Monday December 06, 2004

Decisions

Two and a half years ago Sun was in the middle of lay offs. It was a really crumby environment to be in. Although I was pretty sure I wouldn't get laid off I wanted to be prepared in case the worst happened. Ever since I graduated from college I have never had difficulty finding a new job when I wanted one. But the more I thought about what I would do if all of a sudden I didn't have a job the more I realized that if push came to shove I wanted to do something different. And in any case I like to feel in control of my own destiny and being at the mercy of someone else as far as my job situation is concerned is something I hate.

So I decided to create some options for myself. I started taking classes at UC Santa Cruz extension to become a Personal Financial Planner. Over the past 2 years I have taken one class a semester. I just finished the last class in the certificate series.

But now I have to decide whether to take the certification exam. It seems like the natural thing to do after all the work over the last two years. But the exam is a grueling 2 day test on everything from taxes to estate planning to insurance. And there is only about a 60% pass rate. So I couldn't decide what to do. Even after passing the exam I would still need to get two years of practical experience before I could become a Certified Financial Planner (CFP).

Things are very different at Sun now than they were when I started these classes. The atmosphere is very optimistic and there is an energy that I don't remember feeling in a long time. I really like my job and I have no desire to quit and become a financial planner.

To make a long story short I decided to finish what I started and take the exam. I am planning to take it in March. But what that means is that I have to do a lot of studying between now and then. (2004-12-06 18:18:20.0) Permalink