Tim Ferro
Software, Gen Y, Finance, Cup of Coffee Consulting, and Books

After reading this article (What’s Wrong With The Boss) the other day, I knew I had to expound upon the topic. The article has a number of great points that bear repeating.

“In times like these, employees want to know more about their status and it promotes the ‘Where do I stand and how does this affect me?’ [type of] questions,” Thompson said. “Slow markets force managers and leaders to have more of these tough conversations. Unfortunately, they may not be equipped [and will likely] take the path of least resistance - and that really causes a lot of turmoil and dishonesty.” - Source

“The good managers are saying, ‘If we’re going to be in a recovery sometime soon, I need to make sure my A-players know they’re my A-players, and that I’m providing them with career development opportunities to make sure they’re ready for the recovery,” he said. - Source

“Investment can be time, attention and development; it can be making someone a mentor; it can mean including somebody on a task force; it can be taking somebody to lunch,” he said.  - Source

Managers already have their hands full leading their teams through uncertain and turbulent times. Even worse, more than a quarter of employees would like to see them get fired.   - Source

Honestly, 25% seems like a low number to me, but I digress. I don’t want this blog post to come off as just another “Gen Y is spoiled and wants this” or “Gen Y demands the system to change”. It’s not just Gen Y, it’s ALL EMPLOYEES!

Let me repeat that. It’s not just Gen Y that wants a change for the better in the workplace, it’s ALL EMPLOYEES! All employees want to be treated better. All employees would like a better work environment. All employees want better management. In at least half* of the articles on the internet where someone gets on a soapbox about Gen Y feeling entitled and wanting more, ask yourselves “Wouldn’t every employee benefit from this?”. Why does Gen Y get a stigma about entitlement when all we’re asking for is something that everyone wants but most are too scared to speak up about?

– Tim Ferro

* a statistic I made up for the purposes of this post

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My favorite quote from the book is this one:
“success is creating a lifestyle that allows you to surf on a tuesday and save the world on a friday” - Greg Rollett

I spent an hour or so Sunday night reading three very important documents instead of watching part of the Pro-Bowl. Don’t get me wrong, I love football, but my financial future is more important, and so is yours. The three documents were: Verizon’s 8-K filing, Verizon’s press release about the 8-K filing, and the transcript of Verizon’s earnings conference call. These three documents tell me everything I need to know about Verizon’s future to make an informed decision about owning their stock.

When you own stock in a company, you should be doing your due diligence as an investor to keep up with SEC filings, conference call transcripts, and general information from the internet. Jim Cramer recommends “an hour a week” per stock and I completely agree. It is much more labor intensive to own stocks than it is to own mutual or index funds, but the rewards are far greater. If you had invested in an S&P 500 index fund 10 years ago, you would have lost 19.92% of your money. Owning stocks and doing the necessary research will put you in the financial driver’s seat.

If you are not committed to checking your stocks every day for prices and news, then don’t buy them. If you are not willing to read every 8-K, 10-K, and 10-Q, then don’t buy them. If you are willing to do that work as well as read some financial books and sometimes watch Mad Money, then you are ready to start investing in your future.

Disclosure: Long Verizon (VZ)

– Tim Ferro