Gary North

March 18, 2008

The recession is forcing millions of people to re-think their career plans. This process has only just begun.

Here are some steps you can take this weekend to get a handle on your job and how it fits in your career strategy.

1. Sit down with your spouse and look carefully at the budget. If you don't have one, buy a copy of Quicken and use the budgeting feature. Get clear where your money should go.

2. Discuss this issue: Are all of these expenditures part of an overall career plan, meaning from now until they bury you.

3. Does this budget make provision for your post-retirement career? Very few people will be able to live on their pensions. Inflation will eat up purchasing power.

4. Is there an educational component? I refer to seminars, subscriptions to professional journals, industry-wide training, in-house training, night school, correspondence courses.

5. Does your spouse understand why you have to find post-retirement employment? Explain this.

6. Think about your geography. Do you live in a safe place? I have a department and a forum devoted to this question: http://www.garynorth.com/public/department45.cfm

7. If you want to move, can you secure income in the new location? Soon? In the future? How?

8. What can you do as a volunteer today that could become a new career in the future?

9. What can you this year do to increase your visibility by a future employer?

10. Other than health care insurance, what do you get from your present employer that you could not get as an independent contractor? If there isn't much, start thinking about making a break for it.

For more information, click here: http://www.garynorth.com/public/department35.cfm

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