Filed under: personalfinancenewsss.wordpress.com | Tags: Ethical, Legacy, Wills
At this particular time in our nation, when so much focus is disproportionately on our material worth, there is no better time to take stock of what we should really be passing on to future generations: a rich legacy through story and shared humanity.
That is the purpose of ethical wills and I was delighted to have a recent conversation about one in particular that illustrates this beautifully. Truly, I could simply paste Beatrice Taishoff’s ethical will into this space and my readers would come away with a stirring message about how to create one’s life.
But some context is essential to understand the power and transformation that can come from this kind of expression.
First of all, an ethical will is not a legal document. According to the Web site, they “are a way to share your values, blessings, life’s lessons, hopes and dreams for the future, love, and forgiveness with your family, friends, and community.” The site also notes that these documents trace their roots back to the Hebrew Bible 3,000 years ago and that references to ethical wills are also found in the Christian Bible and in other cultures. Barack Obama wrote one to his daughters before being sworn in as President.
Beatrice Taishoff first learned of ethical wills upon entering Jewish Home Lifecare, a nursing home facility in the Bronx section of New York, in the spring of 2001. At nearly 99 years of age, according to the introduction she wrote to her ethical will, she was “barely communicative. My prognosis was poor. I lived with a death wish. I had trouble holding onto reality. My confusion was so intense that I stopped thinking, which, of course, had been the essence of my very being.”
This was a woman who pitched in and did most of the housework at age five, made education a priority and eventually graduated magna cum laude from the University of Michigan via its work/study program, and then attended Columbia University at night after her husband died when her children were young. And this only scratches the surface in explaining the workings of her fertile mind.
“When Mrs. Taishoff came here, she couldn’t even remember her kids’ names,” social worker Sandy Meyers said in our recent interview. “At that point she was suffering from dementia and she was severely depressed.”
That was a cue for Meyers and her people-focused approach or what’s referred to as “culture change” in the world of elder care. Essentially, instead of the “old” way of merely delivering services that sustain life, it’s about a “new” culture of infusing life with the joy of living it. As part of that, Meyers started working with Taishoff on the concept of an ethical will and had to work through some resistance along the way.
“She would throw me out of the room,” Meyers said. “It was a context in which to talk to her. She said, ‘My pillow is wet from tears because I’m still alive.’”
Meyers persisted and worked with Taishoff’s stream-of-consciousness writing, reading it back to her and fine tuning it for months.
“In reality, I find I can’t do this with most people,” Meyers said. “You have to be able to look inside yourself.”
Taishoff not only managed to reach back into her history, but get into the core of her spirituality and life philosophies. She was goal-oriented and believed that “one must creatively shape one’s life so that it is productive and satisfying.” Writing it all down proved to be a tremendous boost.
“It gave her a new lease on life,” her son, Sherman Taishoff, said. “It really gave her at least two and half more years of a quality of life I hadn’t seen in years. The mind she had prided herself on returned. There were things about my mother that I didn’t know. I talked to her about [the ethical will], used it as a springboard to learn more. My kids enjoyed reading it, too.”
Imagine the sustained joy, the relatability that comes from Beatrice Taishoff being candid about her despair and her triumphs via the written word. She was more than a century old when she died, but in those final years she not only wrote her ethical will, but Meyers encouraged her to do some speaking about the experience. Taishoff also published an article about it at age 100.
“It was a labor of love,” Meyers said. “The main thing about all this is that people feel they lived a life that matters.”
In a way that goes beyond stock portfolio and heirlooms.
As Taishoff wrote, “Life, no matter what the struggles, the perplexities, always has a value if you value who you are as a human being.”
Now that’s a legacy.
Nancy Colasurdo is a practicing life coach and freelance writer. Her Web site is www.nancola.com. Please direct all questions/comments to FOXGamePlan@gmail.com.
Filed under: personalfinancenewsss.wordpress.com | Tags: home, Improve, Life, your
Our environment is the foundation of our life.
Boy, would I like to take credit for that little gem of a statement, but it belongs to designer Stephen Saint-Onge. In my hour-long conversation with him, I was acutely aware that I was talking to someone who is very much self-actualized. The way he sees it, home design isn’t something to inflict or dictate, but to empower and uplift and set the stage for a lifestyle. And he is clear about his role in that process.
“It’s a personal connection,” Saint-Onge said. “I’m not judging them. Homes are personal spaces. It’s up to me to help them make it better. Good design has the power to change people’s lives.”
This took on an enhanced meaning when the economy took a nosedive. Many people have had to shift from “dream home” mode to making improvements to their current home, while others who are selling their homes are trying to gain an edge through more stylish staging.
“You can’t control what’s happening in the outside world, but you can control your home,” said Saint-Onge, whose brand is all about family-friendly design. “Bottom line, people can make their home anywhere they want. It’s about what you surround yourself with. I’m a big believer in that.”
Saint-Onge – already a media splash with appearances on Oprah, The View , CNN, FOX News, ESPN and TLC as well as mentions in publications like House Beautiful , In Style , Real Simple and the Wall Street Journal – is now a regular contributor to Better Homes and Gardens magazine and has teamed with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate to do home improvement videos (http://www.bhgrealestate.com/Views/Live/Video.aspx) that have his signature warm, inviting vibe.
Someone who can’t afford to flat out hire a designer can get the professional touch by watching those and implementing his tips. Or they can take it a step further by having a sort of virtual consultation with him for $175. You mail in photos of a room, fill out the form on his Web site, and in two weeks you get “a specific list of what could be done with the room, a floor plan to illustrate what Stephen thinks you could do and even some products or services that he thinks might help you in your redesign plan.”
The beauty of working with Saint-Onge is his comfort level with doing what he was born to do as an artist. His eye and his sensibility have been very much informed by his passion for old movies and that World War II philosophy of appreciating simple things. He loves passing that on through his work. He recalled a moment that crystallized for him his true gift.
“Oprah said, ‘You can see the potential in any space,’” Saint-Onge said. “I can. I see the end result, beyond the clutter. I realized it’s something I can do.”
It is something he can do, in fact, that many people find stressful. He has been to homes where there are six paint swatches on the bedroom wall and they’ve been there for six months because the homeowners can’t decide.
“A lot of people have the same dilemma,” he said. “They can’t see beyond what they see every day. The energy or mood of a person changes when there’s somebody that says you can do this, this and this to make this room better. I leave them with a to-do list. Then they wonder, ‘What was I waiting for? Now I have a whole new space and I’ve done it myself.’”
The idea is to create moments. Do you see yourself writing a novel in that corner or baking a pie in that kitchen? Saint-Onge likes to ask people their favorite movie as potential inspiration. For example, the Hamptons-style beach house in the film Something’s Gotta Give is very popular and, in fact, its writer, Nancy Meyers, received a lot of interview requests about its décor. Saint-Onge also gets requests based on another Meyers movie, The Holiday , which features personality-filled homes for characters played by Jude Law and Kate Winslet.
“I tell them to freeze frame scenes and see what they like,” Saint Onge said. “The conversation begins. They’re communicating about design in a different way.”
That brings to mind for me a scene from the movie French Kiss , when Luc (played by Kevin Kline) gives Kate (played by Meg Ryan) the language to describe wine by having her smell various herbs, fruits and flowers while blindfolded. When she tastes the wine, she then immediately gets the subtle notes, like lavender.
Same concept for design. Saint-Onge finds if this approach doesn’t work, it challenges him to find a different way to communicate.
“They need to have an idea or an essence of what the room is going to be,” he said. “It could be tear sheets from magazines. Get a Look Book created. It could be a three-ring binder or a sketch book that includes settings you think are fantastic.”
The environment, the foundation, the life – they all flow from there.
Nancy Colasurdo is a practicing life coach and freelance writer. Her Web site is www.nancola.com. Please direct all questions/comments to FOXGamePlan@gmail.com.
Filed under: personalfinancenewsss.wordpress.com | Tags: Cash, Manage, Tech, Ways
Quicken. Microsoft Money. Intuit. There are plenty of high-tech ways to manage your money and help you track and cut spending. But if you can’t master, won’t use or are too frugal to buy the high-tech solutions, pick up a pencil and start saving and budgeting now with these low-tech options.
Write it down
Most budgeting gurus advise their followers to track spending for several months. You can get a notebook just to record spending or write down expenses in a planner you already use.
“That’s probably the best low-tech way,” says Nathan McGee, who writes a cost-cutting blog, Nates2Cents. “It can be eye-opening. ‘I’m spending so much on groceries’ or ‘I spent $150 last week eating out for lunch.’ Just having an awareness of where your money is going helps you control spending.”
Savings: McGee and his wife save $500 per month.
Expert evaluation: Good idea. “I have to track my spending,” says The Debt Diva Clarky Davis. “That is key to your whole budget and spending plan.”
After tracking her spending, Davis realized many of her regular bills came due at the same time each month. “I spent one paycheck paying all my bills, even dipping into savings,” she says. “Then the next check, I had all this money that I was spending on other (nonessential) things instead of paying back savings.”
She recommends contacting your sources of regular bills, such as credit card and utility companies, to see if you can adjust due dates to make sure they are spread throughout the month.
Not ready to write it down? Save receipts
Keeping receipts also works as a backup for any purchases you forget to write down. McGee carries a small bag in his pocket for receipts and lays them out when he gets home.
“You could get a bright orange box or anything that’s prominent or noticeable and put it within the typical pathway you’re going to follow when you get home,” McGee says.
But you have to stay on top of it, or you’ll be overwhelmed. “Some people put off going through the receipts until later, and it really piles up,” McGee says. “Then they have three months of stuff they haven’t really dealt with, and they have to play catch-up. It gets really discouraging.”
Expert evaluation: “Saving receipts is a huge help,” says Davis, who saves her receipts in January and July as a spending checkup.
Now, cut expenses
Some people swear by the envelope system, especially for groceries, dining out, clothes and other easily controllable expenses. You budget the amount you’ll spend in each category for the month and put that much cash in an envelope. When the money in an envelope runs out, you’re finished spending on that category.
Joanna and Josh Burgess began using the envelope system soon after they got married in 2006. They started with a physical box with envelopes labeled grocery; eating out/entertainment; miscellaneous, for irregular household expenses; allowance, for the money each could spend; and credit card. Gas was a virtual envelope that stayed in the checking account.
“When a paycheck came, all the envelopes were filled with budgeted amounts except the credit card envelope, which was left empty,” says Joanna Burgess. “If we were out and had forgotten to grab the cash for the intended purchase, we’d pay with a credit card. Then when we got home, (we’d) move the money from the intended envelope to the credit card envelope to symbolically say, ‘This money is spent.’”
They’ve paid off $20,000 in school loans, saved a down payment for a home, set aside an emergency fund and attended a cousin’s wedding in Hawaii. “For us, most of our entertainment is in eating out,” Burgess says. “Having a limit on how many times per week we can eat out is where we see our biggest savings.”
Savings: The Burgesses save $300 a month. Since they adopted the envelope system early in their marriage, it was tough to say how much they saved every month — until they got slack and switched to plastic one month last year. “By spending on plastic instead of cash in March 2008, we overspent by $300, about 40% of our budget,” she says. The Burgesses are back to the envelope system.
Expert evaluation: “I’ve never done it — too many envelopes,” Davis says. “But people I know who use it love it. They say they can see and feel the cash right there.”
Cash or not?
For some people, spending only cash helps cut expenses because handing over those bills is more tangible than writing a check or swiping a card. But for others, ready cash in the wallet is more easily spent.
“I find when I have cash, I tend to spend it quicker,” McGee says. He uses a debit card and leaves his credit cards at home for true emergencies.
For Davis, the amount of cash is key. If she has $20 in her wallet and gets thirsty on her walk, the temptation is to buy a bottle of water. When she has no cash, she can’t spend it. On the other hand, for major purchases, Davis spends cash.
“When it’s something like a $500 purchase, I want to see the cash and see that I have it in my account,” she says. And for nonessential purchases such as clothing, the prospect of handing over $300 in cash for a nice jacket can deter spending. “That takes the glamour out of the purchase when I know I can probably get the same outfit somewhere else for much cheaper. Using cash sends up a red flag.”
Expert evaluation: Your mileage may vary. Find what works for you.
Comparison shop
To further manage your grocery spending, start a price book or spreadsheet to track prices of items you regularly buy, an idea publicized widely by Amy Dacyczyn in “The Tightwad Gazette.”
“People think they remember the price at the places they normally shop,” says Jenn Fowler, who writes the blog Frugal Upstate. “But unless you’re incredibly good with numbers, it’s hard to carry all those prices in your head. Sometimes, when you’re dealing with varying sizes, it’s hard to know intuitively which is the better deal.”
If one grocer in your area typically has lower everyday prices, use that store as a benchmark, Fowler says. Then when stores put items on sale, highlight the sale price, she says. You’ll soon see patterns in how often certain items go on sale.
She advises saving your receipts and writing down prices when you get home. That’s also a good time to do the math to figure cost per unit. “That way, you don’t look like a grocery spy writing prices down in the store,” Fowler says.
To get started, run a Google search for “grocery price book.” Several Web sites have free Excel spreadsheets and/or PDFs you can use to create your own system. You can list items in alphabetical order, the order you find them in your favorite store or by categories.
Savings: 15% to 20% a month on your grocery bill, says Gary Foreman of TheDollarStretcher.com.
Expert Evaluation: “It’s absolutely foolish to shop without a price book,” Foreman says. “I was a purchasing manager, and we wouldn’t dream of sending a professional buyer to buy something without having a buy history of what items cost. With a price book, you reduce your grocery bill without sacrificing brands, quality or quantity. You haven’t affected what you consume at all.”
© Copyright 2009 Bankrate, Inc. All rights reserved
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Filed under: personalfinancenewsss.wordpress.com | Tags: fight, four, Inflation, retirees, Ways
BOSTON — Make no mistake: A dollar doesn’t go as far as it used to. That’s true for all Americans, but the loss of purchasing power is especially insidious for Americans aged 62 and older. This group lives between the proverbial rock and a hard place: Fixed incomes plus inflation that tends to run a bit faster than that for the general population.
Fortunately, there are some solutions to the problems faced by older Americans who feel squeezed by the ever-rising cost of living.
But first some background: Inflation for older Americans rose on average 3.3% over the 25 years from December 1982 to December 2007, according to the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics’ experimental consumer price index (CPI-E), an index designed to track the cost of living for those aged 62 and older.
By contrast, inflation rose just 3% according to the CPI-U, the index that tracks the cost of living for all workers. To be sure, it might not seem like a lot, but over time, that difference can add up, especially if you’re living on a fixed income. Consider: $1 in 1983 was worth just 44 cents in 2007 for those 62 and older, compared with 47 cents for all other Americans.
According to a BLS report, the experimental consumer price index rose somewhat faster mainly because prices for medical care and shelter, which are weighted more heavily in the CPI-E, increased more rapidly than overall inflation during the period. See the report on BLS site (PDF).
Housing and health care, not surprisingly, are among the top three expenses seniors have. Housing represents 34% — or $12,296 — of average expenditures for American age 65 years and older and medical care represents 12.6% or $4,631 in expenses, according to another BLS report, “Consumer Expenditures in 2007.” Transportation is the second largest expense, representing 15% or $5,785 of expenses.
This week, the Senior Citizens League released a report stating that seniors have lost 20% of their purchasing power since 2000. In other words, $1 from nine years ago is now worth just 80 cents. And when you look at housing and health-care costs, the loss of purchasing power seems even dramatic.
The cost of homeowner’s insurance for seniors rose about 60% to $789 per year in 2009 from $492 in 2000; real estate taxes rose 77% to $1,223 in 2009 from $690 in 2000; and the cost of one gallon of heating oil rose 96% to $2.45 in 2009 from $1.25 in 2000, according to Senior Citizens League. And, the cost of Medicare Part B monthly premiums rose 119% to $96.40 in 2009 from $45.50 in 2000. Read the Senior Citizens League report.
Given that rate of inflation, what can retirees and would-be retirees do to protect themselves? And what, if anything, can government do?
1. Tie COLA to CPI-E
The Senior Citizens League notes that “seniors receive a small increase in their Social Security checks, intended to help them keep up with the costs of inflation.” But since 2000, the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) has increased average benefits just 31% while typical senior expenses have risen more than 58%. According to the Senior Citizens League, a senior with the average Social Security benefit in 2000 received $816 per month, a figure that rose to $1072.30 by 2009. However, that senior would require a Social Security benefit of $1,288.60 per month in 2009 just to maintain his or her 2000 lifestyle.
According to Ken Stewart of BLS, the experimental CPI-E increased 31.2% for the last 10 years, from March 1999 to March 2009. During that same time, the CPI for all urban consumers (CPI-U) — the BLS’ broadest measure of inflation — increased 28.9%. And the CPI for urban wage earners and clerical workers (CPI-W) — the index used for Social Security cost-of-living adjustments — increased 28.4% over that time period.
To help increase buying power, the Senior Citizens League is lobbying for a change in the index used to determine the Social Security COLA. By tying the COLA to the CPI-E, seniors would see much needed relief in their monthly checks, the Senior Citizens League said in its release.
“For example, a senior who retired with a benefit of $460 in 1984 would have received $12,014 more over the past 26 years with the CPI-E,” the League said.
To be sure, while tying COLA to CPI-E could help many seniors who rely largely on Social Security, there may not be any political will to change how the COLA is calculated, given the latest Trustees report on Social Security and Medicare. The two programs are expected to run out of money sooner than expected, Social Security by 2037 and Medicare by 2017, according to a report released Tuesday. See related story.
One looming problem: The Congressional Budget Office is projecting no COLA increases from 2010 through 2012. And that, according to the Senior Citizens League, means seniors will likely fall even further behind as medical costs continue to climb as forecast.
2. Live within means
No matter whether you use CPI-E or CPI-U or CPI-W, the cost of living is expensive. And the way to deal with expensive living is to reduce spending and to live within your means, said Somnath Basu, director of the California Institute of Finance at California Lutheran University and author of “Age Banding: A Model for Planning Retirement Needs.” Read the report (PDF).
According to Basu, seniors living on fixed incomes need to worry less about indexes and focus more on their own consumption. The “average” person consumes a very different set of goods than what we find many people consume. In other words, he said it’s important to create a budget now and stick with it. Otherwise, “the lack of future COLA raises may become very daunting,” he said.
Among the more novel ways Basu said older Americans might trim expenses is by growing food and learning to become self-sufficient. “Home production of foods and services is now more necessary than ever for retirees,” he said.
3. Calculate retirement expenses
No matter whether you are retired or not, Basu said it’s important to estimate as accurately as possible your expenses in retirement. You need to know what the different inflation rates are for the different types of goods and services that you will consume. And you need to know how those goods and services will be consumed during the different retirement stages. For instance, it’s likely that you will spend more on health care in the latter stages of retirement than in the early stages. And it’s likely that you’ll spend more on travel and entertainment in the early stages than later. Both of those expenditures have different inflation rates and both will represent a different percent of total expenditures over the course of one’s retirement.
4. Invest differently
One of the major risks in retirement is inflation, according to the Society of Actuaries. See related story.
The best way to mitigate the effects of inflation, the SOA said, is to own some assets whose value may grow in times of inflation. Those include common stocks, inflation-indexed Treasury bonds, inflation-indexed annuities; and commodities and natural resources.
Copyright © 2009 MarketWatch, Inc.
Let me tell you how you know when someone is in the right line of work. They say things like this:
“I have really, really happy clients.”
If I wasn’t already convinced Kim Ades was on to something with her innovative approach to coaching, that statement set off bells and whistles. Especially because it was preceded by this:
“These clients are over-the-top crazy happy,” Ades said. “I have a guy who writes Oprah every day saying we should be on her show.”
Now that’s a sign of a highly satisfied client.
In the nearly two-year existence of Frame of Mind Coaching, its president, Ades, and her team have coached about 170 people. What distinguishes Ades’ company from most coaching programs is that guided journaling is used as a primary tool.
“Journaling is one thing that has been consistent over my lifetime,” Ades said in our recent interview. “It has created balance. It’s my way of expressing myself. When certain situations come up, it’s my way of redirecting myself.”
While that’s on a personal note, her idea for Frame of Mind Coaching was also prompted by professional experience. According to her Web site bio, from 1995-2005, Ades was the founder and president of Upward Motion and is “well known for dramatically penetrating the international real estate industry with a product called the Real Estate Simulator, a web-based assessment tool for the recruitment, selection and training of top performing real estate agents.”
“We tested hundreds of thousands of people,” Ades said. “The most significant differentiator was emotional resilience. People with more emotional resilience achieved more outstanding goals, went the distance. They had the ability to overcome adversity, to process adversity.”
It’s worth mentioning that Ades has some firsthand knowledge of adversity. Her business partner in Upward Motion was her now-ex-husband.
“Everything my identity was attached to just blew up,” Ades said of her divorce after 15 years of marriage. “But then I thought, I’m me, I’m still breathing. I can choose to say I’m never getting married again or OK, let’s go figure it out. The world is a big place. Life comes at you. Now I can say getting divorced was one of the best things to happen to me.”
That was five years ago. Part of Ades’ shift in thinking came with the awareness that her Egyptian-Jewish heritage had instilled in her a way of life that required always being in service to others.
“My need for approval, acceptance came from outside,” she said. “I contorted myself to please my husband to get that approval. I made the shift that I can’t please everybody. It was a huge shift. I own my life. The moment you take care of you, you release energy that says, ‘I’m good with me.’”
Which, of course, makes you a better friend, parent, spouse, sibling and worker. It also illustrates the question at the heart of her program: How do you think about what’s happening in front of you?
“We have 60,000 thoughts a day,” she said. “What are those thoughts that are taking over? The writing helps us see it.”
While most coaching is done with weekly or bi-monthly sessions and little contact in between, Ades feels strongly that capturing the in-between time is key to profound progress in her clients.
“Most know what they’re supposed to do, but they’re still not doing it,” Ades said. “The beliefs they have slow them down. How do you know what they’re thinking? There’s very little in life you can control, but you can control how you process things. Journaling is processing – it’s right in front of us.”
Journaling became such an integral part of Frame of Mind Coaching that instead of continuing to use third-party software, the company brought software developer Jordan Ravka aboard to create its own version about a year ago.
“We received great feedback,” Ravka said. “That encouraged more features. Now I’m starting again, building a new one from scratch. The new version will probably be the most complicated software I’ve ever done. The company is having a great deal of success selling [the software] to clients, but originally it was not designed to be customized. Version two will have that option.”
It is just another layer of progress stemming from what began as Ades’ desire to run a pilot coaching program for real estate agents and to focus it on frame of mind. Her style doesn’t include a plan of action or accountability milestones.
“I have five kids,” Ades said. “I don’t want anybody accountable to me. Why should they be?”
“I’ve tried coaching without journaling and I’m not nearly as effective,” Ades said.
Instead, there are happy, happy clients.
Nancy Colasurdo is a practicing life coach and freelance writer. Her Web site is www.nancola.com. Please direct all questions/comments to FOXGamePlan@gmail.com.
Filed under: personalfinancenewsss.wordpress.com | Tags: Dream, Great, Land, Ways, your
Even as jobs become harder to find, too many job-seekers rely on a tunnel-vision strategy that makes use of only one or two job-search methods. That strategy may eventually land you a job, but it’s likely you’ll spend more time being frustrated than interviewed.
So should you rely on job fairs, Internet job boards or social media for employment leads? The answer for most successful job-seekers is all of the above and then some.
A multipronged approach makes the best use of your time and energy. Check out these eight ways that people search for jobs.
1. Internet job boards
Mainstream Internet job boards such as Monster.com and Careerbuilder.com were once the go-to resource for job-seekers.
Although these job boards have been around for about 15 years, they are quickly running out of steam, in part because there are fewer jobs to post and overwhelmed employers often take jobs offline after receiving thousands of resumes in a single day.
Monster.com advertises on its Web site that it has over 70 million personalized accounts. So if you’re not first in line once a company posts a job, it’s likely that your resume may turn into digital vapor, says Todd Bermont, author of “10 Insider Secrets to a Winning Job Search.”
“Maybe 5 (percent) to 10% of all people get jobs through a job board,” he says. “It’s not to say it’s a waste of time, but you don’t want that to be your sole job-seeking activity of the day.”
Bermont, whose job-hunting courses have been featured at the University of Chicago’s Graham School and at Loyola University, says employers often look at the first 100 or so resumes while the rest fall by the wayside.
Job-seekers may be more productive using industry-specific job boards. Job-hunt.org is a good resource for finding these Web sites.
2. Networking through personal contacts
Personal contacts are the most effective way to job search. More than 80% of jobs get filled via referral, says J.T. O’Donnell, a career strategist and consultant based in North Hampton, N.H.
Networking means more than name dropping. “It’s not who you know, it’s who knows you,” she says.
Whether you’re using social networking Web sites like LinkedIn or Twitter or personal referrals, it’s important that people know your strengths, skills and the value you bring to a company before they refer you, says O’Donnell.
Be specific about the kind of companies you want to work for and why you’re interested in them. It will help your personal contacts have a clearer sense of who you are and make it easier for them to refer you to the right person.
3. Career consultants
Career consultants may not get you a job per se, but they can be effective in helping job-seekers brand themselves, a trend that is becoming more important in an economic climate where competition for jobs is intense.
Career branding is a way to market yourself much like companies market their products. You are selling yourself as a valuable commodity to employers.
Embarking on a job search without a sense of your personal brand is akin to going on a road trip with no destination in mind, O’Donnell says.
Career consultants can be effective when job-seekers are looking for higher paying jobs. Fees can range from $99 for basic resume services to $2,000 for extensive coaching, says O’Donnell.
4. Recruiters, private employment agencies
Recruiters, sometimes known as headhunters, are hired by companies and organizations to fill open positions. Many times they are hired to fill executive positions, and they are always paid by their clients, not the job-seeker.
Executive headhunters can be effective because the incentive to get a person placed is high. Fees typically represent a percentage of the job-seeker’s salary.
Private agencies such as Manpower, Kelly and Olsten provide another avenue toward employment. Also funded by employers, they generally supply temporary workers to employers for prescribed periods of time. The temporary agency gets paid an hourly fee, which is usually much higher than the pay temp workers get from the agency.
They are worth checking out, especially those that specialize in your field of interest. The arrangement gives both employer and employee a chance to get acquainted before any commitments are made. Oftentimes temporary workers will be offered permanent employment.
5. Internships
Internships can be great ways for students to gain real world experience in their area of study.
Some interns are paid a salary and the internships often lead to full-time employment upon graduation.
In 2008, almost 70% of college interns received employment offers from their internship hosts, according to a survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.
“I’ve seen strong results with internships,” says Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter, a certified master resume writer and a career consultant who heads Career Trend in Kansas City, Mo.
“I value them highly because they give you great experience and opportunity, so interns should do their best to be a resource for the company.”
The downside? Many internships are unpaid, which can be a financial burden to students who rely on summer work to make ends meet.
Students contemplating an internship should not be afraid to ask specific questions about work schedules, duties, pay and performance reviews, much like any job-seeker would do.
6. Job fairs
Job fairs have gained a lot of visibility lately.
In healthier economies, they typically attract hundreds of job-seekers but lately the numbers have escalated to thousands.
Still, job fairs should be part of a multipronged approach to meet employers in person and possibly find jobs. However, they may not be as effective if you are looking for something other than entry-level work.
“I think for face time it rates highly, but do a little research before you go to a job fair,” Barrett-Poindexter says. “Sometimes they’re industry specific while some are broader than that.”
Author Bermont says job-seekers may be able to get more traction by joining industry-specific associations and network that way.
He says the broader job fairs can be costly to attend in larger cities and it’s hard to get noticed by a company because thousands of people attend them.
“It’s not focused toward any one industry and it’s an expense,” he says.
“If you’re going to a job fair in a city like Chicago, you’re going to pay $15 to $20 to park and you have absolutely no idea if there’s going to be a single job that you’re looking for.”
7. School career placement offices
Most colleges and universities have career placement offices. The problem is many students either don’t know they exist or don’t effectively utilize them until they are ready to graduate.
Career placement offices help students with resume writing, interview coaching, job postings and other services, but not all are known to be a good resource for job-seekers.
“Although it’s something that you pay for as part of your tuition, there’s not a lot of accountability within the colleges for the career center to make sure that every student understands that they are there and knows how to leverage all their resources,” O’Donnell says.
Nevertheless, some career placement offices have excellent reputations.
Career placement offices at Northeastern University, Claremont McKenna College, Wabash College and the University of Texas at Austin ranked the highest in the 2009 edition of the Princeton Review’s Annual College Rankings.
Take advantage of your school career placement office by using it as soon as you arrive on campus, not at the end of your senior year. Better yet, make it a point to stop by the career office to see what services they offer before committing to a college or university.
And long after you graduate, you may still avail yourself of your alma mater’s services. Many larger universities offer career placement services to alumni, too.
8. Government employment services
States provide employment services in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration.
They help job-seekers with career counseling and occupational testing services and will often help match you with available job openings at no cost.
Local offices can be found on the Internet or in a telephone book under “job services” or by looking for your state’s department of labor and workforce development.
Information about federal government jobs is available from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s USAJOBs Web site, or fedjobs.gov.
Hiring by the federal government more than doubled from 1.5% to 3.2% between February 2008 and January 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
However, government jobs can be very difficult to nail down. Application guidelines are rigid, competition is fierce and some jobs require the applicant to obtain security clearance.
More from Bankrate.comMake the best of lower card limitsSeeking a share of an ex-spouse’s 401(k)What’s $29,000 worth after 18 years?What are your tax e-paying options?9 smart personal finance moves in 2009
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Meryl Poster and David Rubin may be producing partners and co-founders of the new MySpace.com series called BFF , but when they get talking about it they seem more like proud parents.
And why not? They have birthed an idea that has only begun to reach its potential.
BFF , for those not versed in texting lingo, stands for Best Friends Forever. Poster and Rubin have trademarked the abbreviated name and created a game show for best friends reminiscent of The Newlywed Game . There are 20 episodes in the can and they are rolling them out weekly through the end of June.
But that’s just the beginning. What the pair is doing is building a brand that is appealing and engaging – and clean! — for its young demographic. There are three segments – Would They Rather, Music Matters and Predictability Speed Round — led by likable host Amy Schumer.
Poster, who had a 16-year run at Miramax, built a reputation for fostering relationships there while executive producing such films as Chicago , The Cider House Rules and Chocolat .
“Lots of stars are happy to see me,” said Poster in a recent interview at her office in Rockefeller Center. “I’m genuine. I don’t know any other way to be.”
Now she has a first-look deal at NBC Universal and she’s applying that gift to a number of projects.
“NBC passed on BFF ,” said Poster. “It was too young for their demographic. At first this was a [TV] game show for the network … ”
“But on the Internet we could control the rights, licensing and build a brand,” Rubin said.
Rubin is currently an independent producer who made the career switch from fashion executive. He was co-owner of Jennifer George Inc. and then did consulting gigs with clients such as Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman before embarking on the world of entertainment. His first producing experience was on the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival entrant Gotta Dance . Of Poster, he said, “Can you imagine a better teacher?”
By taking this particular “baby” to MySpace.com, Poster and Rubin have had the opportunity to bridge a gap between the generation that thinks it’s natural to turn to the Web for TV-type programming and the generation that grew up before cable was a household word.
“The model is cutting edge, the content is not,” Poster said.
According to Rubin, BFF was “just shy” of a million views for the first three weeks. As these producers well know – Rubin has an 11-year-old daughter and Poster has a girl and boy, ages 11 and 7 – one of the keys to becoming “viral” with this demographic is interactivity. That’s where BFF Beats comes in.
“Have you seen the Beats ?” Poster said.
When I shook my head, she hit the link on her computer and we watched them together. They are videos of the best friend pairs that have been on the show, each essentially doing a rap duet. In May, users will be able to make their own videos by choosing one of the tracks provided and uploading the final product to the site. As Jack Black says in the film The Holiday , “Totally brill.”
Poster raised the bar of expectations for Web TV with this venture by sticking to her guns – she knows casting and that entertainment is entertainment. That’s why BFF is designed and powered by dotbox and produced by City Lights Media Group. It was a quest for quality, one they’d like to be a template for other projects.
“You can’t be scared of new technology,” she said.
“People say, ‘It’s just for the Web,’” Rubin said. “We heard that a lot.”
“Not acceptable,” Poster said.
And so, with a whole new demographic for them to keep up with – via the likes of Teen Vogue and Teen Candy – Poster and Rubin are creating some mighty innovative offspring. MySpace.com artist Jess Furman sings the catchy theme, “You Can Count on Me” (over 150,000 views) and there is an app for a game that allows best friends to find out how much they know about each other.
“We thought it was funny that the pair that knew each other the longest didn’t win any rounds,” Rubin said.
It’s all part of the charm.
“It’s been fun doing this,” Poster said. “Everybody at MySpace felt part of the process. We came up with so much together.”
Ah, yes. Because, as any good parent knows, sometimes it takes a village.
Nancy Colasurdo is a practicing life coach and freelance writer. Her Web site is www.nancola.com. Please direct all questions/comments to FOXGamePlan@gmail.com.
Filed under: personalfinancenewsss.wordpress.com | Tags: Acting, Globally, Locally, thinking
I am ever grateful that when The Universe was doling out gifts and assignments for this life, I was not bestowed with the task of figuring out how to right our economy, keep terrorists from having their diabolical way, or deciding upon the finer points of our nation’s moral compass.
As a responsible citizen living in a democracy, I have cast my votes for individuals at the local and national levels who I believe have the intellect and vision to help us grow and keep us as safe as possible.
But every day is not Election Day and so our decisions on the continuum that is life are about making it productive and maybe even impactful. You know (ideally), think globally, act locally.
There we hit upon my gift, my assignment, so to speak. It’s to get more people to see their own gifts and use them in a way that contributes to a whole. So many people who seek life coaching are unaware of how improving their lives and maximizing their gifts will in any way make the world a better place. They typically see it as selfish, but often they’ve convinced themselves it’s something they deserve.
Well, they’re right in that it’s selfish, if we could remove the stigma from the word and shift the paradigm to make it a positive. And they’re also right in that it’s something they deserve. But so do the people around them, and around them, and so on. We all deserve a world where people are living their best lives or at least striving to do so.
The ripple effects will show up in a myriad of ways. That confident, mannerly child you’re raising. That extra motivated employee in your charge. That socially conscious ad campaign you created. That money you raised for the neighborhood community center. That momentary eye contact you made with a homeless person.
They are the result of being attentive, diligent and mindful, of being present and engaged in all of life. When the goal is to take what we’ve been given and refine and polish it and ultimately share it, the world benefits. This is not coach-speak or New Age gibberish. It’s fact.
I have coached and/or interviewed for this column an impressive array of people who have tapped into their innate gifts. Some didn’t do it consciously, while others discovered their talent early and cultivated it. The holistic health counselor who derives joy from teaching people to feel better by eating better. The shoemaker who takes the greatest of pride in bringing worn leather back to life. The renowned business coach whose work with corporate leaders has made him internationally recognized in his field.
When you’re doing what you were meant to be doing, we all benefit. And that brings me back to the national and global picture.
At this challenging time in our nation, when consuming politics disguised as news has become so divisive it’s almost painful, what we are left with is our choices. We can grumble, label what we disagree with as “unpatriotic” or “Communist,” threaten to secede from the nation, empty Costco’s shelves of tea, rail at the President for not going after the previous administration on torture, rail at the President for considering going after the previous administration on torture, be threatened by the idea of giving basic civil rights to people whose sexuality differs from ours.
Or we can contribute to the big picture by focusing on our own little corner of the world. Expressing disagreement can create vibrant conversation and bring about real change, but it works best when coming from actualized, emotionally intelligent individuals who live with purpose.
“We need to be the change we wish to see in the world,” Mahatma Gandhi famously said.
Are you embodying that change? Because really, that’s where it has to start.
I have been assigned to remind you.
Nancy Colasurdo is a practicing life coach and freelance writer. Her Web site is www.nancola.com. Please direct all questions/comments to FOXGamePlan@gmail.com.
Filed under: personalfinancenewsss.wordpress.com | Tags: bank, Stress, Tests, What
Are your finances strong enough to withstand another couple years of this battering economy? Can you suffer additional losses and still pay your bills and, if not thrive, at least survive if the economy continues to deteriorate?
That’s what federal banking regulators are trying to determine with the country’s largest banking institutions. The stress tests you’ve heard about are “forward-looking economic assessments.” Do these organizations have enough capital to withstand another two years of an economy that may be worse than is currently anticipated?
Nineteen banks and thrifts, each with more than $100 billion in assets, are being put to the test. As a group, they hold an estimated two-thirds of the assets in the U.S. banking system. Most Americans do business with one or more of these institutions. Among those being tested are JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, SunTrust Bank, Goldman Sachs and PNC Bank.
The stress tests will evaluate each institution’s finances under two scenarios — a baseline and a more adverse scenario.
Baseline scenario
Economy — Shrinks by 2 percent (adjusted for inflation) in 2009 and grows by 2.1 percent in 2010.
Unemployment — Averages 8.4 percent in 2009 and 8.8 percent in 2010.
Housing prices — Drop 14 percent in 2009 (from where they ended December 2008) and drop 4 percent in 2010 (from December 2009).
More adverse scenario
Economy — Shrinks by 3.3 percent in 2009 and grows by 0.5 percent in 2010.
Unemployment — Averages 8.9 percent in 2009 and 10.3 percent in 2010.
Housing prices — Drop 22 percent in 2009 (from where they ended December 2008) and drop 7 percent in 2010 (from December 2009).
The Federal Reserve is expected to release some information May 4 about the stress test results. Institutions that aren’t well-capitalized will have six months to try to raise the necessary funding in the private markets. Any that can’t raise the money will be bailed out by the government.
Government intentions foggy
“The whole idea of going through this process is to give people greater confidence in the banking system,” says David Waddell, CEO and senior investment strategist at Waddell & Associates in Memphis, Tenn.
“I’d be surprised if they do anything that would create concern over the banking system. But the government’s intentions are foggy. It’s probably to be able to go back to Congress and say they need more money but they have to do it in a way that doesn’t spook the market and doesn’t cause a run on the banks.”
Even if information released clearly shows which banks are weak, Waddell says he doesn’t think that consumers will stop banking with a particular institution any more than they quit flying when the government’s National Threat Advisory is elevated.
Consumers may not feel the need to take their money elsewhere based on the stress test results, but they should make sure their deposits are fully protected. Generally, that means staying within the FDIC insurance limit of $250,000 per depositor. But Waddell isn’t a fan of consumers blindly putting their money in an institution just because it’s covered by the FDIC.
“Part of the problem with the way consumers approach banks is that the government is there guaranteeing deposits so we don’t have to do our own due diligence. If there’s a weak bank in my local market and I have $100,000 in a checking account there, I don’t care because the government has guaranteed it. There’s a moral hazard, in my opinion, in the system, and that moral hazard has only gotten bigger since the FDIC raised the limit to $250,000 on deposits.”
Protect your deposits
The FDIC says its Deposit Insurance Fund should be sufficient for the foreseeable future, and if by some chance additional funds are needed, it has a U.S. Treasury line of credit that can be tapped. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see whether the FDIC’s coverage limit remains at $250,000 after Dec. 31. Deposit insurance is slated to fall back to $100,000 per depositor Jan. 1, 2010. (Insurance coverage for some retirement accounts, such as IRAs, was permanently increased to $250,000 per depositor in 2006.)
Staying within FDIC limits, or National Credit Union Administration, or NCUA,limits if you’re with a credit union, is paramount to protecting your deposits. There are trillions of uninsured dollars in bank accounts across the nation. The FDIC says uninsured depositors receive an average of 72 cents on the dollar. Can you afford to lose a quarter of your money?
There are ways to protect excess deposits. Some banks will divide your excess deposits among non-related banks within a particular network. That and several other methods are explained in “Six ideas for insuring your deposits.”
The FDIC shows how to properly title your accounts so you make the most out of the available coverage. The agency also provides a calculator to determine your coverage.
To get an idea of the financial strength and stability of a particular commercial bank, savings bank or credit union, explore Bankrate’s Safe & Sound database.
While the government is focusing on the nation’s biggest institutions — and propping them up when needed — there are more than 8,000 institutions that, apparently, aren’t too big to fail. Safe & Sound can show you how well an institution is faring on a quarterly basis.
More from Bankrate.comMake the best of lower card limitsSeeking a share of an ex-spouse’s 401(k)What’s $29,000 worth after 18 years?What are your tax e-paying options?9 smart personal finance moves in 2009
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Filed under: personalfinancenewsss.wordpress.com | Tags: Feel, good, moment, Presents, YouTube
While shopping in New York the other day, my friend Celia mentioned that she loves the shoes Kyra Sedgwick is wearing in the new Tropicana commercial, but I hadn’t yet seen it.
My on-the-go, mother-of-four friend isn’t prone to sitting in front of a computer, so it doesn’t naturally occur to her — as it would to most these days — to just ‘Google’ or ‘YouTube’ something that intrigues her. But me, well, it was the first thing I did when I got home that night — and I excitedly sent her an email with the lowdown.
Apparently lots of people had the same idea and the same good taste, because the sumptuous Ovine Wedge Sandals made by Maison Martin Margiela are already limited in their availability on the Saks Fifth Avenue Web site.
But my point here is not about shoes, but what feels like an emerging phenomenon. As it turns out, this was my like umpteenth look at YouTube in a span of two weeks. Is it me, or is my generation — I’m 47 and counting — starting to really embrace YouTube as a diversionary, inspirational, feel-good resource?
In the past two weeks, whether it’s via Facebook or direct email, I have had numerous people recommending videos to me and every one of them was meant to be viewed as an uplifting pause in my day. What used to be occasional may have become the norm. What was once the bastion of mostly a very young demographic seems to be fascinating subsequent generations more and more.
Amidst all the noise about populist rage and fevered “tea parties” last week, many of us chose to instead loop the by-now famous video of Susan Boyle on Britain’s Got Talent . Talk about viral. As of this writing, the top five videos of her rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserables on YouTube combine for over 50 million views.
Prior to that, there was a real life story about pirates dominating the news. But for me and apparently millions of others, the sensation that week was a marvelous video of people milling about a train station in Belgium one minute and dancing to Julie Andrews’ “Do-Re-Mi” the next. People I’ve sent it to have forwarded it along and in some cases are watching it once a day. I thought I was the only one.
We are craving these respites. The Susan Boyle video exposed that skeptical, shallow side of ourselves and brought us out the other side, a beautiful form of reproach if there ever was one. The “Do-Re-Mi” video begins with delight and escalates into a show-stopping crescendo; we would normally have to purchase pricey theatre tickets to get a dose of that kind of joy-producing artistry.
And that’s just the ones that make us — or at least me — cry.
If I just want to flat out laugh, I can replay a piece from Ellen DeGeneres’ “Bathroom Series” in which she sings “And I Am Telling You” in a hilarious duet with Jennifer Hudson. Or I can opt for observations by Louis CK in what feels like a mini comedy routine on Late Night with Conan O’Brien about how brilliant our technology is and how little we appreciate it.
“Everything is amazing right now and nobody’s happy,” he says, pointing out that when we were younger we had to dial a phone and stand next to it.
Now we can spot a pair of snazzy shoes in a television spot and know the designer within seconds. It’s been 48 hours since I sent Celia the email about those Kyra Sedgwick shoes. I’ll bet she still hasn’t read it, but she’ll be wearing a broad smile when she does.
YouTube, with some help from Google, presents another feel-good moment.
Nancy Colasurdo is a practicing life coach and freelance writer. Her Web site is www.nancola.com. Please direct all questions/comments to FOXGamePlan@gmail.com.
