A word that is always important to ALL OF US: Diversify. Don't put all of your eggs in one basket. None of us can expect to stay in the same field that we star

A word that is always important to ALL OF US: Diversify. Don't put all of your eggs in one basket. None of us can expect to stay in the same field that we start off in for the whole of our working life. In my own case, I started in Pharmacy, but developed expertise in aviation, computing and rental properties. While the aviation and computing didn't become the main thrusts of my work, they became important sidelines. When it comes to rental properties, my wife and I had little savings due to our two divorces, and we needed to ensure that there would be some form of income after we retired from our 'main jobs'. So we took a few risks to build up a stable of rental properties while we still had our main-job incomes. Today, retired, our income comes from rental properties and some of the property-management is made easier by my computing expertise. The aviation? Well, after I became a commercial-pilot, the aviation industry went through a down-turn for several years and it never became the enjoyable cash-cow that I hoped it would. All the same, it was a fun time that I would have been disappointed to have missed. Another thing to always keep in mind: For instance, when they moved their offices, I came in on my own time to help physically move computers and helped to hook up all the cables. If you discount your own worth by working without pay, why should the employer consider you to be worth more?