There’s an interesting (and rather humorous) editorial at The Houston Chronicle that gave me a chuckle:

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/rssstory.mpl/business/3235757

I think I shall have to send in a letter with something like this:

Effective May 1, 2005, any compromise of my data will result in a $50 liability for you, the card issuer, owed to me, the card holder.

Cashing the payment check I sent you last month (which you did) shall constitute your acceptance of this agreement.

Following this “how to find / transition into / determine your dream job” thought, Terry Storch recently released his “Dream Job Template“. You can see his results here.

Here’s his explanation, as part of helping his pastoral team (he’s part of one of the larger churches in North America, hence the heavy God-slant to this, though it’s still valuable without it):

I know that I could sit down and scribble something down, but really, how accurate would it be? So, I asked my leadership team to do it for me. Bottom line, they know me better than I know myself. And, when you think about it, my dream job is what I “naturally� do anyway. Who knows me better and knows what I am good at better than my leadership team? (maybe my wife) So, I tasked them individually to write down what my dream job would be in their eyes. Then, they all came together and worked together with their own ideas to create the final document. They did an amazing job, so much better than I could of ever done. Thanks Team!

This is the 100th post here at Wealthy Blogger, so I thought I would start with a thank you for all the readers who have been coming and commenting. As everyone is probably painfully aware, Jeremy and I are not financial professionals, but I hope there was some information in these last 100 posts that have been of benefit.

One of the most common pieces of feedback I have received is that a lot of what we post is simply common sense, and I can’t deny that: people will probably never come here and find original information that will change the face of personal finance. That being said, a lot of what I have posted here was new to me at one point, and will hopefully be new to someone who can benefit from it.

At any rate, it’s been a good 100 posts, and here’s to another 100!

A friend of mine is about to leave his old comfortable job behind, in favour of a step closer to his dream job: being a freelance writer. I’ve had a few emails asking me to elaborate on my transition into this role, which I’ll do at sometime this week, however I wanted to highlight an oft-overlooked part of going from your current “job hell” to your “dream job”: the Transition Job.

A Transition Job is one that lets you keep one foot in both worlds. It allows you to maintain a paycheque, but also allows you the freedom to begin ramping up to your dream job (or something like it).

For my friend, he’ll be working with local mental health organizations transporting children between foster homes. He’ll make 50$ per trip (even if it’s only 30 minutes away), and he can take or deny assignments as he desires.

This gives him the freedom to pursue his dream (or at least the next step in it), while still having income, if he actually ends up needing it.

I never really had a transitional job. I, like the dumbass I am, tried to work my fulltime job AND do my dream job at the same time, until I nearly broke down (honestly). I wish I’d thought of a transitional job, like being a pizza delivery boy or a contract computer repair man, because I really could have used a bit more freedom.

As you look at your dream job, and I know a number of Wealthy Blogger readers are, remember that you don’t need to jump straight from your current situation into your ideal one. You can take a few months to get there, making a couple of stops along the way. It’ll be slightly more frustrating, but it’ll be better for your mental state and it will mean you aren’t anywhere near as stressed going into your dream job as you would have been had you tried to work two full-time jobs at once.

This is one time where you can be selfish: think about how your plan will affect you as you go through it. You won’t regret taking a few extra weeks to make sure your dream is actually your dream.

The fourth week of the Carnival of Personal Finance is up at http://smartmoneydaily.com/PersonalFinance/Carnival-of-Personal-Finance-Week-4.aspx, and is worth a look. I have been away from the computer for the last while thanks to my vacation, but Jon at Smart Money Daily managed to link to us in spite of my not submitting an article.

Mike posted his response to one of the questions raised in “Ask the Wealthy Bloggers” (post your own if you have any):

What’s your advice for students looking for new(er) cars? Tastes change, I don’t think I want to try to re-sell a car in a year or two. Plus, is there a good way to go about looking? Online? Offline? Financing? etc.

When we bought our first car, we were 20. We weren’t in school, but we weren’t exactly living the high life. We were in that precarious state that most people find themselves in between having debt and having attained financial independence and freedom.

We weren’t massively in debt, our income was growing, we had 2 jobs and no kids… But things weren’t exactly rosy either, since neither of the jobs paid more than 12$/hour.

So we started shopping. We looked at new cars and realized that while we could probably “afford” some of the cheaper ones, we’d probably be unhappy (at some point over the 4 years) with the lifestyle choice we’d have made.

Our next step was to look at truly low-end cars (in the 500-3000$ range). We figured that even if we budgeted 100$/month for repairs and whatnot, we’d still come ahead due to less insurance, no financing / leasing charges and a bit more freedom to choose make and model.

Ultimately we decided to get a 3 year old Toyota Echo, primarily for fuel efficiency, but also because we felt it was halfway between a “new” car (500$/month in costs) and an old car (200$/month). The overall cost of the car ended up being about 350$/month, which was enough for us at the time.

Looking back, I still wonder what would have happened if we’d bought a much older car, saved up a bit, bought a slightly newer car, etc.

Right now we have a 2004 Hyundai Sonata GLX on lease, for about the same price as the used Echo on financing, and it’s serving us well. We don’t drive much, so the mileage limits don’t affect us, and it’s a “nice” car.

What was your first car, and what’s your first car story?

At the request of one of our readers, we created a Ask the Wealthy Bloggers post, soliciting questions that we could set about answering, hopefully with our readers adding their two cents in the comments. Today I thought I would tackle the first of the questions we received:

What’s your advice for students looking for new(er) cars? Tastes change, I don’t think I want to try to re-sell a car in a year or two. Plus, is there a good way to go about looking? Online? Offline? Financing? etc.

Before we even got around to answering, Tommy Chang had a response in the pipe:

Well I’m not one of the “Wealthy Bloggers” but I love cars so here’s my advice.

A new(er) car for the student? Concentrate on your education, plenty of time later to get a nice car. That said, if you must…

Read my blog on this topic - http://www.tommychang.net/2005/06/new-car-buying-guide.htm

Figure what you type of car you want. Then research the car by reading reviews on it, reading owner/enthusiast forums and configuring your car on the manufacturer website. Find out the invoice price of the car. Research insurance costs as well before. Finally, I recommend that you shop for your own financing via local banks and credit unions. They usually will offer a better rate than the dealer. If you have an old car, I recommend selling it yourself instead of trading it in.

If you’re interested in a new car, negotiate from $500 to $1000 below invoice. Everything is negotiable.

If you’re interested in an used car, find out its trade-in value or market value in poor condition from the Kelly Blue Book and use that as your starting point for negotiations.

You should also run a CarFax report, take it to your mechanic for a full inspection, ask for all service records. Avoid CarMax like the plague, unless you plan to sell them your car but do not buy from them.

For a student, I would recommend a Honda Civic, the upcoming 06 Honda Fit or a Scion. Decent looks, inexpensive but good build quality, high MPG rating. Good luck!

Good advice, but there is one thing I would like to add emphasis to: students should think twice about looking for new(er) cars. Your post-secondary years are unpredictable, everyone enters school with a dream of graduating and landing a great job, and they often spend accordingly. The reality is that not everyone will graduate, and those who do rarely land dream jobs fresh out of school.

When you do finally graduate, odds are you will find yourself stuck with sizable student loans, and adding the cost of financing a new(er) car won’t do much to help the situation. If you don’t graduate, you still will have students loans and new car financing to pay for, but without the piece of paper to help you get a job to pay for it all.

In other words, I would advise against buying a new(er) car as a student. When I went through school I did it with a combination of public transportation and a 1986 Honda Civic. It did not look like much, but it was clean, reliable, and good on gas. The fact that it cost $600 in a private sale and never needed more than $1000 in maintenance in the 4 years I owned it didn’t hurt either).

I would say look in the mid-90’s range for a good mileage car known for reliability, and a Civic is never a bad idea for a student. Other than that check out the link Tommy provided, he has some great advice in it. You can always look at sites such as eBay Motors, and MegaWheels.com (in Canada).

Have some advice of your own? Please post it in the comments.

I sat down earlier today with winnerinwashington17, the winner of our recent stock competition (he beat my poor butt by more than 400,000$).

How do you feel after your victory?
After a couple of stress-free weeks into the competition, I had to battle it out with the runner-up in the final week of the competition. Now, I’m relieved I will not lose any more hair strands.

Was there any particular strategy you used to achieve massive (nearly 100%) gains in such a short period of time?
Although I admit there was some speculation involved during the final week, I do not think I deviated too much from my overall strategy of investing in businesses that are briefly out of fashion, investment speaking. Contrary to popular investment opinion, I did not believe in diversification since I base my investment decisions on my research. (Researching millions of companies to generate a “diversified� portfolio would take too much time when given only a month to maximize returns) With a little bit of luck and high-spiritedness, I was able to do as well as I did.

Are there any newsletters or websites you particularly enjoy for trading tips, stock tips, etc?
Wall Street Journal; Factiva

What is your background?
I am a rising sophomore attending the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Who is “winnerinwashington17�?
Felix Wang

Do you have any final words for our readers?
Have fun investing and good luck.

In light of Jeremy’s post on moving into his dream job, I thought I would reprint an article from my personal site on how I got into my dream job.

I have a secret to share with you: I am working in my dream job. I am working for a company I love (MySQL), doing something I really enjoy (writing articles and documentation, and doing the occasional public speaking). I work with some incredibly
smart people on some really exciting projects and sometimes I am the first to see some of the new technologies coming out of MySQL AB. I get to travel from time to time and see some of the world around me.

Now I’m not really trying to boast, I just want to let you know what I did to get my dream job, in the hope that perhaps it will help you get your dream job.

Awareness

The first step on my road to my dream job was becoming aware of my dream job. In my case I wasn’t initially aware that there were opportunities available in MySQL AB. I had been using MySQL for some time when I want to a local bookstore called Nexus Computer Books and on a business card rack I found the business card of Zak Greant, Community Advocate for MySQL AB. For the first time I realized that for some people MySQL was a job, not just an Open Source project. Zak is a great guy, and he not only helped cultivate my interest in MySQL, he helped get me involved with the company.

Networking

In March of 2003 I started vbmysql.com, a site to host my various articles on using MySQL, Visual Basic, and MySQL with Visual Basic. Through my work on this site I gained many contacts in the MySQL community and within MySQL itself. I made
contacts with developers in MySQL, including the developer of MyODBC, and even managed to get a speaking slot at the 2003 MySQL User Conference and Expo. At the conference I made a lot of great contacts, and became connected to a good number of MySQL employees.

While building these contacts, Zak and I got to know each other even better, and these days I’d say we are friends. I managed to connect with Stefan Hinz, a consultant and trainer in Germany who translated one of my articles into German. Stefan would later go on to join the documentation team for MySQL AB, and became an ally on the inside who (to my understanding) was vocal in suggesting me as another member of the documentation team.

Persistence

Sometimes I think MySQL AB hired me so they could shut me up. I made regular contact with my connections in MySQL AB and worked to grow my knowledge of the company and my network of MySQL employees. By the time I was hired my name was known by a good chunk of the MySQL AB
management, and I was connected to people from the head of support to the head of software development. I can’t say I was well connected to all of them, but most would recognize my name. I had established an active web site that garnered 1.5 million hits a month, and I had both
the Core and Professional certifications.

I was actively offering my support to MySQL AB, and volunteered to do a technical review on the Certification Study Guide published by the MySQL Press. I had also participated in both beta certification exams and was actively supporting the MyODBC developer with beta testing and
feedback.

At least once a month I would send an email to the man who would be responsible for hiring me into the documentation team, and would drop a resume in for positions on the MySQL job site that seemed like a match. I once applied for a support position, and while I did not get the job, I was on good terms with the head of support and he phoned me personally to tell me that they were not giving me the job because of the incredible qualifications of the guy they did hire. That may not
sound like much to you, but the only two people to hear from the head of support was the guy who was hired and me, everyone else never heard from MySQL.

The Payoff

So, after building up my knowledge of MySQL and establishing a reputation in the community, then networking extensively within the company. I found myself offered my dream job. I didn’t have to think too hard before accepting the position, and I now sit in my basement, happily typing away and working with some great people. I do what I love and work for a great company that cares for its employees.

Conclusion

So what does it take to get your dream job?

1. Become aware of what your dream job is. You can’t reach a goal you can’t define.
2. Study and increase your knowledge. Know the company, know the job, get a reputation.
3. NETWORK! Get to know as many people as you can, keep you contacts active and don’t be afraid to let them know you want to work for their company, but don’t beg for jobs.
4. Be persistent. Keep those contacts aware of your skills and work to build your network. Apply for jobs that the company lists in your area.

In the end the work may just pay off and you may just get that dream job. I’ll leave you with one thought ‘If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with’. Remember that the dream job is a goal, but you can’t put your life on hold. While I was working on this dream job (and it was 2 years in the making), I was employed at places I was comfortable working. You need to put good effort into where you are and not leave them with a feeling that you are just biding your time.

Well that’s it, hopefully this tidbit can help you in your search!

12 months ago I was stuck in something which was decidedly not my dream job. It wasn’t a bad job, so much as not the one I wanted. At all. Even a little bit.

So, 10 months ago I decided to change some things. My first step was to set a goal in terms of when I could quit my current job. My first goal was, quite literally, to do whatever it took to leave the position I was in. In order to make that decision, I had to figure out what my family required to live. For us, that was 2500$/month. I figured that if I could probably pull in 1000$/month doing odd jobs and whatnot, so what I needed to do was to consistently earn at least 1500$/month for 3 months in order to plug the gap between what we needed and what I felt I could do in odd jobs.

My first step, then, was to start earning 1500$/month.

K. W. Musante asked, on our “Ask the Wealthy Bloggers” post:

What are some simple ways of leveraging your existing skills to generate at least subsistence income when you’re… how shall I say it… between jobs?

This is basically what I had to figure out how to do… While working a full-time job.

My talents lie in a large number of areas, but I felt the following ones could be monetized most quickly:

• Writing
• Programming
• Graphic & Web Design
• Blogging
• Selling Advertising

Each of these is an area that I not only have experience in, but they are also activities I could do around my existing job, and areas where I felt I could earn money.

I began to look for writing and blogging jobs immediately. Within a month, I had signed contracts that’d provide me with 1500$/month in income. The catch was that it would require me to do 4-6 hours a day of writing and blogging. But, I figured I had to do what I had to do. I also figured that I was basically at the bottom of the writing totem pole, and it could only go up from there.

A month later, I dumped some of the higher-volume contracts for lower-volume ones with other companies, but which paid more. Now I was doing 3-4 hours of writing and blogging a day, so I began to take on some odd jobs. My income quickly approached 2000$/month.

At this point, though, I decided to stop and take stock of where I was at. Was I going to quit my job? When was I going to do that? How much money should we have saved up so that it was safe to quit my job (ie: if things didn’t work out, I wanted a cushion)?

We decided that I needed at least 3 months worth of expenses in the bank in order to actually quit my job. At the current income levels that looked doable.

Thanks to a great marketing move (archived here), I was able to not only plug the income gap, but also to create a new business. The business didn’t last forever, but it got me to the point where I’m at now: balancing book and article writing, blogging, speaking at conferences and doing seminars and consulting work.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing more details about exactly how I went from my worst job to my dream job in less than 6 months. Some of this will be tips and tricks types of things, some will be job search, some will be personal fulfillment.

Being rich isn’t about money, but having a job you like certainly helps you see the important things in life, because having a job you hate consumes you and makes it nearly impossible to see what’s actually important.

This won’t be a normal series of Wealthy Blogger posts, but it will look at one of the questions I’m sure most people have: “how do I find my dream job?”