Don't Forget About Financial Skills I get a regular email from Quora, with questions that I might be able to answer or might be of interest to me. There are some database questions, some Tesla ones, and others, but recently I caught an interesting one that asked: why are most people broke? To be fair, there are a lot of questions that appear to be trolling, not people seeking answers, but this one caught my eye. This isn't very data-related, but it is a bit of advice from someone who is getting older. As I look towards retirement in the next decade or two, part of my planning is ensuring that finances are in order. Once I stop working or slow down, the economics of my family change, and we need to be thinking forward to ensure that we have enough funds for our daily living. This can vary in different parts of the world, but I'm surprised at how many people don't really think about covering their daily expenses without a salary. There are various strategies in the Quora answer, and you might find one that works for you. The thing I would stress is that most people don't get much financial advice or skills from their parents or their schooling. If you did, great, but lots of people don't. In fact, a lot of people who are successful and make a large salary don't often find themselves well prepared for retirement. Lots of doctors, like athlete superstars, find themselves in too much debt. Learning to manage money is a good skill. It's similar to managing a budget at work, but not the same. I find lots of people managing a corporate budget like it's their home checkbook, and that's not right. At the same time, more people manage their home budget like it's a growing corporation, and that doesn't always work well either. I learned from my parents, who I felt were too stingy with money, but some of that paid off well for me later in life. The things they taught me ended up helping me invest and save for the future. I don't have any recommendations today as I haven't had time to vet any sites or advice. I will say my Mom had me read The Richest Man in Babylon when I was in my early teens. While I don't follow that advice diligently, some of those lessons have stuck with me, and I do some of the things from the book. Pay attention to finances, ask questions, do some learning, get advice from people you trust and who are managing their finances well. Like anything we do in tech, you have to work at learning something new to develop the skill that helps you succeed. Steve Jones - SSC Editor Join the debate, and respond to today's editorial on the forums |
