Out Of The Labs
Water Wizardry
Jonathan Fahey, 08.26.09, 6:00 AM ET
Seventeen billion gallons of sweet, fresh water are produced from salty water every day, enough to slake the thirst of 350 million people. Yet scientists don't really know how it is done.
Good thing they at least know how to make the process, which takes lots of energy, better.
Many desalination plants remove salt by forcing seawater against a membrane that allows fresh water through, but not salt ions. This is called reverse osmosis, and anyone with a set of taste buds can tell that it works. But scientists still haven't been able to model exactly what is going on.
"I can make you a membrane that does what you want," says Eric Hoek, a professor at UCLA's Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. "But I can't give you an equation that describes it."
Hey, whatever works. Hoek developed a membrane now in the process of being commercialized by a start-up company called NanoH20 that the company says could double the amount of fresh water produced per day compared with conventional membranes.
Desalination is booming worldwide, both because there are ever more people who need ever more scarce, fresh water and because desalination has been getting cheaper. Part of this is because desalination plant designers have incorporated clever energy recovery devices to reduce the amount of power needed to run the plants. (See "Making Sweet Water From (Almost) Perpetual Motion.") And part is due to big improvements in membrane technology.
Nikolay Voutchkov of Water Globe Consulting says membranes have gotten 2.5 to 3 times more efficient in the last decade, helping to drive the cost of desalinated water down from $6 to $7 per 1,000 gallons of fresh water to between $2.50 and $3.20.
But Jeff Green, chief executive of NanoH20, says that while costs came down through about 2003, they started to level off and even creep up a little because improvement of current membrane technology stalled.
In order to squeeze the salt out of water, seawater has to be pushed against the reverse osmosis membrane at very high pressures. Engineers have made the membranes, which are polymers very similar to Kevlar, stronger, more uniform and better at rejecting salt. But whenever they try to increase production by increasing their permeability, too much salt gets through.
"Polymer chemistry has been around for decades," says Green. "These membranes have been optimized."
Another issue: These membranes, constantly wet, are wonderful places for bacteria to flourish. The membranes get fouled and have to be treated with chemicals or replaced.
Hoek, a member of UCLA's Water Technology Research Center, knew that one way to both get water through faster and to make things less hospitable to bacteria was to incorporate so-called hydrophilic, or water-loving materials.
Current membrane polymers are hydrophobic; water beads on them like on a recently waxed car. That increases the pressure needed to force water through, and it creates comfy microscopic dry patches for bacteria to grab onto.
Hoek decided to try some well-known, porous, clay-like materials called zeolites, made of alumina and silicates. He knew particles of 100 nanometers could be made with pore sizes as small as just 0.2 nanometers, about the same size as a water molecule, but smaller than the 0.8 nanometer size of a salt ion. "We wanted to make a pore that water wanted to go into," he says.
People have tried (and are still trying) to make pure-zeolite films, but have failed in part because they are too difficult to control and too expensive to manufacture.
Hoek decided to make the zeolite nanoparticles first, then bake them into conventional polymers. The nanocomposite result wasn't quite as hydrophilic as pure zeolite, but also not as hydrophobic as plain polymers.
Also, he was able to add tiny traces of silver onto the nanoparticles, which act as an antimicrobial and make them even more resistant to bacteria. (See: Pure Bioscience Looks for a Silver Lining.)
He put his new nanoparticle-spiked polymers through the ringer, exposing them to high-pressure water and thriving bacteria. The results were good enough that NanoH20 was able to raise $15 million from venture capitalist firms Khosla Ventures and Oak Investment Partners to try to commercialize it.
NanoH20's Green says the company has modified Hoek's work substantially to improve and perfect the nanoparticle membrane, but he won't say how. He says the company is targeting nearly 100% improvement in water production, from 6,000 to 7,500 gallons per day per eight-inch area of membrane to 12,000 gallons per day. The membrane will be the same size and shape as current membranes, so plants won't have to be retrofitted. The company is building enough capacity to produce "tens of thousands" of membranes--a big plant incorporates 10,000 to 20,000. The first membranes will go on sale early next year.
Hoek, though, remains steadfastly humble about his discovery. "I threw one material that was already known into this membrane that was already known," he shrugs.
If they work, these membranes will be an impressive step in reducing the cost and energy required to deliver fresh water. If we still don't understand the physics of what's going on? The water will taste just as sweet.
What You Will Find Here
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Biden’s New Carbon Capture Mandates Will Cause Blackouts, Increases Prices - The lie of the day is from the EPA: Carbon capture will pay for itself (thanks to IRA subsidies). No, it won't even with subsidies. Expect blackouts and a ...
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Jack Dorsey has entered the epic rap beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake - Twitter and Block cofounder Jack Dorsey appears to be on Kendrick Lamar's side in rap's latest brawl against Drake. Here's a bit of their history.
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Everybody Else Is Reading This - Snowflakes That Stay On My Nose And Eyelashes Above The Law Trump’s New Birth Control […]
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Maximizing Employer Stock Options - Oct 29 – On this edition of Lifetime Income, Paul Horn and Chris Preitauer discuss the benefits of employee stock options and how to best benefit from th...
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Wayfair Needs to Prove This Isn't as Good as It Gets - Earnings were encouraging, but questions remain about the online retailer's long-term viability.
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Hannity Promises To Expose CNN & NBC News In "EpicFail" - *"Tick tock."* In a mysterious tweet yesterday evening to his *3.19 million followers,* Fox News' Sean Hannity offered a preview of what is to come from ...
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Don’t Forget These Important Retirement Deadlines - *Now that fall is in full swing, be sure to mark your calendar for steps that can help boost your tax-advantage retirement savings.*
Tax Breaks for Saving Energy
TAX INCENTIVES ASSISTANCE PROJECT
WWW.ENERGYTAXINCENTIVES.ORG
Consumer Incentives
Home Shell: Insulation, Windows, Sealing
Homeowners can get credits for energy improvements to their homes, such as windows, insulation, and envelope and duct sealing.
Home Heating & Cooling Equipment
Homeowners can get credits for installing efficient air conditioners and heat pumps; gas or oil furnaces and furnace fans; and gas, oil, or electric heat pump water heaters in new or existing homes.
Passenger Vehicles
Credits are available to buyers of hybrid gasoline-electric, diesel, battery-electric, alternative fuel, and fuel cell vehicles.
On-Site Renewables
Credits are available for qualified solar water heating and photovoltaic systems, small wind and geothermal heat pump systems.
Fuel Cells and Microturbines
Credits are available to homeowners and businesses who install qualifying systems. Fuel cells are an advanced technology to generate electricity at the site of use, but they are expensive for commercial buildings and are not widely available for homes.
WWW.ENERGYTAXINCENTIVES.ORG
Consumer Incentives
Home Shell: Insulation, Windows, Sealing
Homeowners can get credits for energy improvements to their homes, such as windows, insulation, and envelope and duct sealing.
Home Heating & Cooling Equipment
Homeowners can get credits for installing efficient air conditioners and heat pumps; gas or oil furnaces and furnace fans; and gas, oil, or electric heat pump water heaters in new or existing homes.
Passenger Vehicles
Credits are available to buyers of hybrid gasoline-electric, diesel, battery-electric, alternative fuel, and fuel cell vehicles.
On-Site Renewables
Credits are available for qualified solar water heating and photovoltaic systems, small wind and geothermal heat pump systems.
Fuel Cells and Microturbines
Credits are available to homeowners and businesses who install qualifying systems. Fuel cells are an advanced technology to generate electricity at the site of use, but they are expensive for commercial buildings and are not widely available for homes.
Get Paid with Dividend Stocks (WSJ)
Shopping for Dividends in A Weak Market
By Ian Salisbury
A DOW JONES NEWSWIRES COLUMN
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--It's been a rough year for dividends, but investors who want stocks with steady payouts may still be able to find them.
The financial crisis hit dividend investors particularly hard, in large part because financial stocks had long been their bread and butter. Overall, Standard & Poor's expects the total value of dividends paid by companies in the S&P 500 to fall to $191 billion in 2009 from $247 billion in 2008. Meanwhile, the prices of dividend-paying stocks have tumbled much more steeply than the rest of the market, posting average annual declines of 11% over the past three years, according to one benchmark.
Still, in some ways, the market's plunge highlights the importance of dividends, which in more normal circumstances can smooth market returns and help investors generate income. The more retirees can rely on regular payouts to cover living expenses, the fewer shares they'll have to sell each year to make ends meet.
"You don't want to have to sell shares at depressed prices at just the wrong time," says Reston, Va., financial adviser Mark Atherton. "Dividends help support a retirement distribution and reduce the chance you'll run out of money."
With stock prices still depressed, the average yield of dividend-paying stocks in the S&P 500 remains relatively high, about 2.6% compared to an average of 2% over the past 10 years. Investors do face the risk of a new wave of dividend cuts, especially with the economy being so slow to pull out of its recession.
"A lot of companies are paying dividends without making money," says Standard & Poor's analyst Howard Silverblatt. "They're putting their hands in their pockets."
One key will be watching what happens in the fourth quarter, says Silverblatt, since many corporations now in the midst of planning for next year will make their move then, if 2010 looks grim.
While the quest for dividends has gotten more difficult, fund managers say investors can still find attractive companies that make reliable payouts.
"If you look at the past few years, a lot of dividends reflected financial firms' profits in investment banking and mortgage underwriting," says Rick Helm, manager of Cohen & Steers Dividend Value Fund. As financial stock's share of the dividend stream has fallen - to about 10% of the whole from almost one third - he counts more on consumer staples stocks to generate income.
Among his holdings: Procter & Gamble Co. (PG), Altria Group Inc. (MO), and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), a company Helm says weathers downturns better than other retailers, in part, because it sells so many groceries.
Another area not to overlook is master limited partnerships, according to Tom Cameron, co-portfolio manager of the Rising Dividend Growth Fund. MLPs, which invest in energy assets like natural gas pipelines, typically pass most of their profits out to investors, often translating into fat yields.
Energy Transfer Partners L.P. (ETP) and Magellan Midstream Partners L.P. (MMP), both in Cameron's portfolio, yield 8.6% and 7.9%, respectively, despite big run-ups so far this year. MLPs can have some tax advantages too, but investors should be aware they can be thinly traded with values tied to volatile energy prices.
(Ian Salisbury is a Getting Personal columnist who writes about personal finance; he covers topics including exchange-traded funds and separately managed accounts. He can be reached at 212-416-2241 or by email at ian.salisbury@dowjones.com.)
By Ian Salisbury
A DOW JONES NEWSWIRES COLUMN
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--It's been a rough year for dividends, but investors who want stocks with steady payouts may still be able to find them.
The financial crisis hit dividend investors particularly hard, in large part because financial stocks had long been their bread and butter. Overall, Standard & Poor's expects the total value of dividends paid by companies in the S&P 500 to fall to $191 billion in 2009 from $247 billion in 2008. Meanwhile, the prices of dividend-paying stocks have tumbled much more steeply than the rest of the market, posting average annual declines of 11% over the past three years, according to one benchmark.
Still, in some ways, the market's plunge highlights the importance of dividends, which in more normal circumstances can smooth market returns and help investors generate income. The more retirees can rely on regular payouts to cover living expenses, the fewer shares they'll have to sell each year to make ends meet.
"You don't want to have to sell shares at depressed prices at just the wrong time," says Reston, Va., financial adviser Mark Atherton. "Dividends help support a retirement distribution and reduce the chance you'll run out of money."
With stock prices still depressed, the average yield of dividend-paying stocks in the S&P 500 remains relatively high, about 2.6% compared to an average of 2% over the past 10 years. Investors do face the risk of a new wave of dividend cuts, especially with the economy being so slow to pull out of its recession.
"A lot of companies are paying dividends without making money," says Standard & Poor's analyst Howard Silverblatt. "They're putting their hands in their pockets."
One key will be watching what happens in the fourth quarter, says Silverblatt, since many corporations now in the midst of planning for next year will make their move then, if 2010 looks grim.
While the quest for dividends has gotten more difficult, fund managers say investors can still find attractive companies that make reliable payouts.
"If you look at the past few years, a lot of dividends reflected financial firms' profits in investment banking and mortgage underwriting," says Rick Helm, manager of Cohen & Steers Dividend Value Fund. As financial stock's share of the dividend stream has fallen - to about 10% of the whole from almost one third - he counts more on consumer staples stocks to generate income.
Among his holdings: Procter & Gamble Co. (PG), Altria Group Inc. (MO), and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), a company Helm says weathers downturns better than other retailers, in part, because it sells so many groceries.
Another area not to overlook is master limited partnerships, according to Tom Cameron, co-portfolio manager of the Rising Dividend Growth Fund. MLPs, which invest in energy assets like natural gas pipelines, typically pass most of their profits out to investors, often translating into fat yields.
Energy Transfer Partners L.P. (ETP) and Magellan Midstream Partners L.P. (MMP), both in Cameron's portfolio, yield 8.6% and 7.9%, respectively, despite big run-ups so far this year. MLPs can have some tax advantages too, but investors should be aware they can be thinly traded with values tied to volatile energy prices.
(Ian Salisbury is a Getting Personal columnist who writes about personal finance; he covers topics including exchange-traded funds and separately managed accounts. He can be reached at 212-416-2241 or by email at ian.salisbury@dowjones.com.)
Award Program for Small Businesses
"Shine A Light" program recognizes small businesses. Nominations welcome at nbc.com/shinealight
American Express, in partnership with NBC Universal, invites you to share a story about a small business you find inspiring and nominate it for an opportunity to win $100,000 in grant and marketing support for that business. If you don't have a story to share, you can participate by viewing, endorsing or voting on other nominated stories. Business Owners: nominate your own business. Lots of marketing materials available at http://shinealight.ivillage.com/
American Express, in partnership with NBC Universal, invites you to share a story about a small business you find inspiring and nominate it for an opportunity to win $100,000 in grant and marketing support for that business. If you don't have a story to share, you can participate by viewing, endorsing or voting on other nominated stories. Business Owners: nominate your own business. Lots of marketing materials available at http://shinealight.ivillage.com/
Yield Opportunity in Bonds (Bloomberg)
Fidelity Debt Director Sees Value in High-Grade Company Bonds
By Tom Kohn and Shelley Smith
Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Investors should buy investment- grade debt because yield premiums over government securities will narrow further this year, said Fidelity International’s Fixed Income Investment Director Gregor Carle.
“There is still reasonable value in investment-grade bonds,” Carle, who helps manage $179.8 billion of assets at Fidelity International, said in an interview in Hong Kong yesterday. “Global broad market spreads for investment-grade debt still have another 100 basis points of tightening to go between now and the end of the year.” Demand for corporate bonds has outstripped supply, driving down the yield premium that investors demand to hold the debt instead of government securities to the lowest in more than a year, according to Merrill Lynch & Co.’s Global Broad Market Corporate Index. The spread has narrowed to an average 233 basis points from a record 511 basis points on March 30, Merrill data show. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.
Investors have been lured by the best returns since at least 1998, with investment-grade corporate notes handing bondholders 12.5 percent. That’s up from a loss of 4.7 percent last year and a 2.6 percent profit in 2007, according to Merrill Lynch indexes.
Investors are improving their portfolio quality by moving to bonds of stronger companies, as liquidity returns with the recovery, Carle said. Bill Gross, who runs the world’s biggest bond fund at Pacific Investment Management Co., said July 30 that investors should favor debt and stocks of “strong” companies, which he defined as having strong balance sheets and high dividend yields.
“We’ve come a long way very fast but the markets are still pretty fragile and it won’t take a lot to turn sentiment,” Carle said. “We are still going to see significant defaults.”
Still, he said buying opportunities remain for high-yield debt, though investors should thoroughly research individual companies. High-yield, or junk, bonds are rated below BBB- by Standard & Poor’s and Baa3 by Moody’s Investors Service.
To contact the reporter for this story: Tom Kohn in Hong Kong at tkohn@bloomberg.net; Shelley Smith in Hong Kong at ssmith118@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: August 19, 2009 23:31 EDT
By Tom Kohn and Shelley Smith
Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Investors should buy investment- grade debt because yield premiums over government securities will narrow further this year, said Fidelity International’s Fixed Income Investment Director Gregor Carle.
“There is still reasonable value in investment-grade bonds,” Carle, who helps manage $179.8 billion of assets at Fidelity International, said in an interview in Hong Kong yesterday. “Global broad market spreads for investment-grade debt still have another 100 basis points of tightening to go between now and the end of the year.” Demand for corporate bonds has outstripped supply, driving down the yield premium that investors demand to hold the debt instead of government securities to the lowest in more than a year, according to Merrill Lynch & Co.’s Global Broad Market Corporate Index. The spread has narrowed to an average 233 basis points from a record 511 basis points on March 30, Merrill data show. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.
Investors have been lured by the best returns since at least 1998, with investment-grade corporate notes handing bondholders 12.5 percent. That’s up from a loss of 4.7 percent last year and a 2.6 percent profit in 2007, according to Merrill Lynch indexes.
Investors are improving their portfolio quality by moving to bonds of stronger companies, as liquidity returns with the recovery, Carle said. Bill Gross, who runs the world’s biggest bond fund at Pacific Investment Management Co., said July 30 that investors should favor debt and stocks of “strong” companies, which he defined as having strong balance sheets and high dividend yields.
“We’ve come a long way very fast but the markets are still pretty fragile and it won’t take a lot to turn sentiment,” Carle said. “We are still going to see significant defaults.”
Still, he said buying opportunities remain for high-yield debt, though investors should thoroughly research individual companies. High-yield, or junk, bonds are rated below BBB- by Standard & Poor’s and Baa3 by Moody’s Investors Service.
To contact the reporter for this story: Tom Kohn in Hong Kong at tkohn@bloomberg.net; Shelley Smith in Hong Kong at ssmith118@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: August 19, 2009 23:31 EDT
Shielding Your Assets from Creditors (NY Times)
April 2, 2009
Protecting Retirement Accounts From Creditors
By DEBORAH L. JACOBS
RETIREMENT accounts remain among many people’s most valuable assets, even at today’s depressed values. That means you need to protect them from creditors, a category that can include former spouses or people who have won lawsuits against you.
The asset protection strategies available to you depend on the type of account you have, where you live and whether you inherited the assets or amassed the funds yourself, among other factors.
You can start by understanding the exemptions in federal or state laws that may protect your retirement accounts. The good news is that most employer-sponsored plans, including 401(k)’s, are covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, known as Erisa, and are completely protected from creditors — except when those creditors are former spouses or the I.R.S., said D. James Gehring, a lawyer with Seyfarth Shaw in Chicago.
The bad news is that individual retirement accounts are not covered by Erisa. If you have filed for bankruptcy, federal law protects up to $1 million in an I.R.A. that you contributed to directly, and protects the entire account balance if the money was rolled over into an I.R.A. from a company plan, said Jonathan E. Gopman, a lawyer with Cummings & Lockwood in Naples, Fla. So it’s important to keep careful records tracing the funds.
For anything short of bankruptcy, state law determines whether I.R.A.’s (including Roth I.R.A.’s) are shielded from creditors’ claims, Mr. Gopman said.
Most states, including New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, exempt 100 percent of the assets while they are in the account. But laws in other states vary widely on whether withdrawals are covered, whether protections extend to inheritors as well as the initial owner and whether former spouses can reach the funds.
Some states limit how much is exempt — Nevada caps it at $500,000 — while California and other states exempt only what is “reasonably necessary” to support the owner and her dependents. Such wording is, inevitably, an invitation to lawsuits.
In deciding whether, under California law, an I.R.A. can be attached by creditors, courts look at the owner’s age, earning ability and other assets, said Alex M. Brucker, a lawyer with Brucker Morra in Los Angeles. If someone had a $1 million company plan that was fully protected from creditors, a court might find that a $500,000 I.R.A. was more than what was reasonably necessary and thus should not receive the same protection, he said. And in some states, an innocent misstep could leave retirement assets vulnerable to creditors’ claims.
If, for example, you have been laid off or are retiring, rolling over assets from a qualified plan, like a 401(k), into an I.R.A. has estate-planning benefits. However, if you live in or are moving to a state where I.R.A.’s are not protected from creditors, you would be better off leaving the assets in the company plan, Mr. Gehring said. So you should consult a lawyer familiar with the rules of the state where you plan to live.
If you have at least $5,000 in the plan, the company must allow you to leave the money there until you are 65, but it is not required to let you take partial withdrawals or borrow against the account, Mr. Gehring said. “If the company goes bankrupt, your money is perfectly safe,” he said, because the business must keep retirement funds in a separate trust where its own creditors can’t reach them.
If you are leaving a company that has a cash-balance pension plan, you should resist the temptation to withdraw the money in a lump sum, Mr. Gehring said, unless you need the money to live on. Upon withdrawal, the money would be exposed to creditors’ claims, and you would have to pay income tax on the full amount.
As with money coming out of a 401(k), you can defer the income tax until you make withdrawals by rolling over the money into an I.R.A., but, again, your protection from creditors will depend on the state where you live.
For example, you might be returning to work after a period of unemployment and have rolled over an I.R.A. when you left your previous employer. Most companies will allow you to transfer that money directly into their plans as you come on board, Mr. Gehring said. You might want to do that either for asset protection or to take advantage of investment offerings. This strategy also works for people who are starting their own businesses and setting up 401(k)’s, Mr. Gopman said.
Note, however, that under federal law an I.R.A. that has been converted to a Roth I.R.A. cannot be rolled back into a company plan, Mr. Brucker said.
Be aware that state and federal laws against fraudulent conveyance prohibit transfers intended to hinder, delay or defraud creditors.
As a rule, such transfers must be in place before there is even a hint of potential trouble, said Gideon Rothschild, a lawyer with Moses & Singer in New York, to be sure they are protected.
If you plan to leave at least some of your I.R.A. to your family, remember that the assets may not be protected from your beneficiaries’ creditors, depending on where the beneficiaries live.
But you can shield the assets by leaving an I.R.A. to a trust, Mr. Rothschild said. To do that, you must name the trust (which in turn benefits certain people) on the beneficiary designation form on file with the financial institution that holds your retirement account. You should be sure not to withdraw the money from the account and put it in a trust; that would make the money subject to income tax.
Protecting Retirement Accounts From Creditors
By DEBORAH L. JACOBS
RETIREMENT accounts remain among many people’s most valuable assets, even at today’s depressed values. That means you need to protect them from creditors, a category that can include former spouses or people who have won lawsuits against you.
The asset protection strategies available to you depend on the type of account you have, where you live and whether you inherited the assets or amassed the funds yourself, among other factors.
You can start by understanding the exemptions in federal or state laws that may protect your retirement accounts. The good news is that most employer-sponsored plans, including 401(k)’s, are covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, known as Erisa, and are completely protected from creditors — except when those creditors are former spouses or the I.R.S., said D. James Gehring, a lawyer with Seyfarth Shaw in Chicago.
The bad news is that individual retirement accounts are not covered by Erisa. If you have filed for bankruptcy, federal law protects up to $1 million in an I.R.A. that you contributed to directly, and protects the entire account balance if the money was rolled over into an I.R.A. from a company plan, said Jonathan E. Gopman, a lawyer with Cummings & Lockwood in Naples, Fla. So it’s important to keep careful records tracing the funds.
For anything short of bankruptcy, state law determines whether I.R.A.’s (including Roth I.R.A.’s) are shielded from creditors’ claims, Mr. Gopman said.
Most states, including New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, exempt 100 percent of the assets while they are in the account. But laws in other states vary widely on whether withdrawals are covered, whether protections extend to inheritors as well as the initial owner and whether former spouses can reach the funds.
Some states limit how much is exempt — Nevada caps it at $500,000 — while California and other states exempt only what is “reasonably necessary” to support the owner and her dependents. Such wording is, inevitably, an invitation to lawsuits.
In deciding whether, under California law, an I.R.A. can be attached by creditors, courts look at the owner’s age, earning ability and other assets, said Alex M. Brucker, a lawyer with Brucker Morra in Los Angeles. If someone had a $1 million company plan that was fully protected from creditors, a court might find that a $500,000 I.R.A. was more than what was reasonably necessary and thus should not receive the same protection, he said. And in some states, an innocent misstep could leave retirement assets vulnerable to creditors’ claims.
If, for example, you have been laid off or are retiring, rolling over assets from a qualified plan, like a 401(k), into an I.R.A. has estate-planning benefits. However, if you live in or are moving to a state where I.R.A.’s are not protected from creditors, you would be better off leaving the assets in the company plan, Mr. Gehring said. So you should consult a lawyer familiar with the rules of the state where you plan to live.
If you have at least $5,000 in the plan, the company must allow you to leave the money there until you are 65, but it is not required to let you take partial withdrawals or borrow against the account, Mr. Gehring said. “If the company goes bankrupt, your money is perfectly safe,” he said, because the business must keep retirement funds in a separate trust where its own creditors can’t reach them.
If you are leaving a company that has a cash-balance pension plan, you should resist the temptation to withdraw the money in a lump sum, Mr. Gehring said, unless you need the money to live on. Upon withdrawal, the money would be exposed to creditors’ claims, and you would have to pay income tax on the full amount.
As with money coming out of a 401(k), you can defer the income tax until you make withdrawals by rolling over the money into an I.R.A., but, again, your protection from creditors will depend on the state where you live.
For example, you might be returning to work after a period of unemployment and have rolled over an I.R.A. when you left your previous employer. Most companies will allow you to transfer that money directly into their plans as you come on board, Mr. Gehring said. You might want to do that either for asset protection or to take advantage of investment offerings. This strategy also works for people who are starting their own businesses and setting up 401(k)’s, Mr. Gopman said.
Note, however, that under federal law an I.R.A. that has been converted to a Roth I.R.A. cannot be rolled back into a company plan, Mr. Brucker said.
Be aware that state and federal laws against fraudulent conveyance prohibit transfers intended to hinder, delay or defraud creditors.
As a rule, such transfers must be in place before there is even a hint of potential trouble, said Gideon Rothschild, a lawyer with Moses & Singer in New York, to be sure they are protected.
If you plan to leave at least some of your I.R.A. to your family, remember that the assets may not be protected from your beneficiaries’ creditors, depending on where the beneficiaries live.
But you can shield the assets by leaving an I.R.A. to a trust, Mr. Rothschild said. To do that, you must name the trust (which in turn benefits certain people) on the beneficiary designation form on file with the financial institution that holds your retirement account. You should be sure not to withdraw the money from the account and put it in a trust; that would make the money subject to income tax.
Get More Out of Social Security (from AARP)
Social Security: Little-Known Strategies Could Boost Your Bottom Line
By: Karen M. Kroll | Source: AARP Bulletin Today | August 5, 2009
With the economy in a tailspin and people having to work longer to make ends meet, it’s more important than ever to think through just how and when you claim Social Security benefits. You may be able to boost the amount you receive each month by employing two little-known strategies, described here.
These two approaches are available only if you’ve reached full retirement age—66, gradually increasing to 67. They are not widely used, so far. One reason is that most people begin claiming Social Security at the earliest eligible age, 62—before full retirement age—and that reality has spiked in recent months as people face financial pressure.
Mark Lassiter, spokesperson with Social Security, says these two strategies have been around a few years but not many people have used them. “They’re really just getting talked about in the past year,” he says.
If you or your spouse can hold off until full retirement age, the benefits may be significant.
1. Claim and suspend
If you’ve already started collecting Social Security but don’t need the money now, you can change your mind, thanks to a little-known provision called “claim and suspend.” That is, once you’ve claimed your benefits, you can turn around and suspend them for as long as you like. Claiming and suspending may add to your bottom line in three ways:
First, by signing up for Social Security, your spouse can also claim a spousal benefit, which typically is about 50 percent of yours. (The spousal benefit continues even if you suspend.)
Also, by suspending, then delaying your own benefit, the amount you’ll eventually receive each month continues to grow at 8 percent a year, until you’ve hit 70.
And, if you die first, the higher benefit is passed on. Only Social Security recipients who are of full retirement age and have never collected benefits can use the claim-and-suspend strategy.
2. Claim now, claim more later
This strategy works for married couples who claim benefits based on their own work record. If one of you has taken your benefit, the other can draw a spousal benefit, typically around 50 percent, even while continuing to work.
It works like this: If your husband (or wife) is receiving a benefit and you have reached full retirement age, you could claim a spousal benefit, rather than your own. You typically would get about half of what your spouse receives.
Meanwhile, your own retirement benefit continues to grow at 8 percent a year. When you reach 70 (when the amount no longer qualifies for the annual increase), you could switch from a spousal benefit to claim your own benefit, if it’s larger.
The purpose of the law
These strategies were included in the Senior Citizens Freedom to Work Act of 2000, passed to encourage people to continue working beyond their retirement age. One way to achieve that, explained Patricia Dilley, professor of law at the University of Florida and a former staffer on the House Social Security subcommittee, was to allow people to access some level of retirement benefits while they stayed on the job.
Other considerations
These approaches are not for everyone. First, they carry some risk. Most significantly, you need to live long enough to make waiting extra years to take your benefits worthwhile. Also, the benefit amount may affect your tax bill, so you may want to consult a tax attorney before signing on.
Critics say these strategies benefit people who are better educated, have higher incomes and may be able to work longer. And the fact that better-educated people are more likely to know about them in the first place undermines the goal of Social Security, which has been to provide a benefit available to society over all, says Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.
Finally, they offer greater benefits for married couples, notes Kathryn Garnett, a Seattle-based consultant in retirement planning. And many people with lower incomes, especially single older women, can’t afford to wait for higher benefits.
However, if you’re part of a couple with a modest or average income and you’re able to use these strategies, you’ll likely see a significant impact on your household finances, says David Yeske, a certified financial planner in San Francisco. “If you’re a professional making several hundred thousand dollars, the impact is trivial. But if your income is $50,000 and you bring in a spousal benefit, that could have a substantial impact on your household.”
It’s possible that Congress may change these rules down the road; although experts say that if you’ve already begun claiming benefits, it’s likely that you’d be grandfathered in.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Karen M. Kroll is a financial writer based in Minneapolis
By: Karen M. Kroll | Source: AARP Bulletin Today | August 5, 2009
With the economy in a tailspin and people having to work longer to make ends meet, it’s more important than ever to think through just how and when you claim Social Security benefits. You may be able to boost the amount you receive each month by employing two little-known strategies, described here.
These two approaches are available only if you’ve reached full retirement age—66, gradually increasing to 67. They are not widely used, so far. One reason is that most people begin claiming Social Security at the earliest eligible age, 62—before full retirement age—and that reality has spiked in recent months as people face financial pressure.
Mark Lassiter, spokesperson with Social Security, says these two strategies have been around a few years but not many people have used them. “They’re really just getting talked about in the past year,” he says.
If you or your spouse can hold off until full retirement age, the benefits may be significant.
1. Claim and suspend
If you’ve already started collecting Social Security but don’t need the money now, you can change your mind, thanks to a little-known provision called “claim and suspend.” That is, once you’ve claimed your benefits, you can turn around and suspend them for as long as you like. Claiming and suspending may add to your bottom line in three ways:
First, by signing up for Social Security, your spouse can also claim a spousal benefit, which typically is about 50 percent of yours. (The spousal benefit continues even if you suspend.)
Also, by suspending, then delaying your own benefit, the amount you’ll eventually receive each month continues to grow at 8 percent a year, until you’ve hit 70.
And, if you die first, the higher benefit is passed on. Only Social Security recipients who are of full retirement age and have never collected benefits can use the claim-and-suspend strategy.
2. Claim now, claim more later
This strategy works for married couples who claim benefits based on their own work record. If one of you has taken your benefit, the other can draw a spousal benefit, typically around 50 percent, even while continuing to work.
It works like this: If your husband (or wife) is receiving a benefit and you have reached full retirement age, you could claim a spousal benefit, rather than your own. You typically would get about half of what your spouse receives.
Meanwhile, your own retirement benefit continues to grow at 8 percent a year. When you reach 70 (when the amount no longer qualifies for the annual increase), you could switch from a spousal benefit to claim your own benefit, if it’s larger.
The purpose of the law
These strategies were included in the Senior Citizens Freedom to Work Act of 2000, passed to encourage people to continue working beyond their retirement age. One way to achieve that, explained Patricia Dilley, professor of law at the University of Florida and a former staffer on the House Social Security subcommittee, was to allow people to access some level of retirement benefits while they stayed on the job.
Other considerations
These approaches are not for everyone. First, they carry some risk. Most significantly, you need to live long enough to make waiting extra years to take your benefits worthwhile. Also, the benefit amount may affect your tax bill, so you may want to consult a tax attorney before signing on.
Critics say these strategies benefit people who are better educated, have higher incomes and may be able to work longer. And the fact that better-educated people are more likely to know about them in the first place undermines the goal of Social Security, which has been to provide a benefit available to society over all, says Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.
Finally, they offer greater benefits for married couples, notes Kathryn Garnett, a Seattle-based consultant in retirement planning. And many people with lower incomes, especially single older women, can’t afford to wait for higher benefits.
However, if you’re part of a couple with a modest or average income and you’re able to use these strategies, you’ll likely see a significant impact on your household finances, says David Yeske, a certified financial planner in San Francisco. “If you’re a professional making several hundred thousand dollars, the impact is trivial. But if your income is $50,000 and you bring in a spousal benefit, that could have a substantial impact on your household.”
It’s possible that Congress may change these rules down the road; although experts say that if you’ve already begun claiming benefits, it’s likely that you’d be grandfathered in.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Karen M. Kroll is a financial writer based in Minneapolis
the Declining Dollar - Hedge Your Portfolio (Barrons)
Foreign-Reserve Bingo
By ROBERT FLINT
What investors seek as they exit dollar-denominated assets.
INVESTORS OF ALL STRIPES NEED TO BRACE THEMSELVES for a world in which the U.S. dollar no longer plays the dominant role.Although the greenback will remain the currency of choice in trade and finance for many more years, signs have already emerged that changes are under way.
Governments abroad have grown increasingly skeptical about the dollar as a store of value for their national reserves. China, Russia and others have expressed concern about their dollar-denominated holdings because of the budget deficits the U.S. faces in financing bailout and stimulus measures.
Some countries have taken steps to reduce the proportion of their reserves held in dollar-denominated assets by switching to investments that will hold their value as consumer prices rise.
The U.S. decision announced Wednesday to boost sales of Treasury inflation-protected securities, or TIPS, is largely seen as a nod to China, the world's largest holder of U.S. government debt.
The search for alternatives to the greenback, while still in its early stages, will eventually have broad implications. Diversification of foreign-exchange reserves is no longer an issue solely for central banks and monetary authorities.
So where does that leave individual investors? Is there such a thing as a diversification play?
There is, say analysts, but it's more a long-term strategy. The dollar's allure has been tarnished, but any significant shift away from U.S. assets by central banks will take years.
"It won't happen overnight," says Andrew Busch, global foreign-exchange strategist at BMO Capital in Chicago.
There's still no other country or region that can match the liquidity and depth of U.S. capital markets. The dollar will continue to play a key role in the placement of foreign-exchange reserves until a viable alternative emerges. So far, there's been no evidence of any officially sanctioned dumping of the dollar.
One strategy for investors would be to mimic central banks and slowly move more of their holdings into non-dollar-denominated assets. The euro is most obvious option, at least in the short run, says Busch.
James Trippon, editor of the China Stock Digest, suggests investors can position themselves to benefit from inflation and a declining dollar through commodity-related plays in energy, metals or even foodstuffs. Australia and New Zealand, with commodity-based economies, stand to benefit as the world economy heals and growth speeds up again in China.
Another option would be American depositary receipts of Chinese corporations in the energy, banking or insurance sectors, Trippon says.
For private investors as well as central banks, it amounts to slow and careful diversification away from the dollar. Coping with a less-than-almighty dollar is an unnerving prospect for many Americans, but one they are bound to face.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By ROBERT FLINT
What investors seek as they exit dollar-denominated assets.
INVESTORS OF ALL STRIPES NEED TO BRACE THEMSELVES for a world in which the U.S. dollar no longer plays the dominant role.Although the greenback will remain the currency of choice in trade and finance for many more years, signs have already emerged that changes are under way.
Governments abroad have grown increasingly skeptical about the dollar as a store of value for their national reserves. China, Russia and others have expressed concern about their dollar-denominated holdings because of the budget deficits the U.S. faces in financing bailout and stimulus measures.
Some countries have taken steps to reduce the proportion of their reserves held in dollar-denominated assets by switching to investments that will hold their value as consumer prices rise.
The U.S. decision announced Wednesday to boost sales of Treasury inflation-protected securities, or TIPS, is largely seen as a nod to China, the world's largest holder of U.S. government debt.
The search for alternatives to the greenback, while still in its early stages, will eventually have broad implications. Diversification of foreign-exchange reserves is no longer an issue solely for central banks and monetary authorities.
So where does that leave individual investors? Is there such a thing as a diversification play?
There is, say analysts, but it's more a long-term strategy. The dollar's allure has been tarnished, but any significant shift away from U.S. assets by central banks will take years.
"It won't happen overnight," says Andrew Busch, global foreign-exchange strategist at BMO Capital in Chicago.
There's still no other country or region that can match the liquidity and depth of U.S. capital markets. The dollar will continue to play a key role in the placement of foreign-exchange reserves until a viable alternative emerges. So far, there's been no evidence of any officially sanctioned dumping of the dollar.
One strategy for investors would be to mimic central banks and slowly move more of their holdings into non-dollar-denominated assets. The euro is most obvious option, at least in the short run, says Busch.
James Trippon, editor of the China Stock Digest, suggests investors can position themselves to benefit from inflation and a declining dollar through commodity-related plays in energy, metals or even foodstuffs. Australia and New Zealand, with commodity-based economies, stand to benefit as the world economy heals and growth speeds up again in China.
Another option would be American depositary receipts of Chinese corporations in the energy, banking or insurance sectors, Trippon says.
For private investors as well as central banks, it amounts to slow and careful diversification away from the dollar. Coping with a less-than-almighty dollar is an unnerving prospect for many Americans, but one they are bound to face.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What Companies Do Well In A Recession (Investopedia.com)
Industries That Thrive On Recession
by Andrew Beattie
from investopedia.com
Recessions are hard on everyone - aren't they? Actually, just as wars have their war babies (companies that perform well during war and suffer during peace), recessions have their tough offspring as well. In this article we'll take a look at the industries that flourish in the adversity of a recession and why they do so well when everyone else is struggling to make ends meet.
Discount Retailers
It makes sense that, as budgets feel the strain of an economic downturn, people turn to the stores that offer the most for the least. Discount retailers like Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) do well at any time, but this is not entirely true. They often suffer in good times as people flush with money buy higher-quality goods at competing outlets. To remain competitive, they are forced to upgrade their product lines and change the focus of their business from thrift to quality. Their profits suffer from either lost sales or less margin on the goods they sell.
In hard times, however, these retailers excel by going back to core products and using vast economies of scale to give cheap goods to consumers. Designers and producers of lower-end products also see an upswing as more people jump from brand names to make their paychecks go further. People may not like discount retailers, but in a recession most people end up shopping there.
Sin Industries
In bad times, the bad do well. Although it seems a little counterintuitive, people patronize the sin industry more during a recession. In good times, these same people might have bought new shoes, a new stereo or other, bigger-ticket items. In bad times, however, the desire for comforts doesn't leave, it simply scales down. People will pass on the stereo, but a nightly glass of wine, a pack of cigarettes or a chocolate bar are small expenditures that help hold back the general malaise that comes with being tight on cash.
Be warned, though - not all sin businesses prosper in a recession. Gambling, with the exception of the truly troubled gamblers, becomes an extravagance and generally declines during recessions. In fact, casinos do their best trade when the economy is roaring and everyone feels lucky. The most prosperous businesses in this industry are the purveyors of small pleasures that can be bought at a gas station or convenience store.
Selected Services
Expect a downturn in the service industry as a whole, as companies and families are willing to do more themselves to save money. A certain class of service providers will see an upswing during hard times though. Companies that specialize in upgrading and maintaining existing equipment and products see their business increase as more clients focus on working with what they have now rather than buying a newer model.
In the real estate industry, they say renovators hire as builders fire, and this holds true for many other industries as well.
The Statics
In a recession, simply carrying on with business as usual can be an achievement. Pharmaceuticals, healthcare companies, tax service companies, gravediggers, waste disposal companies and many others are in a category that, while not jumping ahead during a recession, can plod along while other companies suffer. This is simply because people get sick, get taxed and die (not always in that order) no matter what the economy is like. Sometimes the most boring businesses offer the most consistent and, in context, exciting returns.
The Benefits Of Recession
The biggest benefit of hard times is that companies get hurt for inefficiencies that they laughed off in better times. A recession means general fat trimming for companies, from which they should emerge stronger, and that's good news for investors.
One of the best signs is a company in a hard-hit industry that is expanding anyway. For example, McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) continued to grow in the 1970s downturn even though restaurants generally suffered as people cooked rather than going out to eat. Similarly, Toyota (NYSE:TM) was opening new American plants in the 1990s downturn when the Big Three were closing theirs due to falling sales for new cars.
A recession can be a blessing for investors, as it is much easier to spot a strong company without the white noise of a strong economy.
Waiting It Out
Although it is good to know which companies excel in a recession, investing according to economic cycles can be difficult. If you do invest in these industries during a recession, you have pay careful attention to your investment so you can readjust your portfolio before the economy rebounds, stemming the advances the recession-proof industries have made.
Some of the companies performing well in a recession will also perform well in a recovery, and more will change their business to take advantage of it, but many will be passed by their toughened-up brethren that race ahead in bull markets - financials, technology firms and other faster-moving industries. With the proper timing, however, these industries can provide a buffer within your portfolio while you wait for your high fliers to take off again.
by Andrew Beattie
from investopedia.com
Recessions are hard on everyone - aren't they? Actually, just as wars have their war babies (companies that perform well during war and suffer during peace), recessions have their tough offspring as well. In this article we'll take a look at the industries that flourish in the adversity of a recession and why they do so well when everyone else is struggling to make ends meet.
Discount Retailers
It makes sense that, as budgets feel the strain of an economic downturn, people turn to the stores that offer the most for the least. Discount retailers like Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) do well at any time, but this is not entirely true. They often suffer in good times as people flush with money buy higher-quality goods at competing outlets. To remain competitive, they are forced to upgrade their product lines and change the focus of their business from thrift to quality. Their profits suffer from either lost sales or less margin on the goods they sell.
In hard times, however, these retailers excel by going back to core products and using vast economies of scale to give cheap goods to consumers. Designers and producers of lower-end products also see an upswing as more people jump from brand names to make their paychecks go further. People may not like discount retailers, but in a recession most people end up shopping there.
Sin Industries
In bad times, the bad do well. Although it seems a little counterintuitive, people patronize the sin industry more during a recession. In good times, these same people might have bought new shoes, a new stereo or other, bigger-ticket items. In bad times, however, the desire for comforts doesn't leave, it simply scales down. People will pass on the stereo, but a nightly glass of wine, a pack of cigarettes or a chocolate bar are small expenditures that help hold back the general malaise that comes with being tight on cash.
Be warned, though - not all sin businesses prosper in a recession. Gambling, with the exception of the truly troubled gamblers, becomes an extravagance and generally declines during recessions. In fact, casinos do their best trade when the economy is roaring and everyone feels lucky. The most prosperous businesses in this industry are the purveyors of small pleasures that can be bought at a gas station or convenience store.
Selected Services
Expect a downturn in the service industry as a whole, as companies and families are willing to do more themselves to save money. A certain class of service providers will see an upswing during hard times though. Companies that specialize in upgrading and maintaining existing equipment and products see their business increase as more clients focus on working with what they have now rather than buying a newer model.
In the real estate industry, they say renovators hire as builders fire, and this holds true for many other industries as well.
The Statics
In a recession, simply carrying on with business as usual can be an achievement. Pharmaceuticals, healthcare companies, tax service companies, gravediggers, waste disposal companies and many others are in a category that, while not jumping ahead during a recession, can plod along while other companies suffer. This is simply because people get sick, get taxed and die (not always in that order) no matter what the economy is like. Sometimes the most boring businesses offer the most consistent and, in context, exciting returns.
The Benefits Of Recession
The biggest benefit of hard times is that companies get hurt for inefficiencies that they laughed off in better times. A recession means general fat trimming for companies, from which they should emerge stronger, and that's good news for investors.
One of the best signs is a company in a hard-hit industry that is expanding anyway. For example, McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) continued to grow in the 1970s downturn even though restaurants generally suffered as people cooked rather than going out to eat. Similarly, Toyota (NYSE:TM) was opening new American plants in the 1990s downturn when the Big Three were closing theirs due to falling sales for new cars.
A recession can be a blessing for investors, as it is much easier to spot a strong company without the white noise of a strong economy.
Waiting It Out
Although it is good to know which companies excel in a recession, investing according to economic cycles can be difficult. If you do invest in these industries during a recession, you have pay careful attention to your investment so you can readjust your portfolio before the economy rebounds, stemming the advances the recession-proof industries have made.
Some of the companies performing well in a recession will also perform well in a recovery, and more will change their business to take advantage of it, but many will be passed by their toughened-up brethren that race ahead in bull markets - financials, technology firms and other faster-moving industries. With the proper timing, however, these industries can provide a buffer within your portfolio while you wait for your high fliers to take off again.
Financial Security for Women (AARP)
Women More Likely to Face a Life Crisis, Financial Hardship
August 13, 2009
Two-thirds of women between the ages of 40 and 79 have encountered a life crisis, be it a long-term unemployment, divorce, death of a spouse or a major illness or disability of someone in their household, AARP found. And with this, they encounter financial and emotional hardship.
AARP encourages women undergoing such stress to seek out counseling, and the organization itself offers free life crisis action plans and phone consultations.
“No one escapes the financial implications of a life crisis, but they are particularly acute for women,” noted Richard “Mac” Hisey, president of AARP Financial. "The demographic considerations are obvious: women outlive men, so they experience more life crises and deal with the consequences longer. But women also tend to be the caregivers. That means women are frequently dealing with the human and logistical consequences of a life crisis, leaving little time and energy for the financial considerations."
AARP found in a survey that 46% of women who had experienced the death of a spouse said it had a very significant impact on their finances, as opposed to only 17% of men. Among women who experienced long-term job loss, 66% said it had a very significant impact on their finances, as opposed to 49% of men.
“The findings relative to long-term job loss are particularly troublesome, given the state of the economy and the impact of job loss on women,” Hisey said.
In the case of divorce, 74% of women reduced their expenses, but only 59% of men did. Fifty-nine percent of women sold their home, as opposed to 44% of men, and 42% began working or took on a second job, compared to 21% of men.
Consequently, 61% of women said they are worried about the financial future, while only 52% of men have such worries. Fifty-two percent of women have less than $50,000 saved for retirement, while 28% of men have such low savings.
"The road to long-term financial security is already a difficult one for many women, and detours can emerge at any point along the way," Hisey said. "That's why planning for a life crisis and minimizing its financial impact are so important for achieving long-term financial security."
August 13, 2009
Two-thirds of women between the ages of 40 and 79 have encountered a life crisis, be it a long-term unemployment, divorce, death of a spouse or a major illness or disability of someone in their household, AARP found. And with this, they encounter financial and emotional hardship.
AARP encourages women undergoing such stress to seek out counseling, and the organization itself offers free life crisis action plans and phone consultations.
“No one escapes the financial implications of a life crisis, but they are particularly acute for women,” noted Richard “Mac” Hisey, president of AARP Financial. "The demographic considerations are obvious: women outlive men, so they experience more life crises and deal with the consequences longer. But women also tend to be the caregivers. That means women are frequently dealing with the human and logistical consequences of a life crisis, leaving little time and energy for the financial considerations."
AARP found in a survey that 46% of women who had experienced the death of a spouse said it had a very significant impact on their finances, as opposed to only 17% of men. Among women who experienced long-term job loss, 66% said it had a very significant impact on their finances, as opposed to 49% of men.
“The findings relative to long-term job loss are particularly troublesome, given the state of the economy and the impact of job loss on women,” Hisey said.
In the case of divorce, 74% of women reduced their expenses, but only 59% of men did. Fifty-nine percent of women sold their home, as opposed to 44% of men, and 42% began working or took on a second job, compared to 21% of men.
Consequently, 61% of women said they are worried about the financial future, while only 52% of men have such worries. Fifty-two percent of women have less than $50,000 saved for retirement, while 28% of men have such low savings.
"The road to long-term financial security is already a difficult one for many women, and detours can emerge at any point along the way," Hisey said. "That's why planning for a life crisis and minimizing its financial impact are so important for achieving long-term financial security."
Smart Ways to Get Cash from your Life Insurance (from Kiplingers)
A New Lease on Life Insurance
That term or cash-value policy you bought to protect your young family could cushion your retirement as well.
By Kimberly Lankford
From Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, September 2009
You're 53 or 56 or 61, the kids are out of the house,the mortgage is nearly paid off, and before long you'll be eligible to retire and take your pension -- and so will your better half. Life insurance? At 60, you can expect to live another 20 to 25 years, if you're in good health.
You'll have more than enough money, or at least your house will be worth a million. So surely you won't need to pay insurance premiums for much longer, right? Dropping your policy would be like getting a bonus worth hundreds or thousands of dollars a year.
Nice try. After the real estate collapse and the stock-market crash, the finances of preretirees are far more challenging. Your mortgage payments may now be more of a burden, you can't borrow against home equity, and your retirement accounts have shrunk so much that you hope to hang on to your job and continue to contribute until you're old enough to collect your full Social Security benefit. That's crucial because your pension isn't getting any bigger -- and it may in fact shrink if your company can't keep the plan solvent or the investments perform poorly.
Here's the unpleasant dilemma if you have a term-life-insurance policy that is about to expire: Renew the coverage and your premiums are almost certain to soar. Drop all coverage and your family could be in a financial bind if you die prematurely.
If you own permanent, or cash-value, life insurance, you have other decisions to make. Premiums may be level but high. You may be tempted to take out money to compensate for a smaller pension or a tighter budget, especially if you are forced into early retirement. Or you might cash it in altogether to be done with premiums. That could make sense----or it could be a major financial-planning error.
Term-life policies
Millions of Americans bought low-cost, multiyear term policies ten to 20 years ago when their kids were young, and they expected to drop the coverage when the term -- and low rates -- expired. But if you go without now, you could be missing some special opportunities to extend your coverage for less than you think and retain tax-free death benefits that will make up for the damage to your retirement funds and pension.
Dane and Susan Swenson of Gainesville, Va., both 58, thought they'd be finished with life insurance by now. Dane retired from the Army in 1998 and currently works as a civilian for the U.S. Department of Defense. He has life insurance through work until he retires, which he plans to do in the next few years. He has a military pension and will qualify for a small federal-employee pension. But if he were to die and Susan collected only reduced survivorUs benefits, sheUd be short of money to live on.
The couple originally thought their retirement savings would allow Susan to go without life-insurance benefits. "I planned to be self-insured, but then the market dropped," says Dane. His retirement accounts fell by as much as 40%, so he started to reconsider the idea of going without insurance.
Early in 2009, Dane bought a $200,000, 15-year term policy from Genworth for $600 a year. "The policy covers the difference between being self-insured and the decrease in our portfolio," he says.
That may sound like a low price for a policy that will cover Dane until he turns 73, but it's hardly unusual. Term-insurance rates have plummeted over the past 15 years because of intense competition and longer life expectancies. So you may actually pay less now for the same coverage even though you're older, or lock in a longer rate guarantee with little impact on your premiums.
In 1994, a healthy 40-year-old man would have paid at least $995 per year for a 20-year, fixed-rate term policy with a $500,000 death benefit. Today, the same man -- now age 55 -- could buy ten more years of comparable coverage for $880 a year, as long as he's still physically fit. (In most cases you'll be asked to answer a few questions about your health, provide the insurer with doctors' references, and agree to a brief physical exam at home.)
If you have health issues, find an agent who deals with several insurance companies and can help you present a strong case for a fair deal. Also, check whether the expiring policy has conversion features. Most term-insurance policies come with the option to convert to a permanent life-insurance policy so that you can be covered for the rest of your life, regardless of what happens to your health. The premiums will be high: They are based on your age at conversion, which means the older you are when you convert, the more you pay. But the rates will also reflect your medical condition when you originally signed up for the insurance -- and unless you're a marathon runner, you were probably lighter and healthier then. And, in case you didnUt look, term insurance gets very expensive in old age.
Cash-value policies
Cash-value life-insurance policies, such as whole-life and universal life, don't expire. They can lapse if you don't keep up the premiums; but as long as there's enough money in the policy, the insurance will live on with you through age 100. Cash-value insurance is often criticized because it's hard to follow where all your premiums go and how your value builds. But as you get older, you may find that this complexity translates into more ways to pull money out and still preserve your life-insurance coverage.
Tom Arenberg of Mequon, Wis., bought a whole-life policy from Northwestern Mutual when he was just 22 years old. In addition to its value as protection, says Arenberg, now 57, he "considered it savings that would be harder to get at than if the money were in a bank."
A whole-life policy involves trading higher out-of-pocket costs for some guarantees. You pay a fixed annual premium that depends on your age, health and the size of the policy, and in return you know what your minimum cash value and death benefit are worth every year. If the insurance company invests well (usually in bonds and mortgage securities) and controls other expenses, youUll receive policy dividends, which can further build up your cash value and death benefits. There's no guarantee that you'll receive a dividend every year, but you're not in the position of a stockholder who knows the company may cut cash payments if it so desires. Policyholders virtually always get something. If yours is a mutual insurance company, you're legally considered an owner of the company and share in its gains.
There are two ways to extract cash from a permanent life policy: a withdrawal or a policy loan. Both moves reduce your death benefit, but you don't have to forfeit your coverage.
Arenberg borrowed from his policy's cash value a few times in the early years, for what he calls "growing-up stuff," such as buying his first home. He quickly repaid the loans so he could restore the full death benefit. He had the option to increase the size of the death benefit every three years by paying more premiums, and did.
But now that the Arenbergs' three daughters are 19, 21 and 24, and Tom has retired after 34 years at Accenture, the couple's needs for the policy are gradually shifting from family protection to helping Tom and his wife, Diane, with retirement. "It's become a safe, low-maintenance investment," Arenberg says. "I didn't care if it had the best return -- I wanted to be the least unhappy guy in the room if there were a downturn," he says. Like everyone else's investments, his have taken a hit. But, he says, "We're hurting a lot less than others."
He uses some cash from the life-insurance policy to pay for long-term-care-insurance premiums, and he may use more of it, eventually, to pay for his daughters' graduate-school expenses and to donate to charity. He likens the policy to a chess piece in a commanding position -- there's no rush to make any moves except to ensure that the policy stays in force so his heirs can collect a death benefit tax-free.
How you access your cash value while you're alive matters in terms of your coverage and your tax bill. If you simply cash in the policy, which is known as surrender, you take back the cash value all at once, minus any outstanding loans. But that means you give up the death benefit and owe income tax on the policy's gains over and above the premiums you've paid. If you bought the policy at, say, age 25 and you're now 60, that's an enormous tax hit. It would be smarter to withdraw up to the amount you've paid in premiums, your basis, which you may do without paying tax.
If you need occasional cash, the best way to claim it is a policy loan. You reduce your death benefit by the amount of the loan plus interest (which is generally low, perhaps 6%), but you never have to pay it back. If the policy is still in force when you die, your heirs get the remaining reduced death benefit tax-free. The downside of a policy loan is that you need to be very careful not to let your policy lapse, or else you'll owe taxes on the loan, even though you've spent the money and may think you borrowed the cash from your own savings. Although you can have the interest deducted from the remaining cash value, that's dangerous. It's wise to at least pay the annual interest as it accumulates.
Another option is to make a tax-free conversion into an income annuity (see Guaranteed Income for Life). You'll give up the death benefit and owe taxes on a portion of each annuity payout. But in exchange for paying taxes, you stop paying premiums and can be assured of a steady stream of income for life or for a specified number of years.
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That term or cash-value policy you bought to protect your young family could cushion your retirement as well.
By Kimberly Lankford
From Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, September 2009
You're 53 or 56 or 61, the kids are out of the house,the mortgage is nearly paid off, and before long you'll be eligible to retire and take your pension -- and so will your better half. Life insurance? At 60, you can expect to live another 20 to 25 years, if you're in good health.
You'll have more than enough money, or at least your house will be worth a million. So surely you won't need to pay insurance premiums for much longer, right? Dropping your policy would be like getting a bonus worth hundreds or thousands of dollars a year.
Nice try. After the real estate collapse and the stock-market crash, the finances of preretirees are far more challenging. Your mortgage payments may now be more of a burden, you can't borrow against home equity, and your retirement accounts have shrunk so much that you hope to hang on to your job and continue to contribute until you're old enough to collect your full Social Security benefit. That's crucial because your pension isn't getting any bigger -- and it may in fact shrink if your company can't keep the plan solvent or the investments perform poorly.
Here's the unpleasant dilemma if you have a term-life-insurance policy that is about to expire: Renew the coverage and your premiums are almost certain to soar. Drop all coverage and your family could be in a financial bind if you die prematurely.
If you own permanent, or cash-value, life insurance, you have other decisions to make. Premiums may be level but high. You may be tempted to take out money to compensate for a smaller pension or a tighter budget, especially if you are forced into early retirement. Or you might cash it in altogether to be done with premiums. That could make sense----or it could be a major financial-planning error.
Term-life policies
Millions of Americans bought low-cost, multiyear term policies ten to 20 years ago when their kids were young, and they expected to drop the coverage when the term -- and low rates -- expired. But if you go without now, you could be missing some special opportunities to extend your coverage for less than you think and retain tax-free death benefits that will make up for the damage to your retirement funds and pension.
Dane and Susan Swenson of Gainesville, Va., both 58, thought they'd be finished with life insurance by now. Dane retired from the Army in 1998 and currently works as a civilian for the U.S. Department of Defense. He has life insurance through work until he retires, which he plans to do in the next few years. He has a military pension and will qualify for a small federal-employee pension. But if he were to die and Susan collected only reduced survivorUs benefits, sheUd be short of money to live on.
The couple originally thought their retirement savings would allow Susan to go without life-insurance benefits. "I planned to be self-insured, but then the market dropped," says Dane. His retirement accounts fell by as much as 40%, so he started to reconsider the idea of going without insurance.
Early in 2009, Dane bought a $200,000, 15-year term policy from Genworth for $600 a year. "The policy covers the difference between being self-insured and the decrease in our portfolio," he says.
That may sound like a low price for a policy that will cover Dane until he turns 73, but it's hardly unusual. Term-insurance rates have plummeted over the past 15 years because of intense competition and longer life expectancies. So you may actually pay less now for the same coverage even though you're older, or lock in a longer rate guarantee with little impact on your premiums.
In 1994, a healthy 40-year-old man would have paid at least $995 per year for a 20-year, fixed-rate term policy with a $500,000 death benefit. Today, the same man -- now age 55 -- could buy ten more years of comparable coverage for $880 a year, as long as he's still physically fit. (In most cases you'll be asked to answer a few questions about your health, provide the insurer with doctors' references, and agree to a brief physical exam at home.)
If you have health issues, find an agent who deals with several insurance companies and can help you present a strong case for a fair deal. Also, check whether the expiring policy has conversion features. Most term-insurance policies come with the option to convert to a permanent life-insurance policy so that you can be covered for the rest of your life, regardless of what happens to your health. The premiums will be high: They are based on your age at conversion, which means the older you are when you convert, the more you pay. But the rates will also reflect your medical condition when you originally signed up for the insurance -- and unless you're a marathon runner, you were probably lighter and healthier then. And, in case you didnUt look, term insurance gets very expensive in old age.
Cash-value policies
Cash-value life-insurance policies, such as whole-life and universal life, don't expire. They can lapse if you don't keep up the premiums; but as long as there's enough money in the policy, the insurance will live on with you through age 100. Cash-value insurance is often criticized because it's hard to follow where all your premiums go and how your value builds. But as you get older, you may find that this complexity translates into more ways to pull money out and still preserve your life-insurance coverage.
Tom Arenberg of Mequon, Wis., bought a whole-life policy from Northwestern Mutual when he was just 22 years old. In addition to its value as protection, says Arenberg, now 57, he "considered it savings that would be harder to get at than if the money were in a bank."
A whole-life policy involves trading higher out-of-pocket costs for some guarantees. You pay a fixed annual premium that depends on your age, health and the size of the policy, and in return you know what your minimum cash value and death benefit are worth every year. If the insurance company invests well (usually in bonds and mortgage securities) and controls other expenses, youUll receive policy dividends, which can further build up your cash value and death benefits. There's no guarantee that you'll receive a dividend every year, but you're not in the position of a stockholder who knows the company may cut cash payments if it so desires. Policyholders virtually always get something. If yours is a mutual insurance company, you're legally considered an owner of the company and share in its gains.
There are two ways to extract cash from a permanent life policy: a withdrawal or a policy loan. Both moves reduce your death benefit, but you don't have to forfeit your coverage.
Arenberg borrowed from his policy's cash value a few times in the early years, for what he calls "growing-up stuff," such as buying his first home. He quickly repaid the loans so he could restore the full death benefit. He had the option to increase the size of the death benefit every three years by paying more premiums, and did.
But now that the Arenbergs' three daughters are 19, 21 and 24, and Tom has retired after 34 years at Accenture, the couple's needs for the policy are gradually shifting from family protection to helping Tom and his wife, Diane, with retirement. "It's become a safe, low-maintenance investment," Arenberg says. "I didn't care if it had the best return -- I wanted to be the least unhappy guy in the room if there were a downturn," he says. Like everyone else's investments, his have taken a hit. But, he says, "We're hurting a lot less than others."
He uses some cash from the life-insurance policy to pay for long-term-care-insurance premiums, and he may use more of it, eventually, to pay for his daughters' graduate-school expenses and to donate to charity. He likens the policy to a chess piece in a commanding position -- there's no rush to make any moves except to ensure that the policy stays in force so his heirs can collect a death benefit tax-free.
How you access your cash value while you're alive matters in terms of your coverage and your tax bill. If you simply cash in the policy, which is known as surrender, you take back the cash value all at once, minus any outstanding loans. But that means you give up the death benefit and owe income tax on the policy's gains over and above the premiums you've paid. If you bought the policy at, say, age 25 and you're now 60, that's an enormous tax hit. It would be smarter to withdraw up to the amount you've paid in premiums, your basis, which you may do without paying tax.
If you need occasional cash, the best way to claim it is a policy loan. You reduce your death benefit by the amount of the loan plus interest (which is generally low, perhaps 6%), but you never have to pay it back. If the policy is still in force when you die, your heirs get the remaining reduced death benefit tax-free. The downside of a policy loan is that you need to be very careful not to let your policy lapse, or else you'll owe taxes on the loan, even though you've spent the money and may think you borrowed the cash from your own savings. Although you can have the interest deducted from the remaining cash value, that's dangerous. It's wise to at least pay the annual interest as it accumulates.
Another option is to make a tax-free conversion into an income annuity (see Guaranteed Income for Life). You'll give up the death benefit and owe taxes on a portion of each annuity payout. But in exchange for paying taxes, you stop paying premiums and can be assured of a steady stream of income for life or for a specified number of years.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Green Investing (investopedia.com)
Top 10 Green Industries
If you are looking for ways to put a little green in your wallet by putting some green in your portfolio, you might be surprised at the wide range of offerings available for your consideration. Let's take a look at 10 interesting areas, from the well known wind and solar sectors to less well known green industries such as organics and waste management
Water
One of the most important natural resources we have is water; it is crucial to our survival. However, there has been a lot of fear that we are running out of clean water sources as the global population continues to grow. For investors, this has created a clear opportunity to invest in companies that collect, clean and distribute water. The largest water utility company in the U.S. is Aqua America (NYSE:WTR), which supplies water to nearly three million people. Another company in the industry, on the purification side, is ITT Industries (NYSE:ITT), which produces water purification systems that help to make water drinkable.
To see the power of water, one needs look no further than China's massive Three Gorges Dam project. While this $25 billion structure on the Yangtze River will be the largest hydroelectric power station in the world, it's sure not the only one. Hydropower involves a lot of technology, a lot of infrastructure and a lot of power-hungry customers. Every one of those areas holds potential opportunities for investors. On the power side, two publically traded producers include PG&E Corp. (NYSE:PCG), which has one of the world's largest hydro operations and Idacorp (NYSE:IDA), which has 17 hydro projects.
Wind
Windmill farms are sprouting up around the world. Australia, Europe and the United States are all investing in wind as a leading source of renewable energy. The business of wind not only includes the generation and sale of power, but also the design and construction of wind turbines. Few countries rely on wind for more than a tiny fraction of their power generation needs, but many countries are interested in the possibility.
If this is of interest to you, look for wind farm companies that sell wind-generated energy or companies that produce the windmill technology. There are few pure play stocks that deal in wind in the U.S., which will likely change over time, but companies like General Electric (NYSE:GE) have a presence in this market
Solar Energy
Solar energy is powering homes, buildings and a variety of other items from lights to radios. As the cost of fossil fuels continues to rise and their availability continues to decline, the future looks bright for solar energy.
If you think the sun is just starting to rise on this industry, the companies to look at are those that produce solar energy panels, which will benefit if homeowners and businesses adopt solar technology. Two of the leading producers of solar panals are Evergreen Solar (Nasdaq:ESLR) and Sunpower Corp. (Nasdaq:SPWR), which develop, manufacture and sell panels and components and will directly benefit from the increased adoption of solar power.
Fuel Cells
The U.S. government hopes that hydrogen powered cars will be commonplace by 2020. If this technology works, there are millions of cars - and millions of consumers - waiting for it.
If you think this type of energy is the wave of the future, there are a few companies that operate in the space and are developing fuel cell technology. For example, some of the largest producers include Ballard Power Systems (Nasdaq:BLDP), which produces cells that can be used in many products, from cars to power plants. Another example is Fuel Cell Energy (Nasdaq:FCEL), which focuses on providing power options to commercial and industrial facilities
Efficiency
Just about every aspect of efficiency is good for the environment. Energy efficient construction and appliances reduce home energy use and energy efficient cars reduce our dependence on oil. From efficient lighting to creating the paperless office, innovative companies are developing products that maximize the benefit we get from the resources that we use. Efficiency is the watchword of the day and it represents developing field that will create the technologies that we will use tomorrow.
This area is a little more difficult to invest in as there are no real pure play companies dealing strictly in efficiency. However, there are some companies that have done a great job at leveraging efficiency such as General Electric with its Ecomagination business unit.
Waste Reduction
Recycling has become a standard practice for many people in recent decades. The stuff that was formerly thrown away and trucked off to the landfill is now turned into useful products. Most people are aware that household products such as paper, metal and glass are reprocessed and reused, but few stop to consider the business behind these endeavors. Of course, these aren't the only items that are reused; waste oil, vegetable oil, batteries, cell phones, computers and even parts from cars can have a second life. Recycling these items involves a business enterprise humming along in the background.
In terms of your portfolio, waste management companies with a large base of recycling facilities may be of interest including companies such as Allied Waste Industries (NYSE:RSG) and Waste Management (NYSE:WMI).
Pollution Controls
Reduction is the key term here. From reducing green house gas emissions on industrial power plants to minimizing the emissions that come out of the tailpipe of your car, the pollution control industry is on the rise. Every time legislation mandates an improvement in the amount of some harmful chemical that can be released into the environment, the pollution control industry responds.
If this is something you are concerned about, look for companies that develop pollution control technologies such as Fuel-Tech (Nasdaq:FTEK) and Versar (AMEX:VSR).
Organics
Organic farms eschew the use of pesticides, engage in sustainable farming practices and sell products that are often healthier to eat than the stuff composed of three-syllable words that you can't pronounce and a shelf-life measured in decades. They also engage in animal management practices that avoid the use of hormones and antibiotics, keeping those chemicals out of the food chain and out of the ground and water surrounding the farms. It's good food - and good business.
With U.S. organic food sales reaching $17 billion in 2006, there is a huge market for organic food producers and grocery stores. Some of the biggest organic food companies include Whole Foods Markets (Nasdaq:WFMI), United Natural Foods (Nasdaq:UNFI) and NBTY (NYSE:NTY) among others.
If you are looking for ways to put a little green in your wallet by putting some green in your portfolio, you might be surprised at the wide range of offerings available for your consideration. Let's take a look at 10 interesting areas, from the well known wind and solar sectors to less well known green industries such as organics and waste management
Water
One of the most important natural resources we have is water; it is crucial to our survival. However, there has been a lot of fear that we are running out of clean water sources as the global population continues to grow. For investors, this has created a clear opportunity to invest in companies that collect, clean and distribute water. The largest water utility company in the U.S. is Aqua America (NYSE:WTR), which supplies water to nearly three million people. Another company in the industry, on the purification side, is ITT Industries (NYSE:ITT), which produces water purification systems that help to make water drinkable.
To see the power of water, one needs look no further than China's massive Three Gorges Dam project. While this $25 billion structure on the Yangtze River will be the largest hydroelectric power station in the world, it's sure not the only one. Hydropower involves a lot of technology, a lot of infrastructure and a lot of power-hungry customers. Every one of those areas holds potential opportunities for investors. On the power side, two publically traded producers include PG&E Corp. (NYSE:PCG), which has one of the world's largest hydro operations and Idacorp (NYSE:IDA), which has 17 hydro projects.
Wind
Windmill farms are sprouting up around the world. Australia, Europe and the United States are all investing in wind as a leading source of renewable energy. The business of wind not only includes the generation and sale of power, but also the design and construction of wind turbines. Few countries rely on wind for more than a tiny fraction of their power generation needs, but many countries are interested in the possibility.
If this is of interest to you, look for wind farm companies that sell wind-generated energy or companies that produce the windmill technology. There are few pure play stocks that deal in wind in the U.S., which will likely change over time, but companies like General Electric (NYSE:GE) have a presence in this market
Solar Energy
Solar energy is powering homes, buildings and a variety of other items from lights to radios. As the cost of fossil fuels continues to rise and their availability continues to decline, the future looks bright for solar energy.
If you think the sun is just starting to rise on this industry, the companies to look at are those that produce solar energy panels, which will benefit if homeowners and businesses adopt solar technology. Two of the leading producers of solar panals are Evergreen Solar (Nasdaq:ESLR) and Sunpower Corp. (Nasdaq:SPWR), which develop, manufacture and sell panels and components and will directly benefit from the increased adoption of solar power.
Fuel Cells
The U.S. government hopes that hydrogen powered cars will be commonplace by 2020. If this technology works, there are millions of cars - and millions of consumers - waiting for it.
If you think this type of energy is the wave of the future, there are a few companies that operate in the space and are developing fuel cell technology. For example, some of the largest producers include Ballard Power Systems (Nasdaq:BLDP), which produces cells that can be used in many products, from cars to power plants. Another example is Fuel Cell Energy (Nasdaq:FCEL), which focuses on providing power options to commercial and industrial facilities
Efficiency
Just about every aspect of efficiency is good for the environment. Energy efficient construction and appliances reduce home energy use and energy efficient cars reduce our dependence on oil. From efficient lighting to creating the paperless office, innovative companies are developing products that maximize the benefit we get from the resources that we use. Efficiency is the watchword of the day and it represents developing field that will create the technologies that we will use tomorrow.
This area is a little more difficult to invest in as there are no real pure play companies dealing strictly in efficiency. However, there are some companies that have done a great job at leveraging efficiency such as General Electric with its Ecomagination business unit.
Waste Reduction
Recycling has become a standard practice for many people in recent decades. The stuff that was formerly thrown away and trucked off to the landfill is now turned into useful products. Most people are aware that household products such as paper, metal and glass are reprocessed and reused, but few stop to consider the business behind these endeavors. Of course, these aren't the only items that are reused; waste oil, vegetable oil, batteries, cell phones, computers and even parts from cars can have a second life. Recycling these items involves a business enterprise humming along in the background.
In terms of your portfolio, waste management companies with a large base of recycling facilities may be of interest including companies such as Allied Waste Industries (NYSE:RSG) and Waste Management (NYSE:WMI).
Pollution Controls
Reduction is the key term here. From reducing green house gas emissions on industrial power plants to minimizing the emissions that come out of the tailpipe of your car, the pollution control industry is on the rise. Every time legislation mandates an improvement in the amount of some harmful chemical that can be released into the environment, the pollution control industry responds.
If this is something you are concerned about, look for companies that develop pollution control technologies such as Fuel-Tech (Nasdaq:FTEK) and Versar (AMEX:VSR).
Organics
Organic farms eschew the use of pesticides, engage in sustainable farming practices and sell products that are often healthier to eat than the stuff composed of three-syllable words that you can't pronounce and a shelf-life measured in decades. They also engage in animal management practices that avoid the use of hormones and antibiotics, keeping those chemicals out of the food chain and out of the ground and water surrounding the farms. It's good food - and good business.
With U.S. organic food sales reaching $17 billion in 2006, there is a huge market for organic food producers and grocery stores. Some of the biggest organic food companies include Whole Foods Markets (Nasdaq:WFMI), United Natural Foods (Nasdaq:UNFI) and NBTY (NYSE:NTY) among others.
Green Jobs (So Fla Business Journal)
Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 2:14pm EDT
CareerBuilder launches green jobs site
South Florida Business Journal
CareerBuilder has created a Web site for environmentally conscious job seekers.
Goinggreenjobs.com allows employers to post their open green positions by full-time and part-time status, skill sets, job titles and categories, and geographic location.
Green jobs growth outpaced other job classifications by nearly 250 percent over the last decade, growing 9.1 percent between 1998 and 2007 compared with 3.7 percent for the overall job market, according to Pew Charitable Trusts.
“The focus on green jobs continues to increase year over year as job seekers look for more environmentally conscious career paths and employers make changes to protect the environment,” said Jason Ferrara, VP of corporate marketing at Chicago-based CareerBuilder.com, in a release. “One-in-ten employers say they have added green jobs in the last 12 months.”
The site also features information on green job fairs and events, green workplace news and information, and advice on how to find jobs.
Job seekers can post up to five different versions of their résumé to increase their visibility to potential employers in a variety of environmental areas.
CareerBuilder launches green jobs site
South Florida Business Journal
CareerBuilder has created a Web site for environmentally conscious job seekers.
Goinggreenjobs.com allows employers to post their open green positions by full-time and part-time status, skill sets, job titles and categories, and geographic location.
Green jobs growth outpaced other job classifications by nearly 250 percent over the last decade, growing 9.1 percent between 1998 and 2007 compared with 3.7 percent for the overall job market, according to Pew Charitable Trusts.
“The focus on green jobs continues to increase year over year as job seekers look for more environmentally conscious career paths and employers make changes to protect the environment,” said Jason Ferrara, VP of corporate marketing at Chicago-based CareerBuilder.com, in a release. “One-in-ten employers say they have added green jobs in the last 12 months.”
The site also features information on green job fairs and events, green workplace news and information, and advice on how to find jobs.
Job seekers can post up to five different versions of their résumé to increase their visibility to potential employers in a variety of environmental areas.
For Job Hunters - Make Your Linked In Profile Shine (linkedin.com)
5 Steps to a Fantastic LinkedIn Profile
Posted in Career Advice Job Hunting Social Media on August 9, 2009 at 5:34 pm
by Lindsey Pollak
As a Campus Spokesperson for LinkedIn, I am currently in the midst of facilitating a series of training webinars for college career services professionals (sign up here if you haven’t already — they are free!). I recently wrote a blog post for CollegeRecruiter.com advising career services professionals how to improve their LinkedIn profiles. Today I’ve adapted those tips for job seekers and young professionals:
As the largest and most vibrant professional social network, LinkedIn provides a wealth of opportunities for job seekers and ambitious young professionals. But LinkedIn doesn’t work unless you work it.
How can you make the most of LinkedIn? Here are some tips for creating a profile that will impress employers, colleagues, headhunters, professional association members and more:
1. Include keywords in your summary statement. The Summary portion of your profile provides a chance to share the highlights of your bio in your own words. It’s also a place to include key words and phrases that a recruiter or hiring manager might type into a search engine to find a person like you. The best place to find relevant keywords is in the job listings that appeal to you and the LinkedIn profiles of people who currently hold the kinds of positions you want. Check out LinkedIn’s Company Pages feature to search through the profiles of employees at your dream employers. And remember, it is absolutely fine — crucial, in fact — to include unpaid or volunteer work in your Summary. If you are a current student or recent grad, you can include relevant coursework and extra curricular achievements as well.
2. Write for the screen. LinkedIn, or any website for that matter, is not the place for long-form prose. Present your summary statement in short blocks of text with lots of white space. Bullet points are great, too.
3. List all experience. One of the most valuable aspects of LinkedIn is the way it connects you with former colleagues and classmates—which, as we all know, are some of our best networking contacts. It would be a shame if a long lost former colleague or classmate, who happens to be a recruiter now, couldn’t find you because you hadn’t listed that shared employment in your LinkedIn profile.
4. Collect diverse recommendations. Nothing builds credibility like third party endorsements. The most impressive LinkedIn profiles have at least one recommendation associated with each job a person has held. Think about soliciting recommendations from professors, internship coordinators and colleagues, employers, classmates with whom you shared an extra curricular activity and professional mentors.
5. Share your news frequently. The best way to stay on other people’s radar screens is to update your status on LinkedIn (the box near the top of your profile) at least once a week. Tell people about events you are attending, major projects you’ve completed, professional books you are reading, successes you are celebrating or any other news that you would tell someone at a networking reception or on a quick catch-up phone call.
Want to become a more active user of LinkedIn? Check out the LinkedIn Learning Center and, for students, the LinkedIn Grads Guide. I also recommend Guy Kawasaki’s LinkedIn Profile Extreme Makeover.
Posted in Career Advice Job Hunting Social Media on August 9, 2009 at 5:34 pm
by Lindsey Pollak
As a Campus Spokesperson for LinkedIn, I am currently in the midst of facilitating a series of training webinars for college career services professionals (sign up here if you haven’t already — they are free!). I recently wrote a blog post for CollegeRecruiter.com advising career services professionals how to improve their LinkedIn profiles. Today I’ve adapted those tips for job seekers and young professionals:
As the largest and most vibrant professional social network, LinkedIn provides a wealth of opportunities for job seekers and ambitious young professionals. But LinkedIn doesn’t work unless you work it.
How can you make the most of LinkedIn? Here are some tips for creating a profile that will impress employers, colleagues, headhunters, professional association members and more:
1. Include keywords in your summary statement. The Summary portion of your profile provides a chance to share the highlights of your bio in your own words. It’s also a place to include key words and phrases that a recruiter or hiring manager might type into a search engine to find a person like you. The best place to find relevant keywords is in the job listings that appeal to you and the LinkedIn profiles of people who currently hold the kinds of positions you want. Check out LinkedIn’s Company Pages feature to search through the profiles of employees at your dream employers. And remember, it is absolutely fine — crucial, in fact — to include unpaid or volunteer work in your Summary. If you are a current student or recent grad, you can include relevant coursework and extra curricular achievements as well.
2. Write for the screen. LinkedIn, or any website for that matter, is not the place for long-form prose. Present your summary statement in short blocks of text with lots of white space. Bullet points are great, too.
3. List all experience. One of the most valuable aspects of LinkedIn is the way it connects you with former colleagues and classmates—which, as we all know, are some of our best networking contacts. It would be a shame if a long lost former colleague or classmate, who happens to be a recruiter now, couldn’t find you because you hadn’t listed that shared employment in your LinkedIn profile.
4. Collect diverse recommendations. Nothing builds credibility like third party endorsements. The most impressive LinkedIn profiles have at least one recommendation associated with each job a person has held. Think about soliciting recommendations from professors, internship coordinators and colleagues, employers, classmates with whom you shared an extra curricular activity and professional mentors.
5. Share your news frequently. The best way to stay on other people’s radar screens is to update your status on LinkedIn (the box near the top of your profile) at least once a week. Tell people about events you are attending, major projects you’ve completed, professional books you are reading, successes you are celebrating or any other news that you would tell someone at a networking reception or on a quick catch-up phone call.
Want to become a more active user of LinkedIn? Check out the LinkedIn Learning Center and, for students, the LinkedIn Grads Guide. I also recommend Guy Kawasaki’s LinkedIn Profile Extreme Makeover.
The New GM: Initial Public Offering Plans
August 8, 2009
Business Briefing | Company News
General Motors Is Planning to Hold an I.P.O. Next July
By BLOOMBERG NEWS
The General Motors Company, the new automaker majority-owned by the United States Treasury, said Friday that it intended to make an initial public offering of stock by July 10, 2010, the one-year anniversary of its exit from bankruptcy. The target date range for an offering was disclosed Friday in a federal regulatory filing that the company said summarized its activities in the four weeks since it left court protection. G.M. said it was authorized to issue 2.5 billion shares of common stock. G.M. will begin releasing financial data after the third quarter, a spokeswoman, Renee Rashid-Merem, said. The company’s filing did not include financial results. “Today’s disclosures are consistent with our commitment to remain transparent and to keep the public informed of our progress,” the chief executive, Fritz Henderson, above, said in a statement.
MORE FAQS ON THE "NEW" GM (from corporate website, http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=231169&p=irol-faq)
1. What is General Motors Company, and how is that different from General Motors Corporation?
General Motors Company is the “new GM.” We were formed when Motors Liquidation Company (formerly named “General Motors Corporation”), used section 363 of the U.S. bankruptcy code to sell the strongest parts of its business to a new company, named “General Motors Company.” Our new company is built upon only the strongest parts of the “old GM” business – our employees; our best brands (Cadillac, Chevrolet, Buick, GMC), and the plants and other hard assets that those brands rely on; the contracts we need to secure supplies and keep our business moving; and the equity in our domestic and global subsidiaries.
2. Is GM out of bankruptcy?
Yes, all of GM’s continuing operations and assets are completely out of bankruptcy and are now operating as an independent and separate company called “General Motors Company”. This includes all operations that interact with customers.
3. Can I buy shares in General Motors Company? Will there be an initial public offering?
There are currently no shares of General Motors Company for sale to the public. It will initially be owned by the U.S. Treasury, the governments of Canada and Ontario, the UAW VEBA and Motors Liquidation Company. We expect that shares of the General Motors Company will be publicly traded in the future, and this may involve an initial public offering. Also, as early as the first quarter of 2010, General Motors Company may be contractually required by its new stockholders to register their stock for sale to the public; however, we do not know when or if any of these stockholders will sell any of their shares.
4. What is Motors Liquidation Company?
After it sold substantially all of its assets in the section 363 sale to General Motors Company, General Motors Corporation was renamed “Motors Liquidation Company.” For the operations, assets and liabilities that were not transferred to General Motors Company, the chapter 11 bankruptcy case will continue in order to resolve creditors’ claims and wind down those operations in an orderly way. Information about Motors Liquidation Company can be found on its website, http://www.motorsliquidation.com.
5. What happened to common stock, bonds and other securities previously issued by General Motors Corporation (now renamed “Motors Liquidation Company”)?
All of the publicly owned stocks and bonds previously issued by General Motors Corporation are still securities of that company, but its name has been changed to Motors Liquidation Company. None of Motors Liquidation Company’s publicly owned stocks or bonds are or will become securities of General Motors Company, which is an independent separate company.
WEBSITE OF THE "OLD" GM
http://www.motorsliquidation.com/?evar10=InvestorInfo_MotorsLiquidation
creditors of OLD GM website:
http://www.motorsliquidationcreditorscommittee.com/
Business Briefing | Company News
General Motors Is Planning to Hold an I.P.O. Next July
By BLOOMBERG NEWS
The General Motors Company, the new automaker majority-owned by the United States Treasury, said Friday that it intended to make an initial public offering of stock by July 10, 2010, the one-year anniversary of its exit from bankruptcy. The target date range for an offering was disclosed Friday in a federal regulatory filing that the company said summarized its activities in the four weeks since it left court protection. G.M. said it was authorized to issue 2.5 billion shares of common stock. G.M. will begin releasing financial data after the third quarter, a spokeswoman, Renee Rashid-Merem, said. The company’s filing did not include financial results. “Today’s disclosures are consistent with our commitment to remain transparent and to keep the public informed of our progress,” the chief executive, Fritz Henderson, above, said in a statement.
MORE FAQS ON THE "NEW" GM (from corporate website, http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=231169&p=irol-faq)
1. What is General Motors Company, and how is that different from General Motors Corporation?
General Motors Company is the “new GM.” We were formed when Motors Liquidation Company (formerly named “General Motors Corporation”), used section 363 of the U.S. bankruptcy code to sell the strongest parts of its business to a new company, named “General Motors Company.” Our new company is built upon only the strongest parts of the “old GM” business – our employees; our best brands (Cadillac, Chevrolet, Buick, GMC), and the plants and other hard assets that those brands rely on; the contracts we need to secure supplies and keep our business moving; and the equity in our domestic and global subsidiaries.
2. Is GM out of bankruptcy?
Yes, all of GM’s continuing operations and assets are completely out of bankruptcy and are now operating as an independent and separate company called “General Motors Company”. This includes all operations that interact with customers.
3. Can I buy shares in General Motors Company? Will there be an initial public offering?
There are currently no shares of General Motors Company for sale to the public. It will initially be owned by the U.S. Treasury, the governments of Canada and Ontario, the UAW VEBA and Motors Liquidation Company. We expect that shares of the General Motors Company will be publicly traded in the future, and this may involve an initial public offering. Also, as early as the first quarter of 2010, General Motors Company may be contractually required by its new stockholders to register their stock for sale to the public; however, we do not know when or if any of these stockholders will sell any of their shares.
4. What is Motors Liquidation Company?
After it sold substantially all of its assets in the section 363 sale to General Motors Company, General Motors Corporation was renamed “Motors Liquidation Company.” For the operations, assets and liabilities that were not transferred to General Motors Company, the chapter 11 bankruptcy case will continue in order to resolve creditors’ claims and wind down those operations in an orderly way. Information about Motors Liquidation Company can be found on its website, http://www.motorsliquidation.com.
5. What happened to common stock, bonds and other securities previously issued by General Motors Corporation (now renamed “Motors Liquidation Company”)?
All of the publicly owned stocks and bonds previously issued by General Motors Corporation are still securities of that company, but its name has been changed to Motors Liquidation Company. None of Motors Liquidation Company’s publicly owned stocks or bonds are or will become securities of General Motors Company, which is an independent separate company.
WEBSITE OF THE "OLD" GM
http://www.motorsliquidation.com/?evar10=InvestorInfo_MotorsLiquidation
creditors of OLD GM website:
http://www.motorsliquidationcreditorscommittee.com/
Ways to Make the Most of Cash for Clunkers (cars.com)
Official Government Website is www.cars.gov
Ten Ways to Stretch Your Cash for Clunkers Dollar
By David Thomas, Cars.com
Here at Cars.com we've listed five new cars and five new trucks/crossovers/minivans that would make the most of your Cash for Clunkers credit. Many have significant incentives on top of the thousands the government is handing out, but we've also listed a few hot models that rarely get cash-back offers of their own, as this may be the one time to get them at any type of discount.
The adjusted price we've listed here assumes you qualify for the biggest credit available, $4,500. If you're still not sure how the program works, check our Cash for Clunkers guide.
Cars
2010 Toyota Prius
Starting MSRP: $22,000
Available incentives: None
Cash for Clunkers credit: $4,500
Adjusted price: $17,500
Clearly, the most fuel-efficient car in America is the prototypical vehicle the framers of Cash for Clunkers wanted you to trade your clunker in for. You're guaranteed the full $4,500 credit for the Prius no matter your trade-in, because its combined 50 mpg will best any eligible Clunker by well more than 10 mpg. Because the new Prius is so popular, there are no manufacturer discounts and it may be hard to find one locally, but we still give it the thumbs-up as a money-saver because it'll save money on gas in the long run. Even the previous-generation Prius never saw incentives close to the Clunker rebate of $4,500.
Find This Car Near You
2009 Hyundai Sonata
Starting MSRP: $18,700
Available incentives: $2,000 cash back, plus $1.49 gas for a year (expires July 31)
Cash for Clunkers credit: $3,500-$4,500
Adjusted price: $12,200
The Sonata is a favorite value pick here at Cars.com. It has a pleasant ride, upscale interior and better than average reliability ratings from Consumer Reports. There's a national cash-back incentive, plus a gas deal that will save you some pain at the pump — even at $2.50-a-gallon gas. The base model's mileage rating of 21/32 mpg city/highway is also good for the class. Staring at that $12,200 figure is kind of amazing; that's a lot of car for the price of a stripped economy car.
2009 Mini Cooper
Starting MSRP: $18,550
Available incentives: None
Cash for Clunkers credit: $3,500-$4,500
Adjusted price: $14,050
The Mini Cooper is a blast to drive, even in the base form listed here. The car has been so popular since it was reintroduced in the U.S. that there are rarely cash-back deals available. Mileage is excellent at 28/37 mpg city/highway, with which you're guaranteed to qualify for the full $4,500 credit. That means you'll drive away in a stylish, European import for under $15,000.
2009 Nissan Altima
Starting MSRP: $19,900
Available incentives: $1,500 cash back (expires Aug. 3)
Cash for Clunkers credit: $3,500-$4,500
Adjusted price: $13,900
If you like a little performance in your midsize sedan, the Altima is the way to go. Even in base, four-cylinder form, the steering is sharp and nimble. Plus, mileage is 23/31 mpg city/highway. Nissan's interiors are always top-notch for the segment, and while the $1,500 cash-back deal is a nationally advertised offer, the 2010 model goes on sale in September and will have some updates. That means dealers might want to make a deal on the 2009 model.
2009 Pontiac Vibe
Starting MSRP: $16,100
Available incentives: $2,500 cash back or 0% for 60 months (expires Aug. 3)
Cash for Clunkers credit: $3,500-$4,500
Adjusted price: $9,100
One of the unfortunate casualties of GM shutting down the Pontiac brand is the redesigned Pontiac Vibe. This little hatchback has a relatively upscale interior, good crash-test ratings and much better than average reliability scores from Consumer Reports. There should still be plenty of 2009 inventory on lots, as the 2010s are just arriving at dealerships. Again, we expect dealers will want to make even better deals because the brand itself is disappearing. Don't fear future repairs; GM says it will service all Pontiacs at other brand locations. For under $10,000, this is an exceptionally well-rounded choice.
Trucks, SUVs and Minivans
2009 Honda Odyssey
Starting MSRP: $26,355
Available incentives: None
Cash for Clunkers credit: $3,500-$4,500
Adjusted price: $21,855
We know what you're thinking: If there's no incentive, why is buying a new Odyssey worth using a big government credit? Well, Honda is rolling out the 2010 model right now, and dealers will be ready to clear out old inventory to make room on lots. There are no noticeable differences between the 2009 and 2010 Odysseys, and the 2009 is rated a Top Safety Pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. That's good news for families looking for what is consistently one of the best minivans on sale today.
2009 Subaru Forester
Starting MSRP: $19,995
Available incentives: 2.9% financing (expires Aug. 3)
Cash for Clunkers credit: $3,500-$4,500
Adjusted price: $15,495
Last year, the redesigned Subaru Forester came very close to being named Cars.com's New Car of the Year — that's how highly we regard this compact crossover. If you're a small family downsizing from a huge, gas-guzzling SUV, the Forester is a good choice with standard all-wheel drive, a low base price and Top Safety Pick status. Like the Odyssey, the 2010 Forester is just arriving on dealer lots, so now is one of the few times the hot-selling Subaru might get a dealer discount on top of financing deals. Don't expect to get too much off during your negotiations, though, because the starting price is so low. There aren't any significant changes on the 2010 model, but it does see a price bump of $300.
2009 Toyota Venza
Starting MSRP: $25,975
Available incentives: None
Cash for Clunkers credit: $3,500-$4,500
Adjusted price: $21,475
Yep, here's another crossover on our list with no advertised incentives. But if you're looking for an alternative to a truck-based SUV and need lots of room, good gas mileage — 21/29 mpg city/highway — and available all-wheel drive, the Venza is a good bet. Like others on this list, the Venza is a Top Safety Pick. While there are no incentives on the Venza, buying one would be a good use of federally supplied funds, as they'd knock what we consider a pretty expensive sticker down to something more palatable.
2009 Ford Escape
Starting MSRP: $20,435
Available incentives: $2,500 cash back or 0% financing (expires Aug. 3*)
Cash for Clunkers credit: $3,500-$4,500
Adjusted price: $13,435
Ford's long-running Escape is one of the most affordable compact SUVs on the market before any discounts. A redesign a few years ago was enough of an update to keep it competitive, and it also earns Top Safety Pick status. Lots of cash back from the automaker brings the adjusted price down to the low teens, which is an unbelievable cost for such a well-rounded vehicle.
Find This Car Near You
2009 Toyota Tacoma
Starting MSRP: $15,170
Available incentives: $1,500 or 0% financing for 36 months (expires July 31*)
Cash for Clunkers credit: $3,500-$4,500
Adjusted price: $9,170
If you're wondering where all the actual trucks are, there aren't many that fit into the spirit of the Cash for Clunkers legislation. Most full-size pickups get just one or two mpg better fuel economy than their predecessors of decades past. Instead, buyers can pick something smaller and more efficient, like the Tacoma, which has better than average reliability ratings and is the only small pickup to earn a Top Safety Pick award from IIHS. Its better mileage should also help it qualify for the full $4,500 credit from the government. For under $10,000, it's a terrific alternative to larger trucks.
*Incentives may vary by region.
© Cars.com 7/22/09
Ten Ways to Stretch Your Cash for Clunkers Dollar
By David Thomas, Cars.com
Here at Cars.com we've listed five new cars and five new trucks/crossovers/minivans that would make the most of your Cash for Clunkers credit. Many have significant incentives on top of the thousands the government is handing out, but we've also listed a few hot models that rarely get cash-back offers of their own, as this may be the one time to get them at any type of discount.
The adjusted price we've listed here assumes you qualify for the biggest credit available, $4,500. If you're still not sure how the program works, check our Cash for Clunkers guide.
Cars
2010 Toyota Prius
Starting MSRP: $22,000
Available incentives: None
Cash for Clunkers credit: $4,500
Adjusted price: $17,500
Clearly, the most fuel-efficient car in America is the prototypical vehicle the framers of Cash for Clunkers wanted you to trade your clunker in for. You're guaranteed the full $4,500 credit for the Prius no matter your trade-in, because its combined 50 mpg will best any eligible Clunker by well more than 10 mpg. Because the new Prius is so popular, there are no manufacturer discounts and it may be hard to find one locally, but we still give it the thumbs-up as a money-saver because it'll save money on gas in the long run. Even the previous-generation Prius never saw incentives close to the Clunker rebate of $4,500.
Find This Car Near You
2009 Hyundai Sonata
Starting MSRP: $18,700
Available incentives: $2,000 cash back, plus $1.49 gas for a year (expires July 31)
Cash for Clunkers credit: $3,500-$4,500
Adjusted price: $12,200
The Sonata is a favorite value pick here at Cars.com. It has a pleasant ride, upscale interior and better than average reliability ratings from Consumer Reports. There's a national cash-back incentive, plus a gas deal that will save you some pain at the pump — even at $2.50-a-gallon gas. The base model's mileage rating of 21/32 mpg city/highway is also good for the class. Staring at that $12,200 figure is kind of amazing; that's a lot of car for the price of a stripped economy car.
2009 Mini Cooper
Starting MSRP: $18,550
Available incentives: None
Cash for Clunkers credit: $3,500-$4,500
Adjusted price: $14,050
The Mini Cooper is a blast to drive, even in the base form listed here. The car has been so popular since it was reintroduced in the U.S. that there are rarely cash-back deals available. Mileage is excellent at 28/37 mpg city/highway, with which you're guaranteed to qualify for the full $4,500 credit. That means you'll drive away in a stylish, European import for under $15,000.
2009 Nissan Altima
Starting MSRP: $19,900
Available incentives: $1,500 cash back (expires Aug. 3)
Cash for Clunkers credit: $3,500-$4,500
Adjusted price: $13,900
If you like a little performance in your midsize sedan, the Altima is the way to go. Even in base, four-cylinder form, the steering is sharp and nimble. Plus, mileage is 23/31 mpg city/highway. Nissan's interiors are always top-notch for the segment, and while the $1,500 cash-back deal is a nationally advertised offer, the 2010 model goes on sale in September and will have some updates. That means dealers might want to make a deal on the 2009 model.
2009 Pontiac Vibe
Starting MSRP: $16,100
Available incentives: $2,500 cash back or 0% for 60 months (expires Aug. 3)
Cash for Clunkers credit: $3,500-$4,500
Adjusted price: $9,100
One of the unfortunate casualties of GM shutting down the Pontiac brand is the redesigned Pontiac Vibe. This little hatchback has a relatively upscale interior, good crash-test ratings and much better than average reliability scores from Consumer Reports. There should still be plenty of 2009 inventory on lots, as the 2010s are just arriving at dealerships. Again, we expect dealers will want to make even better deals because the brand itself is disappearing. Don't fear future repairs; GM says it will service all Pontiacs at other brand locations. For under $10,000, this is an exceptionally well-rounded choice.
Trucks, SUVs and Minivans
2009 Honda Odyssey
Starting MSRP: $26,355
Available incentives: None
Cash for Clunkers credit: $3,500-$4,500
Adjusted price: $21,855
We know what you're thinking: If there's no incentive, why is buying a new Odyssey worth using a big government credit? Well, Honda is rolling out the 2010 model right now, and dealers will be ready to clear out old inventory to make room on lots. There are no noticeable differences between the 2009 and 2010 Odysseys, and the 2009 is rated a Top Safety Pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. That's good news for families looking for what is consistently one of the best minivans on sale today.
2009 Subaru Forester
Starting MSRP: $19,995
Available incentives: 2.9% financing (expires Aug. 3)
Cash for Clunkers credit: $3,500-$4,500
Adjusted price: $15,495
Last year, the redesigned Subaru Forester came very close to being named Cars.com's New Car of the Year — that's how highly we regard this compact crossover. If you're a small family downsizing from a huge, gas-guzzling SUV, the Forester is a good choice with standard all-wheel drive, a low base price and Top Safety Pick status. Like the Odyssey, the 2010 Forester is just arriving on dealer lots, so now is one of the few times the hot-selling Subaru might get a dealer discount on top of financing deals. Don't expect to get too much off during your negotiations, though, because the starting price is so low. There aren't any significant changes on the 2010 model, but it does see a price bump of $300.
2009 Toyota Venza
Starting MSRP: $25,975
Available incentives: None
Cash for Clunkers credit: $3,500-$4,500
Adjusted price: $21,475
Yep, here's another crossover on our list with no advertised incentives. But if you're looking for an alternative to a truck-based SUV and need lots of room, good gas mileage — 21/29 mpg city/highway — and available all-wheel drive, the Venza is a good bet. Like others on this list, the Venza is a Top Safety Pick. While there are no incentives on the Venza, buying one would be a good use of federally supplied funds, as they'd knock what we consider a pretty expensive sticker down to something more palatable.
2009 Ford Escape
Starting MSRP: $20,435
Available incentives: $2,500 cash back or 0% financing (expires Aug. 3*)
Cash for Clunkers credit: $3,500-$4,500
Adjusted price: $13,435
Ford's long-running Escape is one of the most affordable compact SUVs on the market before any discounts. A redesign a few years ago was enough of an update to keep it competitive, and it also earns Top Safety Pick status. Lots of cash back from the automaker brings the adjusted price down to the low teens, which is an unbelievable cost for such a well-rounded vehicle.
Find This Car Near You
2009 Toyota Tacoma
Starting MSRP: $15,170
Available incentives: $1,500 or 0% financing for 36 months (expires July 31*)
Cash for Clunkers credit: $3,500-$4,500
Adjusted price: $9,170
If you're wondering where all the actual trucks are, there aren't many that fit into the spirit of the Cash for Clunkers legislation. Most full-size pickups get just one or two mpg better fuel economy than their predecessors of decades past. Instead, buyers can pick something smaller and more efficient, like the Tacoma, which has better than average reliability ratings and is the only small pickup to earn a Top Safety Pick award from IIHS. Its better mileage should also help it qualify for the full $4,500 credit from the government. For under $10,000, it's a terrific alternative to larger trucks.
*Incentives may vary by region.
© Cars.com 7/22/09
Using the Science of Happiness at Work (CNN)
6 ways to be happier at work
This is no time to wallow in negativity. New brain science reveals why staying positive is your best defense against career stagnation.
By Anne Fisher, contributor
Last Updated: August 3, 2009: 10:58 AM ET
NEW YORK (Fortune) -- With widespread job cuts and a recession to deal with, it's not easy to maintain a positive outlook at work these days. But being upbeat, despite the stress, could actually help you thrive during a downturn.
"Most people make the mistake of thinking that success leads to happiness. In fact, our brains work precisely the other way around," says Shawn Achor, head of Aspirant, a consulting firm that advises clients like Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500), American Express (AXP, Fortune 500), Credit Suisse (CS), and UBS (UBS) on how to keep morale and productivity up in these extraordinarily difficult times.
A positive approach to the daily grind, he adds, "gives rise to resilience, energy, and the ability to influence other people -- all things that create success."So if you want to come through this downturn with flying colors -- and maybe even a promotion or a raise -- you need to think positive.Achor, who is also resident psychology tutor at Harvard, has done 5 years of research into "positive psychology," otherwise known as the formal academic study of happiness. The field itself has only been around 15 years, but it's made some interesting findings
Among them: "The two most important predictors of success are, first, whether we believe our behavior matters, that is, whether we think we can make a real difference -- and many people lose that belief in hard times, because so much is out of their control," Achor says. "And second, how do you manage stress? Does it paralyze you, or does it move you forward to action?"
Want to train your brain to stay upbeat? Here are six ways to get started:
1. Practice looking for the good. Achor cites studies showing that people who keep a daily "gratitude list" become happier and more successful over time. "For the next 21 days, every night before you go to sleep, think about three things you're grateful for. Say them out loud," Achor suggests. "If you try to make at least one of them work-related, you're training your brain to let go of the daily hassles and notice the good things about your job" - including, of course, having one in the first place.
2. Have some fun. "Many people think the words 'work' and 'fun' are mutually exclusive," Achor notes. But research shows that bursts of lightheartedness, whether from a smile shared with a colleague or a funny clip on YouTube, actually cause people to think more clearly and creatively.
"It turns out that, when we're happy, our neurons fire faster and more efficiently," Achor says. Even when you're working flat-out, use something you enjoy - photos of your last vacation, or reading a blog you get a kick out of - as a reward along the way, he suggests.
3. Brighten your office space. Everything around you affects your frame of mind. "Certain environmental cues can trigger your reflexive brain into needless panic, while others can prime you for creative thinking or calm reflection," Achor notes. "The good news is that you have the power to control much of this input. Surround your desk with pictures and objects that lead you toward positive thoughts. Your mood and your brain will thank you."
4. Keep a journal. If you find yourself worrying about bad news, a scary rumor, or a stressful deadline, take three minutes to write down how you're feeling. "Neuroscientists have discovered that verbalizing negative thoughts can act like a wet blanket on a fire of negative emotions," Achor explains. "The simple act of putting emotions into words immediately decreases their magnitude." So dust off that old diary, or open up a Word document, and try it. Just make sure no one else sees it.
5. Invest in people. "Smart people do stupid things during times of stress, like shutting down their social networks to focus on work," Achor observes. "But in working with companies around the world, I've found that the greatest predictor of success during stress and challenge is the quality and quantity of your relationships."
Decades of research have shown that close ties to family and friends are among the biggest contributors to happiness, and may even help people live longer. "Now more than ever, take the time to strengthen those connections in your life," urges Achor. "You can start small by reaching out to just one person a day."
6. Think of work as a series of sprints, not a marathon. You know what happens when you've been sitting at your desk too long: Your muscles tense up, your eyes glaze over, and your energy lags. What you may not realize, Achor says, is that after two hours of continuous work, your brain function actually slows and your body starts to rapidly accumulate stress and strain.
"So try to split up your workday into short sprints of 90 to 120 minutes each, with a 5-minute break in between," Achor says. "Walk down the hall or around the block, call a friend, listen to a calming piece of music, do some stretching exercises, or eat a high-protein 100- to 200-calorie snack. Not only will you feel less run-down and worn out, but you'll see a jump in your concentration and productivity."
First Published: August 3, 2009: 9:59 AM ET
Links referenced within this article
Anne Fisher
http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/03/news/economy/happy.fortune/mailto:Anne.Fisher@turner.com
Aspirant
http://www.aspirantworld.com
This is no time to wallow in negativity. New brain science reveals why staying positive is your best defense against career stagnation.
By Anne Fisher, contributor
Last Updated: August 3, 2009: 10:58 AM ET
NEW YORK (Fortune) -- With widespread job cuts and a recession to deal with, it's not easy to maintain a positive outlook at work these days. But being upbeat, despite the stress, could actually help you thrive during a downturn.
"Most people make the mistake of thinking that success leads to happiness. In fact, our brains work precisely the other way around," says Shawn Achor, head of Aspirant, a consulting firm that advises clients like Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500), American Express (AXP, Fortune 500), Credit Suisse (CS), and UBS (UBS) on how to keep morale and productivity up in these extraordinarily difficult times.
A positive approach to the daily grind, he adds, "gives rise to resilience, energy, and the ability to influence other people -- all things that create success."So if you want to come through this downturn with flying colors -- and maybe even a promotion or a raise -- you need to think positive.Achor, who is also resident psychology tutor at Harvard, has done 5 years of research into "positive psychology," otherwise known as the formal academic study of happiness. The field itself has only been around 15 years, but it's made some interesting findings
Among them: "The two most important predictors of success are, first, whether we believe our behavior matters, that is, whether we think we can make a real difference -- and many people lose that belief in hard times, because so much is out of their control," Achor says. "And second, how do you manage stress? Does it paralyze you, or does it move you forward to action?"
Want to train your brain to stay upbeat? Here are six ways to get started:
1. Practice looking for the good. Achor cites studies showing that people who keep a daily "gratitude list" become happier and more successful over time. "For the next 21 days, every night before you go to sleep, think about three things you're grateful for. Say them out loud," Achor suggests. "If you try to make at least one of them work-related, you're training your brain to let go of the daily hassles and notice the good things about your job" - including, of course, having one in the first place.
2. Have some fun. "Many people think the words 'work' and 'fun' are mutually exclusive," Achor notes. But research shows that bursts of lightheartedness, whether from a smile shared with a colleague or a funny clip on YouTube, actually cause people to think more clearly and creatively.
"It turns out that, when we're happy, our neurons fire faster and more efficiently," Achor says. Even when you're working flat-out, use something you enjoy - photos of your last vacation, or reading a blog you get a kick out of - as a reward along the way, he suggests.
3. Brighten your office space. Everything around you affects your frame of mind. "Certain environmental cues can trigger your reflexive brain into needless panic, while others can prime you for creative thinking or calm reflection," Achor notes. "The good news is that you have the power to control much of this input. Surround your desk with pictures and objects that lead you toward positive thoughts. Your mood and your brain will thank you."
4. Keep a journal. If you find yourself worrying about bad news, a scary rumor, or a stressful deadline, take three minutes to write down how you're feeling. "Neuroscientists have discovered that verbalizing negative thoughts can act like a wet blanket on a fire of negative emotions," Achor explains. "The simple act of putting emotions into words immediately decreases their magnitude." So dust off that old diary, or open up a Word document, and try it. Just make sure no one else sees it.
5. Invest in people. "Smart people do stupid things during times of stress, like shutting down their social networks to focus on work," Achor observes. "But in working with companies around the world, I've found that the greatest predictor of success during stress and challenge is the quality and quantity of your relationships."
Decades of research have shown that close ties to family and friends are among the biggest contributors to happiness, and may even help people live longer. "Now more than ever, take the time to strengthen those connections in your life," urges Achor. "You can start small by reaching out to just one person a day."
6. Think of work as a series of sprints, not a marathon. You know what happens when you've been sitting at your desk too long: Your muscles tense up, your eyes glaze over, and your energy lags. What you may not realize, Achor says, is that after two hours of continuous work, your brain function actually slows and your body starts to rapidly accumulate stress and strain.
"So try to split up your workday into short sprints of 90 to 120 minutes each, with a 5-minute break in between," Achor says. "Walk down the hall or around the block, call a friend, listen to a calming piece of music, do some stretching exercises, or eat a high-protein 100- to 200-calorie snack. Not only will you feel less run-down and worn out, but you'll see a jump in your concentration and productivity."
First Published: August 3, 2009: 9:59 AM ET
Links referenced within this article
Anne Fisher
http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/03/news/economy/happy.fortune/mailto:Anne.Fisher@turner.com
Aspirant
http://www.aspirantworld.com
How to Make Money with Twitter (from Forbes)
Entrepreneurs
Twenty-One Top Twitter Tips
Daniel Adler 07.31.09, 6:15 PM ET
You've heard about Twitter--that curious, strangely addictive social-networking technology that facilitates torrents of truncated messages among millions of users. You might even know your hashtags from your re-tweets. But how can you make money with it?
Forbes canvassed scads of businesses and pricey social-networking gurus looking for honest answers. Admittedly, we were skeptical. After all, how much can you accomplish in 140 characters or less?
Turns out there are myriad ways Twitter can have an impact, and not just as a marginal marketing tool. Indeed, we found 21 clever ways to use Twitter--for everything from boosting sales and scouting talent, to conducting market research and raising capital. Chances are, there will be many more.
"I believe Twitter is a communication platform," says Nathan Egan, founder of Freesource Agency, a social-networking consultancy in Philadelphia. "In a year or two, everyone will be on it, using it in totally new ways." Better yet, getting results "doesn't take a year or six months, but a matter of weeks," adds Mark Schaefer, head of Schaefer Marketing Solutions in Knoxville, Tenn.
Some strategies take more time, or are more industry-specific, than others. Taken together, though, this collection of techniques and real-world examples constitutes a powerful online arsenal for companies large and small. Herewith, some highlights:
Coupon Campaigns
Congratulations for getting to the end of this sentence. "As an online culture, people are not reading; they're scanning," says Dell Computer's Stefanie Nelson, voice of @DellOutlet. "The shorter and more direct your message is, the more successful you're going to be." Dell tweets links to coupons at Dell Outlet's Facebook page, which shoppers use during checkout at Dell.com.
This strategy works for small companies, too: The abbreviated offers are easy to produce--you don't need an ad agency to write 140 characters. California Tortilla, a chain of 39 causal Mexican restaurants based in Rockville, Md., spread coupon "passwords"--through its Twitter feed @caltort--that must be spoken at checkout to be redeemed.
Viral Marketing
In July, in honor of its 10th birthday, London-based do-it-yourself Web site builder Moonfruit gave away 11 Macbook Pro computers and 10 iPod Touches. Contestants had to tweet using the hashtag #moonfruit. (Hashtags collate Twitter responses.) Nearly a month after the contest ended, traffic to Moonfruit's Web site is up 300%. Sales are up 20% this month, more than paying off the $15,000 investment. And the Moonfruit Web site has climbed onto the first Google page for "free website builder" (it used to be on the fourth).
Word to the wise, says Moonfruit founder Wendy White: Such campaigns must be courteous and fit with a company's brand, lest you draw the ire of the Twitter-sphere: "There's a fine line between annoying people and getting the thumbs up."
Artful Customer Service
Frank Eliason, director of digital care at Comcast, uses Twitter to help 200 to 300 subscribers a day with issues ranging from sporadic Internet service to errant e-mails. Frank and his team receive direct questions at the @comcastcares account and search for complaints. Twitter has a built-in search, but it's more efficient to set up a permanent search on one of the free, third-party Twitter applications, such as TweetDeck.
Eliason's key to success: maintaining friendly relationships, not foisting unwanted advice. "If they want assistance, they'll let me know," he says. Eliason has a 10-person help desk at his disposal, but small businesses can use Twitter to provide better customer service, too. Even a little help goes a long way.
Focus Groups
Back in the old days (last year), companies actually paid customers to solicit their opinions. There were 3.37 million mentions of Starbucks on Twitter through early May 2009, and all of that information is available for less than the cost of a frappucino. "There is a major element of Twitter that's about listening and learning," says Brad Nelson, the man behind @Starbucks. "Twitter is a leading indicator." Collecting the information is as simple as searching for references to your company.
Morgan Johnston, manager of Corporate Communications at Jet Blue, abolished a $50 fee for carry-on bikes after hearing complaints via Twitter. "Think of Twitter as the canary in the coal mine," says Johnston. "We watch for customers' discussions about amenities we have, and what they'd like to see made better." For a more formal approach, lob a simple post asking for feedback and provide a hashtag to collect the responses.
Poaching Customers
"Twitter is not just a kid story," says Chris Brogan, president of New Marketing Labs. Brogan should know: He is one of several Twitter experts advising companies on how to spy on their competition and to swoop in with a better service or discount.
Freesource's Egan describes how to do it: Using TweetDeck, set up a permanent search for all permutations of your competitor's name, as well as words that convey dissatisfaction ("sucks" or "hate"). Public replies to those new prospects are dangerous, as your competition may see them, so the best bet is to follow them and get followed back, allowing you to send direct messages.
Customer Expectation Management
Bad things happen--it's how you condition customers to deal with it that counts. Jet Blue tweets flight delays. In April, when a Stanley Cup broadcast was interrupted, cable provider Comcast used Twitter to immediately inform its subscribers that the culprit was a lightning storm, and that transmission would soon be restored.
Small companies--like United Linen, a linens and uniform company in Bartlesville, Okla.--can manage expectations this way, too. When a major snowstorm hit the area, Marketing Director Scott Townsend used Twitter to let customers know deliveries would be delayed. "It was a great way to send information to everyone," he says. "They understood we wouldn't be there, but they wanted to know what our status was and updates as the situation changed."
Corralling Eyeballs
During last year's NBA Eastern Conference Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Orlando Magic, Turner Broadcasting managed to weave social-media feeds into its home page. Fans accessed the conversation by logging onto Twitter through TNT.com, and the tweets were also posted on Twitter with links back to TNT.com. Those forums mean more Web traffic--and thus more advertising revenue. "It's exciting to sell this to an advertiser," said Liza Hausman, vice president of marketing for Gigya Socialize, the brains behind the integration technology.
Vendor Selection
Twitter can snag customers, but how about suppliers? Crowdspring, an online marketplace that marries businesses with graphic designers (see "The Creativity Of Crowds "), used Twitter to build up its stable of contributors--now 12,000 strong globally.
Business travelers can apply this same logic: Tweeting that you're about to visit a city can scare up discount offers from hotels, bus companies and other travel-services providers.
Conflict Resolution
Wiggly Wigglers, a Herfordshire, U.K.-based marketer of gardening and farming supplies, was recently overcharged $10,500 by British Telecom. Five months passed without restitution.
Finally, Wiggly owner Heather Gorringe hit the Twitter-sphere, asking if anyone else had had problems with BT. @BTCare sent Gorringe a message within 30 minutes promising help; two days later, the bill was amended. "When I phone them up, I'm an isolated call to deal with, so I'm less important," says Gorringe. "But if I tweet, and 1,193 people re-tweet, 100,000 people see it within 30 seconds."
Employee Recruitment
Sodexo, a food services and facilities management company, trains its recruiters on Twitter and other social media. An automated program sends prospects a direct message whenever a position opens up, and the messages are opened 30% of the time.
The trick, says Arie Ball, vice president of talent acquisition at Sodexo, is to be as personal and engaging as possible: "People get an insider's view, a sense if this is a company they want to work for." The company says that using Twitter as a recruitment tool has helped cut its investment in online job boards by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Raising Capital
As in the physical world, no one likes to be solicited for contributions online. A better Twitter tack: Don't ask, just inform.
Last Thanksgiving, Epic Change, a nonprofit that encourages people to tell their stories to transform communities, launched the Tweetsgiving Web site, with the help of theKbuzz, a word-of-mouth marketing firm. Tweetsgiving asked people to tweet what they were grateful for, and compiled the responses at #tweetsgiving, with a link back to the Tweetsgiving site, where users had the option of contributing money to build classrooms in Tanzania.
Over the 48-hour campaign, 15,000 people came to the Tweetsgiving site; 360 donated, for a total of $11,000. "We never asked people to give," says Stacey Monk, founder of Epic Change. "We got people invested in their own, personalized way."
Twenty-One Top Twitter Tips
Daniel Adler 07.31.09, 6:15 PM ET
You've heard about Twitter--that curious, strangely addictive social-networking technology that facilitates torrents of truncated messages among millions of users. You might even know your hashtags from your re-tweets. But how can you make money with it?
Forbes canvassed scads of businesses and pricey social-networking gurus looking for honest answers. Admittedly, we were skeptical. After all, how much can you accomplish in 140 characters or less?
Turns out there are myriad ways Twitter can have an impact, and not just as a marginal marketing tool. Indeed, we found 21 clever ways to use Twitter--for everything from boosting sales and scouting talent, to conducting market research and raising capital. Chances are, there will be many more.
"I believe Twitter is a communication platform," says Nathan Egan, founder of Freesource Agency, a social-networking consultancy in Philadelphia. "In a year or two, everyone will be on it, using it in totally new ways." Better yet, getting results "doesn't take a year or six months, but a matter of weeks," adds Mark Schaefer, head of Schaefer Marketing Solutions in Knoxville, Tenn.
Some strategies take more time, or are more industry-specific, than others. Taken together, though, this collection of techniques and real-world examples constitutes a powerful online arsenal for companies large and small. Herewith, some highlights:
Coupon Campaigns
Congratulations for getting to the end of this sentence. "As an online culture, people are not reading; they're scanning," says Dell Computer's Stefanie Nelson, voice of @DellOutlet. "The shorter and more direct your message is, the more successful you're going to be." Dell tweets links to coupons at Dell Outlet's Facebook page, which shoppers use during checkout at Dell.com.
This strategy works for small companies, too: The abbreviated offers are easy to produce--you don't need an ad agency to write 140 characters. California Tortilla, a chain of 39 causal Mexican restaurants based in Rockville, Md., spread coupon "passwords"--through its Twitter feed @caltort--that must be spoken at checkout to be redeemed.
Viral Marketing
In July, in honor of its 10th birthday, London-based do-it-yourself Web site builder Moonfruit gave away 11 Macbook Pro computers and 10 iPod Touches. Contestants had to tweet using the hashtag #moonfruit. (Hashtags collate Twitter responses.) Nearly a month after the contest ended, traffic to Moonfruit's Web site is up 300%. Sales are up 20% this month, more than paying off the $15,000 investment. And the Moonfruit Web site has climbed onto the first Google page for "free website builder" (it used to be on the fourth).
Word to the wise, says Moonfruit founder Wendy White: Such campaigns must be courteous and fit with a company's brand, lest you draw the ire of the Twitter-sphere: "There's a fine line between annoying people and getting the thumbs up."
Artful Customer Service
Frank Eliason, director of digital care at Comcast, uses Twitter to help 200 to 300 subscribers a day with issues ranging from sporadic Internet service to errant e-mails. Frank and his team receive direct questions at the @comcastcares account and search for complaints. Twitter has a built-in search, but it's more efficient to set up a permanent search on one of the free, third-party Twitter applications, such as TweetDeck.
Eliason's key to success: maintaining friendly relationships, not foisting unwanted advice. "If they want assistance, they'll let me know," he says. Eliason has a 10-person help desk at his disposal, but small businesses can use Twitter to provide better customer service, too. Even a little help goes a long way.
Focus Groups
Back in the old days (last year), companies actually paid customers to solicit their opinions. There were 3.37 million mentions of Starbucks on Twitter through early May 2009, and all of that information is available for less than the cost of a frappucino. "There is a major element of Twitter that's about listening and learning," says Brad Nelson, the man behind @Starbucks. "Twitter is a leading indicator." Collecting the information is as simple as searching for references to your company.
Morgan Johnston, manager of Corporate Communications at Jet Blue, abolished a $50 fee for carry-on bikes after hearing complaints via Twitter. "Think of Twitter as the canary in the coal mine," says Johnston. "We watch for customers' discussions about amenities we have, and what they'd like to see made better." For a more formal approach, lob a simple post asking for feedback and provide a hashtag to collect the responses.
Poaching Customers
"Twitter is not just a kid story," says Chris Brogan, president of New Marketing Labs. Brogan should know: He is one of several Twitter experts advising companies on how to spy on their competition and to swoop in with a better service or discount.
Freesource's Egan describes how to do it: Using TweetDeck, set up a permanent search for all permutations of your competitor's name, as well as words that convey dissatisfaction ("sucks" or "hate"). Public replies to those new prospects are dangerous, as your competition may see them, so the best bet is to follow them and get followed back, allowing you to send direct messages.
Customer Expectation Management
Bad things happen--it's how you condition customers to deal with it that counts. Jet Blue tweets flight delays. In April, when a Stanley Cup broadcast was interrupted, cable provider Comcast used Twitter to immediately inform its subscribers that the culprit was a lightning storm, and that transmission would soon be restored.
Small companies--like United Linen, a linens and uniform company in Bartlesville, Okla.--can manage expectations this way, too. When a major snowstorm hit the area, Marketing Director Scott Townsend used Twitter to let customers know deliveries would be delayed. "It was a great way to send information to everyone," he says. "They understood we wouldn't be there, but they wanted to know what our status was and updates as the situation changed."
Corralling Eyeballs
During last year's NBA Eastern Conference Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Orlando Magic, Turner Broadcasting managed to weave social-media feeds into its home page. Fans accessed the conversation by logging onto Twitter through TNT.com, and the tweets were also posted on Twitter with links back to TNT.com. Those forums mean more Web traffic--and thus more advertising revenue. "It's exciting to sell this to an advertiser," said Liza Hausman, vice president of marketing for Gigya Socialize, the brains behind the integration technology.
Vendor Selection
Twitter can snag customers, but how about suppliers? Crowdspring, an online marketplace that marries businesses with graphic designers (see "The Creativity Of Crowds "), used Twitter to build up its stable of contributors--now 12,000 strong globally.
Business travelers can apply this same logic: Tweeting that you're about to visit a city can scare up discount offers from hotels, bus companies and other travel-services providers.
Conflict Resolution
Wiggly Wigglers, a Herfordshire, U.K.-based marketer of gardening and farming supplies, was recently overcharged $10,500 by British Telecom. Five months passed without restitution.
Finally, Wiggly owner Heather Gorringe hit the Twitter-sphere, asking if anyone else had had problems with BT. @BTCare sent Gorringe a message within 30 minutes promising help; two days later, the bill was amended. "When I phone them up, I'm an isolated call to deal with, so I'm less important," says Gorringe. "But if I tweet, and 1,193 people re-tweet, 100,000 people see it within 30 seconds."
Employee Recruitment
Sodexo, a food services and facilities management company, trains its recruiters on Twitter and other social media. An automated program sends prospects a direct message whenever a position opens up, and the messages are opened 30% of the time.
The trick, says Arie Ball, vice president of talent acquisition at Sodexo, is to be as personal and engaging as possible: "People get an insider's view, a sense if this is a company they want to work for." The company says that using Twitter as a recruitment tool has helped cut its investment in online job boards by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Raising Capital
As in the physical world, no one likes to be solicited for contributions online. A better Twitter tack: Don't ask, just inform.
Last Thanksgiving, Epic Change, a nonprofit that encourages people to tell their stories to transform communities, launched the Tweetsgiving Web site, with the help of theKbuzz, a word-of-mouth marketing firm. Tweetsgiving asked people to tweet what they were grateful for, and compiled the responses at #tweetsgiving, with a link back to the Tweetsgiving site, where users had the option of contributing money to build classrooms in Tanzania.
Over the 48-hour campaign, 15,000 people came to the Tweetsgiving site; 360 donated, for a total of $11,000. "We never asked people to give," says Stacey Monk, founder of Epic Change. "We got people invested in their own, personalized way."
Re-Building Your Portfolio (WSJ)
RETIREMENT PLANNING JULY 25, 2009 How to Build a Portfolio Wisely and Safely
By JEFF D. OPDYKE
Inflation or deflation?
Even the experts can't agree whether rising or falling prices lie in our future.
That leaves investors in a quandary: how to construct a portfolio at a time of great uncertainty. A wrong bet could be devastating. If your portfolio is built for deflation, for example, your assets will slump if the country instead experiences a bout of inflation.
The answer is to prepare for the economic scenario you think is most likely, and then build in some insurance in case you are wrong.
"If you want to win the war," says Rich Rosso, a financial consultant at Charles Schwab, "you have to own both sides of the fight to some degree."
Such an approach necessarily means some investments will suffer no matter how the economy turns. That is OK: Buying insurance doesn't mean you actually want to use it.Here are three portfolios, each with built-in insurance. The first will do best in an inflationary period but won't be crushed if deflation instead rules the day. The second is for investors who fear deflation, but want some protection against potential inflation -- even if it is down the road. And the third is aimed at investors who believe the economy will muddle through without severe inflation or deflation.
Inflation
If you believe all the government spending in response to the financial crisis will ultimately beget inflation, you want a portfolio that thrives in a period of surging prices.
Commodities are the primary play, because everything from oil and corn to copper and pork bellies should gain. Plus, commodities -- particularly gold -- hedge against the dollar, offering a 2-for-1 benefit if a weak dollar accompanies inflation, as some expect.
Since commodities contracts can be a hassle for individual investors, consider a fund such as Pimco's CommodityRealReturn Strategy Fund, which offers exposure to a broad swath of industrial and agricultural commodities.
Though it seems counterintuitive, cash can do pretty well, too. The Federal Reserve would likely fight rising inflation by pushing up short-term interest rates, allowing investors with cash to capture the escalating rates through short-term certificates of deposit and money-market accounts.
Michele Gambera, chief economist at Ibbotson Associates, says his research shows that in the last five bouts of meaningful inflation, returns on cash essentially matched the inflation rate, meaning it isn't losing its purchasing power. Online banks and local credit unions tend to offer the highest rates.
Treasury inflation-protected securities, or TIPS, are an obvious investment since their principal adjusts upward along with inflation. TIPS exposure is available through mutual funds, such as the Vanguard Inflation-Protected Securities Fund, though Steven Fox, director of forecasting at Russell Investments, notes that holding individual bonds to maturity is more effective as an inflation hedge since "the majority of the inflation protection comes when the inflated principal is repaid." Individual TIPS are available through brokerage firms or TreasuryDirect.gov.
Sharp inflation is generally a negative for stocks, because rising interest rates potentially pinch corporate profits and undermine economic growth. But a few stocks will likely do fine. Start with energy and metals stocks because higher prices for their commodities will boost earnings, says Mark Kiesel, a managing director at Pacific Investment Management Co., or Pimco. Include as well U.S. firms with pricing power, such as regulated utilities, domestic pipeline companies and manufacturers of specialty materials. Examples of companies to consider: miners such as Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold and energy giant Exxon Mobil, or companies indirectly tied to commodity prices, such as driller Diamond Offshore Drilling, farm-equipment company Deere and seed supplier Monsanto.
Insurance Component: Long-term Treasury bonds and municipal bonds.
Both will likely soar in value amid deflation because their long period of fixed payments would be an attractive source of income as prices for goods and services broadly fall, and as paychecks shrink. And Treasurys, in particular, would likely become a haven for foreign investors, further pushing up their price.
Deflation
Portfolio preparation is easier for deflationists: Put a chunk of money into long-term Treasury bonds and much of the rest into cash and some municipal bonds.
If broad-based deflation materializes, long-term Treasurys are likely to surge. The bonds' fixed-income stream, meanwhile, would be worth increasingly more relative to falling consumer prices.
Some investment-grade municipal bonds could serve a similar role while also providing tax advantages for high-income earners. But beware: Deflation would likely mean some taxing authorities struggle to service bonds reliant on a specific income stream, like user fees. Instead, stick to "investment-grade bonds tied to necessary services like water and sewage, power or necessary government offices like, say, a courthouse building," says Marilyn Cohen, president of bond-investment firm Envision Capital.
Round out your deflation portfolio with a big slug of cash. Though it won't generate much of a return in a low-rate, deflationary environment, cash in the bank will gain value as prices fall.
Insurance Component: Commodities react most drastically to surprise inflation, so they should be part of your insurance. Add in TIPS, too, and stocks geared "toward consumer-staple companies," says Ibbotson's Mr. Gambera. If inflation arises, companies such Coca-Cola, tobacco giant Altria, and toothpaste maker Colgate-Palmolive will have some pricing power.
Goldilocks Economy
Maybe, just maybe, world bankers will get this right, and the economy will experience neither severe inflation nor severe deflation.
"We think most likely the central banks of the world will get this close enough to right that we will settle in close" to a relatively benign inflation rate of between 1.5% and 2.5%, says Aaron Gurwitz, head of global investment strategy at Barclays Wealth.
In such a "Goldilocks" scenario -- where the economy is neither too hot nor too cold -- "risky assets would do best, so equities and bonds with some equity characteristics should receive the emphasis," says Scott Wolle, portfolio manager of the AIM Balanced-Risk Allocation Fund.
That means broad exposure to large-cap and small-cap U.S. stocks through funds such as the Vanguard 500 Index Fund or the Bridgeway Small-Cap Value fund; and exposure to developed and emerging markets through funds like the Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund (mainly developed markets), and the T. Rowe Price Emerging Markets Stock Fund.
For the bond component, pick a fund such as the Fidelity Total Bond fund that largely owns high-grade, intermediate-term corporate bonds and mortgages, along with government and agency debt.
Insurance Component: Just in case the Goldilocks scenario is wrong, you will need insurance against either inflation or deflation. Pick up inflation protection through a commodity ETF, and deflation protection with long-term Treasurys. Cash also is OK in either situation.
Write to Jeff D. Opdyke at jeff.opdyke@wsj.com
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