Hey humans!
Hope you are doing good, thank you for coming back.
I am very lucky to work in a company that acknowledges my skills, knowledge and efforts, and compensates me fairly. I have worked really hard all my life and I tried to navigate my career so that I could find a place where I liked going to work in the morning. After all, it’s the place we spend 8h per day, or even more.
I want people to understand that a good work place doesn’t simply show up in your life. You have to look for it, attempt various places, work with different people so you know what you like, what you don’t like. What business dynamic you thrive and feel good, and the ones that deflate and demotivate you.
And once you find a great company, you have to invest a lot of energy doing your work, keeping good relationships with your colleagues, superiors, etc. All relationships work both ways, if you want to be treated well, you will need to treat others well too.
I went into the interview for this job with the mindset of “I am the best person for this position and this is why. I am going to excel on these tasks. I will persevere to learn new things, so I can succeed in all other areas” and since then, every day I show up for work, I live by my own words.
Reciprocally the business has acknowledged my efforts and has promoted me, has raised my wages and has provided me with annual bonuses. This year was no exception.
My pay rise was above 10% and I see it as an opportunity to increase my savings. The most important thing when someone gets a pay rise , it is to maintain their expenditure and allocate the “extra money” to savings.
What happens is that many times people are so excited for getting a pay rise, that they automatically go find a way of spending this pay rise money. This is negative because once you have new expenses (you have a new gadget, or you start buying new services like for example doing your nails) it is very hard to revert back.
If you keep your expenses the same, you can allocate your pay rise/extra money to savings, make plans, etc. The only exception I would do in regards to your pay rise money is:
- Increase your pension contributions
- Buy medical insurance
- Invest in education.
In regards to the bonus, as per usual I allocated majority to savings. Please see below how I allocated the lump sum:
82% – Savings, either long term savings, or short term savings.
18% – I spent on gifts for myself.
I decided I deserved some sort of gratification for all my hard work in these past 2 years in the company and I’ve decided to buy something I had wanted to buy for so many years now, which were some Gucci shoes. I also decided I wanted to invest in better fashion jewelry to replace old, cheap pieces I had.
The Gucci shoes I wanted were the famous Marmont Gucci loafers. I adventured in a new selling platform and found 2 pairs my size. As many of you know, these loafers the most simple model cost around £500/£600 a pair. I used a 2nd hand platform called Vestiaire Collective to buy the shoes. I bought 2 pairs and in total I spent £493. Both shoes came in original packaging and refurbished, they both come with brand new anti-slip soles. I am super happy with my purchase, 2 pairs for less that the price of one single new pair. Great!
The jewelry I decided to invest was from Calvin Klein. My sister gave me a silver ring as a birthday gift, I have this ring for more than 10 years. I still wear it a lot. I find that CK does very nice neutral, polished, sofisticated jewelry that endures very well the test of time. I found they were on sale on TK Maxx, so I ended up buying rings, bracelets, earrings, etc. Items that usualy cost £100, I found them for £12. The most expensive piece was the bangle that cost me £16.
The last item I purchased was a Missoni scarf, that I also found in TK Maxx for £40. They usually retail for £260, so I also thought it was a great find.
Fashion is great and it can boost your mood and self-esteem, but it shouldn’ come at the expense of your financial independence and future. Be smart with your money.
I am France and this is personal!
Franca Personal Style Consultancy 