- Share This Post
- submit
- 2
-
Sparkle (0)
In this week’s Ten Money Questions we speak with Penelope Trunk. This is sort of a Part II to yesterday’s Brazen Careerist book review. Penelope, the author, writes at a blog by the same name: Brazen Careerist and has a lively and active readership. She is also a career columnist at the Boston Globe and Yahoo Finance. Since work and money go hand in hand, I wanted her thoughts on job satisfaction and earnings mixed with a few stories about money and writing for a living that turns the dollar personal. Consider this interview a teaser to what follows as she will be speaking at Blogher 07. Enjoy and then get back to work!
1. You state in your book that training is the new workplace currency. How can training compete with a good ole raise?
Most raises are so low that they are not going to change your life in any meaningful way. And they usually come with some sort of promotion that moves you along someone else’s vision for what your career path should be instead of your own. Tell your boss you don’t need their absurd 6% raise, and you don’t need a new title that describes a new rung on their corporate ladder. Tell your boss you want training. Training can change your life because it opens doors for you to get more exciting work, more flexible work, and a secure feeling of knowing that you are very employable next time you have to find work.
2. What is your most significant memory about money?
I was a latchkey kid from pretty well-to-do parents. I had a crazy childhood where I had a house-charge at all the local stores. I had no concept of money. I just sort of went to store to store trying to take care of myself by charging things. I spent a lot of my adult life trying to make a new relationship with money.
3. What is your worst habit around finances?
It took me a long time into my adult life to decide that I wanted to be good at managing my own money. Making that decision is half the battle.
4. You also write that people only need $40,000 a year to be happy. Is there really a magic number? Or is it more about living within one’s means and not caving in to consumerism?
It’s about drawing a line in the sand. Because it is against our human nature to think we have enough money. We always think we will have enough if we have 20% more. After a big raise we might feel like we have enough, but after two years we adapt to the income and think we need 20% more again.
The $40,000 is a reality check. You can live in any city with a roof over your head and food on the table for about that much money. No matter how many kids you have. You don’t think you can do it because all your friends will have more than that. And because you won’t be able to buy anything new, literally. But it’s a good reminder that everything after $40,000 is not necessary to be happy.
This conclusion has been repeated over and over again in research spanning multiple countries. It’s very convincing to me.
5. Is grad school or an MBA worth the time and money?
You should only go to grad school if you know exactly what you want to do when you’re done with school and you are certain it requires a degree. If you are not sure that you need the degree or you are not sure you know what you want to do then you run the risk of incurring the debt and then not being able to do what you really want because it wouldn’t pay enough to accommodate debt payments. In many instances grad school does not open doors, it closes doors.
Something else to consider – there is a glut of PhDs in the humanities and the sciences. Most people will not get teaching jobs when they graduate. So if you’re counting on that, do a little investigation about where the jobs are and who is getting them. You don’t do yourself any favors by getting a PhD for five years and then trying to get a job in corporate America. In most instances you look like someone who wanted to teach and is going into business because you can’t do your first choice.
6. Who taught you the value of a dollar?
I’m not
