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Land your dream job and create real wealth

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 12:00

Because you dedicate many years to studying towards your chosen career, and then spend days at the office using those hard-earned skills, your job should challenge and excite you and foster career and personal growth. In fact, when your 9-to-5 becomes something you are passionate about, it’s likely you’ll excel at it and succeed financially. Yet turning your monthly income into real wealth takes a little extra know-how.

Here, Nishen Naidoo of Sanlam Personal Finance shares a few tips:

Know how much you need to earn

When you start looking for your dream job, know how much you need to earn to cover your expenses first. Do this by drawing up a budget and be sure to include savings. It’s also important to know your worth. Find out what it is by researching industry salaries from local salary surveys (recruitment agencies are a good place to start) so you know what’s on offer and how much you could expect to earn.

Consider the whole package

If you find your perfect job but the salary isn’t great, find out about other perks like training opportunities. Often ongoing training and transfer of knowledge and skills can be more valuable than a higher salary when you first start out, as you will not only accumulate intellectual wealth but increase your marketability too. This can then act as a motivation for a pay increase at a later stage.

Create real wealth

While many view their salary as just a means to live a comfortable life, be wise and instead use it to create real wealth. Do this by saving a portion of your salary every month – and start as soon as you receive your first pay check. Even if it is a small amount in the beginning, anything is better than nothing! If you keep this up throughout your working years, you should be able to provide for yourself, and family, long after you have stopped earning.

Protect your earning potential

Something that cannot be stressed enough is the importance of protecting your ability to earn an income if anything should happen to you. While it’s not fun to think about, the reality is in an instant you could become disabled in an accident or lose the ability to work due to serious illness. If this happens, who will look after you? The sobering answer is you. To help buff against situations like these, do some research to find out about income protector and disability cover and decide if it should form part of your financial plan.

If you already have cover in place to protect your earning potential and are saving a portion of your salary, the next step is to incorporate them into a larger financial plan. This will go a long way in helping you fulfil your financial goals and generate real wealth.

Visit www.thedestination.co.za for more information on creating the perfect CV, landing your dream job or buying your first car.

Submitted on behalf of Nishen Naidoo of Sanlam Personal Finance by Marissa Visagie, Atmosphere Communications, (021) 469 1596, 071 146 7941 or marissa@atmosphere.co.za