Category: Consumer Education

Career counselors are often quick to recommend fields where a personnel shortage currently exists. That seems logical...after all, shouldn't you train for positions where the jobs are?

Perhaps not. Take the teaching profession. For years, it was chronically understaffed--so thousands of students and mid-life career changers decided to train to become teachers. But just as they got their certification, the economy went into recession. With declining tax revenues, school districts began laying off teachers. Now there are now too many qualified teachers and not enough openings. The shortage of teachers has turned into a glut.

To help you avoid falling into that trap, we're profiling four up-and-coming careers in our Thanksgiving Day program. Our consultant, Dr. Marty Nemko, says each meets two criteria: 1) it should grow in demand in the coming years 2) it is still largely undiscovered. One is "Patient Advocate." Never heard of it? That's the idea. As Marty put it: "Everyone knows there's going to be a great need for physicians' assistants and nurse practitioners. But most people have never read about a patient advocate. It's under the radar--so the competition may be less rigorous." And a bonus is that becoming a patient advocate requires far less training than most other medical specialties.

Tales from my 20 years as a landlord: One former tenant phoned months after disappearing into the night -- and leaving a horrific mess -- to berate me for letting the city junk the broken-down car he'd abandoned out front.

Another tenant called to have me referee a dispute with a plumber. I could hear his wife and the plumber screaming so viciously in the background that I thought about calling 911.

And, of course, I had tenants who fell behind in the rent, racked up huge, unnecessary repair bills, clogged the toilet with latex objects, set up meth labs in the basement and used the disposal to get rid of dead bodies.

Okay, those last two weren't real -- just the stuff of my nightmares. Every single night.

Authored by Stephanie May, NBR Summer 2009 Intern

In keeping with last week's theme of wondering where in the world I'll end up upon my graduation, I have decided to be an adult and be proactive about the situation. I am embarking on a very long and tedious journey. Ladies and Gentleman, I have begun the job hunt. So far, it's not bad! I'm actually really excited as I come up with plans A to Z for my future. But as I do this, I have realized I'm going to have to face one of my absolute biggest fears -- writing cover letters.

You would think writing cover letters would be a breeze for your Fiscally Fit blogger, but on the contrary, I find them almost impossible. The more I want the position, the more I struggle. What can you possibly say within the confines of an 8x11 piece of paper to make your potential employers realize how absolutely perfect you are for the job? The pressure is unbelievable!

When my son Dash was eight or nine, my wife and I took him to Puerto Rico for a winter vacation and we invented coffee eggs.

We were staying in a resort that charged about $35 for three breakfasts that were nothing to brag about. On the second day we bought eggs at a little grocery and boiled them in the coffee maker in our room, saving a couple of hundred dollars over the rest of the trip and missing nothing we cared about.

On another vacation we invented the Whopper Test. Was the $40 restaurant dinner 10 times better than a $4 Burger King Whopper? If the answer was "no," the Whopper was the better value. We apply the Whopper Test to everything.

Come January, millions of Americans will be allowed to open tax-free Roth retirement accounts, due to repeal of a longstanding rule that prevented "Roth conversions" by taxpayers earning more than $100,000 a year.

Shifting money from a traditional IRA, 401(k) or similar plan to a Roth can be a profitable move for many, but a money-loser for many others. It's worth thinking about now because you may need to scrape up quite a bit of cash to pay tax on a conversion if you conclude that's the right move.

First, a quick refresher: Roths are a form of individual retirement account that has been around since 1998. There is no tax deduction on contributions, but all withdrawals are tax free, including investment gains. Also, you're not required to start taking money out after turning 70 ½, as with traditional IRAs and 401(k)s. (More details. Also see IRS Publication 590.)

Charles Schwab, the discount brokerage, made a bit of news this week by offering eight new exchange-traded funds, or ETFs. That wasn't such a big deal in itself, since the ETF business is booming with new offerings from just about every mutual fund firm and brokerage. But Schwab has upped the ante by allowing its customers to trade the house-brand ETFs for free - without paying the $12.95 brokerage commission for trading other types of stocks.

Now that's interesting. Commissions have been one of the few drawbacks to ETFs, because they can chew up accounts of investors who want to add modest sums frequently. That $12.95 is 6.5 percent of a $200 purchase, for example. You wouldn't want to pay that every month. With an ordinary mutual fund, as opposed to an ETF, you can buy and sell with no fee if you deal directly with the fund company.

You don't mind paying 1 or 2 percent in annual mutual fund fees? Okay, how would you feel about 10, 15 or 20 percent? Maybe even 30 percent?

Numbers like that would get most investors' attention - if they were real. In fact, they are. I'll get back to that in a moment.

What brings this up is news of a U.S. Supreme Court case involving investors' complaints about high fees. They are unhappy that the Oakmark family of mutual funds charges individuals twice what it does institutions like insurance companies and pension funds.

Authored by Stephanie May, NBR Summer 2009 Intern

Over the summer we dove into the idea that if you spend less during the week, you can make up for times when spending gets a bit more out of control (e.g. the weekend). But now I'm really starting to question that theory.

October was a semi-normal month for me until this last week. Boulder, Colorado puts on a Halloween celebration that rivals the best of them. It's not just one night up here. It's a whole week affair. And forget costume repetition. Creative, elaborate, and different costumes are a must. As you can imagine, this can get extremely expensive. Halloween wiped out my bank account, leaving me with a grand total of 6 dollars. Would I trade the fun I had for a bigger bank balance? Absolutely not. But, when I saw what I spent, I did wonder, "When will this get easier?"

Law makers are closing in on approving an extension of federal unemployment-insurance benefits. The bill would provide an extra 14 weeks of benefits for people who've exhausted their benefits. Those who live in states where the unemployment rate is more than 8.5 percent would get up to 20 weeks of extended benefits.

It's tough to argue that extending unemployment benefits is a bad idea at a time when more than 15 million people are out of work. The extension would come at a time when as many as 7,000 people a day are exhausting their unemployment benefits.

But that doesn't stop some people from trying.

If someone made me America's personal-finance dictator, I'd scrap the 401(k). These workplace retirement plans are inequitable, as some companies offer good ones, some bad ones and others none at all. Fees are often too high. And even the better plans often don't provide enough investment options.

Instead, I'd like to see the Roth IRA opened up to allow 401(k)-sized contributions - $16,500 a year instead of $5,000. (Or $22,000 and $6,000 for people 50 and over.) And I'd like to see the Roth's income limits lifted, so anyone could have one.

Roth's don't offer tax deductions on contributions, as 401(k)s do, but Roth withdrawals are tax free, while money taken out of 401(k)s is taxed as income, at rates as high as 35 percent. Most importantly, with a Roth you can invest in just about anything you want, not just a set of funds picked by the boss.

But since I'm not running things, the best I can do is suggest ways to make the traditional 401(k) work best.