5 Reasons Why Being a Specialist is Not Enough for Your Financial Security

In our professional lives, for the most part, we’re all searching for careers that will provide us with financial security. As we progress through higher education and our jobs, we often find ourselves narrowing our focus until we end up in a specialty field. While this can be a lucrative path, sometimes it can be more detrimental than helpful. Having your options open can help you create more than one revenue stream, which can ultimately guide you to meeting your financial security goals. Only focusing on one area may inhibit your growth and future opportunities.

Here are five reasons why being a specialist is not enough for your financial security.

 

1.The market will change

Specializing in any given area may seem like a surefire way to set yourself up for financial security. While that is undoubtedly true in some cases, it doesn’t always pan out. The job market is, unfortunately, incredibly volatile. As seen with the COVID-19 pandemic, crazy events can throw off our ideas of what “job security” looks like. You don’t want to box yourself into a position that could potentially cease to exist. Even your dream career might not be your dream career because it might disappear one day without warning.

2. You may not pick the right job right away

If you cement yourself into a particular field right out of school, you might not have selected the correct career. The decisions you make and the interests you have as a young person might not align later in life, and at that point, it might just be too late. Save yourself from potential regret by being open to a wide variety of skills.

3. You get accustomed to your comfort zone

Often when you settle into a specialty, your comfort zone lulls you into a sense of complacency. You may find yourself losing your shot at moving up in your field. Without the challenge of a variety of skills in a specialty position, you may be passed up for promotions if you stay too much in your lane. Your lack of growth will stifle the potential skills you could be building if you branched out into another area of your field or kept your options open.

4. You may miss out on benefits

Suppose you’re thinking and planning for the long-term (and you certainly should be). In that case, you’ll want to consider how remaining in a specialty might impact your retirement financially and regarding benefits packages. If you stay within a specialty field without expanding your expertise to other areas, you miss out on a golden opportunity to diversify your sources of income, rather than counting on one source of income and one source of retirement benefits.

5. It would undermine your financial freedom

Most importantly, if you remain in your specialty, you may miss a golden opportunity of adding several additional streams of income to your portfolio or upward mobility. You can still have your career if you like, but look for options and opportunities to diversify your financial resources. Staying in one place while doing only one thing could lead to missing out on the ability to achieve financial freedom, which could finance your dream lifestyle. While one job or specialty can hardly get you even close to that dream lifestyle.

Conclusion

Your job in a specialty field can be a wonderful thing; it allows you to focus specifically on one area and truly become an expert. However, be wary of missed opportunities to grow within your profession and miss out on the level of financial security you could achieve. Without additional streams of income or opportunities to change careers or move upward within your current position, you could miss out on your potential as a professional.