Managing future income risk

Though I was undecided of my career path during my first two and a half years here at the University of Illinois, I did take proactive steps towards the future by being active with the school and community. My intentions as a freshman were to major in Math due to the high demand for STEM graduates in the job industry and due to my enjoyment with working with numbers. Since math is such a broad subject, I believed finding a job with a major in mathematics would be relative easy and to further emphasize my pre-degree I began to join organizations that focused on numbers. I first joined the “Matrix” club, a club focused around mathematics that introduced students to higher-level math classes, possible career options and offered networking events in order to further student’s knowledge of the subject. Joining “Matrix” did indeed prove to be very helpful; I learned of the existence of various jobs were mathematics is applicable, which would have made my job search easier had I stuck with a mathematics major. Unfortunately, once I began to take higher-level math classes I realized that I did not enjoy pure math as much as I though I did and I dropped out of the major and as a result I dropped out of “Matrix”.

            Once completely undeclared, I was unsure on what steps to take to assure a better future for myself since I had no idea what I was doing, but I quickly realized that there are many organizations that apply to any major/career path. For example, I joined Alpha Phi Omega during my sophomore year, a service fraternity that focuses around mutual assistance, friendship, and developing leadership. APO, as it is often called, allowed me to develop my communications skills, work ethic, and time management skills all which area applicable to the work force after graduation. APO also served a motivator mainly due to the fact that so many great and well-rounded individuals were a part of it; individuals whom I credit for opening my eyes on how much one can accomplish with the right mindset. Though I do consider APO fun, I do think that APO was a move towards to later rather than the now based on the amount of time commitment it required; it required a minimum of twenty five hours of community service, five hours worth of leader ship classes, seven hours of required brotherhood events and so on, time I could have spent on leisure, but the lessons I learned were priceless. I also consider APO a step towards reducing income risk because the skills I developed are essential in finding and keeping a job. Jobs demand their employees to be organized, hard working and dedicated. Keeping a job is dependent on those factors, and being able to keep a job is the best way to reduce income risk.

            Halfway through Junior year I realized how applicable math was to other majors, since I disliked the theory behind math, I decided to give other such majors a try which eventually led me to econ and statistics; Both subjects, like math, are quite broad and applicable to many fields, and in particular to actuarial science, my desired career path. Actuarial science applies high-level math and it is a career with essentially zero unemployment, making it a perfect fit to my skills and to my future. In order to pursue a career in the actuarial world, one needs to complete a set of difficult preliminary exams. Workbooks to practice for those exams usually range from 150-200 dollars, the exam prices are usually about 225 to take, and it is a common trend that one must study approximately 300 hours for each exam, meaning that one must invest both money and time to pursue such a career path. It is sometimes hard to pursue such a career, I could be using the money for the work books to go out and socialize and the time needed to study to hang out or pursue an easier career, but even though it is demanding, such career path is worthwhile; actuaries get paid a high salary, they have good job security, and it is a calm job, all factors that reduce income risk for my future.

            One of my cousins attended college, graduated, got a job, got laid off and then went back and received his MBA. My cousin attended Northwestern University and majored as an electrical engineer and received a job upon graduation. He’s job paid fairly well and he seemed to enjoy it, but once the U.S economy took a slight decline he was laid off. Not knowing what to do, he took the GMAT and applied to Northwestern’s Kellog school of management to which he received admission. To make the story short, my cousin was successful during his graduate career and got a job with American Airline’s marketing department. He’s salary is amazing and he loves his job, and to top things off he has his office located within the Willis Tower. In my opinion he did everything right, he studied hard during he’s undergrad and got a job even though he was unluckily laid of due to external factors, yet he handled the situation amazingly well by furthering he’s education in order to reduce his own income risk for the future. What I take from his experience is that hard work doesn’t always pay of right away, for example, though he worked hard during his undergrad career he ended up getting laid off after a couple of years of working. On the other hand, I did learn that perseverance pays of; he went back to school and excelled more than he ever thought possible.