Money and your future

You may have heard adults talk about the high unemployment rate or you may even know people who are unemployed. We need money to survive, to buy food, pay bills and to buy assets, such as homes and cars, furniture and daily items such as toiletries and to pay for transport.

Being unemployed is not easy. Not only are you too broke to do stuff or buy things that other people do, there is also added stress of not knowing what your future holds and where you will find money in an emergency. Everything tends to go wrong simultaneously when you have not planned sufficiently. There is a saying that goes: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

Some unemployed people are lucky to have parents to support them, however you can only expect so much support. Even your parents can only support you so long before they start getting angry with you; they supported you for 18 years, it is your turn to be on your own now.

Eventually, when resentment within you has built up for long enough, you may start feeling that they are controlling you, expecting you to do things for them and telling you how to live your life. This situation could become very uncomfortable for all of you, so rather avoid it. Step out and make a life for yourself.

Your parents have worked for many years to be able to pay for your education, living expenses and support you and they still need to sustain themselves during their retirement and pensions usually are just not enough.

There are a variety of theories on how to plan for your retirement; one being that you should start saving money every month from your 20^th birthday. That is a novel idea, provided a) you have any money left after taking care of all your bills and b) you ensure that you save enough to cover the ever-increasing rate of inflation.

Let us look at inflation:

Inflation is the rate at which the cost of living increases over time. In recent years, the inflation rate has been very steep as it is dependent on the price of oil, which affects the rate of fuel, which affects the cost of delivery of goods from the producers to the consumer, you.

I know a number of people in their 60s and 70s who did everything right when they were yours and my age. They worked hard, they saved, took out pensions and retirement annuities (policies which pay out money when you retire), yet now at their old age they still have to work to sustain themselves.

In the old days, people started working when they left school at 18 and retired at 65, enjoying their golden years on their pensions. Since the introduction of automation (computers and machinery) there are fewer jobs available. Companies prefer to employ older people who are more stable, as they find younger generations change jobs much more often. There is a cost attached to training new people repeatedly to fill jobs that people have left.

Therefore, certain private companies choose to employ more mature people to fill jobs, as they are also found to be more experienced and reliable. This leaves a problem for young people who need jobs. You are expected to prove yourself before you can be employed, but how do you gain experience and prove yourself if you cannot find employment?

Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise, as it forces us as young people to become more inventive to keep up with growth-rates which are taking place in first world countries, such as America.

We need to apply ourselves and build on our strengths. There is a hidden entrepreneur in every one of us and everyone has a talent, which we can turn into a business. Whether you want to be an entrepreneur or an employee, your future starts today.

The starting point of your career is not when you send in your CV, but when you are at school. You need to work hard at school, get an education. There is more to school than boring subjects you will never use again. It is about learning discipline and when you fail a subject, to learn to take disappointments on the chin and work a bit harder next time in order to succeed.

Life is all about tests. There are so many tests in life every day that we are to be prepared to be responsible enough to face them head on and press through to pass them. As you move through tests at each stage in your life, you become a stronger person who is able to grow without falling apart at every hurdle.

As a student you have only one priority and that is to work hard and learn as much as you can in preparation for your future. If you make a success of that, you are likely to succeed at life as an adult, providing you stick to your good habits.