Moorman and Company

Happiness has been defined as self-esteem and self-actualization in our work, and love in our lives. If we accept that definition, we acknowledge the powerful influence that our careers have on our lives. Within the realm of our financial lives, on our journey to financial freedom, the effect of the work we do (and what we hope to accomplish) is no less powerful.

Career is the second of the four priorities of life—health, relationships and home are the others—the basic needs that must be satisfied in order to successfully plan for financial freedom. Your financial plan, and the attainment of your financial goals, are dependent on several aspects of your career development, not just on how much money you will earn in that career.

Let's start with the most obvious question. Are you happy in your current career? If you were like most of us, you chose a career when you were young; and you probably had very little information about, or experience in, the selected field. You learned about your career on-the-job. Now that you've been working for five or ten (or twenty or thirty) years, does your career make you happy?

Satisfaction in your career can be the wellspring of successful financial planning. The happiness you experience enhances the quality of your life and produces a positive attitude about the future. Consequently, you are in the best frame of mind to design a strategy; and you are willing to take the disciplined steps to fulfill your goals.

Conversely, dissatisfaction with your life's work can impair your ability to realistically plan for the future, or compel you to seriously alter an existing financial plan. In that case, first decide what changes you must make regarding your career. Maybe you just need a new job. Perhaps you want to embark on a whole new career, requiring additional training and education expense. Should you start your own business? Obviously, each of these choices will have its own impact on the design and implementation of your financial plan. But, if properly planned, none will seriously alter the plan's results.

Let's dwell a little longer on the subject of owning your own business. The desire to be self-employed can arise at any stage in your life cycle, with differing effects on your financial strategy.

If you feel the urge to be self-employed, I caution you to examine your motives before plunging into your own business. There are three categories of business owners: mechanics, opportunists and entrepreneurs. Unlike the mechanics (those who possess a specialized skill) or entrepreneurs (those who can realistically assess business risks and take the necessary steps to abate them), opportunists often possess merely a "great idea" and are seeking greener pastures, away from the humdrum of their current occupations. When an opportunist seeks self-employment late in life, the consequences can destroy a lifetime of successful financial planning.

But whether your career finds you working for yourself or for someone else, there are a number of life events that can disrupt that career, and, consequently, your financial plan. How likely is your work life to be interrupted by marriage, childbirth, family responsibilities, a move, layoffs or early retirement programs, disability, or death?

Finally, when do you want to retire, and what do you plan to do after you retire? This two-part question provides the only truly quantifiable information within our discussion of the career priority of life. Your answers here tell us how much time you will have to fulfill your goal, and what you will need to have accomplished at the end of that time.

And time is of the essence here. If we assume that your average life expectancy is 80 years, your life will be comprised of 700,800 hours. If you work at your chosen career from age 25 to age 65, working 40 hours each week and 50 weeks per year, your work life will account for only 80,000 hours or 11.5 per cent of your entire life span. Within that tiny fraction of your lifetime you will produce all of the earned income which must support your family's needs for today, and provide for you and your loved ones in the future. It seems clear that the attainment of your financial freedom depends on what you do with the income from your career during the other 88.5 percent of the hours that make up your lifetime.

Examining the career priority of life with your financial advisors will give you and them valuable insights into your ultimate financial goals and the potential roadblocks along the route. Armed with that information, you can chart your course, and launch your journey to financial freedom.