What do you want to be when you grow up? I’m sure we all have distinct memories of being asked this question at least a dozen times throughout our lives, whether it was by our elementary school teacher, our parents, or maybe you have contemplated it yourself. Maybe you would get home from elementary school and add any loose change into your piggy bank to save up for your ideal profession. Whether you wanted to be an astronaut, a cook, an engineer, or you just had no idea, there was always a belief that you could do anything that you dreamed of. Unfortunately, the older we get, the more we start to be “realistic” about the factors that go into obtaining the job we want, one of the biggest ones being the costs. Although, it is important to realize that you can achieve your goals even if you don’t already have the finances to do so, as you do not need to follow a conventional path.
One of the main reasons that people don’t have the money to pursue their careers, excluding other circumstances, is that they do not start saving early enough. This could be because of the lack of knowledge of what you want to do with your life because let’s admit it, most people don’t even get the faintest idea of what they want to pursue until they get to at least high school/college. But if you are in this situation, it would not hurt to start saving at an early age so you have money that you can put towards any further necessary education for when you do figure it out. And if you never come to a specific conclusion, or if you do not end up needing the savings, you get the bonus of having extra money to save or spend. On the other hand, if you do know what you want to be, you should start planning your potential expenses as early as possible. This would ideally be when you get to college, as the younger you are, the more prone you are to changing your mind.
The process of saving up money for pursuing a career starts with identifying how much money needs to be spent on the education for it (if education is needed). For example, if you want to become a lawyer, you would need to research what universities to attend, what to major in, what exams you would need to take, etc. Next, you should make a chronological timeline of your path to achieve this goal which would show how much each step would cost and how you would obtain the money by the time it is needed. It is pivotal to acknowledge that the order of your plan does not need to be done in a traditional order as everyone can achieve their goal in a different way than someone else did. For example, you can pursue a career at a different age than what is more commonly done, you can get a side job to pay for current expenses, or you can take time off for personal reasons. Just make sure to possess the characteristics of originality and resilience to be successful in our society’s professional world.
In reality, people often face many different challenges which obstruct their path or even rob them of the chance to pursue what they have always wanted. Keeping this in mind, if what is holding you back is the potential money you may need to spend to reach your goals, find out different ways that you can start saving today. If you eventually reach your funding goal for your education and career finances, all the spending temptations you resisted and the hard work you put in will reward you with your dream career.
