The unemployment rate for young workers between the ages of 16 and 23 is 18%, and that is an increase of five points from a year ago. That age group includes high school drop-outs as well as college graduates, and for these people the future looks bleak. Adults are taking the minimum-wage jobs teenagers might be offered in other economic situations. Older workers, otherwise approaching retirement, are not leaving the workforce as quickly. The openings for younger workers aren’t there.

The bad news is starting your career in a recession is one of the worst things you can do for your long-term financial security. More bad news is that there is little any one person can do about the economy at large. Here are the numbers, from a study at Yale quoted in the cover story in today’s BusinessWeek:

For each percentage-point rise in the unemployment rate, those who graduated during the recession earned 6% to 7% less in their first year of employment than their more fortunate counterparts. Even 15 years out of school, the recession graduates earned 2.5% less than those who began working in more prosperous times.

Young adults might be destined to be a “lost generation.” Here are some suggestions for 16-to-23-year-olds who find themselves having a difficult time starting their career in this recession and want to mitigate its effects on long-term income.

1. Finish your education

It’s an issue of supply and demand. First, if you have not done so, completing your Bachelor’s degree will have two important effects. First, it will improve your marketability among entry-level employees when fewer open positions will create a competitiveness that ensures that the best qualified candidates will win. A Bachelor’s degree is a gateway to at least the middle class, and that’s going to be more important than ever.

Second, finishing college now will keep you out of the worst of the recession. This will allow you to stay out of the worst fight for jobs, but it has some drawbacks. Delaying the start of full-time income can also have detrimental effects on your long-term income — but if you wouldn’t be working anyway, this isn’t much of a disadvantage. Also, if you are relying on student loans, you will be amassing more debt that will require payoff down the road, perhaps shacking you to a job or career that is not best for you. New student loans have higher interest rates than they have in the past, adding to the pain of debt.

If you have your Bachelor’s degree, consider spending a few years to earn your Master’s or Doctorate degree. Are you worried about being overqualified? Don’t be. As we’re seeing in the recession where many workers are competing for few jobs, anything that helps you stand above the rest will be an advantage rather than a disadvantage. You might want to consider adapting your desired career to one better suited for an advanced degree, however.

2. Become an apprentice

In general, apprentices earn more throughout their careers than those who don’t hone their skills in a formal training program. Traditionally, apprenticeships are common for certain crafts and trades. Electricians, plumbers, and carpenters often get their starts through apprenticeship and there is significant income potential in these fields.

One creative answer is to become an apprentice for a career that does not traditionally fit this profile. For example, if you have musical talent and would normally consider performing or teaching in a better economy, consider composing music for films or television. You can contact a professional currently in the field and contact them about becoming an apprentice. One key to successfully finding an apprenticeship is the willingness and the ability to work for free.

3. Start your own business

I’m not talking about selling your possessions on eBay, but padding your savings account with cash rather than padding your home with useless objects is never a bad idea. Everyone has at least one marketable skill. It may require some time brainstorming to determine exactly how you can turn your skills into a service you can offer people or other businesses.

A recession is perfect timing to start a business, particularly if you can dedicate all your time to making it work (that is, you are otherwise unemployed). Many new businesses suffer because the owner needs to devote his or her time to the day job, a spouse, and perhaps even children. For young workers, the time will likely never be better for starting a business with the ability of giving it your full attention.

4. Save money

As a recent graduate or drop-out, you may have the option to move back in with your parents for a short time. After all, there is a recession and being able to save money on rent or a house payment is worth the temporary shame you might feel for going home with your tail between your legs. This is most likely the biggest opportunity for savings, but you don’t want to take advantage of the situation. Show your parents that you’re working hard to make the recession work for you, and they’re more likely to give you a break. And don’t forget to express gratitude.

Consider frugality as a way of life. In an economy where you have less control over your income thanks to fewer employment options, you can still control your expenses to a point. Take the extra time to determine what you are willing to cut back in order to help your money go farther. Occasionally, generic brands and store brands are good compromises.

Creativity leads to success

Surviving in a recession where it’s difficult to find a job relies on creative thinking. Use the opportunity to rethink your career path. If the acquisition of money has been your ultimate goal, realize that money by itself is not a goal. You may use the opportunity to break into a less popular field with a lower income potential but with a greater satisfaction potential.

Accept that the odds are against you if you want to compare yourself and your bank account against people who began their careers in the height of the economy, people who, on average, will out-earn those entering the workforce right now.

Photo credits: CarbonNYC, roland
The Lost Generation, Peter Coy, BusinessWeek, October 8, 2009

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New Graduates Facing Unemployment May Never Reach Income Potential

I just graduated a “Level One” (read: newbie) improv class. At first, I signed up for the class because I can think of few thing scarier than getting on stage with no script. I’m not known for thinking on my feet, I don’t “BS” well, and even when I know my lines, I get terrible stage fright.

So I made myself go to this class as soon as I knew I’d have eight free weekends in a row. It took about four years to get up the courage. I’d like to say that it also took some time to get the admission fee together, but of course the $200 went on a credit card (technically it came from the $800 that would otherwise have gone toward paying down the credit card, but the net effect is the same).

I didn’t have an extra $200 to take that class, but man, was it exciting. I had to deal with strangers, criticism, bad accents (most of them mine), and a basic requirement of acting in a scene where 1) you don’t know what you’re going to be saying, and 2) you also don’t know what the other people will be saying.

I didn’t think I could do it, but after eight weeks, we put on a show, and darn it if the audience didn’t laugh and cheer.

So, I figure, the class was 3 hours every weekend, for 8 weeks, for $200. That’s $8.33 an hour to have a creative outlet, learn to think on my feet, and re-learn to perform in front of strangers. I think that’s a reasonable price.

I still don’t have an extra $200. In fact, I’m still about $6,000 in a credit card hole, but I signed up for Level Two, anyway.

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Fulfilling a Dream for $8 an Hour

I think I come from a moderately humble background. My parents are both college graduates, which is a statistical leg up by itself, but my father had to work two jobs until I was 15, and I’m the youngest of my siblings. Mom also started working part-time when I was about 10, and then full-time later on. Suffice it to say we were not showered with gifts, though I only remember one particularly depressing Christmas, when I got a fancy pair of socks from Santa.

It was only later that I learned Mom had something of an addiction to JCPenney, and they were saddled with a pretty huge credit card debt until they were into their fifties. (It wasn’t all household shopping, of course. I’m sure that’s how they paid for part of our college tuition, too.) So, we weren’t spoiled, but we did pretty well. Lower middle-class, I guess you’d say. And I grew up into the belief that if you possess something, it’s because you earned it.

I knew kids poorer than me, and I knew kids richer than me. I remember listening to a conversation a “rich” kid friend of mine had with her mother, and her mother was lamenting the fact that when my friend was younger, she got everything she wanted. Her mother felt it gave her an unfortunate sense of entitlement. I don’t have that, and I hope I never get it, but as I get older, I can foresee some ways in which it might happen.

Ways I’ve already “cheated”

College

My college education was paid for by my parents. I had no student loans and no scholarships of any kind. I’m not sure I was even aware of the need to apply for such things, and though I took a part-time job working for the Dean’s office, anything I earned basically went toward feasts at Taco Bell and the occasional computer game.

I sort of feel like I cheated, in that respect. But if I know anything about parents, I know they’re happy to give their children opportunities to succeed. And I thank them for it all the time. I feel like I’m paying them back a little when I receive recognition in my field, or a raise.

Do credit cards count?

Okay, so credit cards are my enemy. If there is a little devil over my shoulder, he’s wearing Visa and Mastercard logos (and why are the little devils always men, huh?). Sometimes I want something, usually electronic, and I convince myself I’ve earned it, even when I can’t pay for it yet. I get it anyway. It’s cheating.

Except these things do eventually get paid for, and the interest payments seem like punishment enough. I know people who’ve reduced their credit card debt by more than half just by ignoring them for years. Their credit scores suffer, too, of course, but that’s the decision they make. It’s hard to tell in the long term which method costs more.

Being born into it

But there are people who don’t have modest backgrounds, and whose parents can’t help but give them everything they want. The brain is a funny thing, and so these kids grow up into adults who have an enormous sense of entitlement. Without any other educational influences (and thankfully, these are plentiful), such people will become impossible to deal with. A person like that could rationalize away never giving to charity, or hiding money in an offshore account, just because they can.

That’s not really cheating, but I think it’s really pathetic. I feel bad for a person who’s never felt the uncertainty of knowing where they’ll get the rent money.

Easy come, easy go

Instant celebrity (or anything similar to winning the lottery) can mess a person up. Parties and drugs aside, all too often they seem to make terrible decisions with their finances. If you go from $40,000 a year to more than a million a year, how do you not have the presence of mind to save most of it? And yet, the apparently overwhelming temptation is to buy lavish possessions, a mini-mansion, and then throw parties for your friends until the money runs out.

We know that record companies will do everything they can to steal from their latest money-maker, all the while making the artist feel like they’re financially secure. Hopefully this knowledge has filtered its way into every aspiring star’s consciousness, and they’ll be prepared with a reliable attorney.

Of course, it’s not just musicians who find sudden wealth. Sometimes you just have to be the random, somewhat-telegenic person in the right place at the right time. Monica Lewinsky, for example. All she had to do was tell her story, and she’s set for life. She didn’t earn that.

Ridiculous salaries

I get an itch every time I hear a phrase like, “Blah Blah, who earns $750,000 a year…” No, he doesn’t. Nobody “earns” that much. If the world were a reasonable place, the highest salaries would go to emergency workers, really great teachers, investigative journalists and people who find and stop wasteful spending in government offices (that’s not a complete list, just off the top of my head). But as it is, we reward athletes (who we often find were cheating with steroids), and executives who don’t actually do much, aside from make plans, smile at clients, and otherwise increase shareholder value.

But that’s capitalism for you. We give the money to people who make us money, not necessarily to the people who earn it. I don’t want to be the recipient of that kind of money. But if it were offered, would I refuse it?

Conclusion

I struggle with the concept of “taking advantage of the system,” because it’s impossible to know if I’m benefitting at someone else’s expense. And for me, that’s a deal-breaker: wealth should never come through a method that deprives someone else who is just as deserving as me.

I have an entirely new group of decisions to make, since my wife and I are incorporating a business, and we’ll have to weigh the consequences, for example, of “do we take a tax deduction on the part of the mortgage we’re using for business?” I don’t want to be a cheater, and I hope I never lose that attitude.

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Earning What You Have: The Mindset I Hope I Never Lose

Humans are by nature judgmental, and there are good reasons for this. Even though it is often premature, judging quickly helps people make critical decisions with limited information. That limited information, when combined with prejudices or generalizations, can result in poor decisions.

An interesting article from CNN Money asks if your name can prevent you from getting a job. Absolutely. If you have the “wrong” name — wrong in the eyes or ears of the reviewer — you are less likely to be called for an interview after sending a résumé identical to someone with the “right” name.

The National Bureau of Economic Research conducted a study a few years ago in which the authors responded to 1,300 employment ads, sending out 5,000 résumés. In addition to keeping recruiters and hiring managers busy, they measured that résumés featuring names like Emily Walsh and Greg Baker would receive responses 50% more often than those featuring names like Lakisha Washington or Jamal Jones. When comparing résumés featuring good qualifications with those featuring superb qualifications, the superb applicant has a 30% higher chance of being called if the name on the résumé sounds “white,” whereas superb applicants with a “non-white” name do not see an increased probability.

While this doesn’t measure the likelihood of getting a job after an interview, it does point out the initial judgment due to nothing more than a name. If you feel your name could be an initial detriment to your job search, there are several options, but none of them are very good.

1. Legally change your name. Your name is a symbol of your identity. Decades ago, it was common for immigrants to the Untied States to Americanize their names, and it wasn’t such a bad idea for those looking for a new life in the country. This practice is less common now, whether it is due to pride or the shrinking world. I believe for many people, changing a name to fit in with a prejudicial world is too much of a compromise to make.

2. Take on an Americanized nickname. Interestingly, it is apparently common for people born in China to take an English name but prefer to use their Chinese given name when living in the United States. Taking the opposite approach may help you fight the initial prejudice in the United States. If you feel your name is holding you back when searching for a job, keeping your last name but offering an American nick name might help you get your foot in the door.

3. Use only your first initial on your résumé. It would be interesting to see a study that measures the results of this tactic. It may only provide an advantage if the applicant’s last name doesn’t inspire a judgment.

I agree with the author of the CNN article: focus on the aspects of your image that you can control without sacrificing your identity. But this is only from my perspective as someone with a name that doesn’t sound very foreign. With the unemployment rate in the United States still high, perhaps more people are willing to compromise more for an advantage — or to level the playing field.

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People Will Judge You Based on Your Name

My wife and I recently started a business. Technically, I think we’re planning a business, since the incorporation papers are still winging their way through the mail, but it feels like it’s been started. We’ve got a P.O. Box, a domain name, and my wife the President of the company has been devouring books with titles like “Working for Yourself” and “Start, Run and Grow Your Own Business”.

For the moment, we’re focusing on finding work for her, since I rather like my day job (and subsequent health benefits… wouldn’t it be great to find affordable health insurance when you start your own business?), but I wouldn’t mind picking up some extra freelance work on the side. I’m starting to think that the only way I will ever pay off my credit cards is by increasing revenue to a level far above what I need to get by.

Our first outing as a company was a couple of days ago to a local Chamber of Commerce networking event. I had a couple glasses of wine so that I could pretend I’m not painfully shy, and though it was still awkward, I was rewarded to see people’s faces light up as I described the kind of work we’re planning. I saw some expressions on faces that seemed to say, “hey, we could use that kind of work at our business!”

But there’s still plenty for us to learn. Since the President seems to have the book-learnin’ angle covered (or could it be because my eyes get tired looking at words on paper?), I’ve been looking online for advice, and found that the Small Business Administration has a YouTube channel. The video production values are about what you’d expect from a bureaucratic agency, but I figured the content might still be worthy. As an example, here’s their video going over the “top 10 tips for small business owners”:

I noticed that “networking” isn’t in the Top 10, or perhaps everybody accepts it as a given. Either way, I hope this video series is useful to the rest of our readers who also have entrepreneurial tendencies. If you’re one of them, what other advice can you offer us newbies?

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Small Business Administration’s Top 10 Tips

This certainly isn’t the first or only Web site where one can describe a project and ask for donations, but if word of mouth is anything to go by, the new Kickstarter.com is the hip place to get funding these days.

I first heard about it on Twitter when one of my heroes Jesse Thorn linked to his project for people who want to learn to dress better, one might say “more sartorially”, if one were in the habit of speaking like a character in a PBS murder mystery series. Jesse described his project, tweeted about it once or twice, and the project is now over-funded and, one assumes, in production.

About 60% of the projects have been successfully funded, and they range from “help me produce my next album” to “experimental three-wheeled human-powered vehicle”. The trend seems to be that donors get a little something back for their effort, whether it be an autographed CD or credit in a Web series, etc.

I think I’m personally a little too old-fashioned and/or proud to ask for free money from strangers. If I have an idea for a new project (and I have them about once a month, most of them never launch), and I think it’s worth pursuing, and all I’m missing is the financing… isn’t that why people get things like loans and business partners?

Anyway, if you’ve used a service like this successfully, we’d love to hear about it in the comments.

Got a dream but no cash? The Internet can help, Matthew Goldstein, Reuters, Sep 4, 2009

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Hip New Funding Site: Kickstarter.com

Are you on this list? Chances are the following list of the highest paid CEOs does not include you, Don’t feel bad; I am not included either. In 2008, these ten individuals accounted for $2.2 billion in compensation in aggregate.

Whether or not CEOs deserve compensation at levels 17,000 times higher than the average worker in the United States or 50,000 times higher than the average worker across the globe is still up for discussion, particularly if compensation is not based on results. But for whatever reason, here are the amounts of total compensation for the ten highest paid CEOs of American companies.

1. Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone Group: $702,440,573
2. Lawrence Ellison, Oracle Corp.: $556,976,600
3. Ray Irani, Occidental Petroleum Corp.: $222,639,705
4. John Hess, Hess Corp.: $159,566,940
5. Michael Watford, Ultra Petroleum Corp.: $116,929,392
6. Aubrey McClendon, Chesapeake Energy Corp.: $114,286,867
7. Bob Simpson, XTO Energy Inc.: $103,485,972
8. Mark Papa, EOG Resources, Inc.: $90,471,784
9. Eugene Isenberg, Nabors Industries Ltd.: $79,333,079
10. Michael Jeffries, Abercrombie & Fitch Co.: $71,795,744

According to the report from The Corporate Library, the organization that reported these figures, Schwarzman’s compensation amount includes the vestment of equity shares in the company he was granted when taking the company public. Only twenty-five percent of his total grant vested in 2007, and another twenty-five percent will vest each year until complete. That will keep him on top of the list for a few more years.

What would you do with $702 million — let’s say $350 million after tax? That would leave me with more than enough to start a foundation with an endowment and still have some left over to invest conservatively and provide myself a nice income for the rest of my life.

The top 10 highest paid CEOs are…, David Goldman, CNN Money, August 14, 2009.

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Top Ten Highest Paid CEOs: What Would You Do?

If you happen to be entering college and would like to decide the field you would like your career to be or feel the need to choose a major, you may want to consider a field that has growth prospects over the next twenty years or more. Even if you are already a few years into your career and it haven’t progressed the way you would like, now is a good time to consider shifting to a new direction. It would be impossible to accurately predict the future, but I can select a few careers I think will be growing based on current trends.

Information technology

Information technology (IT) is going to be huge, if not just in the next twenty years, for the remainder of the twenty-first century. While there is a trend of outsourcing jobs overseas, there are many types of careers that must remain local. Technology infrastructure is an exciting field. I expect broadband networks will be expanded to new areas and the populous areas already serviced by broadband will see upgrades. Beyond fiber optics, wireless broadband will be a strong trend as well.

Finance

Over the next twenty years, baby boomers will be retiring. Many still have pensions and many have 401(k) retirement plans. Retirees are going to need to know what to do with their money. Financial planners will have a strong market for their services, and so will investment advisers who sell products like annuities.

Health care

Politicians have their eyes on health care right now, and this is a valid response to the same social condition that requires more careers in finance. As the baby boomers, one of the largest demographics, continue to age, they will need more care. Home nurses will be in demand. Existing assisted living communities will increase capacity and new communities will be built. As an increasing number of people look to medication, more pharmacists will be needed.

Environmental scientists

Companies hire professionals to conduct environmental impact analysis whenever land is being developed. Not only is there still vast amounts of land that will be developed in the next twenty years, the focus on “green” will mean there will be even more work for environmental scientists. Environmental technicians will be in demand as well as entrepreneurs who create and manage the next generation of environmental consulting firms. The economy’s current slowdown means there may be less work now for environmental scientists whose work depends on new development, but I expect that to change when the economy recovers.

Not everyone needs to chase a career or job path that looks like it will be in high demand. I generally believe people should look to their own talents and desires before statistics in determining a course of study or career. I don’t deny, however, that fitting in to a carved-out path based on population patterns is a good idea for some people.

Are there any other careers likely to be in demand for the next couple of decades?

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Growth Career Fields for the Next Twenty Years

When it comes to financial success, your most important tool is your income. Without an income you can’t pay the bills, reduce your debt, or even buy the simple things you need to survive. With a properly maintained income, however, nothing is impossible. No matter what your personal financial philosophy, an income is one thing you can’t do without.

One the first things I learned about personal finance that has always stuck with me is the idea that risk is having only one source of income. I don’t remember where I read that little nugget of wisdom, but anyone can see the sense of it. The more places you have money coming from, the less likely you are to sink your financial boat.

Protecting your income streams can help you maximize your earning ability and simplify your life. Here are some of the things I’ve learned over the past few months:

Come to grips with your return on investment

It’s a good idea to know how you’re spending your time and how much money you’re making. An interesting exercise involves dividing up a week (or a month) into the different activities you spend your time on, and coming up with percentage of the total time spent. You don’t need to count sleeping or eating or relaxing, just focus on the things you do that make money (or have the potential to make money).

Once you’ve got your percentages figured out, calculate how much money you’ve made from each source. Your chart might look something like this:

• Job: 70% Time, 80% Income
• Hobby 1: 10% Time, 3% Income
• Hobby 2: 8% Time, 15% Income
• Side Job: 12% Time, 2% Income

After you’ve done this, it’s easy to see where your money-making time can be most effectively spent. Hobby 1 and the Side Job are taking up a lot of time, but aren’t necessarily making any money. Does this mean you should stop doing them? No! Of course not. Hobbies are great. You may, however, want to stop counting on them as sources of income. If you wanted to make more money, you could devote that extra time to Hobby 2, which appears to have some serious money making power.

This can be a tough exercise. Your hobbies and businesses on the side are usually things you’ve put a lot of thought, sweat and love into. You’ve got a lot of personal equity in the project, and deciding you’re just going to do it for fun kind of feels like giving up. You’re not completely giving up though, and you can always keep trying to change and improve it.

Anticipating change

Is there a pink slip coming your way? Are your contracts drying up? Start looking for another way to make money. So many people get stuck in between income sources and their problems snowball. Your job can be extremely enjoyable, a source of pride and joy, and even part of your identity, but don’t forget that at its core, it is a way to make money. It can be difficult to move on.

I’m at a position right now where I’m finally planning on leaving an internship where I’ve been for two years. I’ve got a lot of great memories there, and will miss out on some awesome perks. A new and better opportunity has come along, though and no matter how I’m tied to my old job, I can’t miss out on what the future holds.

Controlling spending

While income is important, wealth isn’t how much you make, but how much you save. Your income will be much more powerful if a lot of it gets to hang around in your high-interest checking account or some sweet mutual funds or an IRA. Lifestyle inflation can suck the power right out of a raise, so it’s important to remember that as you make more money, you should keep more as well. Spending smart is an important step to take.

Being proactive and finding new ways to maximize your money-earning time, plan for problems, and keep more of what you earn will help maximize your income and realize more of the benefits that come from the money you’re earning and maximize your income.

What are some of the things you do to make the most of your wages?

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Safeguarding Your Income

The summer following graduation is an interesting time for recently-former students. The newly-commenced young men and women, those not opting to pursue an additional number of years in an institution of higher learning, spend their time amongst activities such as attending backyard barbecues in celebration of their achievements, traveling to distant lands with newfound free time, and possibly beginning the first real job on their career path.

Not every job is the same, but for the most part there are a number of things in common.

• You need to make a positive impression on people you are meeting for the first time.
• How you perform on your first job sets the stage for your work ethic.
• If you stay in the same career throughout your life, your initial salary will be your most important negotiation.

Here are more specific tips for making the most of your first job.

1. Look the part. As much as it is superficial and stupid, people will judge you by your appearance. You need to dress and carry yourself in a manner that is expected and accepted by the people who work in your field. What is acceptable varies. If you work in banking in New York City, it’s almost guaranteed you will be expected to show up in a suit every day. If you work in the graphic arts, more liberal clothing might be acceptable. Find out what your manager or supervisor wears and emulate.

If you have not been accumulating attire during college, you may find the need to buy a variety of clothing at the last minute. This is one reason it may make sense to accept a controllable level of debt. Attire is a start-up cost associated with accepting a first job, and if you are required to dress well, your salary should cover these costs before long.

2. Negotiate. Graduates may be experiencing a “sellers’ market” while starting new careers this summer. With stories of the difficulty of finding a great job in the right field, it may be tempting to jump at the first offer. It is true that times like this call for adjusted expectations, but the dance of negotiation is an important and expected part of every job offer.

Not every job has this flexibility. For example, if you start as a teacher in New York City, your salary and benefits are determined by the union contract and you have no room for negotiation. If your first job is with a cash-strapped non-profit organization, you may face resistance. But the first salary offer you receive is almost always lower than the company’s true ability to pay.

The best suggestion is to be prepared to support your desire for a higher salary by researching your peers’ compensation and by explaining well the skills you can bring to the table above other candidates. As you may not have much experience in your field when you start your first job, you may not have a list of accomplishments, so be creative while being honest.

Here are tips for dealing with a low salary offer. Remember to look at the total compensation, not just the salary. You may have more wiggle room if you ask for more vacation days or for quicker establishment of your retirement benefits.

3. Enroll in your company’s retirement plan. When I started at the company where I currently work, I qualified for the company’s 401(k) on the day I began. Although a portion of my company’s matching contributions wouldn’t vest (become officially mine) until I had been working there for three years, my first paycheck included a deduction for my 401(k) and a matching contribution from the company. While enrollment is often automatic, some companies don’t start helping you put aside money for retirement until you tell them how much you want taken out of your paycheck.

Young adults with their first job often do not think about retirement, an event likely to be more than forty years in the future. Not enrolling in a 401(k) with matching contributions is the same as throwing away money. I understand that people who are just establishing themselves at work and in life have expenses, and retirement savings cuts into income. But putting aside two or four percent of your income — or up to the maximum matched by your employer — should not be a stretch.

4. Open an IRA. Your 401(k) contributions are taken right from your paycheck, so you might not even notice your money is being transferred to your future self. It may be more painful to your wallet to open an IRA, but if there is no pain, there is no gain. So open an IRA at a low-cost brokerage like Vanguard. When I started my IRA, I didn’t have the $3,000 minimum, so I jumped right in with TIAA Cref. I suggest saving money periodically in a special bank account until you have the $3,000 necessary to open an account at Vanguard because I have encountered some problems with TIAA-Cref.

If you already have a 401(k), open a Roth IRA. These two types of accounts have different tax treatment, and it’s good to diversify. If your company does not offer a 401(k) or its non-profit cousin the 403(b), split your money between a Traditional and Roth IRAs, if you can, to get the same tax diversification.

Your career and the skills and tools you use to thrive in that career are your biggest assets, even though you won’t see them measured on any balance sheet. Protect, refine, and showcase your self and your skills when you can. If your career is important to you, go above and beyond the call of duty.

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4 Important Tips for Graduates Beginning a First Real Full-Time Job

Overall, the worst of the economic recession may be over in terms of unemployment. If it isn’t, or even if it is, many companies are still struggling as they find ways to cut costs. The next expense that might be cut could be your job. If you receive the pink slip after missing the signs pointing towards the loss of your job then you have some catching up to do.

There is nothing like an expected bout of unemployment to remind you of the benefits of a fully-funded emergency fund. With cash in the bank, you can sit back at the beginning of your time away from working and approach your situation without stress. Stress will cloud your perception and cause you to make choices based on your short-term circumstances rather than your long-term aspirations.

Speaking of long-term aspirations, I’ll start there in a short exploration of suggestions for using your newly found free time effectively.

1. Re-evaluate your life goals. And if you don’t have proper life goals, now it a good time to think about it. A real life goal is not the specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based (SMART) goal that you hear about in corporate development retreats. Leave that to the MBAs. A life goal relates more to what the MBAs mean when they say “mission” and “vision.” (Disclaimer: I, too, am an MBA.)

So what is your mission? Here are a few things that it should not be:

• acquire a net worth of x by the age of y
• retire by the year z
• own my own business

All of these examples are means to an end, not goals in and of themselves. Your goal should explain what you will do with your money, what you will do with your time in retirement, or what you will do with your business. They need not be lofty, but life goals should not focus on numbers.

After you determine your mission, you have the opportunity to make decisions about your career, money, and time that align with that mission. If you need some more motivation, here are 9 tips for choosing a purpose in life.

2. Determine the steps for reaching your goal. With your goal or goals in mind, brainstorm your next steps. The only materials you need here are pen and paper. If you think hierarchically, create an outline in which your main points are the major milestones you’ll need to cross to reach your goals and the next level contain the tasks you will need to accomplish to reach those milestones. If you do not operate in this organized manner, just write down everything that crosses your mind when you think about what you need to reach your goal.

Even if your thoughts aren’t organized, determine the next step for your career. Your emergency fund won’t last forever. And here is what you need to keep your emergency fund as long as possible.

3. Get financial assistance. When you worked, you paid unemployment insurance premiums. Now is the time to be on the receiving end of the financial relationship with the state. Apply for unemployment insurance right away. Don’t stop to think about whether you need unemployment insurance with your emergency fund ready to help you out and with thousands of other people in more need. Unemployment is there for you, to make sure you have more freedom to prepare yourself for your next move.

You may also be entitled to health benefits through your former employer and COBRA. This means that you can still pay group rates for coverage rather than finding individual coverage. Group coverage can often be much less expensive, but you may find that you will still have to pay more than you did as an employee. Most companies subsidize or partially subsidize benefit premiums, and that subsidy disappears once you have left the company.

4. Make smart financial decisions. Here is a short checklist of the most important financial moves you can make while not working in addition to receiving unemployment and carrying over your benefits.

• If this is an emergency situation, don’t be afraid to tap your emergency fund. This is why you have it.
• With less income temporarily, take the opportunity to cut back on some luxuries. Evaluate your spending to determine where your opportunities are for reducing your expenses.
• If you have a 401(k) managed by your previous employer, consider moving it to a Rollover IRA. In many cases, you will find that your options for investing within an IRA are better than what you can find in most employer-sponsored 401(k)s.
• Don’t withdraw money from your retirement funds if you can help it. If you do, you will be required to pay taxes and penalties. It is not worth risking your future.

5. Refine your self-marketing package. It’s your move. If you have a goal in mind and you’re passionate about it, you’ll want to get back on track right away. Even if your goal hasn’t changed in step one, you have a chance to refine how you present yourself. Resumes and cover letters are not enough.

Even if you are not in a creative field, consider what examples of your work you might include in a portfolio. Just like a graphic designer won’t enter an interview without examples, don’t speak to anyone who has the ability to hire you without preparing some kind of presentation to showcase what you do, what you have achieved, and why you have what it takes.

6. Fashion yourself as an expert. This is part of your marketing package. A great way to establish yourself as an expert in your field is to publish articles in journals or magazines related to your profession. That’s the twentieth-century approach; today every writer is a publisher and every goal-seeker has the opportunity to show the world his expertise.

Start a blog, write frequently, and don’t stop. This works best if you possess writing skills, but you would be amazed at how many mediocre writers manage to find success. Find a community of bloggers who focus on your area of expertise and get to know the leaders of the group. Participate in discussions on their blogs, ask them for their advice, and give back to the community. Once you establish your online writing, look for opportunities to write for others, sharing your expertise to a wider audience. Don’t blog to earn money, blog to perfect your writing and give yourself public evidence of your passions.

7. Start networking with the right people without being obnoxious. Like Penelope Trunk from Brazen Careerist mentioned in last Sunday’s Consumerism Commentary Podcast (listen and subscribe if you haven’t already), sending a resume through an online job service is not enough. To get an advantage you need an “in.”

When someone I know is trying to “network” with me, I know it right away. They ask questions to determine my decision-making authority and anything else they feel I can do for them. Serial networkers tend to think only about themselves their needs; show more class by considering the larger picture, being empathetic, and showing your personal side.

8. Sharpen your skills. Your life goals may require you to establish new qualifications or credentials. There is nothing like time off to inspire you to enroll in a class, earn a new degree, or qualify for new certification. Above, while you were listing the steps for reaching your goal, education should have been at least one of the ideas you prescribed for yourself.

The great thing about pursuing additional educational opportunities, in addition to the knowledge you acquire, is it provides you with an answer to the question, “What were you doing between jobs?”

9. Start consulting. The steps for approaching your goals may lead you to working for yourself. But even if they don’t, start consulting in your field. With your blog established earlier, make it clear to the public that your expertise is available for a fee. You will have to do more than putting a billboard on your website, of course. Contact people, particularly the people with whom you networked in step seven, and ensure they are aware of your business.

Erica Douglass who writes at Erica.biz has a number of thoughts about creating a business identity for yourself online. In this upcoming weekend’s podcast, Erica has a number of suggestions for establishing your business as a self-employed individual. Her thoughts are destined for those permanently leaving the corporate world behind in favor of the make-your-own-rules lifestyle of an entrepreneur, but her suggestions will apply to those establishing themselves as a consultant as a means to advance their career and reach their ultimate goals.

10. Don’t lose confidence. Unemployment can be a financial and emotional strain on an individual and on a family. The good news is that all of these tips should keep you busy, and if you are busy, there is less opportunity to get drawn into negative feelings about your situation. Keep working, keep improving, and keep your ultimate goals in mind.

The Consumerism Commentary Podcast is in full swing with new episodes every Sunday. Listen and subscribe now!

Ten Things You Should Do When You Get Laid Off

After receive bailouts from the government on two separate occasions, Citigroup has announced that it will be increasing its expense for the salaries of the company’s rank-and-file employees, not upper management, by 50 percent. This will be a nice benefit, designed to compensate employees for smaller bonuses and raises last year.

The government’s new “pay czar,” Kenneth Feinberg, has the authority to only oversee the compensation of the top 100 employees of companies on government assistance.

Of all the wackiness involved with Wall Street compensation, this is not a big deal. I don’t see any valid reason to start breaking out the pitch forks and marching on Citigroup headquarters. The rank-and-file employees who stayed with the failing company deserve recognition. The executives who oversaw the bank as it buried itself and made the decision that led to the demise should be thankful these employees stayed with the company (even if the reason for doing so was the lack of a job market).

Unfortunately, it seems the employees will also receive a company stock benefit. There’s a chance that could pay off nicely, but it seems like a risky proposition right now, considering the ambiguity of Citigroup’s future.

How do you feel about Citigroup’s employees, as a group, receiving a 50% pay raise? Some will earn more, some less, but it looks like the bank is investing in their employees here.

The Consumerism Commentary Podcast is in full swing with new episodes every Sunday. Listen and subscribe now!

Citigroup Employees to Receive 50% Pay Raise

Would you work for free? I used to work for a non-profit organization whose business model was not exactly built around the concept of making money. Before I joined the organization, there were times of low or negative cash flow during which the staff were asked to accept a delay in paychecks for a month or two while the company managed to bring in some income.

The management of British Airways is now asking its staff to go without pay for a period of time between a week and a month. Rather than a delayed paycheck, these employees would not be paid for the time they work or they could take an unpaid leave of absence. The executives would join the employees

Is this a better option for employees than asking them to take a pay cut? A salary reduction might negatively affect future salary growth, while a break in pay might cause household cash flow problems. This is the danger of the employers’ market when compared to an employees’ market. Companies can get away with asking employees to make sacrifices they might not normally take if they believed it would not be difficult to find a job elsewhere.

Have you ever been asked to make a significant sacrifice in pay like the employees of British Airways, other benefits, or your sanity for the good of your company? If you have been asked, did you agree to make the sacrifice? And why?

Photo credit: lrargerich
British Airways asks staff to work for nothing, Reuters, June 16, 2009

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British Airways Wants Staff to Work for Free

There are many people who believe that the when choosing a career path and life direction, one should steer towards the highest paying career for which they could possibly qualify after several years of education, training, and 80-hour work weeks. To demonstrate, there is never a shortage of investment bankers looking for work. I have an alternate point of view: self-fulfillment usually has little to do with career choice or money earned, but having money (that is, not spending money) opens doors for more choices (for spending money among other things).

Did potential earning power play a role in your decision to pursue a career path? Let us know in the comments.

While I cite investment banking as a high-earning job, it’s not the highest according to data compiled by the government’s Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates from 2008 and published recently. If you are in search of the almighty dollar, it pays to go to medical school.

Surgeons top the list with an average annual salary of $206,770, up 8% since last year. Following surgeons, the next highest earners on average are anesthesiologists with $197,570 each year. Third on the list are orthodontists, who earn an annual $194,930 on average. Obstetrician and gynecologists earn $192,780. Oral and maxillofacial surgeons round out the list with an average annual income of $190,420.

I would have expected higher salaries for these jobs on the coasts, as many cost-of-living calculators adjust for high salaries in New York and Los Angeles. According to the survey, however, if you want to earn more money in these jobs it pays to move to the mid-west. Surgeons and obstetrician and gynecologists earn more in Wisconsin than in any other state. New Hampshire, the lone east coast representative, is lucrative for orthodontists, and oral surgeons do best in Michigan.

On the other side of the spectrum are the jobs that do not command high salaries. In fact, these jobs usually feature hourly wages and are often not full-time. They probably should not be compared with the other careers since they are in a class of their own.

The lowest earning job is the combination of food preparer and server, including the fast food industry. A worker in this job will expect to earn on average $17,400. Fast food cooks do slightly better with $17,620. The next rung on the income ladder contains dishwashers (of the human, not machine, sort) who earn an annual $17,750. If you are a dining room or cafeteria attendant or a bartender helper, your income averages $18,140. Shampooers deserve bragging rights among the low-paid with their annual pay of $18,300.

Of these top worst-paying jobs, you’ll do better by moving to Washington, D.C. Shampooers, fast food workers, and food preparers and servers earn the most there. Dishwashers earn more in Nevada, and dining room or cafeteria attendants, or bartender helpers maximize their income in Hawaii.

Did potential earning power play a role in your decision to pursue a career path?

The Consumerism Commentary Podcast is in full swing with new episodes every Sunday. Listen and subscribe now!

Five Jobs For People Who Like Money and Five Jobs For People Who Don’t

I’m not a financial planner, adviser, guru or anything of the sort. The reason I’m writing here today is because I screwed up big time. Fortunately for you, I think I’ve figured out where the mistake began.

Recently I’ve been taking an informal poll of some of the people I would consider to be relatively young and successful. I had a theory about how they were able to create financial security before liver spots started appearing, and while it’s completely unscientific, the results confirmed my hypothesis: almost none of them started their careers while relying on credit cards.

Before I go on: there are naturally going to be exceptions among those of you who’ve already been through this. In general, I’m talking about the average American who graduates a four-year college after High School and is living away from home within a month, and who is earning just enough to get by. Most of us, naturally, can’t wait to be out on our own, enjoying that delightful freedom. Your own experience may not match this, and that’s fine.

Usually what’s happens is this:

You pack up your meager belongings and you move into an apartment by yourself, or one you’re sharing with friends. You pay a deposit for the rent, which is much higher in some states than in others. You get someone to turn on the water, electricity, television, phone (or maybe you already have a mobile phone), Internet, etc., some of which may also have a deposit attached, because you have little or no credit record. Then you go grocery shopping. If you’re working in any kind of metropolitan area, you’ll also need your own transportation or a bus or train pass to get to the office.

Then, if you’ve timed things perfectly, you start work the day after you get settled in. Assuming you’re a young professional with a salary right out the gate, in another two or three or four weeks you’ll get your first paycheck. So, here’s my question: how did you pay for the rent and the utilities and the groceries? These are the options I’ve thought of:

1. You had some money saved up
2. You got some free money as a gift for graduating
3. You used a credit card

For me, options 1 and 2 were not the case. I had exactly 20 cents. I consider myself lucky that I had no student loans, but at the same time, I only had that 20 cents to work with. Nobody was giving me any gifts of cash to start my grand life adventure. So, I got a credit card with a $2,000 limit and immediately started charging. I had to, otherwise I’d have no electricity or a place to sleep. It was a tool of necessity.

And it wouldn’t have been a problem if the money I charged to the credit card were just a temporary loan from the bank that issued the card (it was a Yahoo! Visa, but I don’t remember which bank). A temporary loan is exactly what it should’ve been, but by the time I’d been paid about one month’s worth of wages, the days had already come and gone when I was expected again to pay my share of the rent, utilities and groceries. So I didn’t have the money to pay my entire credit card bill. And interest started to accrue.

And I worked some more, then paid my bills, and paid what I could to the credit card company, and more interest started to accrue, etc., etc. The first few months were the worst. And the second few months, those were the worst, too. Before I knew it, I was close to the credit limit, so I got a second credit card. After that, things went into a bit of a decline. (Apologies to Douglas Adams.)

That was twelve years ago. I was on track this year to finally pay off that old credit card debt once and for all, when my employer announced 10% salary cuts so we can survive the recession. And that’s a perfect example of why it still hasn’t been paid off: crap happens. But I do have a good job, and a sensible mortgage, and the pets are well cared-for and things are generally okay. The problem is that I know people who managed to be in this same position just a few years after college. They’re steadily saving for retirement and that word still causes me to feel extremely nervous.

So here is the best advice I can give to graduating Seniors: find out how much you will need to live on your own for the first two months, and don’t move out on your own until you have that money in the bank. (That is, unless you snag a job that pays you at least double what you need to survive every month. My first salary was $22,100 before taxes. In New York City.) And don’t focus only on the rent. Include all the utilities, groceries, a little bit of extra for entertainment, and you should be much better off than I was.

And if you’re planning to take the train to New York City, living in New Brunswick, NJ is a reasonable option, but make sure you find out first how much the monthly train pass is. Twelve years ago, it was $336. These days, it’s probably the same as the payments on two brand new Hyundais.

The Consumerism Commentary Podcast is in full swing with new episodes every Sunday. Listen and subscribe now!

Smithee’s Best Advice for Graduating Seniors

This is a guest article by Ginger from Girls Just Wanna Have Funds. Ginger teaches women how to break financial ceilings one stiletto at a time! Join the social network, Girls Just Wanna Have Funds on Ning to connect with other financially savvy women.

This week I’ve been helping out my company’s HR department by reviewing resumes and conducting interviews. The experience levels range from those who are new graduates to people with years of experience. Sadly, I was disappointed with how many people didn’t have the basics down when it came to writing their cover letters and resumes.

Now isn’t the time to slack in this area if you’re looking for a job, you’re competing with literally hundreds to maybe thousands for one position. If you’re looking for work, take a second look at your resume and make sure your resume and cover letter at least falls within the following guidelines:

Do not:

… ask how much the position pays within the cover letter until you’re on the interview and/or sure that you will be offered the position. I personally don’t have a problem with someone asking but I think it rude to ask in an informally written cover letter without a resume, then telling me that you’ll send the resume after I tell you how much the job is paying. Seriously? HR managers and recruiters don’t have time for that, it’s rude and unprofessional. Needless to say I didn’t respond to said applicant.

… use an email user name that isn’t related to your government name. I can’t tell you how many times I saw email addresses like starzaligned@yourdomain.com, bustitbaby@yourdomain.com etc. I moved on to the next person because I’m a firm believer that if you don’t know these basic principles of resume writing then it will be questionable on whether or not you’ll conduct yourself professionally. Your email address should be some combination of your first and/or last name.

… use different fonts throughout your resume. Using different fonts makes your resume hard to read and it shows that you’re not as detail oriented as you need to be. Set the view on your resume to 70% and make sure everything is uniform and in line, especially bullets and indentation.

… extend your resume beyond one page. Unless you have 5-10+ years of relevant experience, you don’t need a 2-3-4-5 page resume, especially if some of your experience has nothing to do with the position. Try to keep the positions listed relevant to the job.

Do:

List your achievements throughout your resume. Time and time again applicants literally copy and paste their job description without any consideration to how their actual work contributed to the organization’s goals. You need to ask yourself: how does this description convey my worth to the organization? Does “putting files away at the end of the day” really convey my value? How about: “Systematically reorganized files to increase organizational productivity and efficiency.” Sounds highfalutin but it works!

Apply for jobs that are best suited for your skills and experience. Skip the long shot positions where your experience can’t possibly match with the requirements. Look at your resume and scan the job post, how can you honestly and ethically marry up what they are looking for and what you have to offer.

Maintain a consistent theme. If you’re a jack of all trades then it’s now time to settle down on one career area. Here’s a comment from a friend who works at Homeland Security: “When you have too many degrees and you’re not working in your field of study then most likely you are a risk to hire. Why? We are looking for people that are career driven and not job driven. Just some insight from looking over countless resumes.” How’s that for sage advice? Pick an area and stick with it or create different resumes for each area. Employers want to know that once hired, you’ll be committed to the job and organization, not planning for your the next jump 3 months in.

Have a friend, preferably someone in a managerial position, review your resume for errors. Sometimes having another set of eyes review your resume helps because they might see things you won’t after looking at it day in day out. Everything starts to look the same after a while.

Make your resume skimmable. Recruiters and HR Managers spend 3-5 seconds tops skimming resumes. If your resume is hard to read or the important information is lost in the layout then you put yourself at a disadvantage. Here’s an example of a resume makeover which resulted in the resume being easier to skim:

Before

After

Take a second look at your resume and make a few edits if needed or revamp it for a bold and fresh look. Focus on your strengths and make them apparent throughout your resume. Recruiters are bogged down with countless resumes, make sure yours makes the first cut.

If you enjoyed this article, please visit Ginger’s blog Girls Just Wanna Have Funds and subscribe to the blog’s RSS feed. If you’re in the DC area, join the Girls Just Wanna Have Funds Meetup group here and for the Atlanta, GA area join here. We would appreciate your comments and reactions, so if you would like to contribute to the discussion, add your comment below.

The Consumerism Commentary Podcast is in full swing with new episodes every Sunday. Listen and subscribe now!

Resume Dos and Don’ts (Plus Resume Makeovers)

I do not normally write about blogging here. For me, writing about blogging is like singing a song about the songs one sings rather than singing a song about something inspiring in itself. Nevertheless, this is a blog in which I write about my experiences with money, and blogging has played an increasing role in my finances over the past few years.

After blogging or adding chronological updates to websites since 1994, it wasn’t until January 2005 I received my first check as a result of this writing. Granted I didn’t start Consumerism Commentary until July 2003 and I didn’t add advertising until November 2004, that’s a long time to have a hobby without any consideration of income. In fact, I could stretch my history back to 1989 with my first experience building on-line communities.

Even after that first check in January 2005, income from blogging was slow. I gradually added new projects like the Carnival of Personal Finance, helped form the MoneyBlogNetwork, created pfblogs.org, and offered to host a number of personal finance blogs by other offers for free. January 2007 was the first month in which my income from these activities surpassed my income from my “real” job.

Invariably, one of the most common questions I receive from friends and readers is about leaving my day job. When will I take the plunge by quitting my nine-to-five obligations and dedicating that time to an endeavor that seems to be providing a better payoff? The idea first crossed my mind as a remote possibility in January 2007 and as a serious option in January 2008 when my income from this “hobby” was consistently twice my salary.

The benefits are numerous.

• I would not be tied to any particular location. Without having to report to an office every day, I would have the freedom to work from home, my girlfriend’s house, a public library, or a hotel in Arizona. Additionally, I could live anywhere in the world with a reliable connection to the internet, saving money on living expenses. If I so desired, I could even take the extreme route and live out of my car.
• I would be my own boss. Rather than being subject to the whim of a large multinational corporations and the seemingly endless levels of authority between the CEO and myself (currently at six or so), I make the decisions about which projects to pursue and how much time and effort to devote. I’ll still need to answer to the government when it is time to pay taxes, however.
• I could devote more time to my projects. By leaving my primary job I would have more time on my hands to work with. With more time, I would be able to focus on improving the quality of everything I do now as well as working on new projects.

If those were the only points to consider, I would have quit my job to focus on my writing months ago. Here is the other side to the story.

• There’s not much of a business plan. A good portion of income from this side business is from advertising. It’s rather short on products that consumers can use other than information. I don’t see this as a sound strategy for the long term. People who study this particular industry believe even in the short term, such as this year, on-line advertising could experience a decline.
• Income is too reliant upon Google. Even though only a small portion of income comes directly from Google, most other income sources rely on Google indirectly. The search engine delivers visitors who search for certain topics to Consumerism Commentary or other websites I manage. As I experienced first-hand about a year ago, one small change in Google’s algorithms or opinions could ruin the business model. If only regular readers visit Consumerism Commentary, advertising mostly fails.
• It’s not wise to voluntarily give up five figures of annual income. It’s hard to turn away from a consistent, relatively stable check every two weeks, including low-cost health and disability benefits, a 401(k) matching contribution and discounted stock purchase plan. I also work with interesting people, and it’s nice to spend my time in an environment that is friendly and not too saturated with a sense of urgency. But if even 25% of my total income is stable as long as I perform as expected, I have a foundation to rely on when the other 75% could be inconsistent.

There are straightforward arguments against most of these drawbacks. With more time to devote to my projects after quitting my day job, I could come up with a more diversified business plan. That might include the typical “financial guru” fare like presenting speeches and writing a book. Neither of these excite me for a variety of reasons, the least of which is that I am quite critical of people who are “gurus.” I am more interested in building communities and would like to find more way to accomplish that.

I could also argue that the time I would receive back from my employer could be used to earn more income than I would be giving up by leaving that job, but that’s not a foregone conclusion.

If I am going to take a risk by leaving the corporate world and possibly revealing my identity, it’s better to do so now before I have more obligations and people other than myself who rely on my income. And it is true that I could reenter the traditional workforce if necessary if my plans for self-sufficiency fail. With all this to consider, I will stick with indecision until I decide to make a decision or until my company decides to make that decision for me.

The Consumerism Commentary Podcast is in full swing with new episodes every Sunday. Listen and subscribe now!

Why I Am Not Blogging Full Time

I work for a small Interactive Agency of twenty-four people. This is a company that managed to survive the dot-com bust and, like any company, has good times and bad times. Our president always makes every effort to keep great people, even if it means cutting her own salary. I consider myself lucky to have found a place there, not only because I love my work, but for the atmosphere and common sense of purpose.

Now, I consider myself even luckier. Yesterday, instead of twenty-four people, there were twenty-six. We simply don’t have enough work in process to keep going the way we were, so the management team had to find $60,000 a month to cut out of our operating costs. We had to let go of two project coordinators, ’cause we simply didn’t have enough to keep them busy.

Less drastic, but more personal, is the 10% salary cut that will affect everyone else for the foreseeable future. This will bring my before-tax salary of $80k to around $72k. I’m not going to complain about this. $72,000 a year is a lot of money, especially considering I don’t work under hazardous conditions, or with unruly children, and I don’t have to take steroids to stay competitive.

However, this will require my wife and I to tweak our budget somewhat. $72,000 is a huge salary for someone with no debts; unfortunately I am not that someone. It was that extra $8,000 that was enabling me to make so much progress toward finally erasing my credit card debt that began in 1997. As of today, the balance is down to $3,522. My first instinct for modifying the budget is to say, “Okay, let’s just ignore that credit card until things get better.” I know that’s not wise. The last finance charge on the card was about $37, and if I start making just the minimum payments each month, that number will just get bigger and bigger. It’s a complete waste of money.

But there are other considerations, too. My wife and I have things we want to do this year. In fact, we’ve already paid more than $1,000 to go to a conference in California, but we haven’t arranged any plane tickets or figured out where we’re going to stay for the vacation days when we’re not at the conference itself. And then there’s the pet sitter, the meals in nice restaurants, etc.

Or maybe this is the kick in the pants that I need in order to spend more time working on my freelance work. Given the different ways that a salary and freelance work are taxed, in order to make up the difference, I’d need to earn about $1,000 a month (putting half away for taxes the next April). I don’t imagine that’s going to happen anytime soon, but it does give me something to work toward. Flexo is always happy to have me write more for this site, and there’s a side business in Web Analytics that I’ve been flirting with. My two pro bono clients (I wanted to practice) have been thrilled with my work so far, so maybe it’s time I start courting paying clients.

As I said, I can’t really complain about my cut in salary. If it weren’t for the two car loans from 2006 and my history of dumb materialism, my wife and I would have quite a bit saved up. I have faith we’ll get to a point of having a three-month buffer, but it won’t be this year.

The Consumerism Commentary Podcast is in full swing with new episodes every Sunday. Listen and subscribe now!

The Recession Finally Hits My House

A reporter from the Washington Post is looking to hear from Consumerism Commentary readers who are coping with wage deceleration or stagnation. If you have had to make changes to your lifestyle due to wages or salaries that haven’t been rising as quickly as expenses, you are a perfect candidate for this article in progress. The reporter would like to talk to you about the effect of your stagnant income on your ability to save or pay for a child’s education, or any other kind of adjustment you are experiencing.

If this description fits your experience, please leave a comment here or send me an email (flexo at Consumerism Commentary dot com), describing your situation. I will put you in touch with the reporter.

The Consumerism Commentary Podcast is in full swing with new episodes every Sunday. Listen and subscribe now!

Salary Flat? Washington Post Wants to Hear From You

In my life so far, I’ve had three major chances to negotiate a starting salary. The first was with a cash-strapped non-profit organization that had enough problems keeping its payroll account funded every other week. The second was with a company in the financial industry, a segment of that industry that is known for being cheap in the salary department, particularly for an operational position rather than a business unit. The third was with the same company in a different location.

In all cases, I didn’t have a lot of room to maneuver. And rather than spending my time outside the office looking for new opportunities, I’m spending my time working for myself. It would be nice never to need to negotiate a salary for myself again; and in fact, it’s possible I’ll be on the other side of the negotiating table.

But I liked one of the ideas offered by Liz Ryan at Business Week for dealing with a hiring manager whose offer is lower than one feels they deserve.

Go back to the hiring manager and say: “Thanks so much for the offer. The job seems terrific, and I’m thrilled to be moving along in the process. We’ve had some kind of miscommunication along the way, clearly. I’m focusing on opportunities in the $XX range, and the offer I’ve received is obviously way below that number. If you’re set on this type of salary range, I’m not your hire, but it may make sense to talk about having me consult with you as you get your new plans under way and your new hire up to speed.”

At first, I didn’t see this as an option applying to any of my situations, but maybe it would have. And maybe this is not a bad idea for winding down my day job to begin focusing on my own projects full-time.

Liz Ryan offered a number of other suggestions, like accepting the job part-time (wouldn’t they use that as an excuse to lower the salary offer?), but I don’t seem them applying to most situations.

Lowball Salary Offers: A Working Guide, Liz Ryan, BusinessWeek via Yahoo Finance, March 23, 2009

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How to Deal With a Low Salary Offer

Today is the deadline for American International Group (AIG) to pay $165 million in the form of bonuses to executives involved in businesses that led to collapse of the company — and the broader economy — last year. The company argues that these bonus payments were agreed to before the company required support from the government and taxpayers to stay in existence, and the government agrees. While some of the bonuses paid by AIG to its employees were reduced, these will go forward.

According to an anonymous government official quoted in the New York Times, the White House is outraged at the continuation of bonuses at taxpayer expense, yet they cannot do anything about it.

Is this too much attention on the one company? Should AIG be permitted to honor contracts drawn up under significantly different financial conditions? These bonuses supposedly help the company retain the best employees; if the employees in these divisions that led to the company’s collapse were the best employees, wouldn’t they have been able to avoid that collapse?

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AIG Still Planning Massive Bonuses Today

In March 2006, my company rewarded its employees for achieving an enterprise financial milestone by offering a company stock bonus, designed to vest on March 14, 2009. The vesting period was perhaps designed to create an incentive for employees to stay with the company. When the bonus was announced, the stock grant was worth about $2,000. At the high point last year, the value of the package approached $3,000.

If the bonus were to vest today, each employee would receive the same amount of shares, but the value would only be about $300. The value of a share of my company’s stock has declined 90% from the high. To reclaim that high, the price would need to increase by 818%. That would be 5% a year for 30 years or 3% a year for 75 years. It’s probably safe to say it will be a long time before we see last year’s prices again, if ever.

I don’t see this price changing much for the better within the next week before the grant vests. I suppose I should be happy that I still have a job, although I’m considering leaving to work for myself full-time, and I should appreciate receiving this bonus in the first place.

Management says that our company’s stock price is sympathetic to the rest of the industry and the decline is not due to internal factors.

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Company-Wide Stock Bonus Vesting Next Week

Let’s say you are the chief executive officer of a formerly strong financial company. Either your company has faltered under your leadership or you’ve managed to steer clear of toxic assets but the slumping economy has affected you. Or perhaps you are newly hired, brought in to oversee a struggling shell of a company as it tries to regain its stature.

Either your company desperately needed the funds it has received from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) or the business was competitively forced to take the handout because you wanted your company to stay on par with your peers who were bailed out.

Now President Obama wants to limit your compensation to a measley $500,000. No fair, right?

It makes sense to limit executive pay when taxpayers have stepped in to propr up your balance sheet, whether the company needed the money or not. But it’s largely symbolic, like when CEOs declare they will reduce their salary to $1 per year. They can do that for two reasons: they’ve already made a fortune, and they’ll continue to make a fortune thanks to stock options, deferred compensation, and other perks worth millions of dollars.

Obama says the CEOs can continue to be compensated above and beyond $500,000 through company stock, restricted from sale until the TARP obligations are complete and the government has been paid. This is a great deal; financial stocks have been pummeled. They may go lower, but this built-in waiting period will almost ensure that CEOs stand to win in the long-run.

What do you think about this $500,000 “limit?”

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Is it Effective to Limit CEO Compensation?

As the economy continues to trudge along, more people are submitting claims for unemployment benefits. In the week ending January 17, more than 4,776,000 Americans received checks from the government to cover job loss, an increase of 61% over the same week last year. This number includes 588,000 individuals who filed for unemployment for the first time that week, an increase of 3,000 compared to the week ending January 10.

Has unemployment in this economic downturn affected you? I have one friend who owns a business. He has had some trouble keeping clients lately; fewer companies want to pay for his services when they need to direct money to more immediate issues. I have an additional friend who was laid off last year when a large publishing empire tightened its belt, but he is the only person I know who has lost his job due to what the media has been talking about for months.

That is, except for Dilbert. Dilbert’s boss fired him for using company resources to start a web business (watch out, bloggers), but Scott Adams’ decision to allow Dilbert to join the unemployed masses may be rooted in the general economic sentiment in this country. Recent strips have Dilbert concerned about his lack of income in a world in which bills are imminent and unforgiving.

Here are two recent strips which illustrate what many Americans are experiencing right now. Click the strips to view them full-size.

January 26

January 27

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Unemployment Checks at an All-Time High, Dilbert Unemployed

Despite the fact that my company is squarely within the financial sector, we have so far been immune to massive layoffs taking place around the country, particularly in this industry. While I have something to “fall back” on — and actually, in terms of pure numbers, I could probably do better by leaving my day job and focusing on my independence more — I’d prefer not to be laid off. I like the people with whom I work, and my management attempts to keep me happy and slightly challenged.

I’m not immune to being laid off if the company decides this is the path to take. I could make myself irreplaceable by hoarding knowledge, refusing to delegate responsibilities, and holding my skills hostage. This irreplaceability is often cited as the best way to avoid layoffs. If the business can’t function without you, they won’t let you go. But when it comes down to the way corporations work, everyone is replaceable, from the mail room letter sorter to the chief executive officer. So forget “making yourself irreplaceable.”

Money Magazine has some suggestions for keeping your job amidst layoffs in a manner that will benefit the employee and the organization in the long run.

• Make sure higher-ups know you by solving problems and taking on high-profile projects.
• Share client leads or ideas to generate revenue even if that’s not part of your responsibilities.
• Hang out with the people the boss respects most. The halo of their good reputation may extend to you.
• Keep on top of advances in your field and expand your expertise beyond your core area.
• Look for problem spots that you can help fix. And pitch in whenever extra hands are needed.
• Volunteering to take a pay cut during an industrywide downturn can make you look like a hero.

Notice that all of these tips involve prioritizing the team ahead of the individual. Rather than thinking about yourself and how to protect your job, these tips focus on increasing your value to the organization. You win not by hoarding knowledge, but by sharing, giving, and volunteering, and by being a “team player.”

It’s possible to take these to the extreme. When you give yourself completely to your company, it’s possible to lose a part of yourself. I’ve seen this happen in the non-profit where I once worked. Our small team was a group of individuals highly dedicated to the mission, but none were more dedicated than the executive director. He had very high expectations for everyone’s dedication. In order to success in this organization, employees were required to live and breathe their job, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. It’s impossible to avoid allowing your identity to become nothing but your job under these circumstances. And rather than holding onto the best employees, turnover at this organization was high.

Even when not taken to this extreme, concentrating on the Good of the Company makes it more difficult to concentrate on the Needs of the Individual. You can see this when you are sent to attend classes or seminars. If you find yourself at more management seminars run by Tom Peters, who professes management skills that focus on the organization as a whole, than the classes you attend to foster growth in areas that are important to you, you may be losing balance.

The pervailing thought right now is that those of us who have jobs are lucky, and shouldn’t look to employers for anything other than keeping our jobs. This is certainly do to the economic environment — it is an employers’ market right now. This attitude displayed by employers will backfire when the tables turn and companies begin seeking talented employees again. Workers must adapt to the current environment, and right now that may mean sucking it up and following some of these tips from Money Magazine so they are well-positioned when the job market returns.

Fireproof your job, Donna Rosato, Money Magazine, January 15, 2009.

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Keep Your Job Amidst Layoffs