Income Risk
The decisions I make now will set habits for myself that I will follow for the rest of my life. It’s important to pay close attention to my spending habits now, in order to properly manage income risk for the future. There’s no way to tell exactly how much I’ll be earning as a salary these next few years, or even the rest of my life, so the only thing I can do now is to be responsible with how much I work and spend.
Being an econometrics and quantitative economics major over the last four years, I think I’ve grasped a pretty sufficient idea of how the market works, and a responsible ratio of how much money I earn to how much I can spend. But it’s much more than spending habits, different experiences and choices I make now will have heavy influence over my income in the future. Being involved in greek life has helped me network myself to a great number of people during my time here on campus. Getting involved, even in social organizations, is a great way to network yourself and put your name out there. Connections down the line in the future will always be beneficial. The more people you share a respectable relationship with, the more opportunities you will have offered to you, and more people to help you in your field. Furthermore, it’s important to get involved now to begin to give yourself a steady income. Getting a job here on campus is absolutely crucial.
I’ve worked at Red Lion on campus, and being able to continue to earn income and put it away in savings for the future will be of huge benefit to me down the line. Have a little kick start to my future in come can act as a safety net for any unexpected expenses, experiences etc. And although my utility at the very moment I’m working won’t be as high as say, spending time with friends, it’s for the best in the long run. Working an internship over the summer at SourceAmerica as well has given me another opportunity to continue to accumulate savings for myself that will add on to my future income. And although it may satisfy me more to relax and spend time with friends, it’s most certainly of my best interest to work.
Also, joining organizations that better my resume is another fantastic way to manage income risk for the future. Making myself a more attractive applicant to jobs I apply for will give myself the best chance to maximize my income. Internships at SourceAmerica, being involved in a business fraternity, and being involved in several leadership clubs here on campus may be a very time consuming commitment in my life, but they better my chances of making a sufficient salary in the future. And as previously stated, it might not be as enjoyable to be working, interning, and networking myself here on campus, but the pay off in the long run regarding income risk is what drives me to continue.
Reading this I though you were giving the reader a list, albeit in narrative form. And that list focused on the outcomes only, the choices that you did end up making. Could you explain those choices more by considering alternatives that you entertained? For example, you talked about studying econometrics. Some of your classmates in our course are doing a second major along with economics, where that second major is statistics. I really don't know whether you considered doin that, but it is seems an alternative reasonably close to what you actually did. So if you did consider this alternative, it would then give you a setup where you could explain the choice that you did make. That would have been more interesting to read
ReplyDeleteAnother thing you might have written about is whether there is any interconnection between the items you did mention. Are there other members of your fraternity who are studying economics? If so, are any of them also studying econometrics? You mentioned that having a people network will benefit you after you graduate. Does it benefit you as a student? If so, how?
So I would like to see more exploration of the ideas that you do come up with. In this post everything was quite surface level.
I chose econometrics because it was a good way to ensure that I would be able to relate and mesh the economics I am learning with the statistics I am learning. The whole point of the major is to be more stats and even CS savvy from an economics standpoint. I think that the econ/stats route is also a great choice, but not for someone pursuing a career where I will directly be applying my econometrics coursework. I think that someone could be at an advantage for going the double major track, though. It is more impressive on a resume and they would be considered for jobs that only statisticians can fill.
DeleteThere are quite a few economics majors in my fraternity. It has been incredibly helpful to have them as resources when choosing classes and studying for tests. While they can help me during my academic career, the alumni are great resources when in the market for a job.