Managing Future Income Risk

Currently being a senior, I have started to think about managing my money and how I spend it as I will be graduating soon. Since I am yet to find a full time job, there remains a high level of uncertainty regarding my future and what income I may get, if any at all. As an international student, there are other concerns I face, such as sending money back home to India, and the possibility of earning a significantly reduced salary if I have to work in my home country. (the starting salary and standard of living is much-much less in India compared to the United States.

Some of the decisions I have made thus far have been to hopefully better manage my future income risk. When I initially joined the University, I was an undeclared major in the division of general studies (DGS) and was hoping to either major in Finance or Architecture, as those two fields were where my passion was. However, during my first year I learnt that Architecture majors have a tough time finding a job. The unemployment rate for architecture has been steadily increasing and to attain the complete architecture degree, one requires around 4 years of additional study and mentorship training after competing the bachelor’s degree. Finance majors also, on average have a higher starting salary than Architecture majors and all these factors combined led to pursue Finance. Thus to get accepted into the college of business and study Finance, I may a decision that will hopefully be better and carries less risk for my future income.

The average salary for a Finance graduate from the University of Illinois is around $55,000-$60,000. In order to hopefully get a higher salary or better chance at landing the job, I had interned at various financial services companies during my three summer terms. Again, the decision to intern rather than spend the summer doing other activities was to reduce my future income risk, by trying to get a leg up in terms of experience compared to other students.

Yes, I have accumulated a certain amount of debt to pay form my tuition costs and living expenses. My parents have been able to finance a part of my college tuition, but the remainder is through student loans. I have worked at different places on campus, such as in the student-dining hall in my first year and as lab assistant during my junior year to earn money and reduce the debt owed. Although these jobs did not pay to well, it was a way to reduce my current expenses in college and thus save money for the long term.

With the above being said, I have taken many of decisions that although are detrimental to reducing my future risk, were choices to enjoy in the here and now. Every time I indulge in activities that are just for fun. For example, for our last thanksgiving in college we are deciding to go out of campus and spend the week at Las Vegas.

Yes, I have an older brother who graduated from Michigan State University. He was majoring in hospitality business and although got a well paying job in the Michigan area, decided to pursue his passion for music. This came as a huge shock to all of us, because pursuing a career in music has a lot of risk financially. Earning a steady and stable income takes longer initially and more so in this career path. Finding his niche in the music industry itself took a year and now that he’s narrowed down his path he can manage his priorities better.

To remain financially independent my brother has taken to recording voiceovers for various commercials.
On average he also performs twice a month at the Jazz clubs and lounges in and around New Delhi through which he can live a comfortable lifestyle.
However to maintain an even more comfortable standard of living he wishes to move to the commercial capital of the country in Bombay where the Indian equivalent of Hollywood is located, where he would find more opportunities to build a better platform for himself as a professional singer.
One positive I take back from his life is to follow your passion. Future income risks can be managed with a passionate drive backed by a plan along each step of the way.