Moneywise24 Personal Finance

The challenge of having flexible working environments for their employees is a hot topic in some companies. Other companies keep prefer to regulate everything. Personally, I find the idea of having flexible working hours, and being able to work from home when needed a good idea. Actually, I wanted to try it out, now that my company is introducing flexible working hours more and more.

So, I took my laptop on a fine Monday morning, went to work around 10 a.m., then left the office at 2 p.m. Of course, I still have so much of my day left, that I decided to do some groceries and to go to the health club afterward. At 6 p.m., I put on my laptop and work for a few hours. This, I have been repeating for the rest of the week. During the weekend, I work for one or two hours, knowing that I will have this time available in the upcoming week.

I have done this only for one week, and come to the conclusion that having flexible working hours creates a lot of freedom, but at the same time I had to catch up with that ‘lost’ time during impossible hours, such as during the evening and during the weekend. As a result, I might have enjoyed my day, but I was not able to enjoy my evenings; I had to tell my friends that I was not able to come along for a beer, since I still had some work to do… and during the weekend, I had to make sure that I had some hours available, with a working internet connection, to catch up with some work.

What was even worst, is that in the end, I worked much more than during a regulated working day. Besides that, doing home office means that some of the time, I was not even being productive. I quickly checked my private e-mails on my private laptop, or did some dish washing. As a result, I had to keep working even longer.

I still find that flexible working hours is a good thing, it allows you to take care of some urgent business, and log onto the company network at a later time. But it does take a lot of discipline not to turn into a workaholic. Also, having such flexible working hours makes little sense, if your friends, girl-friend or wife, or family does not have the same flexibility. I often found myself spending free time during the afternoon when my girl-friend has to work, but then I was working when she wanted to spend some quality time.

Perhaps a flexible working environment makes more sense for singles?

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CFA stands for Chartered Financial Analyst, and its designation is gaining popularity within the world of finance. The CFA is a certificate, which can be obtained at the CFA Institute. On its website, the CFA Institute states the following:

“CFA Institute is a global, not-for-profit organization comprising the world’s largest association of investment professionals. With over 100,000 members, and regional societies around the world, we are dedicated to developing and promoting the highest educational, ethical, and professional standards in the investment industry.”

Source: http://www.cfainstitute.org/about/strategy/Pages/index.aspx, 8 June 2011

But what does the CFA mean for candidates? What does it do, and what does it not do? How much does it cost, in terms of money and time, to complete the CFA program and to become a CFA member? And most importantly, how does the CFA enhance one’s career perspective? Read the rest of this entry →

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For some time now, my interest in finance has steadily increased. I had even thought about a complete change of career, and to become a financial advisor, asset manager, portfolio manager, or similar. However, I recently stumbled over a very short article at Health.com, demonstrating why a career as a financial advisor belongs among the top 10 careers with high rates of depression.

Stress

Financial Advisors have stress, a lot of stress. One part of the stress comes from the quantity of work; imagine all the work involved to get all your own finances on track, and imagine doing this for many customers simultaneously. But perhaps even more stressful is the fact, that financial advisors are literally dealing with hundreds of thousands, even millions or Dollars. This is a great responsibility, which financial advisors have, and knowing that is stressful enough.

Lack of market control

Financial advisors have no control of the market, yet they are expected to make a profit for their customers at all times. Since I am not a financial advisor myself, I cannot elaborate on this too much, but having worked for a call center I can confirm that angry customers can get very ugly, if their own interests are not being met according to their standards. These standards can sometimes be far away from reasonable.

Surely, for a customer it is unpleasant to know that he/she has just lost a few million Dollars due to a financial crisis, but for a financial advisor it can be much more unpleasant actually bringing the bad news. We hear about dubious financial advisors and asset managers, who have gambled away some customers’ small fortunes… but it should not be forgotten that there are so many serious financial advisors, who have still lost their clients’ fortunes due to unforeseen events. Still many of them are being prosecuted. Many experts in the finance and banking industry committed suicide, as they could not live with the consequences.

Management pressure

Isn’t it stressful to know, that sometimes the company you work for does not want you to publish a certain advise, although you know that you are right? The reason behind this is, that companies sometimes have a stake in a particular investment. Any negative advise on that investment could jeopardize their share.

I have heard some anonymous stories from portfolio managers and asset managers, who were fired by their employers because they published the ‘wrong’ advice… and in the end they proved to be right.

A profession as a financial advisor, or a finance specialist surely is exciting and demanding. However, different factors contribute, that this profession is one of the most stressful and demanding professions in the business arena. The suicide rate in bad times is often exploding, and the responsibility can be enormous. Still, career perspectives in this area can be excellent, but it isn’t for the fainthearted.

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Being unemployed is anything but fun; especially people who are being laid off, for whatever reason, tend to feel pretty useless in the beginning. Firstly, it can be very frustrating to realize that you are not managing your day efficiently and useful. Depending on the country you live in and the savings you have, financial problems might soon play an important role. Finally, unemployed people are often considered to be somewhat detached from society, and the many prejudices from employers and society in general can make you feel much like an outcast. Read the rest of this entry →

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I have been working in Germany for the past 10 years. Here, it is common to receive a letter of reference whenever you switch either to another job within the same company, or when you leave the company you work for. Each and every employee is entitled to receiving this letter of reference, but sometimes there is a thin line between being right, and actually getting what you are entitled to.

When I left one of my former employers, I had written them formally that I required the letter of reference. Actually I like that employer. They were a mid-sized and very informal American-style company, and I had a good connection to about everyone.

Read the rest of this entry →

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