Archive for December, 2009

One Good Reason NOT to Cancel Your Collision Coverage

By Kevin M

Conventional wisdom holds that once a car reaches a certain age and book value that the collision coverage portion of an auto insurance policy be canceled. But I may have stumbled upon a compelling reason why you might not want to drop the coverage no matter how low the book value of your car.

My wife and I own two cars, both of which have long since been paid off and at least one of which has a book value low enough that most financial advisors would recommend dropping collision. However, as both cars are of advanced age, we’ve been renting vehicles for the two or three long distance trips where flying doesn’t make financial sense. This saves a small fortune over the purchase of four round trip air fares and gives us use of a late model vehicle a good distance from home.

When renting a vehicle, one of the requirements of car rental companies is current and adequate auto insurance coverage, including collision and comprehensive. Had we dropped our collision coverage, we would be required to pay for coverage through the rental company.

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Making Work-At-Home Work For You

By Kevin M

There probably isn’t a soul in the workforce who hasn’t dreamed of or at least contemplated the possibility of working from home. There are many benefits to this arrangement but it’s important to understand the limitations as well.

I’ve spent a good deal of my life working from home and I strongly recommend it as a preferred work style. But I’ve also become quite familiar with both the advantages and the downsides of home basing. For years I worked from home as a mortgage loan officer. It was a natural advantage because it provided the ability to concentrate all of my efforts on serving my customers. It also forced me to learn to work independently and to identify and utilize outside sources who could enable me to do that fully.

Over time I became comfortable with the proverbial “chief cook and bottle washer” aspect of self-employment, and was able to transfer those skills to subsequent businesses, including recruiting and this weblog.

One element of work-at-home that I know to be absolutely critical above all other concerns: your contribution must add tangible value to your employers business.

Work-at-home isn’t about us nearly as much as it’s about our employers and what we can do for them through the arrangement. Never forget this.

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Face the Future Informed and Without Fear

By Kevin M

Unemployment ticked down in November for the first time in many months, some of the big banks have announced plans to pay back TARP money given to them early in the financial crisis and Wall Street is on the rise—a classic recovery is underway!

Or is it?

Before you think of this as a gloom-and-doom post, please read through to the end and you’ll see it’s anything but.
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Ten Great Tips to Advance Your Career

Guest Post

There can be extreme competition out there these days when it comes to making an impression on the people who matter at work. Finding ways to impress the boss while maintaining your sanity can be difficult to say the least. While you certainly don’t want to have to work 70-hour workweeks just to get ahead, the benefits of career advancement probably won’t just fall into your lap. Most of the time, it takes hard work, dedication, and the ability to learn and adjust to changes in your work environment to get ahead in your career. Here are some tips to take into consideration.

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Fast Track to Frequent Flyer Miles

OR, AVOID ROUTINES – DO SOMETHING UNUSUAL!

By Dave Kelly

Are you in a rut, bunky? Feeling like every day is like the day before? And you are certain that you are not caught up in a “Star Trek” or “Groundhog Day” like time loop?

I have an idea for you!

Change things up! Do something impulsive, unusual, or out of your world. Go for a bike ride, take a dance class, or apply to be an astronaut. An astronaut? Sure! You might not make it, but would it not be cool to go through the interview process?

Or take a trip.




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Seek Fulfillment Beyond Your Work

STRATEGY #10 TO SURVIVE A DOWN ECONOMY

By Kevin M

When careers and money become questionable foundations in our lives, what’s left? It’s often only in bad economies that we even entertain the question.

In 10 Ways To Survive a Down Economy (published on Christianpf.com June 1) we listed ten strategies to help us deal with the bad economy. Our topic for today, the final strategy, Strategy #10:

Seek fulfillment beyond your work. In a world where careers are no longer either peaceful or progressive, self actualizing through your work may not be the path it’s been in the past. Fortunately, there are plenty of opportunities to find fulfillment outside of work. Take more active roles in regard to your health, family, faith and community.

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Cultivate Multiple Income Sources

STRATEGY #5 TO SURVIVE A DOWN ECONOMY

By Kevin M

In the dreary job market of the moment, people are having difficulty with two major areas in particular: keeping a steady income flow and increasing that flow. The increasing level of unemployment is not only eliminating jobs, but it’s also putting a lid on raises and promotion opportunities. This is in large part, the driving force behind the credit crisis and the epidemic of foreclosures and bankruptcies. Is there a way to deal with it without taking unnecessary risks?

In 10 Ways To Survive a Down Economy (published on Christianpf.com June 1) we listed ten strategies to help us deal with the bad economy. Our topic for today, Strategy #5:

Be prepared to cultivate and balance multiple income sources. You may have a full time job and a part time business, or vice versa. Think of your work in terms of an investment portfolio, in which diversification adds strength. There are probably several jobs you are potentially good at; always be on the lookout for new opportunities.

Why increasing income or broadening the income base matter

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Steady Paycheck VS. Self-Employment; Which is Right For You?

By Kevin M

It often seems that people who work for someone else, who hold traditional jobs, dream of the day when they’ll break out of their cubicle and go it alone, running their own business. But talk to many of the self-employed and you’re likely to hear of a deep desire to pitch it all for the predictability of a steady paycheck. Is anyone actually happy where they are? And how do you know if you’re best suited for one or the other?

Many of the discussions of traditional employment versus self-employment center on the financial side of the debate. For example, questions might center around the amount of capital you have to enter and maintain an upstart business, or on your track record of success as an employee at other businesses. While these certainly matter in the decision to transition into self-employment, I’d like to center this discussion on some of the more personal characteristics that could mean the difference between success or failure.

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Start and Grow Your Nest Egg, Even if Your Broke

By Kevin M

If you’re living paycheck-to-paycheck, and struggling just to get by each month, that situation won’t improve until you reach the point where you have a cushion to back you up. You might think that the pressure would be eased by an additional income source, but the problem with higher income is that in a short time it tends to get swallowed up by Lifestyle Inflation—the more we earn, the more we spend.

Some financial types recommend paying off high interest credit cards before beginning a serious savings account. They cite math equations pointing out the numeric absurdity of carrying high interest credit cards (13% or more) while earning close to nothing in interest (1-2%) on savings. On paper, backed up by numbers, this looks very compelling.

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Selling Your Skills on the Open Market

By Kevin M

This is a weekly open forum dedicated to increasing income, cash flow and customer base, for anybody who needs to increase business or supplement a paycheck. Salaried employees, homemakers, small business owners, commissioned sales people, entrepreneurs, retirees—this is FOR you, and we’d like to hear FROM you. What works in one household or business may not work in another, but then again it might. Or it might be modified and adapted to different situations.

In Can You Barter For What You Need? we discussed using your skills and services to barter for products and services you need. You can take the same principle however, selling your skills and services direct for a cash income, and nearly everyone has one or more skills to do this. You can do this as a side business, and eventually make it full time.

”What skills could I possible sell?”

Most of us don’t think that the skills we do at work would be of much value to people on the street. Think again. Right now a lot of small businesses either can’t afford to hire someone or have had to let people go. Even though staff is reduced, the work is often still there and needs to be done.

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