Brooklyn Public Library's STEP

This one's for the NYC residents. Should you ever find yourself in need of a spot of career counseling, the Brooklyn Public Library has a program called Skills Training & Employment Program (STEP) that will set you up with a career advisor who can help you "develop a personalized career plan" as well as help you with:

• workshops in resume writing, interviewing and more;
• preparing for career placement tests; and
• improving your English.

Even niftier, STEP also offers:

• Career Cruising
  An interactive career guidance resource in English and in Spanish. Users can find help with occupational assessment, career exploration, educational planning, and portfolio development. (Available for use at the following locations: Central Library, Business Library, and the Marcy Branch.)
• Ferguson's Career Guidance Center
  A comprehensive career research database, organized by industry providing profiles of today's most popular jobs. It covers careers and career resources, as well as career preparation information, including scholarships, academic programs, non-academic programs, Web resources, and an employability skills checklist. (Available anywhere with an Internet connection and a library card.)
• Learning Express Library
  Test prep material and practice exams for the GRE, SAT, graduate school, civil service, technical and professional exams. (Available anywhere with an Internet connection and a library card.)

There are no residency restrictions listed for in the program description, and as I (a Brooklyn resident) can apply for a Manhattan library card, I presume that any NYC resident could apply for a Brooklyn library card. Or perhaps non-Brooklyn residents could call their local library to inquire about the availability of a comparable career-readiness program in his/her own borough!

What is Financial Planning?

During my blogging hiatus, my life has encountered a few changes. One major change being that I'm now 2 months into my new job in - can you guess? - publishing! (See long story here & mid-way report here.) Having taken into account the state of starter salaries in the publishing industry (dismal), I've also kept my seasonal job. And if I may confess, although 6-day weeks have become typical for me, I still occasionally quite often toy with the idea of quitting my part-time job. But that's a story for another day...

Last week, after 2 months of waiting for direct deposit, 401(k) and FSA deductions to be activated, I was finally able to figure out my cash flow and craft a simple spending plan. (Note: While I enjoy using Excel to better manipulate my data, I highly recommend YahooFinance's cash flow calculator.) I'm really excited to report that I'm currently saving 60% of my paycheck! Of course, that includes allotments for my new 401(k) plan, and House, Investment, and Savings funds.

One of my primary concerns in the last two years has been being my own financial planner. I found that my focus shifted as I went through various stages of employment. When I was working full-time, I focussed on:

• Goal setting: clarifying goals that are financial "biggies," e.g. buying a house, getting married, retiring
• Retirement planning: setting up & managing 401(k) & Roth IRA accounts
• Investment planning: for a non-retirement portfolio

While I was unemployed and the economy took a downturn, my focus shifted to:

• Investment review
  Including: diversifying my portfolio, weighing the trimming of riskier stocks with acquiring "discounted" stocks
• Insurance needs
  A piece of advice from someone who decided to forgo this - health insurance is something everyone should have. If you ever find yourself without health insurance, pay for COBRA, sign up for HealthFirst. Do what you need to in order to be insured - it's worth the peace of mind of knowing you can get sick!
• Funding future education

Some present (and ever-present) concerns include:

• Cash management: emergency fund, spending (including price shopping, impulse shopping, setting credit/cash/spending limits)
• Diversification: During the market flux, my networth moved in tandem with the erratic stock market - a sure sign that I needed to spread my eggs in different baskets!
• Estate planning: a will, a living will, power of attorney of healthcare
• Tax planning

As I continue to plod along in my quest to be an efficient financial planner for moi, I'm sure my priorities will continue to shift as well. Goals like buying a house will definitely open up worlds of concerns. But with the wealth of information available, I'm sure I'll be able to muddle through somehow. What concerns have you had as you moved through various stages of employment and life?

Revving up the engine

Posts here have been sparse since I quit my last job in July 2007. Please chalk it up to channeling my best efforts into my jobsearch, and not an utter abandonment of the blog once I stopped having income to "plan" for. Because, in fact, as anyone who's ever been unemployed can attest to, I've had to step up my financial planning game especially while I was unemployed. But I'll save that discussion for another post. Instead - because what financial blog worth its salt doesn't address jobs & careers!?! - here's goes my first toe back:

I knew my job wasn't what I wanted to do. Why did I stay? A litany of reasons: To save for the future, to get my investments started, to fund my retirement early, to take advantage of the generous pay, etc. I was a good worker, and the company loved me; I could have made a career out of it, just for the money. Then what , you may ask, tipped me into quitting with no safety net with no next job lined up, no classes registered for - nothing, in short, that could be confused with even a semblance of a plan?

It's simple really: Twenty-five years old is too young to settle.

I said previously that I wanted to go into publishing, but I had really no idea what that entailed. So, I went from a generous paycheck, benefits, and a 401(k) match all the way back to Square 1: an internship. In fact, I'm still there now. And I'm loving it.

The company barely pays enough to get me into the office, but the work, the company culture, the people, the working environment - it's the entire package. In taking a bold step, I have found such joy in my work that I finally understand what it means to "love" your job. And trust me on this one, that's priceless. And while calling it a happy ending would be grossly premature, I did want to share my story so that young career-changers and job field-hoppers chancing upon this fledgling financial blog could be encouraged by a true story. Even if you need to take a job at a chain retail bookstore to fund the holidays and buy lunch to get to your work-for-free job, it's temporary and completely worth it to do work you enjoy doing.

Take out the yardstick

My goals sidebar was birthed in January, and it looked something like this:

• 6-month budget
• New job/ career
• Start Roth Target Retirement Fund
• Start investing
• Buy a house

Now, standing at the 4-month mark, I've:

• stayed on a disciplined savings plan in lieu of a budget (this may seem a matter semantics but it's effective...PTF!);
• only just started feeling that maybe the financial safety net (built on the back of my "job" for the past two years) can weather a $30k per annum entry-level "career" -- see GRS's post & the ensuing comments on this!
• I'm $1k away from maximum Roth contribution for 2007;
• just recently opened a taxable, non-retirement account; and
• I'm still looking to buy a home, although not necessarily a house...

I'm still dragging my feet on breaking into publishing...I've been sending out my résumé and reading up on the editing profession, but I have no internships or practical, documented experience! Where to start, where to start...maybe some writing gigs on craigslist?

My Financial Goals

I'm liking how personal finance blogs - like moneycrashers - are helping me re-evaluate my financial standing and my goals( as well as to blog). From the short- to the long-term:

• Build up 6-month Emergency fund. (Update as of 9/22/2006)
• Save for a trip to Hong Kong. (Update as of 9/22/2006)
• Get a new job.
• Increase net worth every month.
• Buy a house.