Nobody know what will happen in the future. The world could end tomorrow, you might have a heart attack next week – anything can happen. The future can be brought on by ourselves or by reasons totally out of our control…even the financial future. We should never be of the mind that we will never have a time when money is tight. In fact, we need to prepare for that eventuality. Beyond protecting our finances, we also need to have a plan in place to assist us when any type of crisis arises.
If you are just now considering what you want to do for a career, this is as good of a time as any to start making those plans. If not, it is never too late. Believe it or not, there is actually a career path that can help with making those types of plans for both yourself and your community at large.
Public Administration
Those of you looking to go to college in the near future might consider a degree in public administration. A career in this field would include building great relationships with the community and citizens through your service. You would need to be able to analyze information and then manage resources and people as you oversee implementation of any plans developed. You would be influencing change, improving the future and society by a quest for justice and advocacy. Some of your responsibilities would include drafting and then implementing policy, the investigation of serious issues, and representing public interest.
War
We mentioned in the introduction that sometimes the future and our finances can just be out of our control. One example of this is when there is a war. WWII lasted just under 4 years, for example, but it ended up being the one that cost the United States the most in our 200+ year history. If you adjusted for inflation, in today’s money, that war cost us more than $4 TRILLION. This is just one of the seemingly never ending string of wars that this country has been in since its founding. What do you think the overall cost of wars has been to this country?
The thing about war is that it isn’t just the government that pays for it. It is us. Trickle down economics means that the financial burden of wars is ultimately paid for by the rise in the cost of goods and services. We are paying for these fights without even realizing it and yes, this can and does put people in financial binds.
Helping
If you really want to help with this national situation, you might consider a career as a diplomat. A good way to get started in that field is by obtaining a degree in diplomacy. With a degree in diplomacy, you will have learned how to be an effective communicator, problem solver, and thinker not just for yourself, but on an international level. You will have gained a broad understanding of communications protocol on a global level as well as a deep knowledge of issues around the planet that affect international relations. This means that you will be at the root of the problems working towards finding solutions that will benefit all parties involved and potentially preventing wars from happening.
Yes, things can happen to put your finances in jeopardy. As you can see here, there are also pre-emptive things that you can do to keep that from happening. These aren’t the only steps you can take, though. Having a sound financial plan and sticking to it is also a good place to start.
