Blog
By Rob Severson on June 20, 2012
DO YOU WANT TO EARN A LOT OF MONEY?
I like to write about issues that affect young people as well as folks who are further along in their careers. Much of what concerns me is helping people figure out how to make a living and survive in the world. I wrote a book about it that shows how I did it by figuring some things out that helped me be successful, And happy!
One issue that interests me is money. We are in a class war now with the folks who make a lot of money pitted against those who don’t. I don’t think that is new, there has always been envy and greed with all of us.
I believe much of this issue goes back to parents and colleges. When I was in college I aspired to be an account because I liked it and my Dad encouraged me to do it as there were many job opportunities in the field. I eventually worked in accounting for a few years but moved on to other areas of business using the tool I had acquired, accounting.
I knew some in college who looked at earnings potential almost exclusively in picking a field to get their degree in. Others simply studied what interested them at the time and didn’t do much research on what their education would do for them monetarily. The interesting part is that when folks entered their careers that they soon found large disparities in income among different careers. There is more to it of course, but if you really want to make a lot of money it is easier in some fields than others.
I don’t think we really need to make a ton of money to be happy, especially if we manage what we have well and live within our means. What frustrates me is that many of the folks who are in lower paying fields become angry and envious of the higher paying fields. Why should they care if they are making it work and are happy with what they have?
I think it is a reality issue; they hadn’t really thought of what lifestyle they wanted or how they could get it in their field of choice. For this I blame parents and colleges for not guiding young people in their education. Most colleges will let one study anything even if there is little or no direct market for their education. Many parents do not counsel their children about the realities of lifestyles, probably because their kids don’t know what they want to do so leave them to decide for themselves what to study. That works for some, but when reality hits they are frustrated and angry.
If parents can afford to send their kids to college and study anything I have no gripes with that. But if it is a financial challenge for families they should have serious conversations with their college bound kids. I think they need to look at the return in opportunities they will have. Maybe even hold off on college until they know what they want, maybe get a job and study the things that interest them in their spare time. Or read about them, that is one way to get an education for free.
There is lots of information on the internet today about job markets and salaries for anyone to investigate. Before I’d pay for my kids to go to college I’d want them to look at that information. I’d also like them to figure out what they want in life like houses, families and other needs. Then they may not be disappointed when reality hits.
Posted in General | Tagged attitude, careers, church giving, entitlement, financial prosperity, job dissatisfaction, jobs, life priorities, make a living, prosperity, social injustice, success, survival |
By Rob Severson on June 17, 2012
A friend asked me if I would be willing to drive Michelle Bachmann in a parade in my Volvo convertible. I am somewhat of a political junkie so I did it!
It was a real kick to meet her , her mom, and Marcus who were together in the car with my wife and me. They were very gracious to us. I think she is an honest politician, that may be a problem for her!
I have shown several people the pictures of the parade and have gotten the mixed reaction that I anticipated. Some applauded it, some didn’t say anything and a few expressed hate for her.
Now I am not going to discuss her politics here or any one else’s for that matter. It is obvious that there are tons of different opinions going on today about all the issues being brought forward. Many drive emotions of either support or objections, but do they also need to drive hatred?
The irony of hatred is that most people say they want civility in our government so why don’t they wan civility everywhere? I know from experience that hatred does more to harm the hater than the hated as it builds up frustration and leads to a lack of serenity in one’s life. I think most of us have major control issues and if we don’t get our way we act out in various ways, hate, medicating with alcohol or drugs, or even more violent methods.
I disagree with lots of politicians but don’t hate them. I can tolerate them with the definition of tolerate being: accept but not necessarily agree. Don’t we all want tolerance for everyone?
Oh, I hope she likes my book!
Posted in General | Tagged alcohol, attitude, entitlement, financial prosperity, hatred, Michelle Bachmann, politics, relationships, tea party |
By Rob Severson on June 7, 2012
Whenever folks my age hear about kids getting into trouble in school our reaction is the same: we would have been in more trouble when we got home!
This came up again when the St Charles, MN schools detected drunk students and called in the police to do breathalyzers on all the students during a graduation practice. Turns out some has been drinking but were still allowed to march in the ceremony.
But guess what? The ACLU was all in arms that the school had violated the students rights by doing the tests! I don’t know if their will be a lawsuit or what, but it does paint a strange picture.
First, most people are concerned about underage drinking for many reasons. Driving cars, judgment impairment, (like getting drunk at a school function) and potential loss of life via binge drinking to name a few. Check any treatment center for kids and you will hear more problems.
Second, the big topic most days is education; why it isn’t working well and how it can be made better. Most of the solutions involve throwing more money at it. Maybe we just to let teachers teach and give them the authority to enforce rules that make education possible?
I was probably an attention deficit kid in school; back then they called it under achieving or just being a screw off. I needed the authority teachers had in order to stay in line as much as I did and was chastised often for fooling around. I’m glad I was as I am sure I did better with the discipline. I never heard my parents complain about the teachers, they just asked me what was up with me.
Sure, it is more complicated now with unions, Federal and State Governments seemingly getting more say about what is going on in schools. But eviscerating the teachers does not seem like a good idea to me. Many teachers have told me that too.
We have far too many people concerned about their rights rather than their responsibility. The St Charles school is a good example of a school trying to teach responsibility and getting beat up with rights. How can schools teach responsibility if they have no authority?
I think it was a good thing St Charles did and the kids were lucky they had that authority. I applaud them!
Posted in General | Tagged alcohol, attitude, entitlement, rights, success, underage drinking |
By Rob Severson on June 6, 2012
A few years ago I was treasurer of my church. We had been in a financial bind for several years and had a large mortgage that was difficult to service. We had to use every nickel carefully.
Our church received donations for things other than the general fund, like missions, youth, memorials and others. Unfortunately in order to keep the mortgage current and expenses paid we had to “borrow” from those special funds in order to keep going. Our plan worked and eventually we received some large bequests that made us solvent. Each time we alerted the congregation that we were in trouble more money came in from or members who are very generous people but incapable of curing the problem permanently.
The problem was when we used the special funds for operations the folks who had given the money for special purposes were miffed, and rightly so. I think they understood but some groups began keeping separate checking accounts to control their money and be sure they had it when they wanted to do something with it according to their mission.
Our situation was very similar to the US government’s situation, but much smaller and easier to manage. The government does the same thing; uses our money for things other than what we think it was designated to be used for. Social security and Medicare are two big examples of this. Much of that money has been “loaned” to the other areas of government to cover operating expenses, like my church, because they have to in order to keep going. Banks also lend a lot of money to the government too, I hope those are good loans, we don’t need any more bank failures; that hurts all of us. This is not a party issue, both parties have done this for years.
How will the government get integrity into these special funds? My church did it by containing costs as much as possible and got whole with a large bequest. I don’t think that will happen in government as I see no windfalls or cost containment measures that will bail us out. I do think if the government would go into an austerity mode like we did that many people would be willing to pay more to whittle down the debt, but don’t see that happening in this environment in either party.
I’m not too worried about China holding our debt; it is small compared to the debt we hold. I am worried about the people here that could be affected by an insolvent government. Like my church I think we all want our money used for the purpose we pay it for. Otherwise it is similar to saving for a vacation and using the money for rent!
Posted in General | Tagged banking, debt ceiling, entitlement, financial prosperity, money priorities, natinal debt, using money for other purposes |
By Rob Severson on June 1, 2012
Have we gone too far with personal responsibility? I don’t think so but wonder if the concept works against us sometimes?
I’m talking about asking for help when we have a problem. I posted a piece on “The King’s Speech” movie a few months ago marveling that the King of England actually asked for help with his stammering. Even the most powerful person in England asked for help!
Personal responsibility to me means that we seek help to solve our problems as well as owning them. There is a ton of help around that is available to all, much of it for free.
AA is probably the best known, but job transition and grief support groups have been around for a long time too. Many churches offer programs for finance and other life problems that are well attended. Most for free or a very nominal price.
I think the biggest issue in asking for help is the control mentality. We think we need to control many things that we really can’t control; then the anger and frustration enters in and we act out, either in protests or pity parties. The latter is unhealthy and protesting doesn’t solve many of our own problems. It is more venting than anything, but may not make us feel better after venting.
One has to be open to change when asking for help. Most of us really want someone to agree with us that we are victims and enable us to continue our frustration. Most of the time we need to change our behavior which we have a tough time admitting.
There is lots of help out there; I have trouble feeling sorry for victims!
Posted in General | Tagged AA, ask for help, attitude, entitlement, financial prosperity, make a living, social injustice, success |
By Rob Severson on June 1, 2012
EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK!
That issue seems to never die. Maybe it shouldn’t. I admit I have an interest in the issue as I have two daughters and this seems to be a women’s issue. I want them to have opportunities. I also admit that when I started my career in the 70’s that I knew of situations that were unfair to women in the big corporations where I worked for 20 years. So I see the reasoning behind the issue. But, I have some other thoughts on it too. I think the concept is valid for assembly line jobs or similar jobs where everyone does the same thing. I spent my career in a corporate environment and saw some jobs that were kind of like that, mostly in the operations areas such as check processing and other rote jobs. I think that most of these people would have been paid about the same. Some of the questions about equal pay that I have are:
• How do you define equal work? By units produced, time spent or what?
• Is everyone actually doing the same job?
• How do you measure job performance?
If you have a job where those things can be defined you may like equal pay with your co-workers. If your job is more complex you may prefer a free market approach. Who would want to be held back by the under performing co-workers?
Like small business we sell our services to our customer, which in our case, is our employer. Looking at it that way we want to provide the best service we can that gives the employer the most benefit. We compete with other suppliers (co-workers) to provide more services to grow our business. Like astute small business owners we compete fairly, don’t bad mouth competitors, and focus on customer service and maintaining a quality product. Our goal is to sell more with breadth of service and quality making ourselves a cherished supplier. We also stay aware of the market for our service with our current customer and maintain contacts and study markets for our product (transferrable skills) so we can keep our business profitable. Vendors (employers) can be fickle.
In my case I wanted to get promotions and raises so I could provide for my family, buy a home, car and other things. The only way that would happen is if I contributed to the company and produced. I am glad I wasn’t stuck in an “equal pay for equal showing up” environment as I didn’t want to be hampered by the poor performers in my sector.
I much prefer the concept of “equal pay for equal results”!
Posted in General | Tagged attitude, careers, entitlement, financial prosperity, job dissatisfaction, jobs, make a living, prosperity, relationships, social injustice, success, work |
By Rob Severson on May 26, 2012
Facebook is a big story in the news now. It had a stupendous initial offering that made many people very rich, but the stock hasn’t done well and people are calling foul.
I don’t claim to understand all that happened, but listening to CNN just now think the issue is the dissemination of information to a few large institutions and not giving it to everyone. The result was that many got hurt in the deal by not knowing all the facts. And it was the “little guy” who paid the price. They may be right.
But…. I think there are other issues that go along with this. A common expression in the investment business is that people are motivated by fear and greed! Both affect the markets.
So let’s talk about greed. I think Facebook is a good example of how greed lured in the little guys. The stock was hyped for weeks and by many accounts would be a home run if one could only get in on the offering. There were offering documents that presented the investment and that and the hype drove the mania. The fear was that one wouldn’t get in.
The problem I see for the little guys is that the information, however complete, can be very confusing and difficult to understand. I have seen many of these offering documents and don’t really understand what they say. They are very vague as required by law and list all the risks of investing, but the risks are often mitigated by the hype in the little guy’s mind. Never mind that there was more information, it may not have affected their decision anyway. The ones I have seen show risk anyway, and I assume any additional ones would too.
I am a relatively conservative investor and have a broker managing much of what I have. On paper I would be considered a sophisticated investor, but in my mind I am not! I don’t claim to have the ability to analyze information and when I do I have difficulty relating it to the stock price as there are many more variables to it. These things are very complicated and way above my head so I stay away from them unless I have a few dollars to gamble with. I have had my lessons with fear and greed myself and they didn’t work out well.
I don’t think the answer is to put more regulations on Wall Street. I think the answer is for the little guy to contain fear and greed and leave the gambling to the pros who can afford to lose. I know I can’t.
Posted in General | Tagged attitude, financial prosperity, life priorities, make a living, money priorities, personal finance, prosperity, success |
By Rob Severson on May 26, 2012
Put me first
I was at a funeral for a friend the other day. He was a lot of fun to play golf with and just generally joke around with. He had lots of friends who came to the memorial service and will be missed by many.
His financial planner was one of the guys who memorialized him at the service and had a great learning lesson for all.
Dick had bought some stock from him in the mid 80’s, one of his first stock purchases as he was normally a bond investor. When the market crashed in 1987 Dick panicked and called the broker to sell the stock. The broker settled him down and encouraged him to ride it out which Dick eventually conceded was a good strategy. It eventually came back and he profited on the investment. Later Dick invited the broker to lunch and picked up the tab. He asked the broker why he thought he bought lunch as usually it would be the other way around. The answer: because you put my interests first in the stock question! The broker would have made a good commission selling the stock and Dick knew that. What a great learning situation for all of us!
When we put other people first, like clients, employers and friends, we build loyal relationships and improve our own success in the process!
Posted in General | Tagged attitude, careers, financial prosperity, jobs, life priorities, relationships, success |
By Rob Severson on May 22, 2012
Hard work
We hear a lot about hard work these days. How if we work hard we should be able to make a living. Or that something is wrong with the “system” if we don’t.
I agree with the idea of hard work, but think we need to define it a bit:
• Some hard work is physical, some mental; both can be hard
• Often the hardest work is finding a job
• Sometimes it means going the extra mile with unpaid time
• It may be hard to serve a tough supervisor
• It includes doing some things we don’t like
• The endgame is to make a living, it’s harder if we forget that
But hard work is not the only key to success. There is much more to making a living:
• Networking to help others and oneself is key to getting a job. That is not new, many job opportunities have come from word of mouth for years
• Getting an education in a field that has job opportunities can be less fun than studying what we like. One can always pursue avocations too
• Being aware of the environment; markets, other companies and awareness of our transferrable skills. Be aware of opportunities and consider them carefully.
• Employers look for results too! Willingness to jump in and solve problems takes you a long way
• “Seeing” work! See what needs to be done and do it, even if it’s “not my job”
• Be willing to compete with others while still encouraging them; earn promotions!
• Demonstrating a positive, happy attitude impresses bosses
• Our purpose is to sell our service to an employer/customer; it’s not about me!
• We may not like our work, but showing that will keep us back
• Sometimes things aren’t fair! Pouting will only hurt us
• We need to build relationships with our co-workers; we are a team
• There are thousands of jobs out there; how can anyone know what is their dream job without trying some?
These are just a few observations I have. I would welcome any comments from readers that will further define what it takes to make a living. It may help someone who stumbles across this post!
Posted in General | Tagged attitude, careers, entitlement, financial prosperity, job dissatisfaction, jobs, make a living, relationships, social injustice, success, work |
By Rob Severson on May 17, 2012
Abortion
Sometimes the worst thing that happens to you can turn out to be the best thing. I think we all recognize that but when one is in the moment it is hard to think that way. One of my worst moments came 43 years ago when I was just graduating from college. My girlfriend got pregnant! Yes, we had planned to get married anyway but we hadn’t made any plans or talked with our parents about it. When we went see her parents and tell them our problem it wasn’t pretty. They were old fashioned, prim and proper people and I think were more embarrassed than upset. Plus their daughter was going to marry a hick from a small town in Minnesota who they knew very little of. Fortunately for me my father was more understanding and wanted to be a grandpa so badly it didn’t matter! But my in laws were very concerned about our future. Her father even hinted at an abortion as that would have been a nice, clean solution to sweep the dirt under the rug. My wife wouldn’t hear of it, she really likes kids………still does.
So what was the good part? Well, I was a classic underachiever in school and got very poor grades, a 1.95 grade point in college! Getting my first job was a big challenge but I finally got one in public accounting, my chosen field at that time. Then it “rained” again, I got laid off in a year. Now my in laws were convinced their daughter was in trouble! Looking back I don’t blame them. Now I had to figure some things out if I was going to support my family. So I did. I got a job in banking, a field that I was never interested in. But I set out to prove I could do things starting with passing the CPA exam which gave me the academic credential I needed. I went on in banking in many areas eventually as president of a subsidiary for the bank. My motivation was to prove my self to my “stakeholders” and to myself that I could be successful. It may have been negative motivation but it worked!
I often wonder what I would have accomplished if I hadn’t had to be successful. Oh, and we had another daughter too and we love them both dearly. They are now successful in their own rite and we have a very happy family!
Posted in General | Tagged abortion, attitude, banking, careers, entitlement, jobs, life priorities, make a living, prosperity, relationships, survival |
