|
|
|
 |
|
Week
of July 10 |
|
Friday, July 14, 2006
Hand-Me-Down Heaven
My
neighbor just had a yard sale. Actually, it wasn’t really a “sale.”
It was a giveaway. She placed a pile of things she no longer wanted,
from toys to a treadmill, all in good condition, in her yard with a
big FREE sign propped up next to them. There were few takers.
Granted, our street doesn’t get a lot of traffic, but I think
there’s a general reluctance among most of us to make do with other
people’s hand-me-downs. What ever happened to the old maxim: one
person’s trash, another person’s treasure? Even I, who’ve been
wanting a treadmill, passed up the opportunity to walk off with my
neighbor’s hand-me-down exercise machine, and now I’m kicking myself
for it.
My
mother always used to be on the look out for “road trash,” taking no
shame in making off with discarded furniture placed on the sidewalk
on garbage-collection day. I still have a unique 18th
century commode that makes a very interesting conversation piece,
which she found on a side street in Munich when we were living
there. I can still see her gleefully carrying off her great find.
In
this consumer-crazy society, we’ve been conditioned to value only
what we pay for. It’s why animal shelters always charge a small fee
to those adopting their dogs and cats. The feeling is that you won’t
take care of something you get for free.
Summer is yard-sale heaven. Take advantage of it. Pull over next
time you see an impromptu bazaar set up on someone’s yard. You never
know what you’ll find. Or hold one of your own to make some extra
dough. It’s a great way to clean house. There’s no shame in
recycling other people’s stuff.
Just look at
the pre-owned haul one reader wrote me about this week: “I got
myself one of those little Chinese-looking fountains with the stones
for only $1. I've seen them in stores for $30 but wouldn't pay that
much. I also got some CD’s and some wall things for the kitchen and
some fake fruit (that really looks real) for the dining-room table.
And I got a couple of strings of garland for the back and front door
windows. Looks pretty good, if I do say so myself”! I bet it does,
and I bet she saved at least $100.
Another “hand-me-down heaven” is your local Goodwill store. Find one
near you by going to
www.goodwill.org. You can donate your hand-me-downs (even
vehicles) and get a tax deduction, or shop online at
www.shopgoodwill.com—where no one will see you rummaging for
bargains. This new online auction store offers “a
wide array of antiques and collectibles pulled from Goodwill’s vast
inventory of donated goods, from one-of-a-kind items to estate
pieces . . . “ Revenues fund education, job training and
job-placement programs for people with disabilities and other
disadvantages. What could be better than that?
Prosper & enjoy,
Gail Harlow |
|
|
Read More |
Add Your Comments |
Send to a Friend |
|
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Dimes Are a Girl’s Best Friend!
Whenever I need a lift, I watch Audrey Hepburn playing the flighty,
endearing Holly Golightly, in “Breakfast
at Tiffany’s.” Like her, when I get “the mean reds,” I like
to visit Tiffany’s.
Holly, who got by collecting $50 from her dates whenever she made a
trip to the powder room, saved nothing, and made up her mind to
marry for money, is probably one of the worst financial role models
a grrrl can have. But the movie’s underlying theme—that love not
money is what really counts—gets me every time I watch it.
I
love Holly Golightly’s independent spirit, but I know that to be
truly independent a girl’s got to have some dough. Dimes, not
diamonds, are a girl’s best friend—especially when she has lots and
lots of them stashed in the bank. There’s a new kind of “diamond”
every girl should know about. An exchange traded fund (ETF) that
tracks the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Diamonds (DIA) can be
traded, like stocks, throughout the day. Like all ETF’s, they have
tax advantages over regular mutual funds and lower management fees.
For a comprehensive explanation on the pros and cons of investing in
exchange traded funds (there are hundreds of them, besides Diamonds,
tracking various sectors of the market), read financial planner Eve
Kaplan’s excellent “$aving and $pending” column in the archived
March/April ’05 issue of
Making Bread, downloadable for free by
CLICKING HERE.
For
a daily reminder that dimes really are a girl’s best friend,
download MAKING BREAD’s “Dimes Are a Girl’s Best Friend”
pin-up poster. While you’re at it, pass it on to a friend.
Heard from a reader: Sovereign Bank has a new “Fly a Friend on Us”
promotion.
Open any
personal checking or savings account, now through Sept. 8, and
they’ll give you “a voucher for a free roundtrip companion airline
ticket” on up to 19 airlines, when purchased through their travel
partner. I haven’t read the fine print, but it sounds like a pretty
good deal.
CLICK HERE for more information.
In
the “Write-On” Department: check out the
lively feedback to a recent article in The New York Times
about women’s superior academic performance in college compared with
men’s: Typical is this comment by Jennifer Saltzstein, a doctoral
candidate at the University of Pennsylvania:
“Young women have ‘stepped up’ and are outpacing men in college.
When will our society ‘step up’ by hiring them? … We will all suffer
if the best educated, most motivated young people are not given the
opportunity to advance to leadership roles in our society.”
Prosper & enjoy,
Gail Harlow
|
|
|
Read More |
Add Your Comments |
Send to a Friend |
|
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Cover Your Backside!
I
was talking to a charming woman today who recently started a new
job. Well-educated, accomplished, a go-getter, she’d been
“downsized” last year. (Shades of “The Incredible Shrinking Woman”?)
It took her eight months to find her next job. When she finally did,
it was through the magic of networking, proving, once again, that
who you know is as important as what you know.
Once
upon a time it was sufficient to have three months’ salary saved
“just in case.” These days, most experts recommend that you have six
to eight months’ salary saved to cover your backside should you lose
your job, become ill or some other emergency strikes. How much do
you have saved up?
Probably not enough. And you’re not alone, which may help explain a
disturbing statistic I heard on the news today: 45 percent of those
who switch jobs cash out their 401(k) accounts when they leave one
job to go to another. A considerable portion of those job- hoppers
are probably using their tax-deferred savings (the only savings they
have, in many cases) to get by until their next job comes along—and
paying a hefty penalty fee (and taxes) for doing so. Best to leave
that 401(k) money alone. Let it keep on earning interest for you and
protect its tax-deferred status by rolling it over into an IRA,
instead. The process is painless. Most financial institutions can
walk you through the simple paperwork. To find out more about
how—and why—to do it, visit
http://www.investsafe.com/development/faq_p1.html. Find other
sources of income (borrow from family members,
take
a temporary job,
or tap into home equity, where the interest, at least, is
tax-deductible) to get by until your perfect next job comes along.
The
Fresh Bread Money Blog’s Marketing Award of the week goes to Chanel
for equating brains with beauty by naming one of its luscious new
“Allure” line of lipsticks—a rosy peach color—“Genius.” Now there’s
a fun job: being paid a pretty penny to come up with new product
names!
Prosper & enjoy,
Gail Harlow |
|
|
Read More |
Add Your Comments |
Send to a Friend |
|
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
The Un-Retirement Years
Over the Fourth
of July weekend, I traveled to the tip of Long Island’s North Shore
to visit with friends. The weather was perfect; the beaches
uncrowded; the small-town carnival wonderfully kitschy; the
fireworks spectacular; the local vino and ice cream irresistible;
and the conversation, ranging from Al Gore to Martha Stewart and
points beyond, stimulating. Over coffee and scones, one of my
friends announced that she is about to retire. “How do you feel
about it?” we all asked. “Fine,” she assured us. Did she have plans,
projects she wanted to dive into, we inquired. “I’ve accomplished
everything I want to do,” she shrugged and said.
Uh oh. Anyone who makes a statement like that hasn’t considered
the possibilities—and the many needs waiting to be filled. A very
private person, I suspect my acquaintance was merely reluctant to
reveal how she plans to spend her time. From her husband I learned
later that she isn’t as sanguine about her impending retirement as
she made out to be. Retirement is a huge transition for someone
who’s defined herself by her work, but I’m sure that she will find
interesting ways to blaze new trails through this strange new
terrain.
Call
them the Un-Retirement Years. The generation about to hit
retirement—those rebellious baby boomers born between 1946 and
1964—are getting ready to unravel outdated stereotypes about life
after leaving the workforce. They definitely aren’t planning to go
leisurely into that good night, to paraphrase Dylan Thomas, who
drank himself to death before he could retire. Three-quarters of
them plan to work in some form after retirement, according to a new
retirement study conducted by psychologist/gerontologist and “Age
Wave” author Ken Dychtwald for Merrill Lynch.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports
that the number of workers 55 or older will increase nearly 50
percent in the next eight years. Compare that with an increase of
only 2.7 percent for workers under 55! That means a shrinking labor
force—and good news for people who want to keep working after they
hit “retirement age,” whatever that is. It’s particularly good news
for women, who, in most cases, need to work longer to make up for
the smaller salaries they’ve earned and the years they’ve taken off
to raise their kids.
Some companies are finding inventive ways
to make use of this talented and experienced workforce. Borders
bookstores located up North, for example, are making it possible for
some employees to work winters at stores in Florida, reports The
New York Times. And Home Depot has formed a partnership with
AARP to attract employees 50 and up.
CLICK HERE to check out AARP’s National Employer Team, a list of
employers who value and want to attract older workers, including,
besides Home Depot and Borders, Met Life, Verizon, Quest
Diagnostics, News America Marketing and many more.
More
and more community colleges and universities are hiring retired
professionals to teach courses, and many firms are creating
consulting positions and offering job-sharing opportunities for
those who’d like to cut back on the hours they work but still want
to keep active and earning dough. And let’s not forget all the
volunteer opportunities. Visit
www.idealist.org (“Action Without Borders”) if you’re looking
for ways you can make a difference. A new $100,000 prize has even
been created to recognize the work of Americans over 60 who’ve
started innovative projects to help others. It’s called the
Purpose Prize.
If
you feel like you’ve accomplished everything you want to do, find a
new purpose.
Prosper & enjoy,
Gail Harlow |
|
|
Read More |
Add Your Comments |
Send to a Friend |
|
Monday, July 10, 2006
If Time Is Money, How Much Would You
Pay for a Moment Alone?
When
I was editing Making Bread
magazine, women all over the country wrote me to share stories about
their experiences—good and bad—with that man on the dollar bill. I
was constantly amazed by how many busy women—their days filled with
the responsibilities of raising children and managing careers—were
eager to tap into their creativity to write an article for me.
Maybe I shouldn’t have been so surprised. After all, among my small
circle of friends, I know three workingwomen who are writing novels
on the side right now. I suspect this propensity to reach out and
touch someone with our thoughts is a result of too many of us being
stuck in jobs that discourage creativity. Or perhaps we’ve just
become so isolated in our busyness that we don’t have time to
communicate face to face.
To
the rescue: blogs. They’re not just for political pundits and geeks
anymore. Virginia Woolf once famously wrote that all women must have
money and a room of their own. The money part still holds true. As
for the “room,” the 21st century equivalent may be a blog
of your own.
Take, for example, the Mom Blogs on
www.ClubMom.com. Kristen M. Chase, writing in her blog,
“The Mom Trap,”
on that site poses the question in the headline above about time and
money. She’s just one of 30 Moms sharing their thoughts about the
chronic condition known as Motherhood on ClubMom.com, which also
offers a points system toward discounts on future purchases from
participating retailers.
Where once keeping a personal journal or diary was the way to get in
touch with your inner woman, now blogging has become the cool new
way to express yourself. Not only can you record those crazy,
profound or not so profound thoughts that occur to us all and that
we seldom have time to mull over or bounce off anyone else, but you
can get instant feedback in the form of comments from your faithful
readers. Why not start a blog and invite your kids (and husband or
significant other) to read it. Writing one is cheaper than seeing a
shrink, and reading other people’s blogs is the cheapest form of
entertainment. Often incredibly revealing, like latter-day kaffee
klatches, blogs can connect those who feel they are alone with
others who have walked in their shoes. And they can give us a
glimpse of lives we’ll never live. They can open us up to new ideas
or reinforce our own beliefs.
If you’d like to
start venting about the human condition—or promoting your business
(another way that blogs have become very useful)—start a blog of
your own at one of these sites:
www.wordpress.com,
www.typepad.com, or www.blogger.com.
Most are free.
You’ll find there are as many blogs as there are topics under the
sun. Just as many of us turn to our favorite comic strip or
horoscope every day, now many of us are checking out a favorite blog
daily. If you’ve got one, send me the link and I’ll post it here.
One of my favorites is Arianna Huffington’s
www.huffingtonpost.com. Check it out to read some provocative
thinking about politics in the coming months leading up to the
mid-term elections.
Prosper & enjoy,
Gail Harlow
|
|
|
Read More |
Add Your Comments |
Send to a Friend |
|
If you like the blog, you’ll love the book.
For more savvy
finance advice, buy
“Making Bread: The
Ultimate Financial Guide for Women Who Need Dough,”
by Gail Harlow and Elizabeth Lewin, available on
Amazon.com and at your local bookstore |
|
|
