It doesn't require a PhD to know what you need to do. Recognize that each of these categories represents a choice you make each day, every day.

 

Financial: Income, Worth, and Asset Creation

In marriage, and in life, financial issues often are the greatest source of headaches and heartaches! And, yet, they're something about which each of us can do something. Unfortunately, society allows us - sometimes even encourages and rewards - a 'poor me' victim attitude about the lack of material means, and it is a passivity into which each person can be tempted.

My parents were sharecroppers on our Illinois farm, where we lived with an outhouse from 1947, when I was born, until 1958 when we moved to town. While we may have been poor, my brother Dick and I didn't feel poor, and we constantly and lovingly were urged to excel and achieve. Today, while neither my brother nor I would be regarded as wealthy by most standards, we're in control of our lives and managing our affairs well.

I encourage people to set and pursue objectives in three major categories:

1. Income , what you earn annually, salary for most people.

2. Asset Creation , the things you buy that hold value and, ideally, create income, e.g., stocks & bonds, real estate.

3. Net Worth , that is, the 'worth' of your family unit in assets.

One lesson I learned on the farm is that "you don't eat your seed corn." You can consume a kernel of corn today, and have nothing left tomorrow; or you can plant (save and invest) that seed kernel of corn today and generate two, three, or more ears of corn at the end of the season.

In his various books on building wealth, Robert Allen tells an incredible story about the power of compounding: $100 invested monthly between ages 20 and 35 can make you a millionaire at retirement, and the same $100 invested monthly between 50 and 65 doesn't make a dent in your needs.

Ultimately, your personal strategy is to move your reliance from salary-driven income to asset-driven income, where you have real freedom in your life, whether you do it by building a business, conserving your income, earning a generous pension, inheriting (or marrying!) money, taking great risks, or few risks.

 

Relational: Family, Primary, and Extended

The essential truth that each of us knows is the power of the relationships within our family unit, and with our friends, neighbors, and our various communities.

Our firm is located in a suburban office park, where, when we moved in, the former tenant's sign was large enough to allow more than our logo. So we were challenged to describe a bit more of what we do on our sign. Along with Research and Strategic Planning, we added Change Management, Reputation Management, and Relationship Management. That sign was put up in 1995, but even today, our firm is probably the only one in the Delaware Valley of Greater Philadelphia that lists Relationship Management as part of its offering.

Yet, as our work is more and more about what we call "creating desired behaviors," we have come to realize, and to coach our clients accordingly, that success in life and business is about creating win-win-win alignments with important stakeholders in order to achieved desired outcomes for all. Whether at home, or in business, happiness comes from creating win-win relationships with important stakeholders.

The above is an excerpt from The Last Job Search Guide You'll Ever Need: How to Find and Get the Job or Internship of Your Dreams, which is available for sale for $19.85 in our bookstore or $27.00 at Amazon.com but for free to those who subscriber to our free career newsletter. This hot new book contains job search secrets of the most experienced, most knowledgeable and most respected career experts. Learn career planning, job hunting tools and tactics, interviewing, cover letter and resume writing (lots of samples!), networking, and how to find an internship. Written by 149 career experts. To receive a free copy, subscribe to our free career newsletter.

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