Careers are not Short Term Investments

In my opinion the best investors are those that invest over the long term. They buy and hold. They don’t get knocked off track or distracted. They hold their nerve. That’s just an opinion of course and there will be plenty of professional investors and greater sages than me that will argue the opposite.

 

Conversely, too many FS careers are negatively impacted by people playing the short game - trying to keep up with their peers in a battle for promotion, kudos and Financial rewards.

If that’s what you want and you back yourself on a ‘no regrets’ basis, then good luck to you! Whilst it won’t work for everyone, it’s certainly better than the opposite, which is experiencing career paralysis, going stale and getting passed over for promotion for a 2nd, 3rd, 4th time. But what’s the best approach?

 

If you want to avoid going down a rabbit hole, the best approach in my opinion is to set yourself some longer term goals that you can be guided by as you weigh up new opportunities and consider

how far you can realistically go and want to go, what you like to achieve and what you want to be doing towards the end of your career? Try not to get too prescriptive as there is a lot that can change over a 30-40 year period.

 

If something comes along that doesn’t help you get one step nearer to achieving those goals then think twice - even if it does have a a short term pay rise attached to it. You should also be more open minded about

a lateral move that gives you more breadth of experience or different skills. However, be very wary of opportunities that potentially move you further away or set you back and don’t forget to review things periodically in the same way an investor may look at his/her portfolio. Are there any mega trends or development needs you need to address?

 

It goes without saying that continuous learning (just like portfolio optimisation) in the years to come will be more important than ever as we all adjust to the future of work.

 

So whether you’re someone who prefers to buy and hold in their career or trade roles like a hedge fund - it’s good to set goals for your career just like you would for your investments and and the best goals for both are typically longer term.