You’ve heard the news by now. When I think of Jobs I think of his memorable quote about making a dent in the universe and for the high level of work and output. He created beautiful products and changed many peoples lives.
I don’t know what to say, so I’ll leave you with the image Apple has on their website and the memorable Stanford speech.
A new study and article has found that Income has fallen to 1996 levels for Americans when you factor in the effects of inflation.
This is depressing no matter how you slice it, but you can take a proactive approach to this with your own job and future. If you’re in a slow-growth sector, it might be time to rethink your career and industry. If you’re doing fantastic work and haven’t had a decent raise (or one at all), go ask for one.
Set aside cash if you’ve got a positive cash flow. Don’t spend money on stupid stuff and things you don’t need.
Having a positive cash flow feed your emergency fund in the good times can prepare you for the unforeseen events in the future.
Stand tall and figure out your plan and do whatever you can to not let your income level slide.
[Image courtesy of Purple Matt Fish]
In the process of cleaning up my blog from my comment spam attack, I came across a post from Tim Ferriss that I wanted to reshare with you… The Difference: Living Well vs. Doing Well
A lot has been going on in my life and I’ve been taking it easy mentally, trying to focus on the core things that are ahead of me. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the day-to-day that we don’t take a step back and evaluate where we’re going…ever.
If you’ve been in a rut or feel like you’ve been just slogging away at your work with no results, you might want to check out this post.
The post is a short, inspiring read. The focus is on vagabonding, but in the intro to Ferriss gets at the key takeaway for me:
“Living well is quite different from ‘doing well.’ In the quest to get ahead — destination often unknown — it’s easy to have life pass you by while you’re focused on other things. This post is intended as a reminder and a manifesto: keep it simple.”
Another excerpt from the post that hit me over the head:
Vagabonding sage Ed Buryn knew as much: “By switching to a new game, which in this case involves vagabonding, time becomes the only possession and everyone is equally rich in it by biological inheritance. Money, of course, is still needed to survive, but time is what you need to live. So, save what little money you possess to meet basic survival requirements, but spend your time lavishly in order to create the life values that make the fire worth the candle. Dig?”
The key takeaway for me is to invest your time wisely for things with big payoffs for you and forget the trivial things that are big time sucks. Do more things that make you feel great and cut out the rest of the bs.
Simplify your life down to the core elements and focus on getting more out of life. Invest your precious time in collecting experiences, not STUFF.
Photo courtesy of h.koppdelaney
I’ve been on a book reading tear of late. I’ll post more about that in the coming weeks, but as you can see by my post frequency, I’ve been reading more than I’ve been writing. Hope you’re enjoying your summer.
Yes, I know. This is a random picture, but it made me laugh.
Breaking Through Stereotypes – Bethenny Frankel has 120 million reasons to feel vindicated. I love the whole Skinny Girl Margarita story and Frankel’s rise from living paycheck-to-paycheck to making it big.
“I worked hard, I did it on my own, and I busted my ass the whole way. It’s been a long time coming.”
Ask the Readers: How can I earn an extra $1000 per month? – Enough said. Worth the read.
4 Reasons Why Your Boss Should Take A Vacation – If your boss doesn’t take vacation, read through this post and get them to take one.
1. Taking time off work recharges your productivity and ability to perceive new directions
2. Serve as an example of the importance and value of taking time off work
3. Show your team you trust their ability to manage without you
4. Reminds employees that vacation time is part of their remuneration; it’s not a job perk
20 personal money practices that got me to a place of grooving prosperity – A wonderful post that bring a nice feeling of approachability to handling money and the mentality you need to gain control of your finances.
Ten Things College Graduates Need to Know About Finances and Careers – Simple advice worth memorizing for yourself or sharing with college age kids.
1. That thing you really want? You don’t need it.
2. Increasing your debt level is an extremely bad idea.
3. Believing that “your future self will take care of it” ensures a miserable life.
4. Start retirement savings the first day you possibly can.
5. If you don’t have any specific long term goals, use your money to eliminate debt.
6. If you don’t have any specific long term goals and no debt, keep your extra money in a savings account.
7. It is unlikely that you’ll stay in your first post-college job – or even your first post-college career path – forever, so plan accordingly
8. Don’t be ashamed to live with your parents for a while, but don’t view it as a long-term solution.
9. Your specific investment choices matter less than the simple fact you’re investing.
10. You have an incredibly long life ahead of you. Use that knowledge to your advantage.
6 Lessons Learned From The Recession – J Money over at Budgets are Sexy comments on an MSN article about lessons we should have learned from the current recession.
- Use cash and borrow less
- Make sure you build an emergency fund
- Setting priorities is critical
- Budget is not a dirty word
- Being a penny-pincher makes you smart, not cheap
- Stay in charge of your investments
What’s It Take to Be “Rich”? – How much do you think it takes? Here’s the number a recent survey of millionaires came up with…
Why Smart People Make Bad Spending Decisions – Another smart post from J Money at Budgets are Sexy. Why do you think smart people make dumb spending decisions? If you’re struggling with spending and debt (and you’re obviously smart because you’re reading this blog), then check out this post. It just might help you eliminate a few spending issues and leave you with extra cash at the end of the month.
From Billionaire To Broke: One Wealthy Heiress And Her Slide Into Bankruptcy – Not exactly MC Hammer type of “interesting” expenses to read about, but this is a cautionary tale to learn from with good lessons learned at the end of the post.
A Home Is a Lousy Investment: Today’s young people would be foolish to imitate their parents and view ownership as the cornerstone of personal finance. Blasphemy? Maybe not.
Picture via Alberto.Gar
Since a 2006 law was passed, companies can now legally automatically enroll you in a retirement plan instead of waiting for you to sign up on your own. The idea behind the law was to force people to start saving for their retirement because the US government knows Social Security is going to go bust, traditional pensions are going the way of the dinosaur and most people can’t be trusted to save enough for retirement on their own.
Good law, right? Well, maybe not according to a recent Wall Street Journal article. The Employee Benefit Research Institute found that 40 percent of new employees at companies with auto enrollment plans are putting away less money every paycheck than if they were to have enrolled on their own.
Personally think this is an example of using data incorrectly. Let me explain…
The article looks at the savings rate of people who are auto-enrolled in 401k plans vs. people who enroll on their own. The auto-enrolled people save only 3 percent of their salary while the folks who sign up on their own save between 5 and 10 percent. The conclusion is that thousands of dollars are lost over the course of a lifetime because people are auto-enrolled.
Sorry, not the case in my book. I view those auto-enrolled folks who don’t change their contribution amounts as people who would have NEVER contributed at all. These are the folks who would have a 401k balance of NOTHING if they had not been auto-enrolled in the 401k plan.
Again, I just had to write you about this topic in case you came across it and formed an opinion based on the headline that auto-enrollment plans are bad – they’re not. What’s bad is when folks just stick with the low contribution rate and don’t adjust it upwards over time. The goal if you can’t contribute a lot right now is to start small and finish big (larger contributions).
Side Note: If you’re only contibuting 3 percent to your 401k or other retirement plan, do yourself a favor your future self will thank you for – double that number. I promise you won’t miss the cash in the short-term. If you do, you can always lower your contribution amount over time.
Photo via m kasahara
Fabio Marciano is an accomplished author and runs the popular blog Cubicle Millionaire. He is dedicated to radically changing people's lives first through their finances and their work. He frequently writes about a variety of topics, namely getting ahead at your full-time job, doing great work, losing weight and getting in shape, creating a second income, how to plan for the future and how to be more productive (to name a few topics). 
