Following your passion is vital. Becoming a tattoo artist? Great. Helping at-risk youth? Awesome. Serving as a pastor? Terrific. No one grows up wanting to spend 40+ hours a week feeling undervalued and doing valueless work. The problem with a lot of “passion” professions, is that the benefits, in terms of retirement accounts, health insurance, maternity and parental leave policies, and countless other items, are scant at best.
If you want to build enough wealth, so you can retire with dignity or take time off to care for yourself or a sick family member, you need to think about benefits. Dull compared to your passion? Yes. As vital as your passion? Also, yes. While “building wealth” might sound crazy for people in typically underpaid “passion” vocations, it does apply broadly to the concept of financial security: having enough money to take care of yourself in both good and bad times.
In the United States of America, the onus is generally on individuals to care for themselves. While this policy has benefits, it ultimately underscores the need for countless humans to figure out how to safeguard their finances and livelihood with almost zero education on the topic. One study found that 74 percent of middle-income employees received the majority of their financial security from workplace benefits.*
The workplace isn’t the only place to receive insurance, retirement, and other wellness benefits, but it’s a great place to start. Top items most people should look into signing up for, preferably through an employer, but also on your own:
- Health insurance: safeguards against major medical costs to avoid using up savings/going into debt.
- Disability insurance: provides income if you are unable to work for an extended period.
- Retirement: 401k/403b account through employer (and check what their match is) and/or IRA if no option through your employer, which provides a taxed-advantaged path to invest for when you eventually won’t work at an older age.
Benefits may not be the secret to wealth, but they help safeguard and build your assets.
Something to think about
- How would I handle a major medical crisis (surgery, cancer, etc.)?
- What does retirement look like at 65/70 for me, beyond social security?
- If I can’t work for a month, what expenses do I need to cover?
Something to do
- Download information from your employer’s health insurance benefits, or go to healthcare.gov to start researching options.
*2014 Workplace Benefits Study conducted by The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America.
Photo by Jametlene Reskp