Future Income Risk

I’m a junior student majored in economics. I will be graduated within about one year. There are multiple employment possibilities after my graduation, and I may also continue my study as a graduate student. I know clearly that there are a lot I can do with to control my income risk in the future, and strict control over my own life decisions is an important means to guarantee my income and manage relevant risks. 

First of all, I believe that I will follow two main occupational directions in the future: to work for a bank or governmental department, or to become self employed or get engaged in my family business.

For the first situation, I have to admit that at the present stage, it’s essentially important for me to work hard on all the courses required by the college. While taking my economics courses, I’m spending as much time as possible in statistics, expecting to graduate with double degrees. Apparently, nowadays the society is moving forward rapidly, and the concept of BIG DATA has been widely accepted. In my opinion, statistics will become even more important in the future society. Most people will prefer data-based results in decision-making process. In addition to my learning at school, my resume is so competitive because of the social activities I attended and the internship experience I have got. I forced myself to do more practical and voluntary work in my vocations, which turns out to have enriched my working and social knowledge and made me more competitive when applying for a job and getting a stable salary. Take one of my cousins as an example. After he graduated as a major of CS from Syracuse University, he got employed by China Telecom. He has just worked for one year and the monthly pay is about $1，000, which can just support his daily life (it is a satisfactory income for graduates in China, though). But his post is quite stable, and he has very promising career prospect and very good welfares. For me, working for a bank or governmental department will be a choice. It means that I’m not allowed to commit any political mistake and I have to avoid those university associations related to as Falungong or Tibetan independence (People who work for Chinese government must receive personal background survey, which practically influences his career and post promotion.). I consider this as a risk too. 

As for the second situation, I will not have to be worried about my resume so that my learning can be more specifically oriented. If I want to become self employed in the future, it will be necessary for me to learn some basic knowledge about business starting. I also must understand the elementary composition of corporation, the control over cash flow, operation cost and profit. In that case, my income will be influenced by my personal quality and the macroeconomic environment, which is more demanding. On the one hand, I will have to learn harder to develop higher sense of responsibility in order to bear my duty. On the other hand, the macroeconomic environment becomes a critical risk factor for me in that case. Innumerable middle and small-sized enterprises were closed down under the attack of the financial crisis in 2008. Such risk is just beyond control. If I intend to get a position in my family business, I possibly have to pay more attention to learning from my parents and knowing how to handle and control interpersonal relationships. The factors influential on my income will be similar to those if I want to start my own business.   

Besides, many other factors, such as the stability of my parents’ income and my social human relations and position, will also be very helpful when I get employed. Neither I nor my family has debts or large loans. I’m in very good physical condition, except that I have congenital hepatopathy, which may worsen to serious disease if I drink or live in irregular pattern. In order to avoid such income risk, I must live in a regular pattern and stay away from alcohol.