Tahnya is a Certified Financial Planner and former Investment Advisor turned marketing and communications professional She holds a degree from Concordia University, is debt free and currently works in the field of digital marketing.
Good morning Dinks. Happy Friday. I’m back from New Orleans and I just want to say that I had a really great time with all my personal finance friends at FinCon. The city was historic, the bayou was breathtaking and it’s safe to say that New Orleans is a lot of fun.
I hope you all got home safely and I look forward to our next meet up.
Good morning Dinks. I announced a few weeks ago that my investment firm is being sold to a competitor; the news is equally terrifying and exciting. I’m terrified because Nick and I are moving into a new apartment October 1st and come January I don’t know if I’ll have a job. However at the same time I am excited because the competitor who we are being sold to is a great company and if I get to keep my job I would love (love love) to work there.
How do you prepare to be transferred to a new job?
My co-workers keep saying “sell yourself”, make sure you make the most of your resume and acquire as many new skills as possible. This of course makes sense, but at the same time I don’t want to need it. I really want to have the option to keep my job and be transferred to my potential new employer.
I’m not sure if this will happen but I’m staying optimistic because I work in digital marketing and it’s (supposedly) the way of the future. However the planner in me can’t help but be scared and therefore I am doing a self evaluation. I’m making a list of all the things I need to work on.
Have you ever done that? Have you ever looked at your work self and thought about all the things you need to improve?
If you had a new job, what would you work on for your career?
I am looking at this take over as a fresh start for my career. A new team (although I really like some of my current team members), a new office building (the headquarters of the new office are in a much better location) and a new manager. I am ready to see what my professional future holds – I just hope it still holds my job.
This is my creed to the job Gods out there. If you let me keep my job and work for this fantastic new employer I promise to do the following:
Adapt to change without resistance. I am not super set in my ways, but I don’t like change to my normal routine. I can change my way of working and I can change how we do things but I like my normal routine. In my new job I will try to adapt better to change. I always do end up adapting to the change but it’s always with a bad attitude until I actually adjust. Going forward I will try to avoid the resistance.
Work on my first impression. I make a horrible first impression – going both ways. I am not friendly when you first meet me and I never like people when I first meet them. I guess this has to do with the not liking change part of my personality. Going forward I will try not to be sold cold when I first meet people and I will promise to warm up to people quicker than usual.
Avoid telling people exactly what’s on my mind. I am not good at playing political games and it always gets me into trouble with my boss. I promise not to be so frank with people in my new job. If I get to keep my job I promise to give my criticism very constructively.
Good morning Dinks. There are just some things that are bad for your relationship, things like being stuck in traffic, always wanting to be right and being a work-a-holic. The key to happiness in a relationship is patience, understanding and a whole lot of compromise, especially when it comes to work and your career.
Finding a balance between being successful at work and being happy at home has always been a struggle for me. Almost every employer I’ve worked for has talked about the importance of a work life balance. The problem with this (at least in finance) is employers don’t practice what they preach. My former employer (a major international bank) gave us all the tools we needed to understand the theory of a work life balance but very rarely put it into practice.
When I was in my 20s I was all about climbing the corporate ladder. I wanted to be the best financial planner in the city – and for a few years I was. When I left the world of banking I was ranked #2 in profitability. I was young, successful and making a ton of cash. However I was overworked, tired and the stress was taking a toll on my relationship with my boyfriend Nick.
At 33 years old I am happy to say that I’ve finally started to find a work life balance and it has nothing to do with my employer but everything to do with me. After years of straining my relationship with Nick I decided that the money is not worth the stress. I know that sounds weird coming from a financial planner who works in an industry ruled by money, but it’s true.
Here are 5 ways I found a work life balance:
Find a fixed schedule that works for you both. Finding a work life balance is about working enough to make the money you need but at the same time making time for your relationship. Sometimes busy couples implement a date night to make sure they connect at least once a week without any distractions.
Put your relationship first. Of course we need money to live but our loved one is who we come home to every night. I stopped going to work initiated social activities because it was just more time away from my relationship. When I say put your relationship first it means considering your spouse before making any decisions. You don’t have to be glued to each other at the hip, but being at home shows your spouse you care.
Be understanding. If you really need to be away from home for work, your spouse should understand. As long as this is the exception, not the rule. Vice versa is also true, I am understanding when Nick has to attend after hours events for work as long as it’s not all the time. I don’t want to sound like a crazy controlling girlfriend but when your spouse spends more time outside the house than at home it gives the impression they don’t really want to be with you.
Just take a break. Sometimes for personal peace and peace in your relationship you just need to take a break. In my life there is always work to be done. When I finish a project I can always start a new one to get ahead of the game, but I have learned not to do that. When my work is done I shut everything off and just spend time at home with Nick.
How do you find the perfect balance between work and life?
Good morning Dinks. Remember last week when we talked about investing for short term goals? We mentioned that goals are personal but we can all use discipline and focus to achieve them. Well today we are talking about our long term goals. Actually we are talking about the one long term goal we all have in common…retirement.
What’s the right way to plan for retirement?
I say that we are all working towards retirement as a goal, but how and when we get there is all up to us as individuals. Some of us save every penny to have more money in retirement or even retire early, some of us enjoy our money but save enough to have the lifestyle we want during retirement and some of us don’t save any of our own money as we rely on government benefits and employer pension plans. Which one are you?
The truth is as a financial planner I can say that everyone saves for retirement differently, but nevertheless we are all saving for retirement. So how can you achieve your retirement dreams? Well I can give you the text book answers…save money blah blah blah, make cuts in your budget blah blah blah and learn to live on less blah blah blah.
How do I know how much money I’ll need in retirement?
The truth is retirement planning is about more than the money. Of course money plays a big part in your retirement, just as it does your life right now but retirement is more than saving. Some people save money for retirement because they know they’re supposed to but they don’t actually know what they are saving for or if that will be enough money to live after they stop working. Before you can save for retirement you need to know how much money you’ll need for what you want to do and how you want to live. That starts with planning.
Where should I invest my money for retirement?
Diversifying your portfolio helps stabilize the value of your investments during market fluctuations. Saving for retirement on a regular basis is a good strategy and it will help you reach your retirement goals. Diversifying your retirement portfolio helps the process. This is the best money advice I can give to clients – diversify your investments no matter how much or how little money you have. How much people can afford depends on their budget but how they invest their money doesn’t depend on how much money they have.
Investing in different sectors such as domestic and foreign as well as investing in different asset classes such as fixed income and equities helps a portfolio stay well balanced through market fluctuations. I know a lot of people like to invest in higher risk investments over the long term because they think the more risk the more return. When people say that to me I always ask them “but what about the short term?” Having lower risk investments adds stability to an otherwise volatile investment portfolio.
Good morning Dinks and happy Friday. As you read this I am at FinCon in New Orleans – probably hanging out on the ghost tour or the swamp tour. New Orleans has been on my bucket list for a long time so I am excited to be in The Big Easy right now.
If you’re reading this and you are also in New Orleans come by and say HI anytime.
Until we meet up, enjoy these posts from our personal finance friends:
PT Money – 10 Tips to Become an Expert Credit Card Travel Hacker without Getting Into Trouble
Good morning Dinks. As a financial planner one of the first questions clients ask me when we start talking about their investments is “Where do you have your money?” Of course I don’t like to talk about my own money and actually I am not allowed to. However when you want to gain someone’s trust and invest their money you answer any and all questions they ask.
How do you invest your money?
How do you answer someone’s question without really answering it? It’s easy, you don’t talk numbers. Whenever clients ask me “Would you buy that investment?” I am pretty open with my clients when it comes to my investor style. I tell them the asset classes I invest in without telling them the specific mutual funds or stocks I buy. I tell clients I like to invest in well known companies as well as fixed income but I would never tell them that I buy Disney stocks and emerging markets bonds. Why? Because the truth is how I invest my money is not the way that everyone should.
I am what you would call a balanced investor; I invest 60% of my portfolio in equities and 40% in fixed income. Even my equities are not that risky. I invest in Fortune 500 companies that have a track record of dividends and a history of profit. I also don’t invest in foreign equities because exchange rates make me nervous.
Finance is very personal
I don’t like to take too much risk, I know I probably should take more risk because I’m young and have a lot of time until I retire – but I don’t. The truth is I can advise people all day long how to invest their money, but it’s not necessarily the way I invest my money.
I know many people think financial planners just give cookie cutter advice just to get their fee, but that can’t be farther from the truth. Financial planning is very personal and it depends on someone’s individual goals, income, expenses and lifestyle. This is why it doesn’t really matter where I invest my money because the advice I give myself is not the advice I would give one of my clients, unless they had the exact same investor profile as I do.
Would you ever ask someone about their money?
I always wondered why clients ask how I invest my own money. I guess it’s because they trust me – or they are trying to gain my trust. The best way to tell if someone is lying to you is to ask them a tough question. Talking about money is considered taboo so I guess that qualifies as a tough question. Some people may find it inappropriate to talk about money, and especially to ask someone else about their own money, but since I work with money all day I am never offended. Do you ask your financial planner how they invest their money?
Last week my company announced they are being sold to a competing investment firm. My initial thought was panic but honestly I didn’t have much time to think about it until a few days later. As you know I work as the corporate community manager so needless to say I had an incredibly busy week. The media and investment industry were buzzing with the news release so we had to be on high alert. It’s been five days since our CEO made the announcement and after the initial shock aka panic wore off I had some time over the weekend to actually sit back and think about my future.
Here’s how it all went down:
Monday @ 5 pm – All employees received an email from our CEO announcing the sale of our company. It’s interesting to note the announcement was made after the market closed.
Monday @ 6 pm – All employees were invited to a company meeting where the CEO answered questions.
Monday @ 11 pm – Needless to say social media was busy after the announcement so I was called in to work overtime monitoring for any mentions.
Tuesday @ 9 am – The market opens and our CEO announces shareholders will receive a substantial dividend thanks to the profits of the sale. He also mentions it’s business as usual until January when the takeover will actually begin.
Tuesday @ 9 pm – Another late night monitoring and reporting social media comments, mentions and news releases to our executive team.
Wednesday – Our manager (not the department head) talked to us as a team and asked if we had any questions. Of course everyone did! She advised us our jobs are guaranteed until January but as of next year when the transition starts and the integration begins no one knows what will happen.
Thursday – Our manager talks to all employees one on one. She asks how we’re feeling since the news was announced and asked what our plans are. Some team members were honest and said they are going to start looking for a new job as soon as possible.
My manager told me she is going to wait and see what happens. Social media is very new to my company so our team is very young; there are ten people on my team and all of us have been with the company less than two years – including my manager.
Friday – Needless to say the moral in my company is very low. People are panicking because in three months we could all be out of a job. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is talking about the news. All throughout our building I’m hearing chatter about what people think will happen, what they’re going to do and how they’re going to pay their bills come the new year.
I think the fact the news was sprung on us at the very end of the day on Monday is making everyone uneasy. I admit it’s unsettling because I can’t help but think what else are they hiding?
Good morning Dinks. This week I was assigned to a new project at work. I will be working with a team I’ve never worked with before and so far let me tell you that I’m not impressed. As a community manager I get pulled in to a lot of different projects when people want a social media aspect, but at the same time I’m used to working alone.
My job is to go in listen to the project manager and come up with some creative ways to integrate social media into a campaign or product launch. To be honest it’s a really cool job (and if the higher powers are listening I would like to keep it after my company is sold to our competitor) but sometimes it’s hard to start fresh with a new team every time a project starts.
Should there be business standards in the workplace?
I know that everyone doesn’t work the same way but there are some basic business practices that should be standard for all professionals – regardless of where you work or what you do. I know that I have my downfalls, trust me I do, I am extremely organized – some may even say anal. I could definitely be a little more laid back but I’m just not. I like to work and get the job done so I can move on to something else – that’s just how I am.
Climb the ladder with proper business etiquette:
Don’t be a slacker. There is nothing more that I hate in the world than people who don’t work. I don’t mind if people don’t work on their own time, but when your work affects other people’s jobs it’s a good idea to be on the top of your game. Missing deadlines can have a huge impact on several other lines of business and it’s always the first thing the boss wants to know – did everything get done on time? If you want to get ahead at work be at the top of your game.
Be on top of everything. There is nothing worse in business than waiting around. I have a personal rule to try and answer all emails within 48 hours because anything other than that is way too long. I know that many people have time sensitive jobs and they can’t sit around waiting for an answer. When people wait they get frustrated and that can lead to a complaint. The last thing we want is someone complaining to our boss that we aren’t doing our jobs – right?
Don’t be late – ever. Running into a meeting late is like being late to class – it’s embarrassing and when you walk in everyone turns around to stare at you. That is incredibly uncomfortable. Not only that but when employees are late managers have to make excuses for them and managers don’t like to look bad. Actually no one wants to look bad at the office, so try to always be on time. I don’t like to book back to back meetings because almost guarantees I will be late for some of them.
What’s your best tip for getting ahead in your career?
Happy Friday Dinks. Today starts my 10 day vacation. Yes that’s right as of this morning I am completely work free until Tuesday September 23 and I am so excited. What am I going to do? Well I’m going to New Orleans for FinCon and I’m getting ready to move.
Yes we finally found an apartment in a great neighborhood so now we are planning all the logistics of the move. I’m excited to start decorating and get settled. One of the biggest mistakes I always make in my life is trying to do everything too fast. This often leads to excessive overspending. This time I’m going to take my time decorating. We are going to buy only the essentials during our moving weekend and then buy everything else little by little over the next few months. My deadline is to have everything set up by the end of the year. Does that sound realistic?
Have a great weekend Dinks. Here are some great posts we found this week:
Man vs. Debt – Re-Evaluating Your Financial Priorities
Retire by 40 – Are you a Minimalist or a Pack Rat?
Financial Samurai – Focus On Building Net Worth Even More Than Growing Income
My Bank Tracker – Payday Loan Alternatives You Need to Consider
Good morning Dinks. As I get older as a person and as I grow with Nick in our relationship I am starting to notice more and more differences between us. It has really helped me become a better girlfriend. Even though we have been together a long time we aren’t always totally in sync on everything but accepting the differences in our DNA has helped me be open to accept things that would have really drove me crazy 15 years ago when we first met. Accepting the fact that maybe our differences are genetic as oppose to personality traits has made me more tolerant of his opinions when we don’t see eye to eye.
As you know Nick and I are moving October 1st. Actually what I should say is that Nick and I are supposed to be moving October 1st but we have yet to find a new apartment. The last time we talked about our apartment search I mentioned that Nick and I were open to buying a condo if we were unable to find an apartment that we both wanted. Well there have been some new developments in the search for our new residence.
Are men truly afraid of commitment?
Nick is definitely not open to the idea of buying our own place. He absolutely wants to keep renting for the budgeting convenience as well as for the carefree lifestyle. This is the first part of our apartment hunting where we differ. I would be willing to buy a condo as long as it has absolutely everything on our must have list whereas Nick is not even open to the discussion. Maybe it’s a Kristina/Nick dilemma but honestly in general I just think that men are more commitment phobic than women.
Maybe women are never satisfied
The second gender difference I’m noticing as we continue to look for our new home is the amount of work that each of us is willing to put in to finding our perfect place. After three months of searching for a new apartment Nick is just ready to sign a lease because he doesn’t want to visit any more apartments. I on the other hand continue to think there is something better out there.
We have yet to find an apartment that has all the amenities as well as the square footage we want. Nick is willing to compromise whereas I am not. I refuse to believe the perfect apartment doesn’t exist. I honestly believe if we keep searching we will find an apartment that has everything we want in the neighborhood where we want to live. Is this just a female quality – are we always searching for something better?
Is it true that women don’t like to compromise?
We have seen probably 20 different apartments and at this point since we need to move in less than 30 days we should probably just pick one. However we just can’t make a decision. I can’t decide if I want to live in a smaller space that has all the features we want or in a bigger space but give up on some amenities. We did find a great apartment but it’s on the second floor of a two story walk up building and I personally would like to have an elevator.
About Kristina Tahnyak
