Personal Financial Tip Vol. 6 - Marketable skills

In my practice, I meet lots of people all over the financial spectrum, and one of the things that you'll notice among the wealthier clients as well as the not so wealthy is that there are common themes amongst the two groups.

Of my wealthy clients, you'll notice one of the themes is the constant upgrading of their skills as compared to the market place. Of my non wealthy clients, you'll notice the lack of improved marketable skills.

To the side is a graph. I lecture this graph to every man, woman and child that will hear it. It shows the supply/demand curve in a somewhat different format. It shows the correlation between income and marketable skills.

The days of increasing income just from years of experience are over. As a recruiter once told me "there's a difference between 12 years of experience and 12 x one year of experience". The days of having a nice job for decades earning an above average income are over.

Think of it in terms of an accountant doing tax returns with paper and pencil. I could never produce the volume of returns I do today simply using paper and pencil, the business has required me to learn computer skills and improving my knowledge of the tax codes. Without that, my earning potential would be extremely limited.

In the 21st century, we will all be required to increase our skills in order to yield increases in pay. Those that don't will end up watching the wealthy pull away.