I'm 19. How do I set myself up so that money won't be an issue in my future?

TheDarkTriad · 2015-08-17T00:08:28+00:00

[permanently deleted]

RedPillAlternator · Thu Jan 1 0:00:00 1970 UTC

So you are probably going to find a job in big business as a business analyst making $40-$60 starting out. The job title sounds fancy, and for someone just out of college, it will be a pretty big adjustment as you realize the only thing your degree is worth is proving to your potential employer that you can see something boring and tedious through to the end. Once hired, it becomes worthless as your next job you will get solely based on the personal relationships you build with your colleagues and superiors at your first job.

Throw away polos, and only wear t-shirts when you are doing something active, you need to become a button down shirt man. Don't ever buy or accept as gifts clothes that don't fit you, you will be largely judged on your appearance.

Show up on time, don't commit to doing anything that you are not 100% sure you can complete as expected. Take responsibility for your own tasks and the tasks of those around you. Own your shit. The only acceptable apology you will ever be able to give when you inevitably fuck something up is "that was totally my fault, I made the mistake of [XYZ] and now I know I should have done [123]". Most adults are a god damn walking disaster and make a bigger mess out of their lives than a toddler makes with a bowl of spaghetti and lack of supervision. Be the one who cleans up other's fuck-ups. Don't know something? Read the Fucking Manual. Observe everybody around you, figure out what they want, how they try to get it, and what ends up happening. Why make your own mistakes when you can learn from others?

Unless you get a hard to find opportunity, your most likely path for advancement is taking responsibility for helping people work together to get some goal accomplished that means everyone gets to keep their jobs. We call this Project Management. Learn everything about it. Read every book out there. You might not understand everything, or be able to apply everything until you make it through your first 1 or 5 failed projects (hopefully as a lowly business analyst), but that knowledge will give you a context to put the chaos in.

Keep a journal. A medium size moleskin is what most professionals in your field use, if you can't carry something that big with you all the time, just get a pocket one. Learn 3 or 4 different organization systems, then settle on the one that fits your style and needs best. Nobody with that degree breaks 6 figures without keeping a journal and being able to organize and prioritize large amounts of new information daily.

At your age, getting your income up is top priority. By the time you are 30 you should be at or near the top of your career. Understand why companies should hire you over your classmate who is happy with half the salary. Money. You have to make or save your employer more money than you cost (and at $60k/yr you probably cost them $90k at least). Tune your bullshit meter, always know more than you are supposed to. Be mostly an expert in 100 things, and not just your major, be an expert at Excel, designing infographics and posters, technical writing, a programming language or two, user experience design (UX), conflict resolution, giving speeches, did I mention organization?, see if you can take some basic accounting for accounting major courses (or read a textbook about it).

Most of your co-workers will be around your same age, and if you start now, picking up these things that they won't teach you in school but will determine how fast you move up in your career, the first promotion will come quickly.

Actively listen to everything everyone says to you. And keep a close eye on your bullshit meter because 90% of it will be misleading.

At some point you will be presented with a career defining opportunity. Chances are it will be a project that none of your seniors want to take because of the risk of failure. Walk into the room, observe the chaos, grab a dry erase marker (carry a few with you at all times, trust me on this) walk up to the whiteboard, then turn around and make eye contact with everyone in the room, whether they notice you or not. The first thing you say should be directed at everyone, "does everybody know why we are here in this meeting right now?". At least half of the people in the room will start bitching about how the whole thing is setup for failure, and that management (your seniors) have their shit ass-backwards.

The next thing you say will be directed to whoever is sitting closest to you... "so what do you think we need to accomplish in this meeting?" Listen, and write a few words for each point they make. If they say something completely off topic (bitching) keep your list clean and write what they said off to the side. Keep going around the room, and what you will find is that everyone has their own idea of what needs to be done, and what can and can't be accomplished, but nobody realizes that not everyone is on the same page.

Once everything is up on the board, pick out a few important and realistic goals that you think you can accomplish in that first meeting, and tell everyone that the only thing they need to worry about for the moment is what you just circled.

Ask them how they are going to accomplish that, listen to their plan, try to make it easier and simpler, don't forget what they say when you only have a hammer, you will be dealing with specialists and they have a hard time getting a clear perspective on problems at a higher level than what they deal with day to day. Challenge them, how do you know, are you sure, just a question or two to see if they are bullshitting themselves or not.

Next have them list out for you everything that could possibly prevent them from completing their tasks as expected. You write them up on the board, but this is their list. Once all of it is out there, take a picture with your cell phone of the problem list, and tell them that you are going to start working on some of those things, while they lead the rest of the meeting themselves (make the group pick their own leaders). Tell them you will be back in 30 min, or 3 hours, or however long you think they need, and that you want them to break the project up into smaller pieces and get rid of anything they don't need. Have the write it up on the board, or use post-its and cover the walls, they should be standing, moving, and talking. Tell them that you are just a facilitator, that this is their team, that they make the decisions, and that they are held accountable for what they commit to.

Once you come back, (hopefully after asking your manager for whatever resources or clarifications that the team needs and taking a few of those problems off the board yourself), look at what the team has planned themselves, and question every step... do we have to do this? can we do this later? Make the project easier.

Whatever remaining problems are up on the board you should assign out to the team members to resolve, with your help if needed.

People who can do what I just described make well into 6 figures. These methods work whether for a group assignment in school or a multibillion dollar civil infrastructure project. Nobody will teach this to you, but you will see everyone who is truly successful in your field follow similar practices. Don't wait for someone to do your job for you, just figure out what needs to be done, and do it. Once your team is churning out productivity, you can take all sorts of risks to catapult your career forward and you will be untouchable no matter how many people you piss off, as long as you don't piss off the corporate officers, and the only way you can do that usually is by not delivering.

Hope that helps, good luck.

[deleted] · 2015-08-16T03:51:39+00:00

Getting rich is as much about not spending it as it is about making it.

Immediately set aside of a portion of your paycheck for a 401k or other investment. Make your budget based on what you have left over.

If you can avoid purchasing a car that will save you money if alternative methods are not expensive or inconvenient. I've ridden a bike for years and I highly recommend it. Winter is tough but it also makes you tough.

If you buy a house or condo don't be afraid to rent out one of the rooms (or more if you have extra). You can actually pay your mortgage doing this if you have a good location near a hospital or college where people want to be. Pick your roommates well and research their background and references to reduce problems.

I rarely buy clothes retail and prefer to shop at thrift stores. Find a nice area of town with such stores and the quality will be better.

Live closer to work and the things you like to do. You'll save money on fuel and time.

[deleted] · 2015-08-16T04:14:34+00:00

Get into a difficult, boring, unpopular, necessary profession.
Get really, really good at it.
Strike out on your own.
Hire others to do the bulk of the actual work.

Title	I'm 19. How do I set myself up so that money won't be an issue in my future?
Author	[deleted]
Upvotes	2
Comments	6
Date	August 16, 2015 12:46 AM UTC (10 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/askTRP
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/asktrp/comments/3h5iyi/im_19_how_do_i_set_myself_up_so_that_money_wont/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/askTRP/im-19-how-do-i-set-myself-up-so-that-money-wont-be.189361 https://theredarchive.com/post/189361

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