A Job Worth Getting Is A Job Worth Making

                                                              

With only 16% of Americans working their childhood dream job, according to a survey by salary.com, landing that perfect employment right out of the gate is probably not on too many peoples' horizons anymore.

Well, there are actually a couple ways to go about landing--or creating--that dream job. Keep reading if "up-to-the-task" is a compound adjective that describes you.

An insider's job

There's something to be said for long-term employment satisfaction, but what if you like your employer but not your current job?

When former global communications and brand manager Isha Cogborn looked around at The Dow Chemical Company, she didn't see any desks that she wanted to fill.

"If I was going to be there long-term, I had to be doing something I enjoyed where I was able to make a unique contribution," she said. "What was I bringing to the table that could make an impact on the company in a way that most others couldn't?"

Isha realized that her broadcasting degree would make her the perfect person to manage a new project called Diamond TV, the company's internal version of YouTube.

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Do New Businesses Hold The Key To Conquering Unemployment? 

                                                              

The U.S. economy is about as shaky as a wiener dog in a Christmas sweater-vest. Economic indicators aren't improving much, including the unemployment rate. For that to decrease, jobs need to be created, and entrepreneurs--people who start new businesses from scratch--could lead the pack to get it done.

A 2012 study by the Kauffman Foundation, an authority in entrepreneurial research, found a 14-year high in the number of Americans starting a business in 2010, but it remains to be seen whether this surge of entrepreneurs will make a difference on an economic scale, particularly when it comes to creating the number of jobs needed to put a nice thick coat on that shivering economic puppy.

From 1980 to 2005, businesses less than five years old accounted for nearly all net job growth in the U.S., according to a 2009 study by the Kauffman Foundation. However, excluding startups, new businesses (defined as one to five years old) accounted for only two-thirds of job creation in 2007, choosing to start with fewer employees and adding fewer people to the payroll than historic norms. Robert Litan, Kauffman Foundation vice president of Research and Policy, said "Historically, startups are the key to long-term employment growth… We won't fix our core unemployment problem in the United States until young businesses get back on track."
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The Repurpose Driven Life: Giving old items a new image

                                                              

Jake Ryder stared at the empty basement around him. Fresh from his parents' home, he lacked two essentials: furniture and money. He did, however, have a closetful of broken skateboards. So Ryder outfitted his apartment with a coffee table, couch and armchair--all entirely made from broken skateboard decks and parts. Chances are you've been--or will be--in Ryder's frugal shoes, with the chance to create your own reused utopia.

 

Perspective Shift

Since childhood, we've been taught to "reduce, reuse, recycle," and for good reason: in 2010 alone, Americans threw away about 250 million tons of garbage, nearly 4.5 pounds per person. Even though we recycled almost 65 million tons, recycling isn't a magic bullet; it still requires energy to turn a cereal box into usable materials again.

Enter "upcycling:" finding new value for something once thought to be disposable. Think messenger bags repurposed from old jeans, pop can tabs turned into jewelry, and pendant lights made out of root beer bottles.

"There's so much viable material out there, and no reason why we shouldn't tap into that," says Ryder, who sells upcycled skateboard furniture at his Etsy store, J Ryde Visuals. "We have a disposable culture. It's a powerful thing when we move it the other direction."
That direction is gaining momentum, especially in online marketplaces like Etsy or Hipcycle.

Dedicated to homemade wares, Etsy featured approximately 7,900 upcycled items in January 2010. Just one year later, those offerings had increased 379% to nearly 30,000 products.

Scavenging....

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Modern-Day Davy Crocketts

Entrepreneurs, the really successful ones anyway, are the latest American folk heroes. A bunch of modern-day Davy Crocketts charging out into the wild frontiers of, more often than not, tech and consumer gadgetry. They're constantly talked about on the news, profiled in magazines, and treated like rock stars. These men and women are the faces of a much larger system that includes colleges, investors, collaborators, and everyday working folk, but it's the digital frontiersmen that get the majority of the glory.

This hero worship makes sense in the context of America's infatuation with the so-called self-made man or woman. Entrepreneurs are the cream of America's bootstrappin' crop. They're businessmen and women who aren't content just to climb the corporate ladder, but strike out on their own to pursue personal visions. For a nation drip-fed the notion of personal liberty from the time we're born, creating our own business is about as land-of-the-free as it comes.

Driving the elevation of entrepreneurs to pantheon level is the system which has sprung up beneath them. Since 2000, Harvard has fostered and educated aspiring entrepreneurs through its Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard (TECH). Stanford's also in on the game with its Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, started in 1996.

Boston and Silicon Valley are traditional hotbeds for entrepreneurs, but incubators designed to nurture budding entrepreneurs are all over the country, and you can get a business degree in entrepreneurship almost anywhere. Investors and venture capitalists, too, are lined up waiting to drop cash on the next billion-dollar business.

READ MORE:  http://www.brassmagazine.com/article/modern-day-davy-crocketts

MAJOR NEWS!  Don't Tax My Credit Union!

“Don’t Tax My Credit Union” is a national campaign dedicated to ensuring Congress doesn’t raise taxes on 96 million credit union members nationwide and preserves financial choice for American consumers. Join us today to share your story and tell Congress: Don’t Tax My Credit Union!

READ MORE:  http://www.donttaxmycreditunion.org/

Self-Made Or Spoon Fed? How the wealthy get rich

As a culture, we believe anyone can achieve abundant wealth. You don't have to be born into an old-money family whose name is plastered across schools and libraries to make it in America. The American Dream glorifies the self-made person. After all, at one point Rockefeller and Vanderbilt were just regular old John and Neil. But to what extent is it true that hard work is all it takes to make it rich? Reese and Jane investigate.

Reese: All in a day's work
As of 2011, 75% of the top 400 richest Americans are self-made, according to Forbes. From creating a technology giant to becoming a renowned Wall Street guru, the wealthy elite prove that achieving the American Dream depends on how hard you work.

Even outside the top 1%, hard work lays the path to individual wealth--but it isn't always glamorous. David Sumner built his Portland, OR car wash and oil change business into an enterprise by working nearly sixty hours a week alongside his frontline employees servicing over 78 cars per day. "I worked for almost two years without a paycheck," he recalls.

The years of washing cars, changing oil, and fighting off competition paid off big when Sumner received an unsolicited buy-out offer from regional competitor Oil Can Henry's for nearly five times his income plus assets. "They gave me an offer I couldn't refuse," he recounts, "because they didn't want to try to compete with me."

READ MORE:  http://www.brassmagazine.com/article/self-made-or-spoon-fed-how-wealthy-get-rich 

Free & Totally Useful: 10 things high school can actually

teach you

Think school is for fools? Here are ten ways that school actually prepares you for life as an adult.

Home Economics. Learning your way around a stove and sewing up holes in socks are important life lessons that will forever come in handy.

Basic Math. Basic skills will be needed both at work and at home. For example, cartoon animators use geometry to work with proportion and movement, and everyone needs to prep a budget and figure out how much car they can afford.

Writing coherently. Written communications--emails, letters, etc.--are part of how an employer evaluates all kinds of workers, so pay attention to grammar and use spell-check! Even police officers and road workers need to have writing skills for reports and proposals.


READ MORE:  http://www.brassmagazine.com/article/free-totally-useful-10-things-high-school-can-actually-teach-you

Speaking In Code: Deciphering computer science prospects
In a notable scene in the Facebook flick The Social Network, a sweaty herd of bad-postured Harvard undergrads huddle in a key-clicking duel: a fight to write the best code, all in the hopes of scoring a one-way intern ticket to Zuckerberg headquarters. Over-dramatized as it may be, the scene isn't too far off from what it takes to get a computer science job at a major tech company today.

Sound tough? It's worth it. Computer science is one of the fastest-growing career paths, with jobs in software development sitting pretty near the top of just about every ubiquitous "best careers" list known to man. If you want in-demand job skills and the potential to make an impact in your profession, computer science is a career to embrace.
Puzzles and think machines

According to Dr. Bruce Porter, chairman of the Department of Computer Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin, if you're keen on brainteasers, computer science could be your jam. "A student that likes puzzles--likes solving puzzles--would probably find computer science to be a lot of fun."


READ MORE:  http://www.brassmagazine.com/article/speaking-code-deciphering-computer-science-prospects

 

Crowd-funding: Little guys help other little guys get

ahead

We no longer have to rely on deep-pocketed investors to finance a great idea. Small-change donations from lots of people can become the genesis of companies and causes. We influence what's produced and ultimately available for us to buy. For producers and cause founders, crowdfunding makes it possible to build a support group or customer base before taking the plunge--helping ensure success once they launch. With Kickstarter to date successfully funding more than 36,000 projects with $418 million, main competitor Indiegogo recently securing $15 million in venture funding, and 400-plus other crowdfunding websites worldwide, the phenomenon is here to stay.

Indiegogo and Kickstarter (founded in 2008 and 2009, respectively) tap the communal power of humanity that the Internet ties together. Nonprofits, business owners, and entrepreneurs have access to a worldwide network of millions of potential funders waiting to pool their money, something that was unimaginable 10 years ago.

"[Crowdfunding] is helping individuals who might not normally be able to start a small business to do so," says Donald Neubaum, an associate dean in the College of Business at Oregon State University. "It is also allowing thousands of 'investors' to have a small bit of influence in the kinds of products or businesses that are subsequently launched."

Sam Gordon, co-founder of Kickstarter-backed products/companies The Oona and The Brydge, which raised $929,199 combined from 7,181 funders, concurs: "One of the biggest problems was that if [my business partner, Brad Leong, and I] even had an idea, a lot of times we didn't have the money to actually get it produced and to get started. And we didn't really have access to funds any other way… but then Kickstarter came along."

READ MORE:  http://www.brassmagazine.com/article/crowdfunding-little-guys-help-other-little-guys-get-ahead

A Blow-Up Economy: How inflation affects your purchasing power

Inflation isn't one of those things that only affects "grown-ups" with 401(k)s and serious money plans. It affects anyone buying anything--i.e., you.
According to the Federal Reserve (the central bank of the United States), inflation is "a general increase in the overall price level of the goods and services in the economy." Basically, it's how much prices change over time. Inflation makes stuff cost more every year. That means groceries, rent, gas, etc., will be more expensive next year, usually without fail.
But what causes prices to rise in the first place? Here are three common factors that can influence inflation, among many others:

READ MORE:  http://www.brassmagazine.com/article/blow-economy-how-inflation-affects-your-purchasing-power

Haggling Heroes: Conquering the art of the deal


Modern American shoppers may not practice it often, but haggling is in our blood. The art of haggling was embraced in the U.S.A. until the late 1800s, when the concept of the sticker price was introduced. By the 1930s, sticker prices on everyday purchases were well established. In Asia, Africa and Latin America, however, haggling is still embedded in the culture. Many foreign marketplaces resemble farmer's markets, where every price holds an asterisk implying "or best offer."

To be a haggling hero in the U.S., try negotiating for just about everything. According to Consumer Reports, buyers had the highest success rate haggling on hotel rates, followed by cell phone bills, clothing, jewelry, new cars, airfare, and appliances. But don't limit yourself to only products or services you know some-one else has successfully haggled. Try haggling for every purchase, including already-discounted merchandise, cable, electronics, and clothing. Just don't expect success every time.

 
 Most people save haggling for big pur-chases like a car or house. Negotiating the accessories and/or terms of service of a product is considered haggling as well. Most businesses want to keep loyal customers coming back, so use this to your advantage. For example, cell phone companies may offer a discount for long-term customers if you tell them you're considering another service provider. Use this experience to make other purchases the same way. When it comes to discounts, sometimes you just have to ask.

READ MORE:  http://www.brassmagazine.com/article/haggling-heroes-conquering-art-deal

Slash Your Expenses: 10 ways to cut everyday costs

Every month, our paychecks get slowly gobbled up by bills big and small. Here are a few tips on how to save every possible penny.

1.ABOLISH BIG BUNDLES. Do you really need 400 channels and a DVR? Use billshrink.com to compare cable plans and make sure you're getting the best deal.

2.TAKE A HIKE. Get out of a gym membership you never use and look up free or low-cost local recreational centers instead. Get together with friends to shoot hoops or ride bikes.

3.REASSESS RENT. Reduce rent by getting a roommate, negotiating with your landlord when lease renewal comes up, or moving somewhere cheaper.

4.EASE UP ON THE GAS. If you live in an area where bikes, ride shares, or public transportation is viable, ditch your car. Otherwise, look for cheap gas stations, shop around for the cheapest car insurance, and try car-pooling to help ease the burden.

5.DISCOUNT YOUR CELL BILL. Ask for a student or employee discount (some cell companies offer special rates for employees of companies that also use their service). Also make sure to stay within usage limits, and check to see if you could downsize your plan if you're not using all your minutes and data.

6.KEEP AN EYE ON AUTOMATIC PAYMENTS. Make sure your automatic payments are for the correct amount every month by comparing statements to your actual bills.

READ MORE:  http://www.brassmagazine.com/article/slash-your-expenses-10-ways-cut-everyday-costs

Lock, Stock Market, And Three Smokin' Careers In Finance

Take a stroll down Wall Street at dusk and you'll catch a glimpse of the workforce stepping into the night. Against a backdrop of high-rises, briefcases at their sides, they tuck their badges into sharp suit pockets and stride off to private cars, leaving a whiff of prestige and power in their wake. Despite market crashes and bailout backlash, the world of Wall Street continues to lure young hopefuls into its trenches with the promise of lucrative pay and elite status.
Yet Wall Street isn't the only place where money changes hands. From corporate boardrooms to main street retail banks, the financial services industry offers a broad range of career opportunities with salary potential and exciting work.
Investment Banking
"I would say the perception is that investment banking is a very sexy career," says Lawrence Murray, director of the undergraduate business program at the University of North Carolina. It's popular with students for both the glamour of Wall Street and the access to major investors and businesses.
Investment banking firms are financial go-betweens providing a variety of services to companies and individuals. The biggest firms in the world have multiple divisions and areas of specialty, but generally they sell stocks and bonds, serve as underwriters to bring companies to the public market, and help with mergers and acquisitions between companies seeking partnerships or buyouts.
The work: For junior-level employees just out of undergrad, the fast-paced day-to-day typically involves analytical work like credit analysis and preparing pitch books and presentations for prospective clients. Higher up on the food chain, associates oversee projects and develop client relationships.
The perks: "Those types of jobs take a certain type of person," says Lawrence, referring to the late nights and cutthroat environment. But those who can hack it can earn a pretty penny, work in one of the most coveted industries in the world, and get prestigious analytical experience under their belts.

READ MORE:  http://www.brassmagazine.com/article/lock-stock-market-and-three-smokin-careers-finance

Toying With Millions: Weird toy ideas that made bank

I like to imagine that somewhere there's a kid Hula-Hooping and cuddling his Beanie Babies while grinding a stair rail on his Rollerblades and Slinky-ing at the same time. Every generation has a handful of bizarre toy ideas that turn out to be short-lived and wildly popular fads.

When I was a kid, the game of POGs was big. You took these cardboard discs from the lids of passion-orange-guava fruit juice containers, stacked them and slammed them with a heavier disc called a Kini or Slammer. You won any POGs that landed face up. The game originated in Hawaii and eventually reached the mainland U.S., probably as a direct trade for another shipment of Spam. The World POG Federation was founded in 1993 and manufactured several different series of POGs, making them collectible. This cardboard empire was estimated to be worth $500 million in 1995.

READ MORE:  http://www.brassmagazine.com/article/toying-millions-weird-toy-ideas-made-bank

Don't Waste My Time: 10 techniques to maximize your efficiency
There are only so many hours in the day. Use these ideas to help you make the most of them.
Manage financial accounts online. Direct deposit your paycheck and log in to your financial institution's website to check balances and set up automatic payment for bills.
Store everything on the cloud. Most new computers come with cloud computing software. Programs like Dropbox and SugarSync store and share important pics, music, and document files online so you can easily access your files anywhere.
Kill notifications. Disable email notifications and the like to focus on the task or project at hand instead of getting into an email-Twitter-IM spiral of time-wasting.
Track distractions. Figure out where you're wasting time on the computer and block Internet distractions using rescuetime.com, which tracks efficiency trends and application usage.
Shop online when possible. It's as easy as googling a specific item. If it's something local you're after, call ahead to see if they stock the item before wasting gas and a whole afternoon.
READ MORE:  http://www.brassmagazine.com/article/dont-waste-my-time-10-techniques-maximize-your-efficiency

We Are What We Buy: Living in a world of mass consumption

We're part of a system birthed during the Industrial Revolution, when companies suddenly gained the ability to quickly produce mountains of material items. For mass production to be profitable, it requires mass consumption, so producers needed people to buy not just utilitarian items, but consumer products like Coca-Cola--first marketed as a "Delightful, Palatable, Healthful Beverage." It wasn't a hard sell. Now our whole economy is predicated on spending. Thanks to online shopping and easily available credit, the world's marketplace is, at all times, one click or swipe away.
This has led to a culture where many of us are consumed by maintaining a reputation through purchasing power. We spend vainly, trying to keep up a flawless exterior--$2.8 billion on anti-aging skincare products in 2011, according to market research firm Mintel. Apple, now the biggest company in the world, had $156.51 billion in revenue in 2012. Its competitors' products get rave reviews as well, but Apple's stylistic dominance makes it surge to the top. Their stuff looks cool, so we buy it to look cool.

READ MORE: http://www.brassmagazine.com/article/we-are-what-we-buy-living-world-mass-consumption

Are we at risk of another banking crisis?

By Kim Clark  @Money 
Anat Admati, professor of finance and economics at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business explains how to prevent another meltdown from taking place in the U.S. banking sector.
The big question: Are we at risk of another banking crisis?
Oh, yes. Definitely. We continue to have a system that's way more prone to crisis than it needs to be.
Why are we still vulnerable?
Banks continue to be much too highly indebted and interconnected. That means they all tend to get in trouble at the same time, and the failure of one can take down others. It creates a contagion that spreads through the economy.
As with speeding, everything is fine as long as you don't have an accident. When you have an accident, others can get harmed.
In your new book, The Bankers' New Clothes, you and co-author Martin Hellwig say one simple, radical move can help. What is it?
You need to reduce dramatically banks' indebtedness and increase dramatically the reliance on equity funding. This would make it less likely that the banks get into trouble, need bailouts, or drag down the economy.

READ MORE:  http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/01/news/economy/banking-crisis.moneymag/index.html?iid=SF_PF_LN

Four cheap electric cars

Leasing an electric car isn't just a pricey option for the rich. In fact, there are some very reasonably priced options out there.

Electric cars are particularly attractive if you're leasing. When you lease an electric car, the leasing company takes that $7,500 federal tax credit and uses it to reduce your monthly payments right up front. No waiting for your tax return.
READ MORE: http://money.cnn.com/gallery/autos/2013/05/29/cheap-electric-cars/index.html?iid=GM

Where do your donation dollars go?
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
As you watch the horrific aftermath of the tornado in Oklahoma play out on television and reach into your wallet to make a donation, do you know where that money is actually going?
The Red Cross often leads the charge after natural disasters, like the deadly tornado in Moore, Okla., that killed 24, injured more than 200 and wiped out thousands of homes on Monday.
But every dollar you give isn't going directly to the victims you're intending to help. In fact, an average of nine cents of every dollar you donate is going to Red Cross expenses, like employee salaries and fundraising efforts.
While nine cents may seem small, it adds up the more you give -- if you donate $3,000, nearly $300 of that money goes to administrative costs, and that amount jumps to a whopping $90,000 for a donation of $1 million.
READ MORE:http://money.cnn.com/2013/05/24/pf/donations-charities/index.html?iid=SF_PF_Highlight

Extra Credit: Your guide to understanding credit

Credit is an unavoidable part of society, affecting every major buying decision in our lives. Your credit report determines whether or not you can secure reasonable interest rates on things such as a car loan, credit card or home mortgage. A good credit score can mean buying a bigger house at a lower price. It can even influence your ability to enter into an apartment lease agreement or get a job.

Good Credit, Bad Credit and No Credit
Having good credit allows you to borrow more money at better interest rates. This proves particularly influential when applying for large loans like a home mortgage or small business loan. Many potential employers also look at credit reports as a means of determining how responsible an applicant is. Bad credit can work against you in tremendous ways. Securing loans at reasonable interest rates can prove extremely challenging or impossible. Late payments and high balances on accounts are primary factors damaging credit, but even things like unpaid medical bills or having a number of new accounts all at once can affect your credit negatively.
 
READ MORE:
http://www.brassmagazine.com/article/extra-credit-your-guide-understanding-credit