Why Not You? The Best Jobs On The Planet

I was talking to a friend about the Money Magazine article that rated the top 10 companies to work for.  He was kind of exasperated that he never had anything close to a single experience that some of the employees at these 10 firms have on a regular basis.  I’ve included the link to the online article below, but here’s a short list of some of what the “best” companies provide their employees:

·         Adoption benefits (time, money, and job security)

·         Telecommuting options to allow for oversees living in order to volunteer in impoverished areas

·         4-year college financial aid (loans & scholarships)

·         On-site childcare

·         Paid time off for volunteering and community involvement

·         Adventure trips

·         Self-designed/created jobs

If you read the article, notice how many employees comment about their employers supporting and encouraging the elusive work-life balance.  Notice how many employers promote life experiences and doing “what’s right”.  Notice how many employers freely heap on the personal responsibility and authority to every level in their company.  Notice that not a single employee commented on their level of pay.  Notice that not a single employee commented on their love of the actual product provided by their employer. 

Instead, each employee who raved about their employer felt appreciated and a personal connection with their peers and their management.  People want to work.  I’m convinced of that.  But we complain about our jobs when we feel no connection to the people that we work with/for and when the job doesn't feel like it is of our own design and intention. 

I’ve said before that I find it sad that most people will spend 40 years working in jobs that don’t give them a charge, just a paycheck.  40 years is a long time to not be happy about how you spend the majority of your day.  So you have three choices to make things better:

1.       Go search for a job at a place that excites you

2.       Create for yourself the exciting environment at the job you currently have

3.       Start your own business and run it how you want

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/pf/jobs/1101/gallery.best_companies_employees.fortune/index.html

Kiva.org Microloan Repayment Update - This Works!

Sol Y Estrellas Group
Grocery Store, Mexico

51% repaid

 

 

 

 

Rose Wanjiru Njuguna
General Store, Kenya

16% repaid

 

 

 

 

Magdalena Agsunod's Group
General Store, Philippines

79% repaid

 

 

 

 

Check out their stories on our earlier blog posts at:

http://wallfinancial.blogspot.com/2010/11/in-september-i-posted-on-powerful.html

 

http://wallfinancial.blogspot.com/2010/09/sharing-our-blessings-thru-finance.html

 

Effort, Postive Attitude, Indomitable Spirit

It can be a challenge to consistently maintain the amount of energy that’s necessary to live the way you want.  How many diets fall by the wayside?  Or plans to exercise?  Or plans to live within a budget?  Or putting more money into your 401(k)?  Or working at creating a better career? 

Great ideas and plans can be easy to start, but difficult to maintain.  If you think about all aspects of your life, you probably have many different goals for betterment and improvement.  Most want closer relationships, more financial happiness, a greater sense of importance, a stronger faith, more free time, etc.  The hard part is the work that it takes to get there and the motivation to keep working at it no matter what.

So try this: borrow or invent a mantra or philosophy for success that you believe in and write that down where you see it every day.  There are lots of them out there from which to choose if you can’t figure out a way to express your own.  Friends of mine at my martial arts school will recognize this one: 100% effort, positive attitude, indomitable spirit. 

Once you write it down somewhere where you see it all the time, it will remind you what it will take for you to direct your own success.  I promise you that this constant reminder will help you make better everyday/little decisions which will add up to the habits that build the life that you want.  If you do this and it doesn't work for you, send me a note and tell me - you'll be the first.

We all need encouragement and guidance and the best of both comes from within ourselves.  So commit yourself to what you believe, remind yourself of it, expect yourself to comply, and watch how much closer you get to living how you believe.

What's Next

I have no crystal ball, so take everything I say as simple musings about what is possible, but I think the foreseeable future will present us with the following conditions that will affect our financial decision making:

·         Information will be easy to get, true knowledge will not be.

·         Changes in policy (or even the anticipation of changes) will affect the business climate.

·         Market changes will be faster, steeper, and more subject to overreaction.

·         Asset performances may not follow longest-term historical norms.

·         Historically divergent asset classes will have moments of high correlation.

So I’m advocating financial consumers do the following:

·         Pursue market intelligence and insight, not just data.

·         Truly understand the benefit of micromanaging diversification.

·         Believe in the benefits of oversight, access, and due diligence.

·         Don’t simply “buy and forget”.

·         Maintain rigorous discipline.

Stand In The Sunshine For A Moment

I want to be sure I’m not demonstrating to you a Pollyanna attitude toward the current state of the economy, but I frequently get irritated with the short-term reporting by news sources and other blogs that thrive on doom and gloom.  So keeping in mind that I’m well aware of the challenges we still face, I want to share a few newsy tidbits I think we should enjoy reading:

* U.S. manufacturing continued to expand in December, as the

Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) Manufacturing Index

climbed to 57 for the month, its best reading since May.

* The ISM’s Non-Manufacturing Index climbed to 57.1 in December,

led by robust economic activity in the services sector.

* Following a 0.7% decrease in October, U.S. factory orders

surprisingly registered a 0.7% gain in November, according to the

U.S. Department of Commerce.

* According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the economy added

103,000 jobs in December, while the unemployment rate reached

its lowest level since May 2009, falling to 9.4%.

* The U.S. Department of Commerce reported that construction spending

posted its third consecutive monthly gain (0.4%) in November.

* The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) index increased 2.3%

last week. Refinancing applications were also up, rising 3.9%.

* U.S. Department of Labor figures showed that the labor market

continues to improve, as applications for jobless benefits declined

to their lowest level since July 2008.

None of these should necessarily affect any of your financial behaviors, but sometimes you just need to hear some good news.  I think these qualify.