THIS IS MY 67TH BLOG ON UNDERSTANDING MONEY TOOLS
In this Blog let’s talk about things that will add up to
your success in employment, and perhaps life in general. These are fundamental,
perhaps I have covered them before, redundancy of good things doesn’t hurt.
Then, I am going to touch upon one topic quickly regarding the economy. This
topic is the current government numbers recently released in April, 2014, and
how they can be “distorted” to make things appear better than they are to suit
the governmental reporting to the media.
Ingredients for success. Smarts/the brain. Not that it is a given for success, but
your “smarts” is a good place to start. Different people have different kind of
smarts. One kind is innate and you are born with it. Some people are blessed
with many smarts and can adapt easily to things, some few. For instance, I have
no musical talent but enjoy the study of music. Both my brothers were born with an “ear” for music and
talented, they had the inborn talent; listen to a musical piece and they would
know which key and could just play the music with good rhythm and timing. Some
people are more left-brain analytical, meaning they analyze everything, perhaps
take their time at decision-making and are good with mathematics. These people
make great engineers. Right-brained people tend to be more artistic/creative,
more spontaneous. These people are the artists, actors and musicians. Define your skill set that nature gave
you and start from there with your strengths. Do what you like and what comes
easy, crime not included. IQ’s can
be raised and lowered by your environment.
Another “smarts” come from “learned” sets, such as education
and being taught specific things. Start with your strengths, add to that and
don’t try to re-create a wheel but change the wheel that exists, add to
it. There is also something
referred to as “street smarts”. You learn these through life, what works, what
doesn’t.
Another ingredient for success is “specific skill sets”.
Since birth you have been taught various things, and with that you developed a
certain set of skills. Use these skills and find out which ones you can use as
“transferable skills”. This could relate to another job position. Some people
are more visually taught, some more audio and some kinesthetic, or physical.
I’ll call “personal contacts” an ingredient for success,
although not essential. Since you were young you made contacts; friends in
school, sports, clubs, church, etc. No matter what age, keep track of some of
these people. It may serve the purpose for business, or life in general.
Money! One of the biggest elements of all for success. Some
people are lucky and have a wealthy relative to help them, or a trust fund. If
you are one of these individuals, don’t waste it. Many who have money at a
young age or know they are going to receive money don’t grow their lives,
mentally, physically or spiritually. Money is only a tool use it wisely. I remember Malcom Forbes, owner of
Forbes Publishing, once said the best gift you can give your child, even better
than an MBA, is the family company. I have to admit Steve Forbes, Malcom’s son,
has done a great job. He has some great ideas like a “flat tax” for both
individuals and corporations in America, thus taking away the tax deductions
that mostly benefit the wealthy and big companies. It would make our taxation
system more equitable for all, and simplified. A great idea, but probably will
never pass in Congress. I followed Malcom Forbes because we had one thing in
common, motorcycling. Malcom motorcycled all over the world including China.
Another asset for success in life is obvious, education. You
can never get enough education and learning. There is a difference between
education and degrees from a university. Always stand behind better education
in the US at all levels. We seem
to want to spend money for war, but when it comes to schools and education we
cut budgets; can anyone be so stupid!?
Degrees? Yup, corporate America loves degrees, the more the better.
Degrees relate little to brain-power, ability and knowledge. It relates more to
the amount of money you have and time you can afford to stay in school. I must
admit it does relate to perseverance (persistent determination).
Going to another ingredient for success is “intuition”. That
is a “feel”, a heart-felt emotion toward a certain act or reaction. Some of the
most successful people have this for an investment or a job position.
Guts and “go for it”. A lot of the successful people have
this over all. They are positive and keep plowing ahead. I believe people like
Babe Ruth had this in baseball. Yes, for a long time he had hit more homeruns
than any other player, but he also struck out more than any other player in
attempting to set the record.
Determine whether you are an indoor or outdoor person. Some
people like being in an office all day, technology driven people as an example.
Other people like the outdoors, lack of confinement. Think of what type of
person you are, how much freedom you need when selecting a career.
Employment in controlled and less controlled
environments. For success in your
job you need to determine whether you function best in a controlled environment
that is more regulated, or in an environment of fewer controls and constraints.
Do you follow orders, or are you very structured/disciplined to get things
accomplished on your own. Jobs that are more “controlled” are government jobs,
including policemen, firemen, militasry and regulatory agencies. Jobs with less
structure and more freedom are independent corporate reps, salespeople, and
people in the arts.
Early in this blog I mentioned I would address something
regarding our economic figures. I
normally view the figures coming out of the government and facts that reach the
media as bogus and distorted. The government slants the figures to make them
look more positive than they actually are. Do they lie? I’m going to say no, they will say no, however
what they do is manipulate the numbers. The manor in which calculations were
provided year’s ago has been changed for the most part, GAAP changes.
(Governmental Accepted Accounting Principles)
The consumer price index (CPI) was just reported at a meager
.1% when the government was looking at a higher number. (Also, related to GDP)
I have read that the actual number was negative. The private sector is not spending money, and big companies
are not expanding and spending money in the US. Companies are sitting with a ton of cash, much of it
overseas. The government now measures consumer expenditures as Price Consumption
Expenditure (CPE), a measurement of inflation. Watch out when the government
uses “revised” numbers. These numbers and accuracy are important as it effects
payments such as Social Security.
When most of the world is struggling with deflation and
depreciation of assets, goods and services, why should the US be any different;
it’s not. Like unemployment figures we just calculate things differently, and
the government will re-calculate until they have a formula that looks good and
positive.
So much for this blog
No comments:
Post a Comment