Career Reinvention

A lot of people used to be brought up with the mentality that the job they started in their early 20s would be the job for them for the rest of their lives. Today, however, more and more people are making the decision to jump from one career or lateral move to another job out of a need for change or more challenges.

People in their 40s or 50s are deciding they want to start their own business or change career paths completely, go back to school and do something they are more passionate about. A lot of people in their 20s and 30s just change jobs every five or six years.

There is nothing wrong with any of that, but you should make sure before you make those leaps and bounds, that your financial situation can support those moves.

To begin with, if you are living paycheck to paycheck and have bills (such as rent, credit card debt, cell phone plans) to pay for, it may not be wise to continue skipping around from job to job. In many situations, you may have to take a pay cut and you have to be able to readjust your financial life to accommodate your career choices.

So, if you are one of those people who knows you like jumping from job to job or just don't see yourself 20 years from now in the same position or place, you should make sure to have a savings account. The golden rule is 10 percent of your checks should go towards savings, but pocketing away as much as you can, is the smarter move.

In addition, if you plan to jump from one job to the next, make sure to pay down your debts. Things like credit card bills can get out of hand if you end up switching jobs and find your paychecks are smaller as a result of your choice. The stress caused from having to scrape by to pay your bills ends up taking away from the fact that you have a new job that you like.

Another smart thing to do is to create a budget for yourself and attempt to live below your means, which means cutting out as many unnecessary expenses as possible. This allows you to save more and if you are able to do it, then you will also know you can make it on a different salary.

You may think none of this matters - especially if you end up netting more at your new job than your old - however, it's always good to be one step ahead of the game. After all, you never know how long your income will maintain at what it currently is today.