Increase Cash Flow
Wallet Talk Wednesday: "Increase Cash Flow"
For normal people like me, once you have covered the basics on where to put your money:
1. Put money for retirement
2. Put money in investment vehicle (Stocks, Mutual Funds, Bonds, ETF's, Real Estate, REITS, etc.)
3. Put money aside for emergencies (optional for some people)
The next question is HOW DO I INCREASE MY CASHFLOW? Well that's the big question isn't it for most of us in the work force...Increase cash flow for various reasons like buying a new car, the luxury car, buying more expensive clothes, paying the credit card bills, and my personal reason to invest more. There are various ways to do this, here are the ones I actualy thought of and some I have tried:
1. Sell stuff on eBay, craigslist or any online market -I did this and netted me a couple of hundred dollars a month BUT finding what to buy and sell ate a lot of time, and shipping the product too. I mostly traded computer parts and car parts like shift knobs, video cards, memory, light bulbs, etc. etc. I haven't gone back to selling online for a couple of years and I don't think I'll do it again just coz of all the time and research it takes to find the good deals and sell them and ship them.
2. Ask for a promotion - Well depending on your company is it really worth it to ask for one? or will it only net a small gain but larger responsibility? And companies do have their own politics so are you actually involved in politiking? Well I'm not and I don't want more responsibility without the proper amout of salary increase.
3. Ask for a raise - Depending on your standing this would be a good move but if you work for a company that has automated everything and raise comes once a year with set % of increases so it will give you a good nudge but I don't think a 5% raise will affect much of your salary unless you earn six figures already.
4. Improve your skills and move to a different group - This would be a good step if the company is big and you plan or are interested to move into a different group with different skills. Like from developer to project manager. Normally companies do have this lateral movement with an increase in salary when you move to a position. I did try this once but because of the company situation at that time I was not able to move to a different group which pissed me off.
5. Improve your skills and decide what career path you want and work for a different company - This is twhe most effective option to jumpstart your interest in your career and get a bump in salary. And if you actually are working, stay with your company first, it will be a good leverage while looking for another company that you want to work for that will give you what you need and want too. Also expect more responsibilities and more stress to come with a higher salary.
6. Watch your investments and jump on opportunities - I am lucky that only one in my portfolio seems to be down right now (my speculative pick, the coffee company) though I'm a buy and hold investor if any of my holdings do get great gains or rockets within a couple of years I'll be selling it for the profit, of couse I will probably invest the profit back to the market unless there is a need to pull it out but I have a friend who did trade a lot and got good profits from the market which is an addition to his income.
I haven't decided what steps I'll be taking yet but I'll be doing a lot of thinking and by next year I should have decided on what to do.
Workers Wonka! Oompa-loompa lemmings!
In another note, I do notice a lot of people at work says how much their work sucked and all that BS, well if it does suck then look for a different work or work for a different company...the problem is a lot of them is all talk and no action, they can't risk looking for a job because the work has been built in them already and they take it as it is right now. Beings of habit that we are a change in career is very stressful for some people and that they don't realize that the longer they just get stuck the less chance they will have to move on in the future. I mean skill wise already if you get stuck doing only one thing for years and years how the hell will you move to a different company if your skill is outdated? And don't bitch about work when the company's paying your bills too...and you don't do anything about it but whine, moan and groan like a baby. Oh well I'm not out to motivate or solve their wiley ass problems or issues anyways.
Piggy Bank
For normal people like me, once you have covered the basics on where to put your money:
1. Put money for retirement
2. Put money in investment vehicle (Stocks, Mutual Funds, Bonds, ETF's, Real Estate, REITS, etc.)
3. Put money aside for emergencies (optional for some people)
The next question is HOW DO I INCREASE MY CASHFLOW? Well that's the big question isn't it for most of us in the work force...Increase cash flow for various reasons like buying a new car, the luxury car, buying more expensive clothes, paying the credit card bills, and my personal reason to invest more. There are various ways to do this, here are the ones I actualy thought of and some I have tried:
1. Sell stuff on eBay, craigslist or any online market -I did this and netted me a couple of hundred dollars a month BUT finding what to buy and sell ate a lot of time, and shipping the product too. I mostly traded computer parts and car parts like shift knobs, video cards, memory, light bulbs, etc. etc. I haven't gone back to selling online for a couple of years and I don't think I'll do it again just coz of all the time and research it takes to find the good deals and sell them and ship them.
2. Ask for a promotion - Well depending on your company is it really worth it to ask for one? or will it only net a small gain but larger responsibility? And companies do have their own politics so are you actually involved in politiking? Well I'm not and I don't want more responsibility without the proper amout of salary increase.
3. Ask for a raise - Depending on your standing this would be a good move but if you work for a company that has automated everything and raise comes once a year with set % of increases so it will give you a good nudge but I don't think a 5% raise will affect much of your salary unless you earn six figures already.
4. Improve your skills and move to a different group - This would be a good step if the company is big and you plan or are interested to move into a different group with different skills. Like from developer to project manager. Normally companies do have this lateral movement with an increase in salary when you move to a position. I did try this once but because of the company situation at that time I was not able to move to a different group which pissed me off.
5. Improve your skills and decide what career path you want and work for a different company - This is twhe most effective option to jumpstart your interest in your career and get a bump in salary. And if you actually are working, stay with your company first, it will be a good leverage while looking for another company that you want to work for that will give you what you need and want too. Also expect more responsibilities and more stress to come with a higher salary.
6. Watch your investments and jump on opportunities - I am lucky that only one in my portfolio seems to be down right now (my speculative pick, the coffee company) though I'm a buy and hold investor if any of my holdings do get great gains or rockets within a couple of years I'll be selling it for the profit, of couse I will probably invest the profit back to the market unless there is a need to pull it out but I have a friend who did trade a lot and got good profits from the market which is an addition to his income.
I haven't decided what steps I'll be taking yet but I'll be doing a lot of thinking and by next year I should have decided on what to do.
Workers Wonka! Oompa-loompa lemmings!
In another note, I do notice a lot of people at work says how much their work sucked and all that BS, well if it does suck then look for a different work or work for a different company...the problem is a lot of them is all talk and no action, they can't risk looking for a job because the work has been built in them already and they take it as it is right now. Beings of habit that we are a change in career is very stressful for some people and that they don't realize that the longer they just get stuck the less chance they will have to move on in the future. I mean skill wise already if you get stuck doing only one thing for years and years how the hell will you move to a different company if your skill is outdated? And don't bitch about work when the company's paying your bills too...and you don't do anything about it but whine, moan and groan like a baby. Oh well I'm not out to motivate or solve their wiley ass problems or issues anyways.
Piggy Bank
posted by Norman at 11:57 AM
1 Comments:
Great advice as usual!
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