thinking about clothes

A new job is a good opportunity for me to evaluate my working wardrobe.

On balance, the dress code is about the same as at my last place - business casual - but there are many more women, so I’m feeling more inclined to wear make up and jewellery. I don’t need to buy any of these as I have a good supply, and certainly more eye shadow than I realised.

My current working wardrobe is:

• 3 pairs of trousers
• 1 skirt
• 4 jackets
• 6 skinny knit sweaters
• 6 long sleeve tops
• 8 short sleeve tops
• 2 skinny knit cardigans

This is not too bad as it stands - it stands me reasonably well in my normal working life - mostly in the office, but with and handful of external meetings. I pretty much wear a standard uniform, my tops are essentially the same designs in different colours and all my trousers (and skirt) are various shades of grey!

cheap or frugal?

One thing that I have noticed more as I’ve been trying to make a good impression on my new colleagues, is that a few of these things are wearing out. At least one pair of trousers is on its last legs (possibly because they are my favourites) and so are a couple of the tops. In fact, my work clothes wear out really quite quickly - certainly within a couple of years. That might be because I buy pretty inexpensive clothes, I don’t think I’ve spent more than £10 on a top, or £20 on a pair of trousers in my current wardrobe.

I’m not sure whether I’m being cheap or frugal. I have to admit that I don’t exactly look after my clothes brilliantly - I certainly don’t live to dress - and I wouldn’t want to buy more expensive clothes if they’re going to wear out just as quickly.

Perhaps I should have more clothes, so that they don’t wear out as often? Maybe I might have read somewhere that your clothes last long (more wearings) if you don’t wear them as frequently. Not sure whether I believe that’s likely to be true. On the other hand, if I had more clothes, I’d get less bored of wearing the same thing over and over!

what about you?

What do you all do about your working wardrobe? Do you invest in key pieces, shop second-hand, or, buy cheap basics? What kind of clothes do you wear, do you have vast quantities of work clothes, or operator more minimally? Let us know in the comments.

Of course there are some differences. One of the best ways of teaching kids about personal finance is to have them watch their parents… Yes, you really can only stretch an analogy so far.

and there’s a point to this?

If we’re taking a strictly outcome based approach, the Netherlands is particularly good on sex education. Rates of teenage pregnancy are some of the lowest in Europe, and teenagers wait for longer before having sex. Now, the Netherlands is pretty liberal, and you might not be comfortable with some of the things that they teach the under 11s about sex, but the really important thing that they do is focus on relationships, values and self-worth with the mechanics being taught but with less emphasis. As a result people (that pay attention and learn in class) are more likely to make decisions that benefit them in the long run.

Really I think we can learn something about personal finance education from this approach. The mechanics of budgeting,  and how credit cards work, and how to balance a cheque book are important, but nowhere near as important as organising your finances are around your goals, and the life that you live. It’s really helpful to understand the rules around RRSPs or ISAs or Roth IRAs, but it’s even more important to understand how risk works, and the sort of risk profile that you have at the moment. Or to work with yourself to get out of debt, rather than embarking on a plan you won’t stick to.

Personal finance education, is a bit like sex education!

There are many ways of generating an income, and lots of people seem to ideologically favour working for yourself, or working at home. Being your own boss is the great way to wealth apparently. Probably wouldn’t work for me, but each to their own.

One of the things that people who are for some reasonable reason against being employed talk about, especially those advocates of stay at home parenting, are the hidden costs of working. I’m talking about things like commuting, eating lunch out, buying nice clothes, conveniences that you use which you wouldn’t if you spent more time at home.

This got me thinking about the converse. The things that you can get from your workplace that would cost you money to have to provide for yourself. I mean, just like you don’t notice the hidden costs of working, so maybe we don’t notice the hidden benefits of working.

Let me know what benefits you get out of work.

trouble in paradise?

Right now, and for no particularly good reason, all I want to do is get out of my job. We’re talking about future projects at work, and even the fun stuff doesn’t stop me thinking that I’m not sure I can face months and months and months of this place with no end in sight.

Being a sensible sort of person, I’m looking to see what other jobs are in the market. I saw one that’s not right but in the perfect company and ended up applying (have heard nothing yet, deadline was a week ago). I’ve seen jobs that I could do which pay about the same (band advertised is +/-£2k of what I make now) in similar fields and completely different fields. I’m tempted by a full time website-y role I found (kind of like paid blogging, but not). If I was currently redundant, I would definitely be applying for all these jobs.

The jobs that really further the career aims I decided I had just a couple of months ago either are not vacant at the moment, or are in the wrong location anyway, and I really don’t want to move house now, it would add a lot of risk to my financial position (I owe more than my house is worth) and would detract from my general happiness elsewhere. I can leverage work in my existing company into the right direction more or less, but working here is making my skin crawl.

my actions and decisions (or lack of)

The tactic for the last 6-7 months (since my two closest friends at work decided to leave the company) has been to regularly check for new suitable jobs with the idea that I’d apply if there was something right, rather than if there was something that was close but not really what I think I want. But I’m now rethinking that strategy.

I’m not great on decisions, and I don’t know what to do.

If I move into an unrelated field, I’ll miss all the cool stuff about what I do now. I would probably be losing some capital that I’ve gained in my specific field - I’ve had a paper published, made presentations to industry groups, an article about my work was in the trade press and I got involved in some things with the Open University.

On the other hand, on a day to day level it probably wouldn’t make all that much difference if I worked in a different area. I could probably get fairly enthusiastic about a number of things, not just the stuff that I currently do. Moving sideways for the same money (more or less) wouldn’t be a bad thing in and of itself, and most of the jobs would involve a lot less travel, which is something that I find particularly tiring.

a time for everything

I guess, it’s hard to know whether you want to really make a move, or you’re just kinda tired. One of my favourite sayings is

You are not your code

Which shows that I’m a geek, but I kind of interpret it sometimes as your value does not lie solely in your work and what you produce. It’s easy to begin to identify yourself with your job, and it’s easy to always look inside the box for the answers.

Perhaps a recession is actually a good time to re-evaluate the way you get an income, and see if you can make yourself happier doing it some other way. Or maybe it’s the perfect time to just put up, and shut up.

I’ll explore some of these thoughts soon (and I promise I will, because I’ve written the posts already).

Is there supposed to be some kind of surprise about this?

graduate destinations

Around 300,000 people graduate each year and there are apparently about 30,000 vacancies in major companies’ graduate training schemes. Which means that 90% of graduates don’t take these sorts of jobs. On the other hand, a year or so ago I read some research that said that within 2 years of graduating well over 95% of graduates had found suitable employment.

People have never mostly taken jobs marketed directly at graduates when leaving university. One of my brother’s (who has a degree from a redbrick university) has worked since leaving university for an organisation with an official graduate training scheme. He wasn’t on it though, and neither were most of the people in the place. Starting on the graduate scheme would have given him a bit of a head start, but after a few years it doesn’t seem to make too much difference.

no one cares about your degree

I’m not sure whether I’m the only person that’s noticed this phenomenon. A few years after you got your qualifications, fine distinctions don’t matter so much. I have GCSEs, A-Levels and a degree. Several years after finishing university, no one cares whether I got a first, or a third, or whether my A-Level results were AABB or BCDD. The work that I’ve done in my job is much more important.

There’s often an argument that some subjects are more useful than others. It’s certainly true that some degrees lead more obviously into specific careers but that doesn’t mean that other subjects are worthless. If you do an unusual degree (golf course management, say) then it might give you a nice hook at the interview - of course your overall application needs to sell your suitability for a job, but it’s good to have something that makes you memorable.

is study worth it?

Is it worth getting a degree? Probably. Graduates earn more than non-graduates on average. Study improves your mind, you can develop transferable skills as well as specific knowledge. Of course your always going to get out what you put in, but there are plenty of ways to put in.

Is it important to do a traditional subject at an older university? I don’t think so. I think it’s important to study something you are interested in, preferably with half an eye on whether you would enjoy the sorts of jobs that it tends to lead to. I think it’s important to go to the university with the *best fit* which is a combination of location, cost, prestige, and other intangible factors. When I was at school, I wouldn’t have considered a *new university* but I certainly wouldn’t discriminate against an applicant from one, because I have learned that it’s not all that important.

The job ad is a little confusing - they are looking for people with between 1 and 3 years experience, yet the two different job titles would suggest something more like 1-3 or 3-5+ years experience. I have around 6-7 years. Whilst they might employ me, I’m not sure whether that means that they’re limiting the salaries on offer to something considerably less than I make (like £5k less?).

I’ll be discussing this with my informal semi-mentor (ex-colleague about 4-5 years older / more experienced) when he gets back from his overseas trip. But what do you guys think?

Oh yeah, I’ve also spent most of the day at work continuously thinking that I need to get out, despite the fact that I’m actually doing quite interesting things and have great colleagues.

I work in a team of around 21 people, including myself. Of those 21 people, seven (that I know of) have source of income aside from their jobs. Three are landlords, two are basically ebay dealers, and the other has a custom printing business (and there’s me, with a website).

Normally, I think of side or additional income as being a very minority interest, but one third of my team, whilst still a minority, is actually quite a large minority. And these aren’t the sort of people you’d think of as being entrepreneurial at all.

None of us are actually planning on giving up our day jobs to pursue these full time. I really like my job, and that’s a common sentiment where I work. Also, these are definitely side gigs that would be pretty hard to make serious money from full time.

It does go to show that if you still have any spare time, you can leverage it into money if you want to. Maybe not a great deal of money, but it all adds up - and if it comes from a hobby, then that’s definitely killing two birds with one stone.

I’ve made suggestions for generating additional income before, jobs, businesses and weird ideas. But, now that we’re all in recession perhaps it’s a good time to dust off the lists and see what we can come up with together. I’ll start with my favourite five, why not add yours to the comments:

• relief registrar - get paid to marry people in civil ceremonies
• niche blogging - exploit the long tail of the internet
• mystery shopping - not so much an income as a free lunch
• PC troubleshooting and repair - I might pay for this if my computer broke
• jewellery making - set yourself up with an Etsy shop

I’ve never met an educated Brit who hadn’t been abroad. Never.

More than half of all Americans don’t own a passport.

I view overseas travel as an important part of life. Really, when it comes down to it, I don’t think there’s a very good substitute and that someone who hasn’t travelled at all has lived a sheltered or narrow life (so far).

I didn’t do one myself, but I now see a gap year as a really, really brilliant idea. There are essentially two main variations. In the first you work at a slightly tedious low-paid job for several months to save money which pays for an extended (say 3 month) trip around the world. In the second, you work for slightly less time at the tedious job and supplement your savings with working abroad. Typically this trip involved more than 6 months travel.

Even 10 years ago, when I could have taken one, they were already ubiquitous enough that there was a gap year circuit for Brits. Fly from London to Bangkok, go overland to Singapore, then fly to either Melbourne or Sydney, overland to Cairns. At this point take an optional aside to New Zealand. Finish up by flying to Los Angeles, travelling overland to New York, and then fly back to London. Working abroad would take place in either Australia or New Zealand, and the main alternative would be travelling across India rather than South East Asia.

If the concept is entrenched in the UK and I think Ireland, it is positively compulsory amongst Antipodeans. Based on my own encounters, for Aussies and Kiwis the overseas experience often seems to include a stint working in London, extensive travel around Europe and North America, plus I think South East Asia and/or India. I’m not sure whether the circuit is as well-defined as it is for Brits - most of the Australians and New Zealanders I’ve met seem to be pretty well travelled and get to a wide variety of places.

On the other hand, whilst I’ve met a few Canadians who are on the road for a long period, Americans seem to shun the gap year concept. The same arguments that I remember from reading the paper in the UK 15 years ago about the damage gap years could do to your career prospects seem to be still in vogue amongst US writers.

Apparently, although almost everyone who takes a gap year between school and university in the UK returns to complete their degree, in the US students are much more likely not to bother. And this would be a terrible thing? Quite frankly, if you’re going to be aimless, far better to do it whilst earning money than spending it on expensive tuition.

Although, in other countries the experience of travelling abroad for an extended period of time teaches young adults valuable life skills and broaden their horizons, the only thing it would do to Americans is destroy their ability to concentrate in classes. The people that I started university with who had been on gap years didn’t feel like a year older than me, they seemed more like 5 years older - and much more ready to start studying again after their time off than those of us who hadn’t been off the education treadmill.

If I had the opportunity, I would encourage everyone under the age of 25 to take a year out, make plans, and travel for an extended period. Working abroad for a few months is even better. I feel like living proof that once you start a career, you’re much less inclined to give it all up for a while to travel (but you still should if you feel you have the opportunity).

Although two or three week vacations are really good - they are how I intend to finish off seeing the world - extended 2+ month trips are a completely different beast and can really test and develop you in a way that few other experiences do.

If you know anyone in high school or college, suggest they take a gap year.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,
All the King’s horses and all the King’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again.

From my vantage point, it looks suspiciously like a recession is inevitable. In the UK, we haven’t had one for about 15 years, so given the boom and bust cycle we’re about due anyway. Given the increasing globalisation of recent years I expect the rest of the world will be joining us.

Now, I know that all the central banks have been pumping money in to try and resuscitate the financial system, and several banks have been partly nationalised. As far as I can tell, this is an attempt to prevent complete financial collapse (want to know what that looks like? try Iceland), not to completely stave off a recession. Only an idiot thinks that things can keep growing and growing uniformly.

Thing about having boom and bust economic cycles as we do is that there have been recessions before. The bust section is not as much fun as the boom section but it’s not the end of the world. I’m not old enough to have really been affected in the early 90s, but I know that some of my parents friends were caught in negative equity (as I may well be) and several others were made redundant. But, they had skills and education, and were not out of employment for long.

I’m thinking that in a recession it’s more important than ever to follow the basic rules of personal finance, plus

• keep up with industry news
• have a cv nicely polished
• keep learning and extending skills
• diversify your income if you can
• bump up the emergency fund

Finally, be realistic. In many recessions, one or more industries permanently downsizes. If you’re working somewhere that was looking fundamentally shaky a couple of years ago (say, US car manufacturers) chances are excellent that it’s only going to get worse.

If there’s no real future in what you currently do and you’re more than a couple of years from retirement, much better to get off the sinking ship first. Develop transferable skills, find a new career, be open to other possibilities. Remember, you’ll probably be fine, even if your current job isn’t.

I personally not a fan of violence or armed conflict, and I feel no more (or less) proud of British soldiers, sailors and airmen, than I do of our paramedics, firefighters and coastguards. The British armed forces are all volunteer, and most members are young. Generally, under 25. Which, if you think about it, begs the question as to how it’s such a great career move.

Since most members are young, that implies that who join up don’t stay for particularly long. They aren’t in the army, navy or air force for life. Unless they deliberately structure their experience to allow them to get into a good civilian career, they end up in more or less the same position once leaving that they were in when they joined. If they’re unlucky, that’s plus PTSD or another mental illness. If they’re lucky they’ve randomly acquired skills that will help them get a job - but the ability to drive tanks does not translate well into civvy street.

There are of course, plenty of careers open to 18 year olds who are in the top half academically of their age group, and who don’t want to go to University. Like the armed forces, most of these will include more training or education. If you’re looking for something outdoors-y there are careers in areas like telecoms, traffic and roads or utilities which involve site work, and working with both your hands and your brains. There are also jobs in the health service, in local government, finance, the police force, or hospitality for people with a few A-Levels and no degree.

Of course, if you’d like to learn to shoot guns, drive tanks, live in a submarine, or plot bombing raids then a stint in the armed forces is probably the only way that you’ll get to do any of those things as a British citizen. In which case, it’s an excellent idea to enlist. Naturally, I’d hope that people are automatically aware of the downsides - living far from home, people trying to kill you, and shoddy boots - but I’m sure there are a few upsides too.

Joining the army, navy or RAF is not a good career move for the clueless. It’s a fine job if you’re clueless - I’m certain there are plenty of people who will tell you what to do - but it won’t magically translate into a career. If you’re going to go for it then you have to work hard to either create a career within the services, or to create the start of a civilian career within your stint. It’s certainly not the panacea that some people make it out to be.