Year end closeout...

So, another year has gone by... did you keep your New Years resolution? Mine was to post more. I came close. Missed a few since August due to work.

With the holiday's and New Year coming up. We all do things for other people, but forget to do the important things. Things that will benefit you and your future loved ones even more than the latest/hottest gift.

Here are a few things you've probably missed:

1. Examining your 401k - Is it giving you the best return, does it need to be reallocated? Are you getting at least 12%?? No? Time to take a look. While you're there, be sure to increase your contribution by 1%. You'll never miss it and you'll thank me later!

2. Your emergency fund - Is your money sitting in a checking account earning something for you? Most banks are paying 0.01 - 0.05% on your checking account vs a national money market account which is about 1%. Know what that means for every $1,000? $10 vs $0.10 in interest. What would you like to be earning?

3. Insurance - For everything. Are you covered? Life, Auto, Home, etc? Talk to an insurance agent or 2. You can save money and cover yourself. If hurricane Sandy taught us anything, is that anything can happen, make sure you're covered.

Life insurance can help your family through a rough time, especially if you had a new addition this year. Update your beneficiaries too!

Not to mention that you could also save a ton of money by getting additional insurance. I saved an additional $200 on car insurance for buying a $100 renters policy which covered me for property loss, even if something is stolen from my car.

4. Company benefits - This has multiple parts.

FSA/HSA/Dependent Care - ALL pre-tax benefits. Your child care, your glasses, dental work, doctors visits, etc. Plan ahead. You save 25% in taxes by just planning ahead. 25%!! Think about it. Could you use $250 for every $1,000 you spend. I sure could. (If you don't know what these are, I would find someone who does and ask. Talk to your tax adviser/accountant this coming April.)

Company Stock - Does your company offer it? My company offers a 15% discount on the purchase price at the end of every quarter. 15% You don't get a rate of return on your money that easy, ANYWHERE! Think about it, every $1,000 you earn $150 in 3 months. That's an extra $600 a year. Not to mention that some companies also pay dividends. Do you hear the dollar signs?

Pre-tax transit & Parking - Want to save 25% off your transit costs? It's easy! Take advantage of your pre-tax commuter benefit. Most companies offer this. On average, we spend about $1,000 a year on trains and buses. Park at a Park & Ride? You can put away for parking also. Add that $1,000 to it and you save $500 a year.

5. Your living will - Very important. If you don't have one. Get one. It's cheap and easy. It will save your family a ton of problems in case you ever pass away. No matter how old you are, you have assets and it can be passed on. Work has life insurance, your car, your retirement account. It will help in settling your affairs. Make a list and check it twice. You may have more than you know!

At this rate, I think I've saved and earned you at least $3,000+ a year.

And that's all I have for now! Happy Holiday's and Happy New Year!! See you in 2013!

Free training online

With the internet, there is no excuse of "Your company not providing adequate training.". It is really up to you to make time. Ease up on Facebook, You Tube, TV or any other time consuming activity. There are sacrifices to anything you want to do.

This is also true of anything you see in a job search. Don't know how to do it? Do a Bing or Google search on any skill. Be honest and put it on your resume, you learned it but haven't had the opportunity to apply it, but you'll love the opportunity to apply it. The willingness to learn is critical in any job. Welcome to the new world. Anyone not willing to learn a new task is unemployable. McDonald's employees need to learn new things too. Think they knew how to make that smoothie before?

Here are some links to common training that everyone needs.

Office 2007, 2010, 2013
http://office.microsoft.com

Microsoft software
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/training/products.aspx

Find out how on a Mac
http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/


If you Bing or Google search any topic, there's a ton of stuff out there for you to learn. ENJOY!

The importance of software updates and upgrades...

With computers and technology advancing at an incredible rate, it is extremely important to do updates on existing devices and upgrade them when manufacturers end support on them. On average, technology has become obsolete in as little as 3 years. Support for those products also ends, which includes things like security updates and bug fixes. The most important being security fixes because this leaves you vulnerable.

One such example is the iPhone which is currently running iOS 5 with 6 due out later this year. As of 6/26/12, there are currently 141 vulnerabilities for that operating system. You can check the national database here:
http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/search-results?query=apple+ios&search_type=all&cves=on

The other important reason to do the updates, is highlighted in my post here: http://www.atchan.com/2010/12/iphone-upgrade-warning.html

When you upgrade and migrate to your new device, it is best to keep up with incremental updates. As shown in my previous post. If you upgrade from iOS 1.1 to 3.1, there are A LOT of changes in how the data is handled. Things are improved, changed and fixed in each revision. If your data didn't do the natural progression of versions 1 to 2 to 3, you will lose that data. Software is designed to follow an order of progression, if you deviate, it will cause problems for you because the only way for them to keep track is through their revisions. Anything else creates too many variables that no one can track. Of course, you should always back up your data, but that is a totally separate post.

This also leads to another point. Large corporations, in an "attempt" to save money by pushing off "costly" upgrades and updates, actually pay much more, in most cases more than double, in the long tern when you are forced to upgrade when it comes to end of life support. Examples include additional hours required in attempting to keep the old data, problems that arise when attempting to connect older systems to newer systems, additional resources (hardware, 3rd party software, consultants) to bridge the time needed while the integration is tested, employee training, and down time related to problems in the upgrade. All these are additional costs that aren't calculated and end up costing so much more.

Software companies design the upgrade process into the newer products from the previous revision, not from older versions. For example, they will provide support for your migration from version 4 to 5, but as for version 3 to 5 you are on your own or will need to purchase 3rd party software specifically written to migrate that data and it is not always perfect because their software is based on a properly configured system. Which is NEVER the case because something is configured either differently or wrong.

The next generation of employment...

So the news has been reporting on "unemployment", "economy" and "job creation". The larger problem lies in the people who are currently unemployed. There are several factors.

The primary reason is that they are missing the skill set required. The job market is not as terrible, as one is lead to believe. See the article below. This is just one example of many.

Halliburton adding 11,000 jobs, mostly in North Dakota
By Annalyn Censky @CNNMoney August 25, 2011: 6:25 PM ET
http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/25/news/economy/halliburton_north_dakota_jobs/index.htm

The secondary factor is their location. Certain areas are hard hit by the down turn and shift that happened so it's up to the individual to make a change. If something you are doing isn't working or no longer required, then it is up to you the individual, to change. Sam Kinison said it best, "No jobs here? Well MOVE to where the jobs are!"  I'm paraphrasing a joke on Ethiopia, but you get the idea.

With technology, menial tasks, paper pushers, etc. have essentially become extinct. Physical tasks that don't require skill are no longer needed. This will create a larger shift between the employed and unemployed.

Those that adapt and learn will always be employed. Those that resist change will be the ones left behind.

What HP really needs to do...

HP needs a plan and direction. Not just a reorganization.

HP is in a very unique position in the coming years because they control unique parts of the future, like Sony did 5 years ago, but ultimately failed to capitalize on it. Apple came and ate Sony's lunch and kicked them to the curb. Steve Jobs got it right and realized that computers became a commodity business with low margins. So he turned them around to be the leading consumer electronics company. Along with content for all his devices, he ended up owning the things you use in your every day life.

Right now HP is still a house hold name. Chances are that everyone has a HP printer in their house or a laptop. What HP is missing is the vision. HP's acquisition of WebOS was a thought in the right direction, just executed badly. The market didn't need more fragmentation. They should have adopted their core strength and went the Windows route to create the entire home experience. They have the Windows Home server which ties your entire house together. Laptops and Desktops for the interface. A tablet and phone for when you are on the go. Make it seamless and easy for the end user and they will come.

1. HP needs to either bring back their PDA/Phones. The easiest is to acquire HTC, since they were their OEM for the iPaq's. You need the daily device in the consumers hand. A merger with Nokia would be rather large, but nice. Since the stock is trading at an all time low. Nokia would give them an amazing global presence.

2. Acquire Roku or SlingBox to capture the TV market. This gives them an automatic entry into the living room. You are no longer relegated to the home office.

3. Acquire Hulu or Netflix and integrate it with all your devices. There's your content automatically available to ALL your devices.

Now, this is no simple task to stitch this all together. But you do see the vision. They already have an infrastructure for the "cloud" servers. How cheap would it be for Hulu to build out their data centers if the parent company makes the hardware?

They already have the retail channels, you can leverage it all without building retail stores like Apple did. This would also give BestBuy a much needed boost with the retail sector being a dying business.

5 Things Nobody Tells You About Being Poor

So, I started reading the site Cracked.com. It's pretty funny and the humor is based on some facts.

I came across this great article: 5 Things Nobody Tells You About Being Poor | Cracked.com 

It's funny, but horrifyingly true! I had a co-worker making decent money, but wasn't getting ahead. So I offered to help. All I did was reconcile his checking account to find that he was paying $600 a month in overdraft charges because his wife was using the debit card attached to their checking account!! That's $7,200 a year and it was going on for several years! At 3 years, it's $21,600!!

It's shocking the lack of financial education in the United States. When I used to hear how important education was, "Go to school!" from my parents day in and day out. I realized that they don't necessarily know why. They see that people with college degrees make more money so they equate that with success.

In reality, it's not just the degree. If it was, certain people will not have succeeded in life, such as Bill Gates or Steve Jobs to name a few. The focal point should be the desire to LEARN in life. Know why is it that way and not just take it. For example, the "Occupiers" are mostly the "educated ignorant" people or the sheep that woke up one day and said something is not right with the "System", when in reality it's them who failed the system.

If you're poor reading this, there is hope. Know what is wrong and go about fixing it. Don't get sucked into a bad daily pattern of poor. Change your habits and you can change your life. Unless you like the way it is now, then ignore this post and go back to Facebook.

For those that are still reading, take notes from the article above and keep that money for yourself. Stop giving your money away and start saving it for yourself.

Happy New Year!

New year, new beginnings...

So, how to keep relevant and employed in the new year? That's the million dollar question. Here are a few considerations and if you see yourself answering yes to these questions, be sure to keep reading!

1. Does your job seems mindless to you? You just go in hang out and go home? Do you just push paper around? Can a monkey do your job? (Well, not a real monkey. But someone out of college or an illegal immigrant?) Are you making a decent salary doing it?

2. Are you keeping up with your industry? Still using old ways? Don't know about the new technologies in your industry? Not current on your industry certifications?

3. Has business been declining? Have there been less people every year at work? Is management rumbling about business being bad? People NOT being hired? Seeing more managers than actual workers?

4. New companies and/or technology in your industry taking over and doing better? Your company fighting to be relevant?

These are just a few off the top. But if you've agreed or relate, you're in for a shock. Still confused, I'll elaborate with an example.

The US Post Office.

10 years ago, they gave the packaging business and express mail away to UPS and FedEx. They spent billions on technology to install high speed readers than handled letter mail.

Well, there was this thing called the internet and email that came around and decimated their letter business.

Now the post office is regulated and constrained. Unable to move into new businesses, so they will shrink to a point where they will almost disappear and another 5-10 years.

Things they should have gone into.

1. Maps. Most people don't realize, but they have the most up to date maps and business address of anyone. After all they have to deliver it. That data is extremely valuable to providers, such as Google Maps, Bing Maps and GPS manufacturers. The issues they face today, is the ability to update them. The post office does this on a daily basis.

2. Secure email. They can provide a secure email account, easily. Think about it, no fake accounts. Like a PO box, but you have to go to the post office to validate with a federal ID. No fake accounts, these people would be the people they say they are. Spam? A thing of the past. If you aren't on the approved sender list, then it gets junked. You have to send a person the mail first and they need to reply to send future mail.

3. Drop ship locations. Like the UPS stores. They have the MOST locations of any retailer. Accept packages from your competitors. Amazon also has a "Locker" at select locations.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=200689010

How to avoid this?

This is hard. In the end, it's up to you the individual. NOT your company.

Most companies have a large middle and upper management with lots of internal politics. Things won't change, it's what's wrong with the government now. But that's another story. So ultimately, it's up to you, because people will always save themselves first. It's rare that they don't, but don't be upset when they don't. They have families and priorities also.

The best example I can use, is myself. You can tweak the information to benefit you.

1. Check Monster. Are there a lot of positions available in the industry doing what you do? Is the job in demand? If you see the salary declining... as in desktop support becoming a $15 an hour job vs a $80,000. It's time to get out.

2. Keep up with your industry. Read blogs, news, trade journals, etc. Learn the new technology that comes to your industry.

3. Partake in new things at your company. New projects, new technology, etc. Go with it and don't fight it. It may help you in your new job.