In this week’s Ten Money Questions we speak with Penelope Trunk. This is sort of a Part II to yesterday’s Brazen Careerist book review. Penelope, the author, writes at a blog by the same name: Brazen Careerist and has a lively and active readership. She is also a career columnist at the Boston Globe and Yahoo Finance. Since work and money go hand in hand, I wanted her thoughts on job satisfaction and earnings mixed with a few stories about money and writing for a living that turns the dollar personal. Consider this interview a teaser to what follows as she will be speaking at Blogher 07. Enjoy and then get back to work!

1. You state in your book that training is the new workplace currency. How can training compete with a good ole raise?
Most raises are so low that they are not going to change your life in any meaningful way. And they usually come with some sort of promotion that moves you along someone else’s vision for what your career path should be instead of your own. Tell your boss you don’t need their absurd 6% raise, and you don’t need a new title that describes a new rung on their corporate ladder. Tell your boss you want training. Training can change your life because it opens doors for you to get more exciting work, more flexible work, and a secure feeling of knowing that you are very employable next time you have to find work.

2. What is your most significant memory about money?
I was a latchkey kid from pretty well-to-do parents. I had a crazy childhood where I had a house-charge at all the local stores. I had no concept of money. I just sort of went to store to store trying to take care of myself by charging things. I spent a lot of my adult life trying to make a new relationship with money.

3. What is your worst habit around finances?
It took me a long time into my adult life to decide that I wanted to be good at managing my own money. Making that decision is half the battle.

4. You also write that people only need $40,000 a year to be happy. Is there really a magic number? Or is it more about living within one’s means and not caving in to consumerism?
It’s about drawing a line in the sand. Because it is against our human nature to think we have enough money. We always think we will have enough if we have 20% more. After a big raise we might feel like we have enough, but after two years we adapt to the income and think we need 20% more again.

The $40,000 is a reality check. You can live in any city with a roof over your head and food on the table for about that much money. No matter how many kids you have. You don’t think you can do it because all your friends will have more than that. And because you won’t be able to buy anything new, literally. But it’s a good reminder that everything after $40,000 is not necessary to be happy.

This conclusion has been repeated over and over again in research spanning multiple countries. It’s very convincing to me.

5. Is grad school or an MBA worth the time and money?
You should only go to grad school if you know exactly what you want to do when you’re done with school and you are certain it requires a degree. If you are not sure that you need the degree or you are not sure you know what you want to do then you run the risk of incurring the debt and then not being able to do what you really want because it wouldn’t pay enough to accommodate debt payments. In many instances grad school does not open doors, it closes doors.

Something else to consider – there is a glut of PhDs in the humanities and the sciences. Most people will not get teaching jobs when they graduate. So if you’re counting on that, do a little investigation about where the jobs are and who is getting them. You don’t do yourself any favors by getting a PhD for five years and then trying to get a job in corporate America. In most instances you look like someone who wanted to teach and is going into business because you can’t do your first choice.

6. Who taught you the value of a dollar?
I’m not sure I’ve ever learned it. I think my relationship with money is always changing, depending where I am in life. I’m sure this is a bad answer. Maybe a person who is good with money has a steady and great sense of the value of a dollar? I don’t know.

7. In this age of breadwinner wives, do people assume roles in relationships based more on earnings or gender?
In most cases women are more drawn to taking care of the kids than the men are. This is part of human nature. In a world where girls dress up like princesses even if you refuse to buy them princess stuff, and boys turn anything into a gun even if there are no guns in the house, I think it is absurd that we are even debating if women are more drawn to kids.

Don’t tell me about exceptions to the rule. Of course there are exceptions, but anomalous exceptions are not interesting when talking about trends. The trend is that men and women earn money and women are more conflicted than men once there are kids. So generally speaking, only in the extreme cases, where women are in a much, much better position career-wise than the man, are men taking the primary caretaker role. Even if both spouses work in identical jobs, women will take more responsibility than men for the kids.

8. It can be a challenge to earn a living as a writer. Is there truth to the saying do what you love and the money will follow?
I love sex. Does that mean I should do it for my job? Probably not.

Each of us has a multi-faceted personality. One job cannot fulfill all aspects of your personality. Pick something that feels good to do and that will pay enough to support you. And focus on picking something that you have big talent for. If you are going to work, you may as well do what you are great at. So many people pick what they love but not what they have immense talent for. Be honest with yourself. You’ll be happier doing the thing that you really stand out for than the thing you wish you stood out for.

I went to graduate school for English. My creative writing professor told us: “Only become a writer if you absolutely cannot do anything else. It’s a terrible life full of rejection and poverty.” I took his advice and went into software marketing. I only became a writer professionally when I was certain that I could stand out enough to support my family.

9. One of your more controversial tips is “Don’t report sexual harassment (in most cases).” Explain how women should leverage instead of litigate and what it means to their pocketbook.
The way women get earning power at work is by being in the workforce. Performing well on projects, expanding skills sets, and growing their networks. This is what gives you earning power.

While doing this, 75% of female knowledge workers will be harassed in their careers. Nearly 50% of women in summer jobs will be harassed. The idea of trying to stop this ubiquitous problem is for the lawyers and the courts, not for you. If your life is in danger, call the police. If it’s not in danger, tell the guy to leave you alone and move on.

This is what happens when you report sexual harassment to someone at your company: The company immediately starts protecting itself from a lawsuit. Not because the company is evil but because the law tells companies exactly what to do to protect themselves from ugly, costly harassment lawsuits. So you report harassment, to anyone and no one looks out for you because HR is paid to look out for the company. This doesn’t mean HR is bad. It means they’re doing their job.

So you are not going to get much support from HR, and on top of that, you will probably face retaliation – as in, you’ll be fired. Yes, it’s illegal, but the law does a very poor job of protecting people from retaliation. It’s very, very hard to prove in court. And most women who report harassment are forced out of their job.

Let’s say you do go to court. It will be expensive, long, drawn out, insulting, and you will be notorious in your field. No one wants to hire a trouble maker, so you will be much less employable. Your settlement will not be enough to retire one, so you will still have to work. And the legal battle will destroy you financially if you don’t win. Which you might not since you’ll be up against a large corporate team of lawyers that will surely outgun you.

You do not need to sacrifice your earning power to take down one guy who is harassing women. And, anyway, he’ll keep doing it no matter what you do. Do not sacrifice your earning power in the name of feminist agendas. It’s not your job to reform the American workplace at the cost of your ability to support yourself. It’s your job to take care of yourself and people who depend on you.

So tell the harasser you don’t like what he’s doing. (Yes, it’s almost always a he.) And he will probably stop. If he doesn’t, then ask to be transferred. Don’t bother reporting him. You have a career to run, and a bank account to fill, and people to take care of. Harassment is a distraction you don’t need. Until the law has more teeth for employees, brush off harassment and move on.

10. What is the most important lesson you hope to teach your son about money?
It’s not a contest.

More about Penelope Trunk
Penelope Trunk is the author of the book Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success. She is a career columnist at the Boston Globe and Yahoo Finance. Her syndicated column has run in more than 200 publications. Earlier, she was a software executive, and then she founded two companies. She has been through an IPO, an acquisition and a bankruptcy. Before that she played professional beach volleyball.

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Read other interviews in Nina’s Ten Money Questions series at Queercents.