Your Primary Income
Almost everyone is going to have one primary source of income for your household…. it could be 50%, 95%, or 100% but regardless of the percentage it is your primary source of income. What is yours? What is your strategy to manage it and how much of your time it takes?
Everyone is different and is not on some long term career track to try to become the next CEO. This brings me to three big concepts that will apply to different people in different ways.
Concept 1: Raw Dollar Increases on Your Salary
For Professionals going up the latter – getting a 5%+ raise can make a pretty big increase in actual cash flow for your personal P/L. As you get farther up the food chain in a business – these %s may still stay small but on a bigger base that can be a lot of income.
Using simplistic math and assuming your household makes $50,000 a year before taxes… each 1% raise is $500 a year or an extra $42 a month before taxes.
Using simplistic math and assuming your household makes $100,000 a year before taxes… each 1% raise is $1,000 a year or an extra $84 a month before taxes. Or roughly equal to a 2% raise if you were making $50,000 a year.…. a higher base salary helps you generate higher raw dollar growth on the same percentage.
Getting that base up is extremely important for anyone trying to also build wealth…. those raises in the future are worth a lot more as you go along even if the % is small! Focus on raw dollar increases! This is why getting a solid base salary and job hopping if you need to makes sense when you are starting out.
Most aspiring professionals do not have their income go down over time so the sooner you can jump that income up – the better! And last but not least… Don’t forget the benefits! Almost all benefits (401k match, bonuses etc..) are all tied to your base salary – getting that base salary up is critical!
What’s your strategy to get your income up?
Concept 2: Executing Your Job
There are a lot of SMART people I have come across at work that do not want to be CEO and are looking to execute their job well and not take on additional stress so they can have more time with family. If you are just looking to “maintain” your position or only get one level up from where you are… that’s ok… but are you executing to this plan?
When I run across these smart people at work it seems they haven’t committed to a strategy. If you are just trying to maintain….. why are you not just executing your job and getting in and out as soon as possible? Why waste your time and your management’s time with stating you want a lot of progression when you really don’t?
The individuals at work that have committed to the “maintain strategy” at work are some of the best people at work and also take the least time to manage. Their strategy really revolves around:
- Get into work early
- Get their work done, and then get out early
- Minimize chit-chat and just plow through so they don’t get caught late at work or stressed out
I know those sound simplistic – but these individuals view their job as just that – a job and not a career. Get in and out and get the job and save time for other passions, side hustles, or time with family at home.
For the aspiring professionals – the individuals that typically get promoted or get larger raises are the individuals who contribute the most at work, are looking for progression, and always asking how they can be more valuable. Not the one asking about the greatest get rich scheme!
There is only so much time in a day and I challenge you to question your use of spare time at home if you are an aspiring professional….Are you better off clipping coupons or a small side hustle to try to make an extra $42 a month or are you better off using that time to watch free you tube channels and reading up on your profession or putting in a little extra time to crush that project! Aspiring Professionals need to grow! Make sure your energy is going into the right place especially in the first 10 years of your career. It’s fine to side hustle but don’t forget about your primary income!
Concept 3: Managing Lunch
I find how people approach lunch at work extremely interesting. Think about it…. you could:
- Skip lunch all together to get work done or get out of work earlier…. helps the waist line and is a trendy “intermediate fasting” technique
- Eat at your desk
- Take a short lunch in the cafeteria – sit alone, with the people you always do or sit with someone new or less
- Take a normal lunch in the cafeteria – sit alone, with the people you always do or sit with someone new or less
- Go out to lunch and take a 1.5+ lunch
- Most people don’t even have a cafeteria at work at so they may be limited on the variations above but you get it…. there are variations but to how much daily time you invest into eating at work.
- My rule of thumb over the years has been unless I get invited to lunch – I skip lunch….. I get to fast, save money, and get my work done so I can get home to my family. When I get invited or just get hungry for once I’ll invite someone else to lunch so that I socialize with my team.
- That may be extreme for most people but I challenge you to think about your use of time when it comes to lunch!
<li>In summary</li>
- The reality is you spend ALOT of time at work….. I’ve seen everything from people procrastinate and then get stressed out and those that do the bare minimum and get and get out. While it sounds odd – I respect the ones that have at least committed to their strategy. What’s yours?
