Sheldon Mydat

Sometimes just when you're really busy working on being successful, life sticks a foot out and decides to get right in the way. Whether it’s health or family related, life does have a knack of jumping in the way of the best laid plans - and the tricky so and so usually has the final say!

I, just like everyone else continue to have my share of both good and bad bits. John Lennon's line 'life is what happens when you're busy making other plans' - that's a real gem of a statement. It pretty much says it all. It doesn't matter who you are or what you've got. We're all on the same journey. Deciding to enjoy it or not is the only optional extra!

Anyone earning a large salary will already be contributing more in tax than someone earning considerably less. Simple mathematics, and that's without adding ten percent on top, which of course increases the high earners tax band to half of what is earned. Not forgetting the scrapping of the tax allowance (the tax free bit) and the National Insurance contribution. That leaves you with...well I'll leave you to do the sums.

My own view has always been that you've got to earn it to pay it. That works at forty percent, but fifty percent? Why the Government prefers to alienate top earners is beyond me. A small number of the overall population, one percent is a mere mole hill set against the gigantic mountain of debt that lay before us. Surely a smaller adjustment of the tax band threshold for us all would have had a more dramatic effect on the problem.

I think that picking out the very people that already make the biggest contribution per capita is another clear example of going for the easy cash cow option.

We've evolved into a nation where entrepreneurialism is almost a qualification, yet we're governed by Old Labour which in my view has degenerated and is now more of a throw back to the 1970's. Not alot of entrepreneurialism in the 70's.

The message to aspiring young entrepreneurs will almost certainly be that if you plan on becoming a top achiever then you're going to be penalised for your efforts.

I just hope Alistair Darling's debt repayment plan can withstand the fact that our current record low interest rates will of course go back up. I'm not sure he's factored that into his forecast.

On an individual level, this however is why accountants were created. I'm sure they'll be earning their money in the coming months and years!

I was thinking back the other day whilst watching the news; when I say 'back' I refer to around the time I was a teenager [which after all, wasn't that long ago!]

We're all painfully aware of the stream of horrific items being reported in the news on a daily basis - missing children, war torn regions of the world, knife and gun crime, elderly people being mugged and so on. These events do seem to occur more now than they did years ago. But in actual fact, I've come to recognise that I just notice more. As I grow [a little] older, I also start to realise my own mortality; and that things scare me now. Where as before, back when I was a teenager, nothing really got through!

As a teenager, the news didn't touch me - no matter what I saw; it was as if watching a TV drama. Nothing unusual there I'm sure. Why shouldn't teenagers brush things off? After all, cynicism is supposed to be a defensive tool learnt as one grows older whilst beginning to see how unfair life is - or can be [Oops, there's that cynical side, how depressing!]

In my teens and twenties, I was preoccupied with my own existence - which at the time was of paramount importance to me, and quite right too! I still had a list of monumental mistakes to make and some great adventures to experience. If I'd been full of fear, I probably wouldn't have done half the things I did. I happen to hold a great belief that we are the sum of our experiences – I think you'll pick that up from my website or one of my other blogs.

It just strikes me there are so many reasons to do stuff when you’re young; and so many excuses not to do them when you’re older. For those of us putting aside our dreams or ambitions for ten years or so, chances are we won’t get around to doing them at all. It’s closely related to that ‘change thing’ that we hate so much, or at least the fear of change. That’s why so many great ideas have ‘thought’ their way into mothballs. We scare ourselves out of them, and the older we are the worse we get!

Try not to fall into the trap. It’s so easily done, as I know myself. But everything I’ve ever done that was worthwhile has been a challenge.

Jobs for life…no such thing, haven’t you heard? We’re in the middle of a recession. Welcome to a new year, and to the legacy of 2008 or what we now know as the deepening recession of 2009.

It’s a worrying time for us all. Many trusted household brands are going to the wall, some we’ve known all our lives; thousands of people having to face and deal with the worst insecurity.

Truth be known, there’s been no such thing as job security for some time, regardless of the current economic slow down.

We’ve already become a mercenary, more inpatient global culture. In actual fact we’re now more likely to opt for a change in career on average four times during our lives. How times have changed. Take for example my father. He started his career as an apprentice mechanic when he was 14 years old. He rose through the ranks and stayed with the same firm his entire career until he retired 60 years later. I’m sure a familiar story for many of our parents or grandparents. But then again they certainly didn’t have the options we have today. There are so many more choices, more career paths and more training packages / apprenticeships out there for all ages.

Holding down that job for all those years’ shows responsibility and stability, two traits that any employer certainly likes to see. However, in the 21st century, more choice means that lengthy service is becoming a rare thing – and subsequently employer expectations have also become more complex - there are many factors that help employers decide what it is they are looking for. It’s anticipated and totally acceptable for example, that career driven, ambitious individuals often step from one job to the next [spread over sustained periods, not weeks] in order to climb career ladders or in search of fulfillment. Indeed understanding personal drivers and motivations is now an absolute imperative when hiring and retaining staff. In other words it’s become a truly reciprocal process – and quite right too.
Like I said, things have changed

That’s all well and good if you’re actually planning a move. But it’s an unfortunate reality that there are many more of us about to confront change – without having a choice. It’s a brave, harsh world out there. That change can be and often is a very scary prospect. We don’t live in our parent’s world. We must learn to adapt with the changes that we sometimes invite upon ourselves as well as those that just happen upon us.

One of the most painful effects of change will probably be the need to cut our cloth according to our new circumstances. Financial exercises like this are often part of a transition from one place to another. It doesn’t mean that change is to be viewed as a bad thing. It’s a necessary thing, and we should always prepare for it - preparation is the key. I wouldn’t want anybody to feel that having to change is any form of failure. Change happens whether we like it or not. So with times being as they currently are, it’s just as well to factor in potential changes as necessary stepping stones on a bigger journey. That’s what more and more people are doing anyway. They don’t see their current employment as the key to their entire security. Instead they view it as an element of their overall plan. Employers know that candidates for employment are more assertive now than ever before, that they have their own aspirations and agendas and are likely to be more self serving.

Summing up, there are more of us looking for opportunities. I mentioned preparation. Well preparation and opportunities are crucially linked. Life is full of opportunities. But they don’t necessarily appear to us as nicely packaged products. In actual fact they wait for us to see them. Often the only way that we see an opportunity is by being duly prepared for the next step or two of our journey, which is why so many people now view employment as a job not for life.