Just about everybody I know truly values vacation days that are available to them. Between work obligations and the responsibilities of day-to-day life, we need to be able to recharge ourselves. Additionally, we all need balance in our lives, and vacation time can help us in our quest to achieve it.
With that opening, please consider this question:
Do you think you have a fair and reasonable number of total days off available to you on an annual basis?
If you answered “No”, you’re probably like many of us here in the U.S. and Canada. If you answered “Yes”, good for you. But even if you answered positively, do you know how those of us in North America fare vs. people around the world?
An article from Marketwatch that I came across shows the results of a study that measured the amount of days off an average employee receives per year. The typical employee, for purposes of an apples to apples comparison, was considered to be someone with 10 years of service and a 5-day workweek. There were 41 countries in the study.
When searching the results for the U.S., they tell us that the average number of days of is 25. As an American, this seems believable from what I have seen. For Canadians, the number is a bit lower: 19 days off.
When comparing this to the rest of the world, based on the sample of 41 countries, we can put this into it’s proper context:
- The U.S. ranks 3rd from the bottom of the list of 41
- Canada ranks dead last
Here is the full list of 41, again in terms of average total days off:
1. Brazil: 41
1. Lithuania: 41
2. Finland, 40
2. France, 40
2. Russia, 40
3. Austria, 38
3. Malta, 38
4. Greece, 37
5. Japan, 36
5. Poland, 36
5. Spain, 36
5. Sweden, 36
5. United Kingdom, 36
6. Cyprus, 35
6. Luxembourg, 35
6. Norway, 35
6. Portugal, 35
6. Slovakia, 35
7. Denmark, 34
7. South Korea, 34
8. Hungary, 33
8. Slovenia, 33
8. South Africa, 33
9. Czech Republic, 32
9. Latvia, 32
10. Italy, 31
10. New Zealand, 31
11. Belgium, 30
11. Germany, 30
11. Romania, 30
12. Ireland, 29
12. Switzerland, 29
13. Australia, 28
13. India, 28
13. Netherlands, 28
13. Taiwan, 28
14. Hong Kong, 26
15. United States, 25
15. Singapore, 25
16. China, 21
17. Canada, 19
So, now how do you feel about the amount of days off you receive? Have your thoughts changed?
When you consider our savings rates, as we previously examined here, it appears that here in North America we work hard with less time off than our friends around the world, but don’t have as much to show for it.
It’s certainly food for thought, don’t you think?
When you’re sending your kid off to a highly rated private university, with tuition and all expenses totaling over $100,000 for typical students paying full rate, you probably have some expectations. These expectations might include your kid studying for exams, getting good grades, learning how to critically think, making good friends, and getting life experiences that can set the foundation for a successful future. This might include a job after graduation, or maybe admission to graduate school.
Oh, one more thing. Don’t forget that your kid might get in a senior year scandal based on a detailed powerpoint presentation.
I can only imagine what the family of the now famous Duke University graduate had to feel. An education costing a ton of money, for this?
For those who don’t know the story, simply Google “Duke University PowerPoint Scandal”, or something along those lines. You can read the details at a few of those links.
Here’s the problem: what was may have been intended to be a “joke” presentation for her girlfriends ended up being distributed outside this circle of friends and ultimately became widely distributed. Eventually, this reached the blogoshpere and now it’s being reported on and discussed all of the web and media.
Oops.
We know stuff like that happens, whether we like it or not. I can’t imagine any parent liking this, knowing that big money is being spent on a kid’s future. You can only hope that you have raised a kid to make smart decisions.
The aftermath? She’s now famous, though many might think there would be better things to be famous for
Worse, she may have (one would think) caused some level of embarrassment her family. Additionally, and equally important, she may have embarrassed others based how she “rated” others in detail in her PowerPoint. If you’re one of the few guys she raved about, your reputation may be enhanced:) That said, it might still be completely embarrassing for their families. Or maybe not, who knows. We don’t know for sure, but I would think some want to crawl under a rock.
Not ideal.
I have seen commentary online that goes so far as to practically describe this as “liberating” for women. In other words, men do things like this so why should people look at her differently because she’s a woman? Almost like, “You GO Girl!”. Hmmmm….is that going to really help out in real life? This isn’t specific to her of course. We all know about celebrities who commit some transgressions and paid a very big price for it, in a high-profile way.
The lesson here, the way I see it, is that such actions don’t really benefit the people who engage in them. Actions have consequences, and extreme risk-taking can lead to big problems. Good theatre and entertainment for some, but painful for others. Seems like the college investment of time and money shouldn’t result in problems like this. I sincerely hope for the very best for this person. Duke grads are smart, and people can learn from situations and make good decisions going forward.
What do you think about this issue?
Do you think the Duke grad has put some things at risk, or am I just being old-fashioned about this?
Do you you think how people will view this or similar issues is based on gender, or do universal standards apply here.
Today marks a one month anniversary for me. A small anniversary, to be sure, but one that has taken some effort on my part to accomplish.
It’s been one month since I last consumed a caffeinated beverage.
OK, so like I said, this is a small anniversary. Perhaps you’re not much of a consumer of coffee, tea, or soft drinks. Or, perhaps you’re highly disciplined when it comes to food and drink, and wouldn’t have any issues with your eating and drinking habits. If so, that’s great! That’s a good place to be.
For me, this is a nice step in that direction.
If you’re like me, you might be someone who has your caffeine during the day at one time or another. Maybe it’s the morning cup of coffee. Or the cola at lunch. Perhaps it’s both. Maybe it’s at multiple times during the day.
There are many people that are hooked on caffeine, whether they realize it or want to admit it.
I have been advocating drinking water instead of less healthy alternatives, and had pushed myself to get to that point for the most part. However, my lifelong taste for Diet Coke emerged in a big way in recent months, with an extremely busy schedule at home and work. I previously would have one occasionally, but I slowly escalated my consumption until I was having at least 2 or 3 per day. This was reminiscent of my habits about 10 years ago. Additionally, if I came across free coffee anywhere (bank, office, etc), I would be sure to have it. That might be a few times a week too.
The result was that I just didn’t feel right, and decided that I needed to take steps to get more disciplined with my the food and drinks that I put in my body. So, eliminating caffeine seemed to be a good first step.
The first few days were rough, as I started to get headaches and felt nauseated. It felt as though I had some type of bad flu virus, for those initial days. Interestingly, when it was that bad during that initial time, I ran to a quick-serve place and picked up a fountain drink. After a short while, I felt good. While it was nice to feel better, it made me realize the hidden power of caffeine.
From that point, I resumed staying off caffeine, and I haven’t had any since. It’s been a month now.
No Diet Cokes, no coffee, no caffeinated tea.
Mostly lots of water every day.
There have been a few days where I had juice, and one day when I had two glasses of beer. That’s it.
The result: I actually feel better! Here are four benefits I have noticed:
- Falling Asleep Easier. Caffeine isn’t preventing me from sleeping.
- Getting Better Sleep. Once I fall asleep, I stay asleep more often
- Less Ups and Downs in Energy. There are no bursts of energy followed by mini-crashes and lethargy; rather, I’m consistently at a good enough level of alertness throughout the day
- Improved Concentration. It seems like it’s a bit easier to maintain focus for extended periods of time
In terms of the pocketbook, I’m clearly saving some money by having water instead of soft drinks, as I frequently suggest. But the bigger thing is that I’m able to maintain energy throughout the day – which I hadn’t been able to do as well before. This, I believe, can only make one a more productive, energetic, and innovative worker. It may not be directly quantifiable, but I think there’s at least a potential financial benefit that could be attributed to those factors.
Will I keep up this strict regimen? Probably not to this extent, but I hope to reestablish a long-term pattern of limited caffeine, with sodas being only an occasional indulgence once every few weeks. If I have a caffinated drink, maybe green tea would be a good option. We’ll see.
Regardless, this one month exercise gave me a direct example of how good dietary habits can impact one’s energy, health, and even the ability to earn and save money.
Many of us who blog on personal finance tend to write a lot about frugality. It’s been a salient topic over the last few years, with the economic pressures that have disrupted the financial lives of millions of people. Frugality, as such, has gone from being socially unacceptable to almost de rigueur. Being frugal has become cool in some circles. Cut expenses to the bone, live on less, and save your way to financial bliss!
I do agree with the idea that cutting expenses to live within one’s means is very important. Additionally, the world is chock full of examples of average wage earners who have been very disciplined with saving a healthy percentage of income, leading to a very comfortable retirement and in many cases, financial freedom.
That said, I also think that it’s important to take a holistic view of personal finance and look beyond the realm of saving money. While frugality is a great thing, we also need to earn money in order to have any to save. And more important than that, what is the role of money in our lives, taken in the broader context of other important aspects of our existence?
Starting with the broad view, I like to look at money as being a part of the HWR framework - health, wealth, and relationships. Each one is an important part of our lives, and each one impacts the other. For example, if you improve your health by getting in great shape and improving physical endurance and mental alertness, you’ll put yourself in position to earn more. So money, while not an end goal (at least for me), is a part of the whole quality of life equation. Financial freedom, while not panacea for all our problems, would likely improve quality of life, all other things being equal.
Now, diving further into the topic of money, let’s examine how we can get closer to the point of achieving financial freedom. Again, given the attention many people (including me, admittedly) devote to frugality, one would almost think that it’s the concept that can most drive our wellbeing, as long as we adhere to the principles of living within our means.
There is some truth to that, to be sure. But there are two things at play here:
- Bringing in revenue
- Managing expenses
I can relate it to marketing and finance in the corporate environment. Without the innovative, hard work of those in marketing, there wouldn’t be revenue coming in the door. Without the folks in finance, expenditures would be too high, and money couldn’t be reinvested in the business or paid to shareholders.
In our lives, it’s our career that is the engine that drives our personal finances. You could pinch every penny possible, but if your career goes down the drain and disappears, you’ll be left scrambling. You might have to dive into that emergency fund – which, ironically, might have been funded by your career to begin with! Ultimately, what we want to do is maximize the income to expense gap.
To that end, in addition to managing expenses, I recommend investing time, energy, and focus in your career. Aside from an inheritance or other source of outside income, it’s the best place for people starting from scratch to begin to build their financial future and grow income. If you don’t invest in your career, you’ll have little stability and irregular financial income. If you do invest in your career, that could still be the case due to circumstances, but at a higher level of income. If you do it well, and get some good luck and fortune along the way, you have the means to build a nest egg.
That brings me to the next part – saving. By minimizing expenses, you can put yourself in a position to live within your means. Living within your means requires discipline, and the ability to distinguish between wants and needs. Actively managing expenses will allow for one to maintain a given level of expenses, with annual inflation adjustments.
By actively managing both career (cash inflow) and spending (cash outflow), we can increase the income minus expense gap. This gap equals savings. Once we have money saved, we can start investing and earning an after-tax rate of return that exceeds savings. Doing this early enough, with a good asset allocation, will allow us to grow our wealth.
The key concept: it’s all a system, with money just one part of quality of life – and with regard to money, it takes focus on both cash inflow and cash outflow to put us in position to drive toward financial freedom.
What are your thoughts? Do you follow a similar framework when it comes to your approach toward money in your life?
This article was included in Carnival of Personal Finance #263 at Suburban Dollar.
“It won’t happen to me!”
Job loss, divorce, serious illness, accident, act of nature. Each of these situations happens regularly throughout the country, to people of all walks of life. No matter what demographic, gender, or socio-economic segment you look at, these unfortunate situations happen in each of them. Somewhere, probably even close to you, each of these is happening today.
But many of us don’t expect these things to happen. Sure, maybe we acknowledge that one or two of these types of things could happen, but we don’t dwell on it. Or, perhaps, we have been impacted by one or more in the past, and feel that we have “learned our lessons” or are “past our misfortunes.” Being an optimist, I certainly would like to believe that. I truly believe in positive thinking, and its power. Your outlook can to a large degree shape the direction of your future. That said, we also have to be realistic and accept the reality that stuff happens.
The thing is, its not just the emotional or physical aspect of the situation that ends up making an impact on your life. One way or another, it’s the financial impact that comes into play as well, and that can knock us to the canvas.
In getting back up off the canvas, and making a personal finance recovery, here are 10 steps that can help get you back on track:
1. Figure out exactly what has happened, and why it happened. This may seem sophomoric on the surface, but often times we are on a path to get ourselves in a situation but we just don’t realize it or understand why its happening. Take the time to figure out what the source of the problem was. If a job loss, could you have been more attuned to impending layoffs, performed better, or built your network better? If a divorce, could you have communicated better with your spouse, or more importantly picked the right person initially? If a health issue, could you have done something ahead of time to prevent it, such as stopping smoking, eating healthier food, or exercising more? Figure it out and learn from the experience to better position yourself to succeed in the future.
2. Make a budget. Take stock of your current expenses and your actual needs, and then put together a realistic budget that you could follow. Be sure to add in room for so called “unexpected” situations, and build an emergency fund contribution to the budget. Additionally, save money for future purchases – for example, even if you have a car with no loan outstanding, save regularly as part of your budget for your next vehicle.
3. Track expenses. By this, I mean track your daily expenses. All of them. Even 25 cents for a parking meter or a gumball for your kid – track it, record it. As you track expenses, be sure to categorize appropriately – not to broad, but not too few.
4. Reduce spending. As you track your spending, you will most likely identify categories where you are just shocked at how much you’re spending. For example, if you have been spending $3.00 each morning for a specialty coffee, you may be surprised to see how you’re dropping about $90 per month if done daily. You’ll be aware of the opportunity to reduce spending, and can then make a plan to do so.
5. Set goals, both long and short-term. Where do you want to be 20 years from now? Visualize your future and set goals that a part of the process of getting you there. Short term goals are building blocks to larger term goals. For example, lets say you want to go from a negative net worth to $1,000,000 in those 20 years. First set short-term goals around getting your expenses well below your income, then becoming debt-free. Make the goals realistic, but a stretch.
6. Make it automatic. Pay bills automatically, via online services. This will keep you from missing payments, which will help your credit rating. Don’t forget: make paying yourself automatic as well.
7. Check your credit score: Credit scores range from the 300-range to 850. A higher score will get you better access to loans, and at better rates. Plan to actively work to keep your credit score high. Check Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion once per year each.
8. Correct any credit errors: Inaccurate credit reports can cost you considerable time and energy to rectify, but you could save yourself considerable time, energy, AND money if you clean up your record. Don’t let an inaccuracy impact your ability to get back up on your feet and reach your goals.
9. Improve your knowledge of personal finance. Invest your time in learning many aspects of personal finance: the basics, philosophies, and specific strategies. Read multiple primers on personal finance, to gain different perspectives. Then, on specific issues, drill down further and develop a better understanding to the point that you become confident in your decision-making in that particular area. For example, if you don’t know much about Roth IRAs, read about the subject to the point that you could lead a conversation about the topic and actually make intelligent recommendations to others.
10. Invest in your career. Simply put, for most people, your earning power is one of the greatest assets you have. Most people have a lot of room to increase savings, but there comes a point where you can only limit your expenses so much. Its better to focus on living within one’s means and make that a habit, but really devote your energy and intellectual efforts toward your career.
Overall, being positive, taking action, and taking personal responsibility for your future financial success will be a big help in helping you reach your overall life goals. These 10 steps are a good start in that direction for those who are getting back on their feet
