Is there job security anymore?

Most of us grew up believing that the path to financial security in life was to get a good education, find a good job, work there until you retire and then get a pension that will let you live comfortably the rest of your life. Most people still teach this to their children.
The irony is that it no longer works. Getting a college education is not a guarantee of getting a job. I know lots of college graduates who are not working in their field or not working at all. In order to get a good job today you often need at least a Master’s degree.
Even if you get a job, there is no guarantee that you will stay there. With cutbacks, merging companies, companies going bankrupt or reorganizing, few people will work in the same job their entire career.
Then there is a question if the retirement pension will give you enough money to live or if you will have to either cut back or keep working.

The whole system doesn’t work anymore, if it ever did.

So what should we do?

One of the problems with working at a job, is that you get paid for your time. Since you only have a limited amount of time, your earning potential is limited.

One of the books that was an eye-opener for me about different ways to make money was Robert Kiyosaki’s book Rich Dad Poor Dad. It was the first in what has become a series of books that explain what he calls the Cash Flow Quadrant.

He explains that there are basically 4 ways to make money. Two are connected to time and because of that you can never really be rich doing them. The other two free the time and money equation giving you an opportunity to break thru the limits that this equation sets.

 

Above is an illustration of the 4 types.

The left side

On the left are the Employee (E) and the Self-Employed (S). The Employee works for himself and is limited by what his boss is willing to pay him. He is also limited to when he can take a vacation and for how long.

Most people think that by having their own business they are better off because they don’t have a boss. But the reality is that the business is the boss and it can sometimes be a stricter boss than the employee has. Many times self-employed people take off less time because if they are not there, the business will not run as smoothly. They are still limited by their own time and effort to make money.

The right side

The way to freedom is to move to the other side of the quadrant, where the Big business (B) and investor (I) are. The difference is that instead of relying on their own time and resources, they use the resources of others. A big business, as opposed to the self employed, has other people running the business and it is not reliant on the owner being their. It runs just as smoothly when he is not there, freeing him to either start another business or invest or enjoy life or whatever he wants.
The investor uses the money that he has already earned to make more money.
In short both have things that make them money, either other people or money, without them being there.

The trick is that you usually need to have money to move from the left side to the right side. There are self-employed small businesses that managed to expand and become big businesses. But many self-employed are so personality based that they will not work well if they become big.

How to switch sides

In the last century that are ways to break this barrier between the two sides. I started Network Marketing as a way to do this. For many people it is the way to go.
Another more recent option is to use the internet. A blog, for example, once written remains on the internet for anyone who comes across it to read and continues to work long after it is written. Also other types of internet marketing can produce results that are beyond the time and effort initially spent.
To me this is the wave of the future. There are already many people who have used the internet to change their lives. It also has the advantage of place freedom. You can work on the internet anywhere in the world that there is an internet connection. I can go on vacation or go visit family in another country and continue to work or at least check what is happening with my business.

Different people feel more comfortable in different quadrants. People who value security will prefer to be Employees. Those that are ready to take risks and are excited by them are more comfortable as business owners. Those that are self reliant are better as self-employed that big business. Big business owners know how to work in teams.

Every one has to find what is best for them. What is clear is that the old system of get an education and find a job doesn’t work anymore so even the employees can’t be guaranteed job security.

If you want to find out more about Robert Kiyosaki’s Cash Flow Quadrants, you can download it here.

To see his other books go here.

If you want to move to the other side and see how to start building an internet business, check out the link below.