving low salary, we can achieve financial freedom. We can retire millionaires. Maybe you are wondering why we talk about personal finance instead of “having a great career”. This is because I want you to inform that as long as you are working and earning, you have the chances to succeed financially. Also, I would like to inform you that even though you are earning lot of money but you have no idea about “personal finance” and have no plan to manage your finance carefully, you will still end in “financial struggles”.

If I learned personal finance during my high school days, I am now a multi-millionaires. Sad to say, I only learned about it three years ago. Maybe you ask; “how do you do financially”? My finances are getting better compare to the previous years. Imagine having a half million working as a ordinary teacher. Hey don’t tell anyone, my plan is to retire at age 55 with ten million pesos earning asset.

Going back to the discussion, to have a better career you must consider important things. Want to know the things to consider when choosing the career path to take? Follow the guide and you’ll soon learn.

How to Have a Better Career and Succeed Financially?

Step 1. Know want you want.

When choosing a career, you must consider the things you want to have. Say for example, you want a healthy lifestyle. If you choose to become a English teacher and after college you work in a call center company working at night. You are start working at 11 pm and stop at 8 in the morning. Are you a ghost? I am just kidding. Is that what you want? And the worst is, when you have a child wanting you to spend time with him/her in the morning and you just said “next time, I am sleepy”. Again, is that what you want?

Another example, you choose to become a nurse but you can’t even take care of your own parents because your boss tells you to stay in the hospital for some reasons; many patients to assist, other nurses are absent, etc. Is that what you want?

Image Credit: Official GDC on CC 2.0 via Flickr

You want to buy good things for your spouse, child, parents, friends but it seems your salary is too small. Don’t blame your work, blame yourself, it is because you choose to take a not financially rewarding career. I am sure you know what you want right now. If you don’t know what you want, you will never succeed.

Some people says;

• I want to become an engineer (what kind of engineer after school), there are engineers who are working for other engineers. There are engineers who work for themselves, no boss, noone to dictate them what to do and what no to do. They make a lot of money.
• Some people says I want to be an architect. Some people says I want to build my architectural firms.
• Some people may say I want to become a millionaire. But when you ask them, when is your plan to achieve that goal? They have no clue.
• Some people say I want a mansion, a sports car, a faithful and kind spouse, a healthy body. But they are working in a mediocre ways as if they can turn their dreams into reality working that way.
• Whatever you want, work for it. But first, know what you want! Don’t work for something without knowing what it is all about. It’s stupidity.

Tip: Excel and give your best while you are in school. If you are good and excellent in school, you will become also good and excellent at work. It is because your body and mind was trained that way; good and excellent. However, don’t lose enthusiasm. Studying and working have different sides and different rewards. The one will reward you certificates and honors, the other one will reward you “money”. If you are excellent at receiving certificates and honors, your chances to receive money is higher. Again, because you are trained to work hard and work smart. Believe me, money will come to you easily as long as you work hard and you work smart.

So, before you choose a career to take? You should know where do you want to work and what kind of lifestyle do you really want. Do you want a financially rewarding career or a just “happy” career. You should choose both. You should happy in the career you want to take and at the same time that career should help you achieve financial freedom.

Step 2. Align your “wants” in the career you want to take.

I am not saying there are worst career. All careers are great for as long as you are happy with it. But the important question is; what makes you happy? Money, good friends, healthy lifestyle, considerate bosses, industrious and independent co-workers? What?

How to align your wants? Example, do you want to work with less talk? Don’t get journalism course. If you want to work repairing computers, networking, creating a website, building company’s database, then choose career on information technology.

Also, make sure after you studied in school and start working, your career should help you get what you really want in life. Material possessions, healthy lifestyle, etc.

Tip: Observe other professionals or other people. Observe who makes the most money and who are the happiest. Choose one of them and find a way to know what this person is doing. Of course, you must choose a successful person as your guide. If you want to go there, talk to people who has been there before.

Step 3. Know your needs.

If you know what you want you should also what you need today, tomorrow and needs for the future. Your needs change because someday you will have your own family, you will get old and need more money to spend for medicines, you need to save college funds for your kids, etc.

I know you know what are your wants for today. But I am not sure if you know what you need in the future. This is also the reasons why I am inserting personal finance in this topic; how to have a better career and succeed financially.

Step 4. Realign your career according to your needs.

No wonder why a person who studied Bachelor of Science in Accountancy is now a real estate agent. No wonder why some people who studied BS Education is not contented as a ordinary teacher. They became school heads, supervisors, and some quit teaching because they build their own schools.

It is because their needs changed. Imagine if you studied accountancy course in five years and you’ll end selling real estate properties. Is that what you want? I think nope. But, since it is because you need more, you take that career path; a real estate agent.

This is what I mean. Formal education is a must! When a accountancy student graduated and no jobs for him/her available, it is easy to get any job. And in some cases, a better career than what you expected. How much a newly hired accountant can make? Maybe $500 per month (P15,000). And how much a real estate agent can make? Imagine if you sold a property worth $200,000 or P9,000,000 and you earn a 2% commission, you will earn $4,000 or P180,000.

Maybe you will only feel frustrated because you expect to work in the bank but now you are working as a agent. Maybe you will tell yourself “That should not be my profession, I should work in the bank wearing professional attires. I should not going to other places walking under the sun just to get clients. I should seat in a nice chair, counting money.”.

There’s nothing wrong in realigning your chosen career into new one. For as long as you meet your personal needs, your family’s needs and your future needs. You will only meet your needs if you earn enough money.

Step 5. Forget about what other people say. Choosing a better career is common sense. 

Why I am saying choosing a better career is common sense? Just like what I have said before, as long as you are happy, then go for it, work for it. But, if you are just happy and you didn’t meet your needs, something wrong with your career.

So what’s the solution? The solution is not to change your career especially if you are happy with what you are doing. The solution is to find a way to increase your income.

Do you know rich people who are teaching in public schools?

Do you know rich people who are working in a hospital as a nurse?

What about rich accountant counting other people’s money?

I know a lot of them. I observed how do people live their lives. I once experience what majority of people are doing. They work hard and they spend all the money they earned. And again, that’s not a good idea especially if you are aware of your future needs. I choose my own path, it is because my needs changed. My priorities changed.

A teacher, a policeman, a accountant, and a nurse can make more than what can an engineer, architect, lawyer or physician make. Ask me how?

First, analyze your finances. How much money you are earning every month? Save at least 20% every time you receive your salary.

There are many ways to save your money. But the best way is to save it automatically. If you are receiving your salary in a bank account, ask the bank to open another account for you and transfer the 20% of your salary every month in that new account. Banks will be very happy to hear that. They want us to save money in them.

Me and you, believe me we are born to spend money. We are not trained to save and invest especially if we are from poor families. So, start training yourself to save and invest.

Second, when you accumulate enough money in your savings account. Start your own business. You can start your own business part time. In my case, I start a small hog raising business in our backyard. There are many ways. As long as your previous job is not getting affected. Some people are making their own products and sell them to co-workers. I admire those types of people.

Formal education. I have a great career now because of formal education. I have a enjoyable and unique skills I learned not on school. And that skill is website development. Honestly, I created several blogs and websites. This blog is the most simplest.

How do I acquired this skill? I am not wasting my time playing non-sensical games. Playing games has a lot of fun, but, what’s the reward? A poor eyesight in the future. So, while your eyes sight are getting blurred, make sure the one you are doing now is worth it.

Forget About What other People are Saying

It is recommended to just forget what other people are saying. There are many people that will only talk because they want to talk. Their talks has nothing to do with your life and success. They will only put you down. Some are stupid and some will break your dreams.

If you want to have a better career, do what you love. Don’t just love what you do. If you love computers, go with it. If you want numbers, be an accountant, engineers or a math teacher. If you love drawing, be an architect or a fine artist.

If you love dancing, then be a DI. Love to cook, be a chef or start your own food business. Love to inspire people? Then, be a personal coach, personal mentor or be a teacher. Want to be a business owner? Want to be a professional basketball player? Want to be a millionaire, no one will ever stop you. Whatever you do, people has something to say. So just do it and forget about what they say. Unless it’s meaningful and useful, you should sometimes think if they are right. But believe me, when it comes to your own dreams, they are always wrong. You are always right. Why? It is you who knows what you really want.

If you will live in a miserable life, will they be there? If you listen to them and remain poor, will they help you buy your family’s needs? A big NO!

I Want to Take College Course, But No Money to Pay for Tuition Fees

The universe was created with lot of useful things including money. If you think you can’t take a college course because you have no money, you’re a loser! You’re a big mistake!

One thing you should ask yourself, do you have hands? Left hand? Right hand? There are people who has no both arms and legs but they can earn a living. You are only required to earn for the tuition fees, can you do it? If other people can do it, you can do it, too.

The idea is to use your current skills to earn money. Save the money you earn and spend it for your education. You can also work part time when you are at 18 years of age. You can also ask for a scholarship grants. If you really want to succeed, do something. Don’t just wait for something. And the worst, expecting nothing!

I Have Finished College and Got a Job, Now What?

This is one of the most important questions in this topic. Now you successfully finished college degree and you found a job easily. First, congratulations! But be reminded that you are just starting of the journey. Don’t repeat the same mistakes of many people.

They find a job, they earn money, they enjoy their lives. They get married, they are raising kids and they saved nothing. Why? It is because their philosophy goes like this “I am still young and I should enjoy my life. I am working, I should spend the money I earned the way I want it”. They forget they are getting older. They forget getting older is unstoppable.

Their needs changed because they have children to feed. They want to change their career but they are afraid because they think no one will accept them because they are over age. What’s the lesson? As long as you are young and found a job, save money. Be grateful whatever your job is. That job will help you save money. When your needs changed, you are prepared, you don’t have to worry and think you need to find another job.

Unless you are contented in your salary, then don’t save. If you have plan for yourself or for your future family, then save. Also, if things getting worst you have money to use. Say for example, the company don’t want you to work anymore with them, you are not afraid because you still have money. But it doesn’t mean, you will work well when you are saving money.

Also, learn from employees who became bosses. While they are employees working for someone else, they are operating their own business. Who knows, you career might be on “entrepreneurship”. Who knows instead of finding a job you are providing jobs. Great career, isn’t it?

Tips and Warnings

• Do not take a college course because your friends are taking the same course.
• According to Robert T. Kiyosaki, if you want to achieve something great you should know how to focus. FOCUS simply means Finish One Course Until Successful.
• Protect your parents dreams, don’t make them disappointed. Believe me, there is a great future waiting for those child who love their parents and making them proud.
• Formal education is a must for those who dream bigger. The more you know, the more confident you become. But, don’t be contented in formal education, spend time to acquire skills like personal financial management, investing and other useful skills that has something to do with your future.
• When choosing a career to take, choose to be happy and at the same time choose those careers that are financial rewarding. If you are at the wrong career or profession because you realized your needs changed, you should increase your income by finding ways to make extra money.
• Do not lean on your own understanding. God will lead you for a better life. Just seek help to Him and your future will become bright. Praying is a must because choosing the right career is not a joke. It is a serious matter.
• Help others when you are capable in helping yourself. Help yourself first, so that soon you can help as many people as you can.
• Anyone can rich in any career or profession as long as they know how to manage their own finances, as long as they know how to accumulate small amount of money. Saving, budgeting, wisely spending, smart investing and proper handling of money will lead you to financial freedom. Remember, financial freedom is not how much you have right now, it is the time when you are not working for money. Millions of people are working for money. So, invest now and let the money work for you in the future. The money you saved and invests will replace you and work for you. That’s the way you want to retire, am I right?
• Dream big, think big and do not forget that there are people who just love to talk, people who just love to break other people’s dreams, don’t avoid them, be an example around them. And let them realize that they have their own dreams to think about, too.

Hmm! Did this post justify the title? For a better career? For financial success? I hope you find these tips on how to have a better career and succeed financially useful. Spend some time to leave a comment, if you are just interested, add your opinion! Do not forget to share this page with your friends! Good luck to your career! May God bless you a happy life and prosperous life.