Career Advice by Randy

One of the few positive effects of the impending explosion of the retirement rolls as 77 million “Baby Boomers” approach the age of 65 can be found in the outlook for employment of Personal Financial Advisors. Few ‘Boomers’ have made adequate plans to extend their lifestyles beyond their working years and are in desperate need of the assistance of Personal Financial Advisors.

This is excellent news for anyone seeking a lucrative new career opportunity.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008-2009 Employment Outlook, reports that “Personal Financial Advisors are projected to grow by 41%, which is much faster than average for all occupations”.

The Baby Boomer, a creature with the life expectancy of a Galapagos sea turtle but with less than two years of income saved in a qualified retirement plan, is in urgent need of solutions to his or her retirement quandary.

Independent Financial Advisors consult with individuals or families who are in need of various financial products and services to meet their long term and short term financial goals. Independent Financial Advisors are not tethered to or employed by a specific company, but can offer a range of products and services from a variety of providers.

For the ‘cold war generation’, the rules of the game have changed. It’s no longer about asset accumulation. We have run out of time to build significant assets and need a strategy that addresses the three quadrants of our personal balance sheet which have, up to this point, gone largely ignored.

Income: For this generation, it’s not how much we have that matters. What matters is how much sustainable lifetime income we can get from what we have. Independent Financial Advisors have access to newly developed financial products that enable us to grow our retirement income bucket with a high rate of return, and then, guaran Read the rest of this entry »

Programming a computer has always fascinated me. To be able to type a few lines of english into a machine, and then it does all sorts of things for me, was really exciting. It still is. If I need to do some task, I just write a programme to do it for me and I can take the rest of the week off!

If you are a creative or lateral thinking person, computer programming can be very satisfying; especially if you are doing it for yourself or freelance. I’ve been programming in various languages since about 1987, and I still enjoy doing it.

So how do you become a programmer? Where do you start?

First off, you need to be able to work a computer. How to use the mouse, keyboard, move files, get around explorer and so on. You also need to have a reasonable ability in math. (Or you can learn it as you go along.)

Then you need to decide what type of programmes you would like to write - financial, games, operating systems, machine controllers, etc - because each type of programming has a particular type of programming language that is particularly suited to it. For instance, Delphi is fine tuned for Databases, C++ good for operating systems, Visual Basic works well in web applications.

Then you need to select the programming language that you would like to use. eg. Delphi, C++, Visual Basic, etc, etc.

You will have to buy yourself a Compiler, the software package that you use to write your programs. (Or use one at your school or library, or borrow a friends computer if he’s got it installed. But eventually you will have to buy your own)

Then you need to either go on a course that offers tuition in this language, or start teaching yourself; in which case you will need books to refer to. Courses are available via correspondence, at technikons or at universities. Usually these institutions will provide a low Read the rest of this entry »