Investing in our Careers
A career is the job or series of jobs a person has until retirement. Careers are the patterns of work or work-related activities we develop throughout our working life. Almost every adult has a career of some kind. People build a career to help them satisfy certain goals. Such goals include earning a living or helping society.
The kind of career you have can affect your life in many ways. It can determine where you live, the friends you make, what you wear, and amount of money you earn. Your career can also affect how you feel about yourself and the way other people see you. By making wise decisions concerning your career and investing in your career, you can make yourself live the life you want.
Career decisions include choosing a career field and deciding how you want your career to develop. It includes selecting the educational and job opportunities that will enhance your career. Knowing your abilities, interests, values and goals give a good foundation on which to base your career decisions.
Many people base their career choices on their interest. For these people job performance and job satisfaction depend on how much their work relates to their interest. It is therefore helpful to identify your strongest interest before you choose a career.
Personal attributes can also lead to success in a career. Many employers look for workers who are ambitious, reliable, hardworking, entrepreneurial and trustworthy.
How to succeed in your chosen career
- Create a long term career vision for yourself, and avoid unnecessary job-hopping. Unnecessary job-hopping may backfire on the long run. Set career goals and work towards achieving your goals.
- Render quality service and create value for your employer. This will make you indispensable.
- Keep pace with emerging trend in your field.
- See yourself as self-employed. Think like an employer of labour, and abhor wastage of resources be it material, money or time. Be 100% responsible for everything you are and will be even though you are a salary earner.
- Always volunteer for extra assignments, this is a sign of a future leader in your field. Develop a reputation for speed and dependability; these qualities will attract more career opportunities and possibilities to you.
- Love what you do. We have corporate executives, professionals and Professors with legal investments running into hundreds of millions and billions of Naira who are still doing what they are doing, because they love what they are doing.
- Be committed to excellence, when you are good at what you do, you feel great about yourself and affects your entire personality.
- Develop a workaholic mentality. The reward for hard work is more work, more responsibilities and leadership positions. The difference between an ordinary employee and an extra-ordinary employee is the little extra. According to Brian Tracy, 40hour work per week is for survival and anything above the official 40 hours per week is for success. Every extra hour put into your job is an investment in the future of your career.
- Dedicate yourself to lifelong learning. Lifelong learning is the minimum requirement for success in your career. Decide to be a lifelong student of your craft; organisation and industry you will become better for it all the rest of your working life.
- Join your industry and trade association. Get involved with other top people in your field.
- Be honest in everything you do and in every transaction. Never compromise your integrity for anything. Integrity pays good dividend on the long run.
- Get around the right people. 85% of your success in life will be determined by the quality of your personal and business relationships.
- Finally pay yourself first. Save and invest a minimum of 10% of your income throughout your working life. A paltry N15,000 invested every month in a conservative mutual fund that grows at 10% per annum would have accumulated an investment portfolio size of over 170 million Naira at retirement. Employees who have investments in money market instruments, shares in blue-chip companies, personal businesses and real estate have confidence, contentment, positive mental attitude and peace of mind, which are attributes needed to succeed in any career.
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Next week, we have a case study to analyse and give the necessary advice to the person involved.
The book for the month is ordinary people extra-ordinary wealth by Ric Edelman.
For other interesting articles on investment, click here.
@ Jarus the name is Emmanuel Ewumi and not Emmanuel Ewunmi.
Finally pay yourself first. Save and invest a minimum of 10% of your income throughout your working life. A paltry N15,000 invested every month in a conservative mutual fund that grows at 10% per annum would have accumulated an investment portfolio size of over 170 million Naira at retirement. Employees who have investments in money market instruments, shares in blue-chip companies, personal businesses and real estate have confidence, contentment, positive mental attitude and peace of mind, which are attributes needed to succeed in any career.
You may be surprised why an invest of N15,000 accumulate to about 170 million at retirement. I got the figure from Ric Edelman’s book, ordinary people extra ordinary wealth. One of his clients invested just $100 per month throughout his working days in a mutual fund investment and the money grew to about $1.1 million when he retired.
If the worker starts working at the age of 30 and works for 35 years retiring at age 65, the N15,000 invested on a monthly basis would have grown to N49 million if the money was invested in a money market investment that grows at 10% per annum.
If the worker starts working at age 25 and works for 40 years retiring at age 65, the N15,000 invested on a monthly basis would have grown to N80 million if the money was invested in a money market investment that grows at 10% per annum.
But in the example given by my write up,. the money grew to about N170 million. What must be responsible for this figure?
The example given in my write up invested N15,000 every month in a mutual fund investment that gave an annualised return of 10%, this is quite different from a money market investment that grows at 10%.
The annualised return of 10% is just an average of the returns by the mutual fund investment over the years. There will be years when the mutual fund will make losses, 5%, 8%, 10%, 12%, 20%.
An investors who continues to invest in good mutual funds and stocks, with good fundamentals even when prices are falling will be able to by more stocks at lower prices, and have a better long term returns on his stocks.
That is why why long term value investors build lasting wealth compared to short term speculators.
Whaoh! Nice tips here, especially the last, it is very necessary.
And I think I like this ‘………and anything above the official 40hrs per week is for success’.
Mr Emmanuel Ewumi, we really appreciate your efforts here as I would love your concept of book recommendation to continue…Only God can reward you and others on JARUSHUB.
Thank you very sir/ma.
I would like to know a trust worthy mutual fund in Nigeria where one can invest and actually get return on investments. I have invested in some that never turned out well.
IBTC Mutual fund is okay, but I don’t invest in mutual funds. I want to be responsible for my investment decisions and investment outcomes.
I will advice you to invest in your financial education, so that you can be able to take informed investment decisions.
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