As investors you likely have a very distinct idea what risk/reward is and you often make decisions based on how much risk versus how much can you be rewarded. If you move the equation to the making career choices it somehow changes. Most of us understand the continual changes in the workplace with companies occasionally downsizing but generally we believe it will happen to someone else. The working world has changed and will not be going back to what it was for generations of people. Many years ago, working for one company was a badge of expectation; not it is seen as not the normal and people will work for many employers and once in a while be their own employer. Anne Kreamer has written a book called Risk/Reward – Why Intelligent Leaps and Daring Choices are the Best Career Moves You Can Make published by Random House, NY, 2015. Ms. Kreamer identifies 4 general categories people fit into: Pioneers, Thinkers, Defenders and Drifters. If you wish to try to determine where you fit in there is survey at http://www.annekreamer.com/survey/risk

In general the groups are:

Pioneers – about 10% of the people. Pioneers tend to approach work from the vantage point of “You only live once” They tend to be decisive and more entrepreneurial.

Thinkers – about 40% of the people. Thinkers are reliable, hard-working backbone of the workforce. They are theoretically comfortable with risks but do not take many and as such they often have dreams about something else but stay with the company.

Defenders – about 36% of the people. They like things to be predictable and tend to view their work as a means to an end rather than a calling. They tend to like things as they are.

Drifters – about 14% of the people. Drifters have 2 types intentional and unintentional. The intentional those who drift in and out of the workforce because they chose to and can make a living doing so. The unintentional are doing it to pay the bills and they are the angry people showing up in the election process. They no longer believe success is tribute to hard work but more luck or the lucky sperm.

Understanding the groups and where you fit in allows you to help map your career path as well as relate to other people – what makes them tick and what attributes they bring to the company. Similar to generalization most people can easily fit into all groups but tend to be more comfortable in one or two of them. All the groups have pluses and minuses, many relate to attitude which is outlined in the book

Linking to dividend paying stocks, when you buy them you really want little change to happens to the company. You bought the stock for a reason or the yearly dividend yield, you would like that to continue. As we have seen in London, England things were going fine and then people voted and life changed one way or another. Life happens – how do you adjust, in the world of investing you move to one of your alternatives and continue along.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.