I haven't posted to this blog in awhile and a lot has changed for me since I was really keeping up with it. I hope to occasionally post advice on finances and keep you updated on how things are going for me in my professional life.
I was giving some advice to a friend about finding a job recently and I thought, "This would make a good post on Cashtalk!" This friend was recently laid off from a job that he has held for more than 6 years. He's a bit rusty, but quickly put together his resume and began the job hunt that so many Americans are dealing with right now.
My first suggestion for him (and you) is to update your LinkedIn profile. Make sure that instead of just listing tasks that you routinely complete, that you stress the major accomplishments at your positions. What was it that you did (alone or in a team) that really contributed to the success of the company? Stress results and use examples.
Now to really get the most out of that site, you should try to connect to as many people as you know and who can vouch for you. Don't just connect to anybody, but you may not have been keeping up with people and now is a good time to update your connections. You should be able to find more to get linked to easily. LinkedIn can actually help you with that. Search for people you know from college and maybe from the companies that you have worked for. Also anyone that you may have worked with in the past, that could recommend you. Think of vendors or customers that really were excited about using your services.
Once you build your virtual network, the next step is to reach out to people (using your network) who work at the places that you're applying. Send them an email and ask them what it's like to work there. Mention that you're applying for a position and you just want to get an insider's perspective on the culture and any insights they might have on working there. If they respond favorably, go ahead and ask them to recommend anyone else at the same company or department you might be able to talk to as well. This could lead to some good connections and people will begin to recognize you when they see your resume. It also shows that you really care about the company and are taking the time to learn about it.
Good luck!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
The Top 5 Cities to Build Wealth
I came across this article about the top 5 cities in the U.S. to build wealth. Quality of life and the relative power of the dollar were both factors, as well as the overall economic climate in the decision making process.
Read the article and let me know what you think.
Read the article and let me know what you think.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Iowa City a Great Place to Do Business
Our local Chamber of Commerce sent out two separate press announcements form two different sources claiming Iowa City is a great place to do business.
The first article from Forbes has Iowa ranked at #2 for smaller metros. They used a host of variables like crime rate, cost of living, job growth, etc. to come to this conclusion. Iowa City is only behind Souix Falls, SD and beat out Bloomington, IN.
The second article is from Fortune magazine and ranks Iowa City #21 out of 100 best places to live and launch a career. The article follows an example of a film producer who moved from LA to Iowa City. It cites factors of desirability like tax incentives and great environment along with access to world-class entertainment. The downside is that there are few direct flights to or from this area.
The first article from Forbes has Iowa ranked at #2 for smaller metros. They used a host of variables like crime rate, cost of living, job growth, etc. to come to this conclusion. Iowa City is only behind Souix Falls, SD and beat out Bloomington, IN.
The second article is from Fortune magazine and ranks Iowa City #21 out of 100 best places to live and launch a career. The article follows an example of a film producer who moved from LA to Iowa City. It cites factors of desirability like tax incentives and great environment along with access to world-class entertainment. The downside is that there are few direct flights to or from this area.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Selling a Car: Dealer or Private Sale?
My brother in-law mentioned to me that he was going to sell his two cars in order to upgrade to a bigger car for his growing family. His plan was to go to a dealer and off-load his two, older cars on them, take the cash and use that to buy the new car.
Without asking my advice, I told him he should reconsider his options. I suggested that he should find someone to do an excellent job at detailing both cars. Clean them inside and out and use all of those car-cleaning products you find in Auto stores. After that, take the cars down to a dealer and ask them how much they would give him. After getting a quote, he could go to a mechanic to have them do an inspection and write up any problems the cars have. Then he should try and sell them privately.
Having them cleaned and a mechanic having inspected the cars, my in-law should be able to sell the cars privately for more than if he had traded them in. When a dealer takes a trade in, he's trying to make money and realizes that he'll have to raise the price over what he bought the car for to do that. Because people generally don't trust used cars, even though enough buy them. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 44 million used cars were sold in 2005. That's 72% of all car sales in one year! In the United States, this sub-industry is worth $367 billion a year.
What he has to weigh is whether the hassle of cleaning and inspecting and marketing the car is worth the extra money he could make by selling it himself. Two sites I found offer very valuable tips on selling a car: Carsguide and Autotrader. Both sites are biased toward selling privately, but offer tips on turning the car into a dealer, too.
Good luck!
Without asking my advice, I told him he should reconsider his options. I suggested that he should find someone to do an excellent job at detailing both cars. Clean them inside and out and use all of those car-cleaning products you find in Auto stores. After that, take the cars down to a dealer and ask them how much they would give him. After getting a quote, he could go to a mechanic to have them do an inspection and write up any problems the cars have. Then he should try and sell them privately.
Having them cleaned and a mechanic having inspected the cars, my in-law should be able to sell the cars privately for more than if he had traded them in. When a dealer takes a trade in, he's trying to make money and realizes that he'll have to raise the price over what he bought the car for to do that. Because people generally don't trust used cars, even though enough buy them. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 44 million used cars were sold in 2005. That's 72% of all car sales in one year! In the United States, this sub-industry is worth $367 billion a year.
What he has to weigh is whether the hassle of cleaning and inspecting and marketing the car is worth the extra money he could make by selling it himself. Two sites I found offer very valuable tips on selling a car: Carsguide and Autotrader. Both sites are biased toward selling privately, but offer tips on turning the car into a dealer, too.
Good luck!
10 Most-Demanded Jobs
I saw this article on MSN about the 10 most demanded careers in the U.S. Why are these careers in such high demand? Mostly because they exist in industries that are being phased-out or they require high qualifications. Of course, because we live in a free-market system, incentives are being offered in some companies in order to attract employees. This cause and effect relationship shouldn't be a surprise and I would expect incentives to increase in any job, as long as it remains unfilled and necessary to a company's success.
Some examples of in-demand jobs are:
Sales Representatives
Teachers
Management Executives
Mechanics
Construction Workers
Machine Operators
The article does a good job of giving you an idea of what qualifications you would need to succeed in a position as well as average starting salary for the position. So, if you are looking for a career change or just looking for job in general, check out the article!
Some examples of in-demand jobs are:
Sales Representatives
Teachers
Management Executives
Mechanics
Construction Workers
Machine Operators
The article does a good job of giving you an idea of what qualifications you would need to succeed in a position as well as average starting salary for the position. So, if you are looking for a career change or just looking for job in general, check out the article!
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Weird New Invention
I saw this article and while not directly related to personal money matters or economics, the writer of the article believes that this invention will change the world.
Who knows, maybe you can invest in a company that brings this to the public?
Who knows, maybe you can invest in a company that brings this to the public?
Friday, August 17, 2007
U.S. GDP Compared to the Rest of the World
I was reading a weekly news magazine, and one of the opinion writers pointed out an interesting site called Strange Maps. It has hundreds of strange maps from around the world. There are maps about insane asylum districts in Pennsylvania, the retreat of the Cornish language in England, the potential carving up of Europe had Germany and her allies won World War I and the mocking of Britain's invasion of Afghanistan by naming their provinces after locations in England. The owner just loves maps.
One map in particular is interesting from an economic standpoint and compares each state in the U.S. with a country in the world with an equivalent GDP. California's GDP is about the same size as France. New Jersey is equivalent to Russia. Nevada is Ireland. Etc, etc. Here is a list of GDP's of each state and the list. Here is the map that renames every state in the U.S. with its equivalent country.
It is very interesting to see how the U.S. GDP stacks up to the rest of the world and puts into perspective what other countries produce compared to the United States.
One map in particular is interesting from an economic standpoint and compares each state in the U.S. with a country in the world with an equivalent GDP. California's GDP is about the same size as France. New Jersey is equivalent to Russia. Nevada is Ireland. Etc, etc. Here is a list of GDP's of each state and the list. Here is the map that renames every state in the U.S. with its equivalent country.
It is very interesting to see how the U.S. GDP stacks up to the rest of the world and puts into perspective what other countries produce compared to the United States.
Everything You Need to Know from an MBA Education
When I graduated from the MBA program at the University of Iowa, I told some of my friends that I wanted to write down as much of the theories, equations, buzzwords and business knowledge someplace where I could look it up in the future. Preferably in HTML or in a Word document. Unfortunately, work and other life pursuits pushed this lofty ambition to the back of the line of things I'd like to do.
Fortunately, AgentDisco sent me a link to someone who has done just what I had hoped to do myself, expect they did a far better job. Valuebasedmanagement.net is an ugly page and is basically a list of hundreds of hyperlinked words and descriptions of everything I've learned in the MBA program. When you click on something like, "Cashflow from Operations" or "Theory of Constraints" or "SWOT Analysis" it gives you a simple definition of what that is, as well as a picture or two if applicable. There are also links at the bottom of each page to other areas of the internet for further reading.
I've added this site to the list of links so that if you read this page, you'll have easy access to this site in the future. Check out the site and many thanks to Agent Disco!
Fortunately, AgentDisco sent me a link to someone who has done just what I had hoped to do myself, expect they did a far better job. Valuebasedmanagement.net is an ugly page and is basically a list of hundreds of hyperlinked words and descriptions of everything I've learned in the MBA program. When you click on something like, "Cashflow from Operations" or "Theory of Constraints" or "SWOT Analysis" it gives you a simple definition of what that is, as well as a picture or two if applicable. There are also links at the bottom of each page to other areas of the internet for further reading.
I've added this site to the list of links so that if you read this page, you'll have easy access to this site in the future. Check out the site and many thanks to Agent Disco!
Stocks Still on Sale
The Federal Reserve has continued to add liquidity to the financial system which seems to be buoying the stock market. You can still buy stocks cheap and I recommend this being the perfect time.
If you had bought a $100 worth of stock in a diversified portfolio the day after the 1929 crash, today it would be worth millions, if not more.
If you had bought a $100 worth of stock in a diversified portfolio the day after the 1929 crash, today it would be worth millions, if not more.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Stocks are on Sale
You may have heard that the stock market has gone down recently due to worries about obtaining credit related to a French bank closing down some of it's lending options.
Both the European Central bank and the Federal Reserve will release more money into the system to ensure that there is enough to do business. This will cause a little inflation, but it will also allow businesses to use that currency to conduct their operations.
What does this mean? Stocks are on sale and now is a great time to buy!
Both the European Central bank and the Federal Reserve will release more money into the system to ensure that there is enough to do business. This will cause a little inflation, but it will also allow businesses to use that currency to conduct their operations.
What does this mean? Stocks are on sale and now is a great time to buy!
China to Devalue Dollar: Let Them!
Through "unofficial" think tanks sponsored by the Chinese government, "intellectuals" have suggested China begin a massive campaign to dump dollars on the international market, which would cause the real value of a dollar to drop.
The reason they are doing this is because the U.S. has insisted that China un-peg the value of their currency, the Yuan, to the dollar. This artificially low value of the Yuan makes Chinese goods cheaper in America and makes American goods more expensive in China. This naturally causes the much ballyhooed trade deficit between us and China.
But what would the devaluation do to the U.S. Well, when a flood of dollars is released on the market, this causes interest rates to rise on Treasury Bonds. The reason is that the U.S. wants to control the amount of money in circulation, so they would raise rates, to encourage more people to buy bonds, which would absorb a lot of the cash. The article mentioned above predicts that this would kill the housing industry, as commercial loans are linked to the Treasury bond yield.
What the article doesn't mention, is that people invested in Bonds would be doing quite well. Banks who issue the bonds would be doing well, too. Moreover, China would be shooting themselves in the foot by eliminating the main customer for their goods (30% of goods exported from China are bought in America). It would also hurt other countries in Europe and Japan that keep a large portion of U.S. dollars in reserve. This would, in turn, decrease those market's demand for imported goods.
So, I say, call the bluff. Let them do whatever they want. Sure it will hurt us a little (housing and corporate borrowing), but it would hurt the fledging economy of China much more.
President Bush agrees and made a statement today calling the idea "foolhardy."
The reason they are doing this is because the U.S. has insisted that China un-peg the value of their currency, the Yuan, to the dollar. This artificially low value of the Yuan makes Chinese goods cheaper in America and makes American goods more expensive in China. This naturally causes the much ballyhooed trade deficit between us and China.
But what would the devaluation do to the U.S. Well, when a flood of dollars is released on the market, this causes interest rates to rise on Treasury Bonds. The reason is that the U.S. wants to control the amount of money in circulation, so they would raise rates, to encourage more people to buy bonds, which would absorb a lot of the cash. The article mentioned above predicts that this would kill the housing industry, as commercial loans are linked to the Treasury bond yield.
What the article doesn't mention, is that people invested in Bonds would be doing quite well. Banks who issue the bonds would be doing well, too. Moreover, China would be shooting themselves in the foot by eliminating the main customer for their goods (30% of goods exported from China are bought in America). It would also hurt other countries in Europe and Japan that keep a large portion of U.S. dollars in reserve. This would, in turn, decrease those market's demand for imported goods.
So, I say, call the bluff. Let them do whatever they want. Sure it will hurt us a little (housing and corporate borrowing), but it would hurt the fledging economy of China much more.
President Bush agrees and made a statement today calling the idea "foolhardy."
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