Did you know?

Up to a quarter of all state pension funds in the United States are invested in companies that are helping Iran, Syria, North Korea, or the Sudan − for a total of nearly $200 billion. Not only that, if you are a state worker, do you know the real state of your pension? Do you know if it's underfunded? Have you thought about the possibility that your state may take a page from the private sector and, at some point in the not too distant future, do away with pensions all together? So what? It is not just the private sector that faces challenges, you know. What can you do to safeguard your future? Is it time for you to look beyond reliance on "entitlement" benefits and plan your own mid to later career work and life?

Did you know?

Older women living in poverty survive on less than half of the national median income poverty levels the government assigns and their rate of poverty is increasing disastrously. They are likely to live 10 to 15 years longer than their male partners and are far more likely than men to run out of resources in late life. So what? If you are a woman, you may be vulnerable to this worrisome outcome. Plan now for how you will manage your longer lifetime. There is still time to go to school, to upgrade your skills…to participate in meaningful work and to look at other ways to offset the ravages of late life poverty.

Did you know?

There is a mismatch between the academic skills of certain minorities and the ever higher demands of the so-called U.S. knowledge based economy. In 2006, 48% of Asians and 30% of whites held bachelors' degrees or higher. The percentages drop precipitously for blacks with 17% holding bachelors' degrees or higher and, worse yet, for Latinos at 12%. (Source: DOL.) Taken as a whole, American youth barely make the top 10% of the Global Top 10 academically credentialed nations. Among the 30 free-market countries, the U.S. is the only nation where young adults are less educated than the previous generation. The U.S. is also losing ground in international comparisons in terms of high school and college degrees. We may score relatively high in numbers of well educated people but we also score near the top in the numbers of people with the lowest education levels. High school dropout rates are at their highest rate in the past 20 years. 1 in 3 high school students drop out each year. 1 in every 100 U.S. adults 16 and older is in prison or jail (2.3 million in 2006). Of these 43% do not have a high school diploma, 56% have low literacy skills. If it is hard to get a good job burdened with a prison record; it is almost impossible to get a good job with a prison record and without education and basic skills. (Source: Reach Higher America - National Commission on Adult Literacy.) But, wait…as the saying goes…there's more! Look up the "Nation's Report Card" and you will see that over half of our 12th grade students score "below basic" competencies (D's and F's) in reading and math. In fact, in its "What Americans Know: 1989-2007" survey, the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found public knowledge of national and international affairs had changed little in 20 years, despite the emergence of 24-hour news channels and the Internet. So what? If our children fail, you fail because what affects one aspect of our nation affects us all. Can you help to ensure that we increase their development of skills, reading and math comprehension and readiness for the future? For more about tutoring young people, search "Library Literacy Networks" and take a look at a long list of tutoring workshops that will help you to help them.

Did you know?

If your career does not add to organizations' profits, to their competitive value and to their cost-savings, your career is likely to be outsourced, off-shored or reduced to part-time status. Functions such as HR, IT and Marketing had better consider that organizations may soon see their roles as outsourced or part-time solutions. So what? Think about it. If a core (regular, full-time) group with an organization, such as mentioned, does not contribute to profitability, will they make the cut and remain in the 21st Century organization? Only IF they can make the business case that they are profit centers. For more about this subject, read Luke Johnson's recent rant in the Financial Times. On the other hand, might this be opportunity beckoning folks like you to find new and creative ways to manage your career?

Did you know?

A retirement survey conducted in January by the Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington, D.C., found that "38 percent of those over age 55 expect (we pause to remind you that expectation is NOT a plan - it is a hope) to retire after age 66. Ten years ago, the same percentage thought they would retire between age 60 and 64." AARP's May 2008 survey found that one-fourth of the nation's 45-and-older crowd were struggling to make their rent or mortgage payments. According to this same survey of 1,002 respondents nationwide, twenty-seven percent of workers said they were postponing retirement (good luck with that hope). Forty percent of workers ages 45 to 55 say they have saved less than $25,000 for retirement, according to the Retirement Confidence Survey and, an increasing number are borrowing from what they have saved, according to the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies' annual poll conducted late last year. Eighteen percent of participants in this last survey admitted to borrowing to cover costs of living, up from 11 percent in 2006. So what? If we are broke, we can't consume or spend; stocks will plunge and your savings will take another huge hit. Plan now (don't just hope) to work later in life in order to add to savings and investments.