Moneywise24 Personal Finance

Being in debt has become quite normal in today’s world: people buy real estate and take a mortgage, a loan is taken in order to buy a car, a television or the newest Playstation is quickly bought with the credit card, and this month’s phone bill seemed to bit slightly higher than usual. Actually, debt does not have to be all that bad… if it planned and under control.

And this is where problems arise. Often, debt is not under control. It seems to increase, a second credit card is being applied for, and it seems like a never ending story, until at a certain point the debtors want their money back, and then…

uh-oh.

The worst that can happen is when the complete existence of a person is about to collapse completely; real estate is confiscated by the bank, credit cards are being blocked, in many countries debtors have a certain right to claim a part of the net salary of the individual directly from the employer, and the story goes on. The worst that can happen is to file for a personal bankruptcy. However, if you have not yet reached that stage, perhaps there is still something that can be done.

A few simple things might help to reduce debt. Reducing debt is never fun, but it is the price to pay.

Track your income and expenses

The very first thing you need to do is to track your income and expenses by the cent; it will make your cash-flow visible, and it will allow you to plan and make a budget. Assuming that you have money to spend, the easiest way to keep book is by using Excel, or another spreadsheet program. For each transaction, you will need to need to make an entry in your ledger, so that by the end of the week or month you can it all up. You can then compare the totals of your expenses with your income, and also with the budget you created.

Save where ever you can

Rigorous expense reduction is the next step. Here, you need to know the exact difference between needs and wants, and it is absolutely essential that you concentrate on what you really need for a living, and how you can make substituations in order to live more cheaply. For example, you may want to investigate how Skype could help you as an alternative to stay in touch with friends, you may want to use public transportation more often, or you may need to give up your daily visit to Starbucks.

Hire a debt consultant

In many countries, there are debt consultant who are either subsidized or fully paid by the government. Find out if this is the case, and hire someone who can help to get you out of debt. Firstly, this person will give you a very precise picture of your current situation. But more importantly, he is also an independent consultant, who is able to engage in negotiations with debtors if applicable. By hiring a debt consultant, debtors will see that you are willing to do everything to reduce and pay off your debt, and thus they are more likely to engage into an agreement.

Do not create new debt

Don’t overdraw your bank account, don’t take any new loans, and destroy your credit cards. The last thing you need is a new loan of any kind.

Assess your income

If being unemployed or having a very low income is one of the reasons for being in debt, you may want to assess your current position; what do you have to do in order to get a job, or a better paid job? Do you need education? More experience? Or perhaps there are already some opportunities for the taking. Pursue your career if you can. Browste the job postings, and build on your network.

Reducing debt is not an easy task, especially in a world where money seems to play such an important role, and where companies want to motivate us to spend more of it via sophisticated marketing strategies. However, being debt free is something to look forward to, and in the end: there are any more important things than money alone.

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Yesterday, I met up with a friend of mine for a coffee. As we exchanged some interesting topics, the topic started changing towards career issues. At a certain point, she stated:

“I don’t understand, I am a hard working employee, I deliver the best possible quality, I have been with the company for years, and meet all possible deadlines. And yet, this work is not getting me anywhere. My colleages get all the best options in the company, they get promotions, or new challenges”

Sounds familiar?

As our conversation progressed, I started to develop a better understanding of her situation. Her goal is to be fully committed to her work, and her manager. She wants to make herself irreplacable through the quantity and quality of her work, hoping management will see the great potential that lures inside of her.

The only problem is, that by having made herself irreplacable by all the knowledge she has and the hard work she delivers, management does not want her to leave her current position. She has become so irreplacable, that it has started to work against her. Whereas she has been taking upon all the work, others have had the opportunity to get involved into other activities and build a network throughout the company.

For anyone seeking an interesting career, it is essential to build a diverse network of contacts throughout the company, attend meetings, give presentations, or go for lunch with colleagues and managers. Extremely hard working employees will often skip such events in order to get some more work done. But this is an approach, which will work against you on the long run.

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If there is one thing I learned during childhood and my teens, it is how important good friends are.  Then, during education and throughout my career, I learned in addition to that how important a good network is; not only in respect to the many social contacts, but also to opportunities which may arise through the network, for example a job posting at the company you always wanted to work for. Many job postings nowadays are not even publicly advertised, as they are being filled through existing networks of friends, co-workers, ex co-workers, family, etc.

If there is one thing I did not learn during childhood, it’s how be a great networker; I had to acquire all the skills during my adulthood. Nevertheless, from what I have learned I believe everyone can be a great networker, no matter wheter they have experience or not, whether it involves a personal network or a professional network.

I have written below five basic considerations, which are the result from my own experience. You do not have to follow these, and as I mentioned these are some really basic considerations, something to keep in the back of your head when meeting new people; real professional networkin goes far beyond these five steps.

1. Be open to meeting new people

When I did not know anything about networking, I was quite sceptical when meeting new people. I tended to keep my distance, awaiting to get some more insights about their motivations. I felt much more comfortable in my old group of friends and acquiantances than I did when meeting new people. When I did meet new people, it was usually via the friends and family and friends I already have, and usually I tended to think of them as their friends, not mine.

When I went abroad for my studies, I recognized how important it is to be open to meeting new people, since I didn’t know anybody in the new, big city. I started to open up, and escape my old habits. While I was doing that, I started to notice how closed other people often are when it comes to meeting new people and building personal relationships.

The best way for me to start being more open was to engage into small talk with just about anyone: the waitress at the bar, the people at university, my co-workers at work, and sometimes even some complete strangers in the bus. This has literally replaced my old habits with a set of new habits, being an open personality, enjoying to meet new people with the most different backgrounds and stories. Often the conversation just stays as it is, but sometimes personal contact details are exchanged.

2. Focus on the relationship, not the outcome

For many people, networking does not have the best possible image; it has the image of meeting people for the purpose of wanting favours from them. Although I have met quite some ‘networkers’, who do exactly that, their networking attempts will usually result in a very superficial network with little meaning.

A very powerfull mindset is to focus on the relationship, rather than the outcome. With building relationships, I mean being in regular contact with that person, and really focus on getting to know each other. Depending on the type of contact, you may want to go for a drink or meet up regularly if you are working on a more personal network, or you might keep a bit more distance if you are building a network with customers, business partners, or generally work-related. Nevertheless, the relationship will need to be worked on from the moment of meeting that person, and the right mindset focuses on intensifying that relationship continuously.

Focusing on the relationship does not mean you can not ask or give favours; it simply means that this is not where you want the focus to be; people might sense that there is something strange about the situation of meeting you.

3. Networking is an imbalance of giving and taking

Family members, friends, and members of a network do favours for each other. That’s what they are for, and that is what makes the connection with another person special. Once a relationship exists, it is perfectly normal to ask someone for a favour, or for someone coming to you for a favour.

Some people I know keep a journal of all favours they had given or received… I am not a big favour of that. To me, it does not matter that I have done two favours to someone and have not received anything back. In my opinion, there is always  fine imbalance between giving and taking. I am always prepared to give, as long as the imbalance does not become too big. People, who are only our for a profit, have lost nothing in my network.

I have to note, that a favour does not always have to occur free of charge. A friend of mine, for example, is a lawyer. Once I had asked him to look into a topic for me, that he is specialized in. Of course I paid him, although he did give me a small discount; in the end he is putting time and effort in my request, and I honestly believe that it should be rewarded in one way or the other.

4. Be present

With being present, I basically mean that people notice you, and are invited to chat with you. It does not matter whether I am at a party, a networking event or a party, I try to show presence as much as I can. For example, I might talk with one person for 20 minutes, and agree with him we should stay in touch for an after-work drink some time… then I go to another place or room, and initiate a conversation with other people. I do not want to jump from one conversation to the other as if it were speed dating, but also do I not want to clinge to the known and comfortable.

5. Self-Marketing

When I just started with networking, I needed at least a few minutes to explain someone what I do for a living, and what I had done in the past… and I wasn’t doing it effectively either. I recognized, that self-marketing was extremely important when building a network, if I wanted others to really get to know me and my strengths within a short period of time. Because else why should someone within my network offer me a job if that person does not know my strengths and what I am all about? This is an important point to think about: how can I communicate what I do and my strenghts in the shortest possible time?

Networking truly covers much more that only the few points mentioned above, but these few steps have helped me tremendously.

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For quite some time I was pretty obsessed with money; I wanted more, bigger salaries, huge cars, the list is endless. This obsession started when I moved to a larger city right after I graduated, and I felt really bad to be at the bottom of the ladder, just starting my career from scratch. I saw BMWs and Porches driving around, peope I met were bragging about their brand new penthouse in the city center, a Maserati comes by with a 20-year old blonde at the wheel. I got so caught up with what I thought had to be the average living standard, that in my very first application I sent out, I asked for an annual salary of 200 thousand Dollars (and this is not a joke).

Soon I discovered that everything I experienced was only a big fasade; all the successful people who had earned their money with hard work did all they could to show it off, and those with moderate jobs tried to hide what they didn’t have; the sales clerk at the counter of a department store would put on a suit for tonight’s after-work party and tell everyone in the club that he makes half a million at a large investment bank.

Many people are so preoccupied and virtually obsessed with their career and with becoming wealthy, that they often disregard the other vital areas of their lives. The results are usually depressions, burn outs, health deficits and a poor social life. What should we take into account if we want to lead a healthy and fulfilling life?

A few months ago I had the pleasure to meet a psychologist during a social gathering. As we started to get to know each other, we talked about our work, and as the conversation progressed she casually mentioned the disturbing increase of burnout cases and people with depressions. Whereas the majority of patients seemed to be men, the number of female patients was alarmingly increasing as well. With these words in the back of my head, I started noticing how money- and career oriented many people are: 60 working hours or more per week is not uncommon for many people, people are on unhealthy diets, continuously being on the move, and their social activities suffer. Even those people, who do have enough spare time, seem to be so much preoccupied with money, career building, and wealth.

But life has much more to offer than being wealthy. In fact, each and every person has three basic areas in his/her life, which needs to be satisfied in order for any person to be truly happy. If one area is neglected, the others will suffer. This might acutually often result in a viscious circle, during which the life of an individual starts to crumble down.

Health

Leading a healthy life means being on a healthy diet, eating fruits and vegetables as frequently as possible, avoiding unhealthy fat food, and doing sports on a regular basis in order to keep the body fit. Being healthy also means having a positive and confident state of mind; a healthy mind is just as important as a healthy body. 

If your body is not healthy and fit, it may result in an increased doctor’s and medication bill, impacting your wealth negatively. Additionally, you are prone to being sick more often, and therefore not being able to go to work or to socialize. It will be harder to bond with your friend and family, and to find or maintain a partner. Additionally, a person who is overweight will typically work for a lower wage than someone who is in good shape, doing the same kind of work.

Psychological disorders might be just as severe. This includes any form of depression, mistrust in people or society, insecurity, or anything which may impact a person’s life in a negative way. Many people do not even know that their state of mind is not as it should be. As a result, people with psychological disorder may have a difficult time finding friends, leading an active social life, or negotiating the salary they deserve. In the worst case, a bad state of mind may result in people losing their jobs due to increased sickness or their inability to concetrate over a long period of time, and the mental disorder may become physical, such as skin or heart disease.

Relationships

Each and every person needs to engage in relationships with other people. Humans are very social beings, be it with friends, family, or a sexual partner. If a person’s social life suffers for whatever reason, it is likely that depressions are on their way. A person with unhealthy relationships, or the inability to find new friends, may find himself/herself in isolation quickly, which is unlikely to contribute to his/her well-being.

In its turn, depressions are likely to lead to not being able to concetrate at work, and the start of chronic diseases (the skin, for example, is very sensitive to an individual’s well-being… cases of skin diseases such as psoriasys or neurodermitis are increasing). A bad state of mind may additionally cause a very unhealthy diet, and the start of addictions, which trigger that feeling of ‘happiness’.

Wealth

Money is an important instrument to obtaining a number of basic needs for survival: shelter, food, water and medical care if required. However, there is more to life than simply the basic needs. Humans have the need to develop hobbies, activities and social lives. They want to travel, explore the world, learn a new language, go to college, be mobile. If there is a severe lack of money (or time due to too much focus on a career), a person will not have the means to do all that. They will have a hard time to go out and perhaps meet new people; that person will not be able to pay for his/her doctor’s bills; that person might have very limited resources available to any type of sports, and he/she will be able to afford only the cheapest kind of food, in stead of the healthiest. All this may impact his health in a negative way, it may create a feeling of isolation, depressions, and the relationship with friends and family might suffer.

The first, and perhaps most important step, towards leading a fulfilling life is the recognition of the above mentioned areas, and a self-analysis of which area needs development. It might be extremely difficult to focus on all of the three areas simultaneously if they are not already in good shape. For myself, stepping back from the idea of wanting to be a millionnaire yesterday has helped me tremendously, and allowed me to focus on all areas of my life simultaneously. I still keep a certain focus on building wealth at the long term, but not being wealthy does not make me unhappy.

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China alone has more than 1 billion inhabitants. Worldwide there are more than 800 million native Mandarin Chinese speakers. With the Chinese economy booming, is Chinese on its way to becoming the dominant global language?

The question is very legitimate, since the Chinese economy is outperforming, and an increasing number of companies are starting doing business with China. In addition, Chinese products are flooding the world markets, and the world is becoming smaller and smaller in a sense. In common business situations, language is still a barrier, and many occasions require a translator to be present.

English has mainly become the dominant global language due to the widespread presence of the British during history. The participation of the United States during WorldWar I and II. As such, English has become increasingly popular as well as important. Additionally, both Great Britain and the United States take very important position in the global economy. Looking at this history, however, the popularity and acceptance of English as a dominant global language has grown slowly over time.

Chinese could well be on its way to become a more important language in business life. In fact, the popularity of Chinese, as well as other language contributing to the global economy, is increasing. However, the language itself poses also some important limits in the way it can be used. Probably the most important limits are the use of characters and the number of limited sounds available. As soon as foreign companies become active in China, they will often have to change their name completely, in order for the company name to be written in Chinese. The same applies to names of people. In addition, schools, colleges and universities will need to adopt Chinese as an integral part of their educational program. This is a very big step, since Europeans and Americans will have a great difficulty learning the language as it belongs to a totally different language family. And still, for this to happen, the Chinese economy itself will also need to take the dominant position in the global economy.

Although it is unlikely for us to (still) experience Chinese being the dominant global language, the Chinese language is gaining importance and popularity in general; there are still many people worldwide, some of them very educated or in high positions within large corporations, who do not speak English adequately. Speaking Chinese might indeed prove to be an important asset, increasing one’s value on the emloyment markets.

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