Financial Samurai

Work reviews are a part of work life. Reviews are a great opportunity to highlight your wins and listen to constructive feedback so you can ultimately do better and earn more money.  Unfortunately, we sometimes don’t like what we hear.  Despite working so hard on a particular project, your boss might not even care. Despite highlighting a strength of yours, your boss highlights an even bigger strength of his to belittle you.

Not getting paid or promoted is a very discouraging fact of work life. Not all of us can be special. Not all of us can keep climbing the mountain of glory. It’s disappointing to be average, as I strongly believe most of us have an inherent desire to be the best at what we do. A normal bell curve will say that 60-70% of us are in the middle of the pack. Therefore, most of us are probably average, or will encounter mediocrity at some point in our work careers.

The following article looks at the brightside of being average and how to carry on.

THE UPSIDE OF BEING AVERAGE Read more…

There’s a big difference between getting fired and getting laid off.  Most of what you read in the papers is about people getting laid off due to a “reduction in force”, or RIF as many companies call it nowadays.  Getting fired is almost always due to cause.

You may have sent out a blast e-mail with company secrets by mistake.  Or perhaps you said some sexist joke about women when the female HR manager so happened to walk by.  Whatever the case, you don’t want to get fired, nor should you quit if you don’t have to.

If you are fired or quit, a number of things can happen:

1) You will not be eligible for our government’s gregarious 99 weeks of potential unemployment benefits.  The logic is, you did something wrong that forced your company to fire you, hence it is your own fault you are unemployed, hence no soup for you.

2) You might have a black mark on your record if you’re fired, making you damaged goods for future employers.

3) You may lose supporters who would have written letters of recommendation.  But, since you were fired or quit, they might not want to risk their reputation on you anymore.

4) You might die alone.  Few things in life are worse than dying alone.  You’ll understand how difficult it is to do your own thing, or quit with no back-up in the post.

GET “RIFFED” AND BREATHE EASIER Read more…

Housekeepers on cruise ships make around $40 a day working 12-hour days on average. They get zero days off for the duration of their contract of 6, 8 or 10 months. That’s right, zero days off, 12 hour days, and no visits from family or friends. You think your 10-hour a day job is hard?  Please, reconsider and think again.

What’s even more impressive than working for only $40 a day is the service staff’s positive attitude. For 12 days and 12 nights, never was I greeted in a less-than-happy manner. Whether I was asking for directions to the theater or requesting the New York Times in the morning, the service staff were always eager to serve.

The entire service staff was from either Indonesia or the Philippines. Hence, $40 a day might be equivalent to $200 a day back in America or Europe based on purchasing power parity.  Furthermore, after working for 300 days straight with not one weekend off, one could theoretically accumulate $12,000 US dollars + a bonus, equaling roughly $50-60,000 dollars of buying power back home.  Not bad at all!

The service staff I spoke to said that they send roughly 80% of their pay back to their families. Their expenses are little because they all get free room (two to a room) and board. A couple of them had the option of doing 6 month contracts, but insisted on 10 month contracts as they wanted to work more and make more. They wanted to take full advantage of their opportunity.

I asked whether it was easy or hard to get a job on the cruise ship, and they said, “not hard.” You just have to apply, and go through the training. “Always be positive”, they told me. Sounds pretty straightforward to me.

DON’T BE AFRAID Read more…

Despite taking 6 weeks off (30 days + weekends) last year, I’m having a difficult time repeating this feat this year.  Taking all my vacations is a new year’s resolution because it’s actually damn hard to do!  The guilt always washes over me like the monthly floods in Venice.  I recently took a two week cruise and now I want to take another week off just a month and a half later.  I can’t seem to pull the trigger.  Perhaps you’ve experienced the same paralysis?

Right about the 5th week of vacation time, colleagues and friends start guilting me.  A female friend who is having her third child in 5 years said, “Wow Sam, you really know how to maximize the system.  I need to do a better job of taking a vacation.”  I’m thinking, come on, did you really just say this after you’ve taken four weeks off already, and are going on a 3-month maternity leave for the third time in 5 years?  I’m all for a 3-month maternity leave, or even 6 months as they do in Europe, as someone has to give birth.  Just don’t make me feel bad for taking my allotted vacation time!

I asked my father whether I should take another week off before the end of the year to go visit him.  He said, “Sam, it sure seems like you are taking a lot of time off, and that you’re never there.”  How does he know if I’m never there since he isn’t there working with me?  That said, it doesn’t matter, because perceptions are important, and one should be careful not to err to far from center especially as we come to year-end.

UNDERSTANDING THE FEELING OF GUILT AND VACATION Read more…

The older I get, the more I realize how necessary it is for people first starting out to find a mentor.  A mentor is there to guide you through all the landmines in a career or start-up venture.  In fact, I encourage everyone to get a mentor with every serious endeavor they are about to undertake.

“You are special.  You deserve the world and can do anything.“  These words do more damage to young people than any insult.  If all you hear growing up is how special you are, you’re going to develop the biggest entitlement attitude ever!  You’re going to think you walk on water and your shit don’t stink.

Is there any wonder why the most typical complaint by the 99% protest movement is not getting a dream job after going tens of thousands of dollars in debt?  What is wrong with picking crops and making hamburgers? College graduates are told to go to school, don’t be afraid to take out massive debt because their lives will be great since they are so special.  As a result, they aren’t willing to put in the hours to get straight A’s, work unpaid internships every summer to gain experience, and develop technical skills beyond the classroom.  Being told they are special DOOMS them.

This is why growing up in a free and developed country like the United States is pretty easy, ironically.  If you don’t have the “I’m special” attitude, then you will never be delusional.  And since so many of your peers think they are special, they aren’t willing to put the extra time and effort into whatever they are doing.  Just realizing you are just another nobody will put you far ahead in this world.

In “How To Succeed The Dumb And Easy Way” on Untemplater.com, I try and knock some sense into folks who need a nice kick in the pants.  I love the stories and interviews there because it shows how people can live differently.  The Untemplaters make it look easy, but that’s what skilled people do.  Feel free to share your thoughts here or there!

Do you believe you’re special?

Photo: Hissing Stray Baby Cat, Venice, 2011.  Sam.  Can you guess the symbolism?

Best,

Sam

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Peter and I were golfing buddies for years until one day he started asking me about my compensation.  I refused to tell him for weeks until he mentioned he was in a tough situation, negotiating a package with a potential new employer and sought my advice as someone several years his senior.

As I stood over my ball, ready to attempt a 30 foot birdie putt, Peter chimes up, “Sam, you’d really be doing me a favor by letting me know, so I can go back and counter them in case they are low balling me.“  Peter then proceeded to tell me what he was making at which point I felt forced to reveal my income because he was so upfront.  When I did, he quieted down, walked to the next hole and smacked his driver down the pipe.

“280 yards with only a sand wedge in!” I applauded after I missed my putt.  “Hmprh“, was the only sound that came out of his mouth as walked further and further away.

As weeks turned into months, I realized he no longer pinged me to play golf.  It also turns out that he never took the new job offer and remains at his company ’til this day.  Peter turned cold and I later found out that the reason why he never took the new job was because he countered them so high based on what he heard from me that they pulled the offer.  Peter blames me for not getting the job and not making the money he feels he deserves to make.  I have no control over what the potential suitor was willing to pay so why is it my fault?

NEVER REVEAL YOUR INCOME Read more…