Adulting Consulting

New Year's Resolutions!

I think resolutions are awesome. And January is a good time for it. The new year starts and it *feels* new (even though it's just a normal day like every other). Let me help you with some financial resolutions that can guide a better year for you.

1) How much did you spend on Christmas? I'm talking gifts, food, decorations, AirBnBs, etc. Take that number and divide by 11. Start saving that amount EVERY MONTH starting this month. Reverse the cycle of charging a credit card and using the following months paying it back+interest.

2) Make a list of your financial obligations for the year. Car registration, tires, birthdays, insurance, etc. Do the same thing you did with your Christmas spending, but divide those numbers by the months remaining until they're due. Wayyyyy too many of us treat these things like surprises and that's just... poor planning. You KNOW you are going to have these expenses. Save for them.

3) Stop "hiding" purchases from yourself or your partner. We tend to play games with our spending when we're embarrassed by it. If your spending is tied to addiction, seek help. If your spending is tied to hobbies/habits that embarrass you, get over it. Who cares, it's your money.

4) Stop spending too much money on... hobbies and habits. :P Establish how much you want to spend each week or month and STICK TO IT. If you want to spend more, work more or sell stuff. Don't let your hobbies be prioritized over your responsibilities.

5) Rebalance your retirement accounts with a ratio of investment types you're comfortable with and fit your age. How many years of work do you have left? When do you want to retire? How do you want to live *when* you retire?

6) Pay yourself. This is in line with #5. Whenever you earn, you need to be paying your future self, spouse, or children. Future you will thank you.

7) Create a budget. It's simple, but it's not easy. Stop determining your spending by how much money is in your bank accounts. Children look at their piggy banks to determine how much money they have to spend. Adults look at their responsibilities first *then* their wants to determine how much money they have.

8) Move your emergency fund and long-term savings to a HYSA (High Yield Savings Account). Your bank savings account is paying you almost nothing. HYSAs are paying around 4.5% right now and will for the foreseeable future. That's $45 for every $1k saved. Free money.

Happy New Year and remember that I'm still here if you want help. I'm pretty good at this stuff. ;)

I think this is a good time for a reminder.

There are two types of credit card users:

1) Those who use the card for a layer of fraud protection and to collect cashback and other “rewards.”

2) And everyone else who pays for that.

If you are going to use a credit card regularly, always pay the statement balance in full before the due date. If you find yourself unable to do that, the credit card needs to be removed from your wallet.

If not, it very quickly becomes an exorbitantly expensive way to borrow money. Lots of banks and credit unions offer personal loans for less than half the typical credit card rate. And you can pay them off as fast as you’d like. In fact, you can “refinace” credit card debt with a personal loan (or really any type of loan). You don’t have to do a balance transfer. I think the saying goes, “Borrow from Peter to pay Paul?”

Sure, that’s not ideal. But neither is carrying a credit card balance. Let’s break that cycle and disrupt that norm. We are only obsessed with credit cards because we’ve been conditioned (and they’re way too easy). And…. Maybe we’re addicted to spending. 😝

HYSA - High Yield Savings Accounts. You should have one.

If you’re like me, you probably have a savings account wherever your checking account is held. This is because it’s easy. It’s all in one location and you can quickly make transfers between accounts. Statistically, American’s savings balances have been depleting over the past couple years as we’ve “adjusted” to the new norm of pricing (aka inflation). However, some of us have wisely maintained our savings (by curbing our spending) and continue to save. Woo!

If that’s you, and you don’t have a HYSA where you’re stashing your emergency fund… what the heck are you waiting for? HSYA interest rates are amazing right now. On average, you can expect to earn at least 3% annually. I found one bank paying 5%. That’s just nutty to me. Compare this to the national “regular” savings account average of 0.35% and you can see why I’m nerding out about it.

It’s super easy: Do a little research. Find a bank that’s reputable and FDIC insured. Connect your checking account for fast transfers or send a check. Boom. You’re done. Now you just kick back and relax. It’s the easiest way to spend 5 minutes today that will make you "free" money.

More info: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/pf/09/high-yield-savings-account.asp

It's been a hot minute! Forgive me for enjoying summer. :P

I've been weighing how to address inflation because it has really affected most of our abilities to budget well. It's hard to budget when your costs gradually start to exceed your income. Unfortunately, that's the reality for many. Thankfully gas has come down, but if we're honest, gas wasn't *most* of our biggest expense... so now that's it's a dollar less a gallon, we're mostly still in the same boat.

The default for me is... find someone to blame. It's tempting to look at news headlines and say, "It's their fault!" And in some ways, that's true. I mean, most of us have very little control over the base cost of our rent/mortgage rates, food, utilities, gas, etc. We feel the pain of these things and we want to direct our frustration and grief toward someone else. I get it. I do the same thing. I laid in bed last night thinking to myself, "What are we supposed to do?"

I wish the answer was easy. It's not. Unfortunately, when things are great (especially the years leading up to and through some of the COVID-19 pandemic), many of us got used to cheap labor, cheap food, cheap gas, cheap dining out, cheap mortgages, the list goes on. And when something's "cheap," that means it's usually not sustainable. More and more I'm learning the human cost of cheap goods. And, because I'm me, that kind of thing keeps me up at night.

I’m not advocating for 9% inflation. I’m trying to explain how my mind wraps around this shift we’re experiencing nationally and globally and relate it back to: How do we individuals adjust and adapt to what’s going on? How can we societally be better and create a better world? When we rely on cheap things, we unwittingly invite the subjugation of others with little to no agency. We are not directly responsible for it, but it’s almost as if we turn a blind eye because… we’ve got it so good! And when we’ve got it good, we pretend (or naively believe) everyone has it good.

I’m going to make a bold statement: When CEO:Worker pay ratios are 6,474:1 (Amazon), 2,251:1 (McDonald’s), 1,791:1 (Coca-Cola), 1,579:1 (Starbucks), 1,447:1 (Apple)… there are fewer and fewer people who have it “good.” And those people are the ultra-wealthy who are lobbying and quietly taking over entire industries. They are the people setting standards and prices. I don’t typically take a “side” per se, but this is something I’m becoming more and more passionate about.

And it’s not just major corporations. We’ve seen the same thing locally with our neighbors. I hate to say this, because I wish it wasn’t true, but I’ve been part of SO many conversations with local business-owners who, instead of charging a fair, reasonable price to… build a deck, roof a house, mow a lawn, install a furnace, brew a beer, etc., they are more than passing on increased costs because… they can. The “American Dream” seems to be shifting from educating yourself, building something for yourself, working for yourself to: finding someone who doesn’t know better, taking advantage of them, and milking it for as long as we can. I’ve seen SO many business owners compensating for poor judgement and financial discipline by charging more and paying their employees less.

I do recognize there are two sides to this. Because if you’re great at something, and you’re one of a few that can do it, then you get to define your own “worth” for your work. But we need to have limits. We should not forget the joy and contentment of having enough and sharing our excess because we’ve become obsessed with having more. We should understand the human cost of our actions and behaviors.

Honestly? I’d like to charge triple for what I do and make more money from it. I’m good at this, I enjoy this, it gives me purpose. But in doing so I alienate people who might actually be bettered by my coaching (who can’t afford my self-defined “worth”). I suppose this means my business model is flawed. But at least my integrity is intact. I’m okay with that. I’m okay with not becoming a millionaire by 40. I’m not obsessed with it because I’m learning how to be content with enough. I don’t need to hit the lottery because I’m taking steps to retire at a reasonable age after a life of work. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. For most of us, it requires planning and discipline… and training.

We can train ourselves to save, we can learn new skills, we can develop contentment with less than what we think we deserve, we can take responsibility for our stupid decisions, we can change. We can change. You can change.

How? Baby steps. We can take a break from TV, our phone, video games, or whatever else is our guilty time-filling pleasure to assess our lifestyle habits. Decide what’s really important to us.

I have been doing this all year as a personal goal and here’s what it looks like to me individually: Less drinking, planned dining out (not spur-of-the-moment), planned meals/intentional groceries, less snacks/junk food, older vehicles, budgeted vacations, more at-home game nights, Canning and Freezing food/meals, working reasonably more for extra income. As a business owner it looks like re-assessing what is fair vs. what I need to make, being more direct and honest with customers, blocking my time better, finding ways to be more efficient with my time and resources, planning better, tracking expenses diligently and reviewing them each month.

I did raise my prices after my first year by 30%. This was after I assessed my tax-burden, my time-commitment, and compared it to what I believe a reasonable wage for my work was. Full disclosure: I net approximately $20.31/hr. for my work. Am I worth more? Who cares? That’s what I’m comfortable with and can afford. My hope is that we can all develop the discipline it takes to be fair to one another. And, maybe even more importantly, we can make the changes necessary in our lives to be able to afford to be fair to one another.

Thanks for reading. If you want to see my inspiration for this and also what’s got me fired up lately, check out this article from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/errolschweizer/2022/09/12/how-profit-inflation-made-your-groceries-so-damn-expensive/?sh=7e12034e2eb9 I’ve actually read it twice now and followed many of the links to confirm the reports. It’s incredibly interesting and revealing. TLDR? Huge corporations are doing better than ever, with record profits, and slowly consolidating their power and influence over their respective industries via shareholder buybacks and shady price-setting tactics.

One thing I think all people should do is categorize spending.

Personally, I use an app (I'll share a link at the bottom). It's just easier for me to pay for a service than to create a fancy excel sheet and upload/track all my purchases myself. And every day or two, I log in, import any new transactions, and categorize them. I'm a nerd, so I kind of love it. But everyone I know who does this is grateful to have a better handle on their financial life. Because having a handle on that = less stress.

I've got a ton of categories in my own budget and I've evaluated my typical year for irregular expenses like car registration, income tax quarterlies, vacations, clothing, insurance, auto/home repairs, etc. I've divided those into monthly estimates. It sounds like a lot of work, but the reward... the reward is that I'm organized and have a plan for just about everything that comes up. The only real surprises for me each month are true emergencies. And a true emergency is few and far between, thankfully.

If you're anything like me, a "surprise" expense (most recently, a new fuel pump and a/c repair) can really screw up your plans and potentially put you into debt. A $1,000 bill you weren't expecting is detrimental. For me, there came a point several years ago when I got really sick of that happening.

It's tempting (and easy) to pretend bad things won't happen; "My car will just keep on running, my dryer will never fail, a tree will never fall in my yard or on my house, I'll never get super sick." But we know better. Or, we should. It's irresponsible to tell ourselves, "I'll just figure it out when it happens." That makes it all too easy to fall into a cycle of credit card debt, refinancing, overworking to accommodate overspending. That's a version of hell we oftentimes create for ourselves.

The truth is, a lot of us are irresponsible in this way. And usually, it's because nobody has really taught us how to do things differently. I mean, I would say more than half the people I talk to find themselves in cycles like these. Some of it is bad luck. A lot of it is bad preparation.

So. How do you prepare better for the inevitable? How can you make time in your already full schedule to do this? Very small sacrifices. Initially, it's a big time commitment to establish a budget and figure out how to track/follow it. But within a couple months, 15 minutes per week is enough to stay on top of it.

Back to categorizing. Why do this? You probably spend WAY more than you think of some things and less than you think on others. Each month will be a little different. But eventually, you learn your averages. And better yet, you'll decide for yourself what you want (and are comfortable) to spend on certain things. You'll create boundaries for yourself and your family that will in time help you achieve the things/experiences that will give you joy, as opposed to using spending as a therapy of sorts.

I'd be more than happy to help anyone set themselves up with the app I use. Just message me. It's free for 34 days, so you can at least try it out for a month before you commit. The link below should take you there.

www.youneedabudget.com

Nothing too complicated today. Just a word of encouragement: Stay the course.

I know... inflation sucks and unless you're significantly wealthy, it's hammering your norms. We all need to make sacrifices (if we're wise) to accommodate our budget to the increases in prices. Maybe it's making your own lunch/coffee. Maybe it's cancelling some subscriptions. Maybe it's fewer date nights out (but NOT fewer date nights :). Maybe it's skipping a vacation.

I know... sacrifices suck. And I think it's okay to say, "that's not fair." It's not. It's not your fault gas and grocery prices are astronomical. It's not your fault the stock market has slumped so. damn. much. But we're adults and we should know by now, the world's not fair. We can only control what we can control.

The question we must ask ourselves is: What meaningful thing(s) can I do to improve my situation? And don't you dare say nothing! There's always something we can change. It's increasingly difficult when it's been a habit for years, but it's possible. I'm not immune to this either. I refuse to go into debt just to continue eating out, buying the drinks I like, going on vacation, etc. I mean... I just won't do it. So, I still do the things I like, but I do them less often. And I'm finding cheaper ways to entertain myself and my wife. I recommend interpretive dancing... my wife really seems to enjoy that, and it's FREE! :D

In all seriousness, sometimes you may not have a choice but to use debt to get by. And don't shame yourself for that. Better yet, tell yourself you will try to do better and then, like I said, take some steps to improve your situation. It might be a second/third job, it might be a garage sale, it might be selling back the lease on your car, selling your camper, etc. There is a way forward for you and there is hope. Seasons like these don't have to last forever.

As always, I'm still here. I'm still doing my best to help alleviate the stress of monthly planning for people. If you find yourself in a tough situation and would like some accountability and help, I'm here for you.

This took me a long time to learn... and an even longer time to accept graciously. Sometimes thinking about this really pi**es me off. It shouldn’t be a thing, but it is. And I understand why it is (I think). Because I’ve learned being a full-fledged adult is incredibly hard and complicated. Let’s dive in:

Sometimes, the people you love and care for can’t be trusted for selfless and wise advice. It feels like a betrayal to not believe (trust) your loved ones, especially as a child. Well, that’s how it felt for me anyway. In my mind, parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, etc. are supposed to be mentors for their progeny. They are supposed to be Sherpas, guides, who walk with them and point them in the best directions. Many times, that is unfortunately not the case. From my experience in life so far, bad decisions and unhealthy lifestyles are generational issues.

Maybe because grandpa is so confident, seems so sure, that you think, “He can’t possibly be wrong.” Maybe Dad’s ego is fragile and to challenge him is to challenge his sense of self. You love him; Why not entertain his fantasy of being right? Perhaps there’s a history of abuse between you and Mom, and challenging her knowledge or authority is an invitation for verbal or physical violence. Affection might be hard to come by with your partner of many years, and by affirming their incorrect words or actions you can earn some hard-fought expressions of love or gratitude.

Slow down. Read that last paragraph again. Who is it? Is it a parent? Spouse? Sibling? Grandparent? Is it you?

Why is being wrong so threatening to so many of us? Why is our worth tied up in being right more than being honest? Why do we repeat the mistakes of our fathers and mothers, just because they are our fathers and mothers? It’s a very difficult boundary to create, but sometimes you may need to draw it. And seeking advice outside your family or closest friends doesn’t make you disloyal. You can love and treasure someone without heeding every piece of advice they give you. Sometimes your future may depend on it.

I’m hoping this helps free someone who feels trapped. I’ve been in that situation before: do I “dishonor” my loved one by ignoring or challenging them? Or do I willfully do something incorrect, or even stupid, by taking their advice? It’s such a tough spot to be in.

I try to take advice from people who can comfortably say, “I don’t know, let’s figure this out together.” And for people who can’t? I don’t take advice from them. I might ask, “What would you do?” But I will NOT ask, “What should I do?”

Managing and balancing your finances can be a difficult job, especially when you’ve had nobody to teach and guide you. The fact that you maybe suck at it doesn’t make you a failure and it certainly isn't a character flaw. It’s a better indicator that… you simply didn’t have a mentor. There isn’t usually an *easy* fix for getting on track and achieving your goals. But there is *always* an answer. What is it? I don’t know, let’s figure this out together. 😉

Values-based Budgeting...

is nothing new. I certainly didn't come up with it. But I do subscribe to the mentality that budgeting isn't all about reducing spending as much as possible. It's about asking myself: What's important to me and Rachel? (my wife). What do we really care about?

It helps us look at our spending and decide if that $40 on poke for a date night was a good idea. It always is, if you're wondering, especially if we're talking about Wiki Wiki. I digress!

Maybe that $40 is just once every couple months. Maybe we decide: You know what we want even more than poke? We want a new van. Or: We want a vacation. Or: We want to have a larger emergency fund. Maybe we'd rather skip the poke and do a big dinner with friends or family?

The point is, we combine the wisdom of experience and advice from others with our own personal goals and values. We *try* to intentionally spend or save our money SO THAT we feel good about it and we're prepared for crappy things happening.

That's my personal approach and also my business approach for consulting individuals, families, and soon, small businesses. I've got big goals for 2022, so what? :P

Hey, I appreciate you. I am thankful for your time if you're reading this. In the interest of keeping things short and sweet, I leave you with this: I spent some time reading/researching and creating something that I hope you find useful. It's a Google sheet to help you at least get started on value-aligning your budget.

Here's the link for the Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eGdhb4IQlnaWo74fLTryx4_ifHrqZcAlbtHAFDiSm8k/edit?usp=sharing
Here's the link for my website: https://www.adultingconsulting.us/
Here's the best damn Poke you've never heard of: https://www.wikiwikipokeshop.com/

Remember: The best time to plant a seed was 30 years ago. But the second best time is today. (I supposed it could also be argued the second best time is 29 years, 364 days ago...)

wikiwiki poke Poke bowls, oyster bar, and other seafood delights in Grand Rapids, MI

Failure to Launch

..refers to young adults who are “having trouble becoming self-sufficient and taking on adult responsibilities.” It think we’ve all had wishful thinking that we could just return to a responsibility-less life (childhood) where we’d be taken care of completely (No? Just me?). But Failure to Launch syndrome is a little more complicated and problematic than that when it results in co-dependent adults who cannot function on their own.

We’ve got to stop thinking of Failure to Launch as a motivational problem with young adults. I propose we start looking at this as a mental health issue and a parenting issue. And before some of you start getting all hot and bothered, thinking it’s a simple generational issue of laziness… I recommend some patience and reflection. Because actually…? Failure to Launch syndrome starts in early childhood.

From Psychology Today (which I’ll link in this post): “The process of discovering the fuel (energy/desire) for this launch generally first occurs between young children and their caretakers and facilitates the skillful attachment to a joyful, creative inner and outer world.” If you’ve got a high school-age or college-age child who seems to lack motivation, ask yourself: Have I modelled a joyful, curious, creative attitude towards daily life? Towards my work? Towards my relationships? And if the answer is no, you have some work to do before you drop the hammer of lofty expectations on your children.

You know what I see on almost a daily basis? Grumpy adults who are miserable in their work and/or personal lives who simultaneously expect their children to find passion and joy in school or work. How on earth is that a fair expectation? And why are you expecting more of your children than you do of yourself? Can we see the hypocrisy in this kind of situation? With VERY few exceptions: Show me an engaged parent/mentor who takes pride in their work, who leads a joyful and purpose-filled life, who has achieved work/home balance… and I will show you a motivated, curious child ready for school, work, and all things beyond.

Now, if you find yourself as an unmotivated, depressed young adult then please take heart. 1) You’re not alone. 2) With some help, you can definitely find a way out of your current mindset/situation into something more independent and purpose-filled. It’s VERY fulfilling to get out onto your own, carving out your own adventure. But damn… it’s expensive. So much so that I actually *don’t* advocate young adults move out from their parents right away unless the relationship is toxic or the adult child is a financial burden to his or her parents. Usually, it’s a great way to save money and prepare for independent living. However, if you’ve created habits and mindsets that are keeping you from blossoming and growing… you’ve got to change or get the same results over and over.

To effectively launch on your own, you “must have an inner motivation… and [you] often need guidance to gain clarity and focus in this area.” Contrary to popular belief, launching into adulthood is an interdependent process as much as it is an independent process. Friends, family, partners, etc… Any of us who is successful and content can point to myriad others who have supported and coached us along the way. So don’t believe the lie that says this is something you just “figure out on your own.” It’s not a bootstrap thing. If you haven’t been able to figure it out, stop beating yourself up about it. Start by getting some help, some advice, some therapy. Open up with someone you trust and figure out why you lack faith in yourself. Then, start to take small actions towards realistic, simple goals.

A lot of times I’m writing about money. But there’s more to adulting than managing your finances (obvi). This is more than just a business to me, it’s my passion project. I want to see people achieve success that’s meaningful to them; to lead a life that’s rewarding and full. And *hopefully* I’m creating a presence that’s safe and approachable when you’re ready to start pursuing those things with a coach and helper. Or maybe I'm describing your child and you're looking for someone to guide and coach them into adulthood while they're in HS or college or... your basement. I'm here for that too. :)

Here’s the article I referenced throughout the post: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/failure-launch/201501/failure-launch-syndrome

About the author: Robert Fischer, M.D., is a psychiatrist. He also serves as an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA, School Of Medicine in the department of psychoneuroimmunology and the Mindful Awareness Research Center.

Failure to Launch Syndrome What does it mean to launch successfully?

Don't panic, for your own sake.

If you’ve been listening to the news at all, you know the stock market is taking a beating. It’s called a “correction” whenever the market declines 10% from its most recent peak and it’s happening now. It has happened many, many times throughout the history of the stock market. CNBC & Goldman Sachs did a study/report a couple years ago and found “the average correction for the S&P 500 lasted only four months and values fell around 13% before recovering.”

What’s that mean for us who are invested in the market (IRAs, 401Ks, Roths, etc.)? It means we’re going to see the value of our accounts continue to drop for a relatively short time. It could be a few months, maybe even a year. It sucks, yeah, but stocks don’t just go up. This is all part of how our market works. You will only lose money if you sell.

Long story short, I just want to remind everyone to keep their heads. If it helps, do a quick Google search of spx (S&P 500) of DJIA (Dow Jones Industrial Average) and look at a 1 year, 5 year, and Max graph. Look at the percentage of growth over long periods of time. Do you have another 5, 10, 20 years to leave your retirement accounts alone? We’re going to be okay. 😉

I am still actively working with individuals and families to help them save money, make wiser financial choices, and create balance in their life. If this is something you or a friend would value from, please shoot me a message. I'd be happy to chat.

Sources/Further reading:
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/correction.asp
https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/042415/what-average-annual-return-sp-500.asp
https://tinyurl.com/SPXReturns

spx - Google Search

You don’t get what you don’t ask for.

We’ve been hearing about AND experiencing inflation at unprecedented levels the last 6 months. The money we bring home each paycheck is buying less gas, fewer groceries, etc., etc. I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. There aren’t many ways for us individually to combat inflation. We can work more/different jobs to bring in more money. We can buy less non-essential “stuff.” Long-term solutions… we can buy a home (HA!) or we can invest in companies with huge profit margins right now… I googled those last two, I didn't just make them up. ;P

Thanks to the soaring laborer shortage, many of us employed peeps are in a unique position. We’re the scarcity. This is the first time in my life I think I’ve seen this kind of “market.” I remember being a sly, young 20 years old and going to Manpower to take whatever job I could get for whatever wage I could get. That was a scary time for me; It’s scary to be desperate. I remember graduating from college and taking the only teaching job I could find: Associate teacher in a charter school. Annual salary? $18k. This was only 7 years ago my friends.

Working in America has changed (seemingly to me) quite drastically in the past decade. SO many new industry- and cultural norms. SO many new opportunities. I could literally start a new job TODAY if I walked out of my current one. That feels insane to me. New baselines have been established for wages and benefits because employers are desperate for workers. How can we workers take advantage of this market in a meaningful, honest way? Here are some questions to ask yourself as you ponder how to navigate asking for more moeny:

1) What are you worth? What’s your “fair market value” as a worker? It’s essential that we normalize talking about salaries, benefits, etc. It shouldn’t be taboo to have conversations about work and earnings. Ask yourself this: Who benefits most by salaries being a mystery? Exactly. Unions can be AMAZING when they’re not corrupt and inefficient. If you don’t have a union advocating for you, you must learn how to advocate for yourself.

2) Is it good timing for your employer? This is where the patience comes in. You want to be asking for more when your company/employer is doing well. Ex. Heard rumors of budget cuts? Then probably not a good time to ask. You want to be sharing in the success of your company. The good news? Corporate America has been raking in cash hand over fist since mid-2020. From July of this year: “According to FactSet, S&P 500 companies are due to report year over-year earnings growth of 64% for the second quarter, the biggest jump since the end of 2009.” - https://keyt.com/news/money-and-business/cnn-business-consumer/2021/07/13/corporate-america-is-used-to-making-money-but-not-like-this/

3) How do you respond to “No?” Don’t be discouraged by a “no” or a “maybe.” Ask to follow up in 1-2 weeks. Maintain a positive attitude and maintain productivity. If you get a firm “No” then ask, “Can you tell me what I can do to earn a raise by ______?” Clear goals, not mystery performance targets, are what you need. If you’re getting the runaround, then maybe you’ve got to ask yourself a tougher question, like…

4) Are you willing to leave? If it’s an option, sometimes the absolute best way to get a raise, is to get a new job. I know… such a millennial thing to say. 😉 But it’s true! When you take a new job with a higher salary, you are establishing new norms/expectations for what you’re worth. I know people who’ve been at the same job for a decade who could leave today and make more somewhere else tomorrow. Same work, different employer, more money. It’s silly, but… it’s just how it is, sadly.

5) Are you sure it’s just money you want? There are other benefits your employer might be able to offer that can help offset not making more: Working from home, PTO, one-time bonuses, flexible hours, tuition reimbursement, 401k match, etc. “A penny saved is a penny earned” for REAL. If your employer can help you save money/time, that can be as meaningful as a raise.

We are not petulant children asking for more and more because we’re selfish. We’ve got families, dreams, and retirement to think of. There’s nothing wrong with leveraging our jobs to accomplish what we want. Asking for a raise should be normal. The vast majority of us don’t have pensions to look forward to (16% of Fortune 500 companies offered pensions in 2017 compared to 59% in 1998). We don’t have universal healthcare. We don’t have free tuition. Again, I know I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. I’m trying to encourage everyone to be the change they wish to see, to advocate for the work climate they desire for their children. We can build a better world.

Speaking of building I’m open to new clients. :) I can take on 1-2 more people/families monthly, so if you’ve been on the fence -OR- you know someone who might benefit from working with a coach, hit me up. You don’t need to wait for New Years to make a resolution.

p.s. This was a REALLY fun post for me. I’ve been learning so much about the antiwork movement and I’ve been trying to get to the bottom of the sentiment. It mostly comes down to workers being treated like s**t and not making enough money to thrive. It’s led me to many articles and reports and first-hand stories. This was my best attempt to bring an action-step to the movement.

My inspiration: https://www.thecut.com/article/how-to-ask-for-a-raise.html

How to Ask for a Raise Before approaching your boss, here’s everything you should know.