Prlinkbiz left a comment on my previous post regarding (my) job security. Thanks! I really enjoy reading your blog and I'm a big fan of K. Interestingly, after reading NoLimitsLadies on Sunday, I was motivated enough to check out my 401k account.
I noticed that about 3% of my paycheck has been deducted since last month. But I kept procastinating to find out what exactly was happening to my money. On Sunday, finally I found out the website I could log in to my 401k account provided by my company, found out my username and password, and faced the truth. I realised that my money by default was put into a fixed income fund with generally 4.8% of return. From what I learned from my finance classes, the professor said diversification is the key. However, there were 17 mutual funds for me to choose in the plan!
Assignment for the up-coming week--- I am going to do some research on "how to make the most of of a 401k plan" and how to select mutual funds to achieve a diversified portfolio.
One thing I took action on Sunday was to change the percentage of the contribution to the retirement fund. Somehow I feel that 3% everymonth is just not enough to build up a retirement fund. I followed the 10 percent solution, both are mentioned in The Richest Man in the Babylon and The Millionaire Course by Marc Allen.
Like what Prlinkbiz commented, "Job security is a myth...your job should be what funds your future investments, not something you cling to..." Perhaps we should all adopt the "free-agent" mindset. Maybe you are not ready to be self-employed yet, at least, develop the skills, experience and the connections that can help you through moving from one company to another with ease.
To conclude, if you are just like me, just graduated from college and working for a company which you really admire, keep doing what you are doing---do your best at whatever assigned to us and pass more exams...
A job is not a security. Yet, having a job gives you the opportunity to generate the seed money for your investments or maybe future business ventures, and your job may even pay for your MBA degree.
So do it well.
More thoughts on Job security and retirement funds
Posted by Y at 9/19/2006
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1 comments:
Bingo- what counts are the skills you develop and learning how to use then by all means available today. I write- I blog- I'm paid. K very similar(writes a little more risque!). We invest so we can do what we are skilled at and love to do. You are on it!
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