May

14

this time last year on plonkee money

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I know that not everyone has been reading plonkee money for a year. I think that about this time last year I actually worked out how to set up my feeds properly - I started blogging before I knew about the amazing powers of feedreaders, and it showed.

Still, you’re here now, and that’s the important thing. If you want to check out what you missed last May on plonkee money try:

Should that not be enough retro plonkee money to be going on with, browse the full archives and read some more.

If you want a different point of view, lately I’ve liked:

  • using a freedom account to prepare for the unexpected @ get rich slowly - irregular expenses needn’t cripple your finances any more
  • when we received a collection letter @ mrs. micah - fortunately I haven’t had one yet myself, but I’ve had them for other people (previous tenants) and it’s best to open and call them up to let them know that they’ve moved. It cuts down on hassle.
  • what is an annuity? @ moolanomy - important information as in the UK it’s almost (but not quite) compulsory to purchase an annuity with your pension funds, something about not squandering it and relying on the state I think
  • how to feed a family of five on $200 a month @ rocket finance - where Mrs Rocket explains how she feeds the family, and rocketc admits to eating both seconds, and thirds at meal times

May

13

tidying up the site

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Over the next week, I’m going to be mostly off work painting my bedroom. It should also give me some time to do some blog tidying up - especially the blogroll.

My blogroll consists of every personal finance blog that I read, or it’s supposed to anyway. If you’re not on there, and you’d like to be, either contact me, or leave a comment below with your blog url in the relevant field and I’ll subscribe.

Also, I’d welcome your input into improving the plonkee money design and layout. Anything you hate, anything you love, let me know.

Finally, I’m soliciting good guest posts from regular readers. If you’ve got something to say and you’re looking for a platform to say it, maybe plonkee money could be the place.  Email me.

May

13

thinking about liking jobs

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I seem to mention a lot that I enjoy my job. And it’s true. I don’t really love it every day, but 95% of the time it’s great and the other 5% it’s still passable.

What makes me happy about my job?

I work for a good company, it’s actually won awards basically for being a nice place to work. The team that I work for is (relatively) politics free and I am happy to socialise with them on a limited scale. The location is great, it’s a 50 minute walk for me, the building was refurbished about 5 years ago, and it’s in the city centre. The close proximity to the shops isn’t great for my bank balance, but it’s good for getting errands done in my lunch hour.

All of that helps, but what’s really good about my job is that it suits me.

I work in an up and coming area of my industry, which means a lot of research projects and trials and cutting edge technology. It’s also incredibly varied, and almost everyone is a generalist. This is good for me because I get bored working on different things, and I like the excitement of the new, and unknown challenges.

I’m a sort of data specialist - I’m the spreadsheet geek, and I also do a lot of other data related things. This is good because I enjoy doing it, and almost no one else does, so I’ve always got plenty of work to do. I basically don’t compete for work with anyone else on the team. It also means that I’m seen as an expert in certain areas, very good for the ego.

Some of the stuff I do makes it into the public realm in one way or another - I can actually point to things that other people see and say "I did that". It does so in a way that supports my purpose of making a difference in the world in a good way.

I don’t expect that other people are like me. But, I do think that the key to a fulfilling work life is to have a job that matches well with your skills - it should maximise your strengths (for me, broad brush new ideas) and minimise your weakness (for me, details and implementation). It should also accord with your values, the most important feature of a happy life. Finally, you still need luck, even the best jobs can be ruined by other people.

Having a job that I enjoy (that pays well enough) means that I don’t spend a lot of money drowning my sorrows and trying to buy happiness, so it’s pretty good for my wallet.

What do you think about gaining job satisfaction? Is it mostly luck, or mostly *fit*, or mostly, something else? Let me know in the comments.

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