Look Out For Yourself
Money is a sensitive matter because no one talks about it. If you get a job then talking about your salary is something you just ignore. On the surface, it might seem like there is insecurity, shame or jealousy.
What if she earns more than me or what if you earn more so you need to protect yourself. But you forget to consider why the wage gap exists.
If the role and responsibilities are the same, then why the salary is something discussed individually. Maybe you are earning more which would mean she is getting paid less. Isn’t this a bad thing to do to her.
Or consider that by vowing to secrecy, you might not know that you are the one who is getting less salary.
So you would end up in a situation where you are being exploited. But because of the tradition, you aren’t even aware. In your mind, you are protecting yourself, but in reality, you are making it easy for your boss to oppress you. Slowly you are being exploited, and this becomes the norm which happens again when someone new is hired. No one knows how much someone is paid and on what terms.
The Society And Family
Often the talks about money start from an early age. Let us say the non-talking starts from an early age.
You might have heard many phrases, but the common is – you aren’t supposed to ask a women’s age and men’s income.
Society often tells you to measure success with money. And hence, it is a competitive era where you are supposed to excel at any cost. And so there comes the lying of your salary because you don’t want others to track your ranking.
Also, you devise many methods to find out what others are getting. So you end up doing silly things. And the funny thing is that you might win at the end of this.
But did you really win at life – if you won in money game…?
My conclusion is that you won the money game, but life is much more than that. So you need to keep a balance.
However, the fact remains, money is a massive part of living a simplified life. Your worries become less. And if you are smart, you can use the money to live a better, satisfying life.
Do It For Yourself
Make it a point to take care of yourself. Get the money figured out for self. Because chances are the sweet-talking uncle isn’t going to help you. And even if some generous folks do come, they won’t stay.
Your money problems are your money problems – sure it does hurt. But the earlier to find yourself a job, savings and investment to make things easy for self, the better.
And then you can do your part. Once you are secured with the money equation, you can help someone who needs a push to get their money thing sorted. For example, you can give travel expense to your cousin or friend who is looking for a job.
Or maybe help them with the resume printing, buy shoes. You might get help or not – move anyway to take care of self. Regardless, you do your part because you are awesome.