5 employment and financial decisions you must make
Credit: Pexels Andrea Piacquadio
In many ways, life is about trying to find balance. You have to figure out a way to live that makes you happy. If you’re unable to do that, you’ll probably struggle.
Major parts of that are your career and financial decisions. What you choose to do with yourself and the money you make will determine your possibilities and limitations.
Let’s talk about financial and career decisions you’ll have to think about as you try to achieve the balance that some people find so elusive.
You can look for a job with a 401k
As you strive to balance work and home life, you probably know you want to retire someday. It’s the rare person who wants to work right up until they die. When you retire, you might want to:
- Travel around the world
- Read books and work on art projects
- See lots of plays and movies
Every individual’s retirement looks and sounds different. However you picture yours, you have to find a job where you can put some money away during your work years, or else it’s never going to happen.
One way that becomes more realistic is if you can locate a job that offers a 401K plan. A 401K plan is an employer-sponsored pension account. Every week or month, when you get your paycheck, a portion goes into the plan.
When you retire, you can use that money. You can also use it before you retire if you need it. You’ll have to pay a penalty if you do so.
What’s so nice about 401K plans is that some employers will also match the contributions you put into yours up to a certain point, usually anywhere from 2-5%. That’s free money your employer gives you as further incentive to set up this pension account.
You can open up an IRA
If you cannot find a job that offers a 401K, you can also open up your own IRA. An IRA is similar to a 401K. You can:
- Put money into it every week or month
- Cash it in when you retire and use that money for traveling or whatever else you want
An IRA accumulates interest every month, like a high-yield savings account. Like a 401K, if you need that money urgently, you can cash it in, but you’ll pay a penalty on it. If you can hold out until the proper time to cash it in, usually in your mid-to-late 60s, you can have that money to spend during your golden years.
Of course, one thing to keep in mind about both 401Ks and IRAs is that you’re putting that money away for the future, which means you can’t have it now. You might put away 2-5% of each of your paychecks.
If you’re impoverished at the moment, as some individuals and families are, you probably can’t afford to do these things. The way to alleviate this problem is by finding a job that pays more, enabling you to start saving.
You might buy CDs
You might know a little bit about CDs, or certificates of deposit. A CD is another way to save money if a 401K or IRA does not appeal to you. However, nothing says your portfolio can’t have all three of these money-saving tools in it.
A CD costs a minimum amount. At most banks, it’s as much as $3,000 or even $5,000. It goes up from there.
If you buy a CD, you can get a good rate on it, better than just about any savings account. If you’re saving for the future and find yourself with a few thousand dollars you don’t immediately need, you can purchase a CD. You might get one with a rate like 1.00% or even higher, which most people consider pretty good.
Just like with IRAs and 401Ks, if you pull out that money before the CD matures, you can face a penalty. There are some penalty-free CDs, though, so you may want to look for that at your local banks.
You can work more
We’ve been talking about money-saving tactics, but some people can’t do that because their jobs are not paying them enough. If you’re working forty hours every week, or more than that, and you still can’t pay your bills, you can’t start saving.
If you face this dilemma, you’re not achieving the appropriate work-life balance. You might also face depression in these situations. You may have kids to feed and put through school, not to mention mortgage payments or rent, utility bills, etc.
Some people in this situation get second or even third jobs. They face the reality that they have to do so if they’re going to get ahead.
If you do this, people should commend you for your toughness and resilience. You should also understand that you’re probably going to burn yourself out before too long.
You might look into career counseling. During these consultations, you can talk about your skill set and how you might implement it to make more money.
You can ask for a raise or promotion
If you feel like you’re not making enough money, you should also think about whether you’re in a profession or working for a company where you might someday advance. That advancement might be a salary raise, or it might be a promotion, which comes with more benefits.
If you know you have a job where you can never advance, and you’re not satisfied, you need to figure out some way to make a change. That might mean you should seek out career counseling or vocational training.
Maybe you’ll decide to borrow money and take some community college courses. Community college is usually cheaper than most accredited universities, and you have a lot more job possibilities if you can get a degree.
Whether you’re trying to save for the future or find a job that makes you happier, you must strive to achieve that balance. Otherwise, you will probably not have a happy domestic life.
