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Participate in Self-Control Research

This article was written by Flexo in Personal Development. 6 comments.

I’ve written extensively about taking control of your finances. One aspect of the ability to succeed with your financial goals is making active, thoughtful decisions pertaining to your use of money. Uptal Dholakia is a professor of management at Rice University in Houston, and he is currently conducting research pertaining to self-control and decision making as they pertain to personal finance as well as other personal issues.

I’ve always been excited to participate in academic research; I was a frequent subject for Princeton University’s cognitive psychology department when I was much younger, and I continued through college by participating in occasional research studies conducted by graduate students at my own university. In fact, when I attended a psychology class my sophomore year and was considering the pursuit of a minor in psychology, participation in graduate research studies was mandatory. Regardless of the requirement, I enjoyed it.

Zener Cards Professor Dholakia is inviting Consumerism Commentary readers to participate in this study. In order to participate, all that is required is to answer questions on a web-based survey.

I completed the survey last night, and it took less than ten minutes to complete. The questions were not difficult, but they did make me think about my decision-making process and how I allow myself to succumb to impulse decisions. There are some questions about demographics at the end of the survey, but the information will be held confidential and reported only in aggregate.

The professor has agreed to share the results of the research with Consumerism Commentary, so once the analysis is complete, you can expect an article discussing the findings published here.

Please help further research regarding the psychology of personal finance by completing the survey here. No electrodes need to be connected to your body and you won’t need to receive any electric shocks.

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Frugal Employers Will Lose Their Talent

This article was written by Flexo in Career and Work. 15 comments.

During the recession, my employer, a firm in the financial industry, eliminated raises for employees at the Vice President level and above for one year. The company, although continuing to perform well compared to its peers, cut back bonuses and other benefits. It’s easy for employers to demand higher productivity for less compensation when the job market is stagnant and the economy is threatened.

“You’re lucky to have a job” was the prevailing attitude. Many of my co-workers had family members or knew people who were out of work during the recession, and there was a lingering fear that, particularly after some internal consolidation, any of us could be out of our jobs at any time. Some were holding onto their jobs for dear life.

Paycheck The power balance between employer and employee is always tilted in companies’ favor, but never more than during a period when the economy is falling apart. Unemployment may be at 8.5%, lower than during the height of the recession, but this is still high, and employees are still willing to put up with cutbacks just to keep their jobs.

What appears to be a short-term gain for an employer — reducing expenses in human resources, salaries, and benefits — can be a long-term loss. The recession ushered in a period of New Frugality. Consumers used credit cards less often and companies cut back spending and hoarded cash. The corporate balance sheet was important, and companies appeared stronger by reducing expenses to ensure profits for shareholders. Employees suffered as a result, and the stagnant — or in some cases, decreasing — compensation will not easily be forgotten.

Eventually, the job market will swing in the other direction. The top talent will feel no loyalty to the company that didn’t respect its workers during the recession, and they will leave for greener pastures.

The Wharton School highlights several recent surveys, showing that the short-term gains companies achieve by neglecting the benefits of their employees will likely result in long-term difficulties.

36% of workers want to leave their companies.
43% of human resources managers are concerned top employees will leave.
35% of companies in the United States have smaller staffs than before the recession.
Companies have replaced full-time staff with temporary workers.

Companies cut compensation more for lower-level employees than higher-level, because executives view the average working middle class employee as easier to replace.

A company’s employees, literally its “human resources,” are the most important assets that a company can invest in. Proper handling and training will present a great return on investment. Spending money to support and enhance the lives of and benefits for employees keeps them engaged. If an employee believes he or she was treated well and respected during a time of economic upheaval, when employees at other companies are sharing their stories of frustration, the employee is more likely to appreciate the employer.

How has your employer treated you over the past few years? Have your compensation and benefits been scaled back? Will you stay when you know it will be easier to find a job?

Photo: dslrninja
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

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New Year’s Resolutions Help Even If You Don’t Keep Them

This article was written by Flexo in Personal Development. 14 comments.

As the year draws to a close, I plan to take some time to evaluate the progression of my life, including my finances, against my goals and resolutions for 2011. I reached some goals while missing others. There are many reasons people don’t keep new year’s resolutions, and I’m not any different.

In one recent survey, only 15 percent of those who made resolutions have kept them. Other studies have presented even more startling numbers, claiming a resolution success rate of only 8 percent. I even found one researcher claiming only 3 percent of resolutions survive the first month of the year. The statistics get even worse for people who follow self-help advice promising to improve resolution-keeping through visualization (for example, hanging a pair of jeans you’d like to fit on your door or keeping a photograph of a vacation spot you’d like to afford on your dresser) or through sheer willpower.

Furthermore, only about half of all Americans even bother to make new year’s resolutions. Given the negative media surrounding failure, with a word like “doomed” making prominent appearances, that makes sense. Why spend the time thinking about how to improve your life if chances are good you’ll fail?

Beating the odds and succeeding at keeping your new year’s resolutions comes down to setting the right goals from the beginning, focusing on fewer aspects of your life, and not using the new year as a one-night stand for resolutions. The failure rate doesn’t concern me, though; I’m more concerned with the half of the population that doesn’t take the time to look at how they can improve their lives and the world around them. It’s unacceptable to me that the fear of failure is preventing people from thinking about the future.

“The unexamined life is not worth living,” according to a popular translation of Socrates. A tortured philosopher’s nearly-final words from the textbooks of history are relevant today. (According to Plato, Socrates’ last words were, “Crito, I owe a cock to Asclepius; will you remember to pay the debt?” Those words could inspire a different discussion about personal finances.) The end of one year and the start of another is a convenient time to self-reflect. Did you live your life according to your values and pursue the things that inspire you? Is the world a better place after 365 days?

These questions go beyond goals and resolutions, but they can inspire both as well as a renewed dedication to living your life a certain way in the new year and beyond. Set some goals and resolutions, not just the typical positive changes like paying off debt, losing weight, and quitting smoking, but others that are tied more to who you are. That might even include some goals that can’t be measured. That goes against typical goal-setting advice, but with new year’s resolutions, it doesn’t have to be a matter of reaching your goal or failing. Just the process of thinking — and if you’re so inclined, writing down — your thoughts about the ideal “you” can improve your life and the lives of those around you.

The root of making resolutions that stick is looking deep into your own life to determine who you are at your core, and if that person is approaching the person you’d like to be. No resolution can be successful, or for that success to matter, without being that meaningful. The end of one year and the start of the next is a good time to begin this process, but don’t set self-reflection aside for just the one day.

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Working From Home Can Benefit You and Your Company

by Flexo

In my old corporate job, upper-level management stressed the importance of work/life balance and flexible working arrangements. The idea of work/life balance stems from the idea that most corporate employees recognize that working in a cubicle is not all there is to life, and despite pressure from supervisors and bosses, family life is important, too. ... Continue reading this article…

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Why Americans Take Fewer Vacation Days

by Flexo

In most workplaces throughout the United States, employees receive vacation days to use every year as a benefit, and in some cases, unused vacation days expire at the end of the year. According to the latest survey by Expedia, on average, Americans earned 14 vacation days this year but used only 12. While the survey ... Continue reading this article…

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Wal-Mart Offering Check Cashing Services

by Flexo

Many Wal-Mart locations around the country now have Money Center departments. These developments create an incredibly convenient way to take your paycheck into the store, have it cashed at the Money Center, and use your cash for your shopping trip. With Wal-Mart’s trend to become a one-stop shop for all household needs, including groceries, each ... Continue reading this article…

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Credit Unions Successfully Woo 650,000 New Customers

by Flexo

Bank of America has given into the pressure of losing more than just a few unprofitable customers, canceling its planned $5 monthly debit card fee. The damage, not just to Bank of America but to retail banking overall, has already been done. The Credit Union National Association has counted, state by state, a total of ... Continue reading this article…

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