In 2009, the number of union jobs in the public sector surpassed those in the shrinking private sector. As job loss and business failure has become increasingly commonplace, the face of unions is changing. We take a look at the prevalence of unions as a percentage of the total workforce around the country, and highlight a demographic breakdown of union membership.

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Some glorify the idea of celebrity and make especially younger viewers think it’s easy to achieve the lifestyle lived by Hannah Montana or the New York City teens on “Gossip Girl.” Other programs show characters with a skewed idea of money compared to their salary and careers, explains Mike Schiano, author of “Spend Your Way to Wealth” and director of education for the non-profit Consumer Advocates Credit Counselors in Boca Raton.

“They give you this unrealistic view of the household. Even single people on TV have tons of money to do whatever they want. If you go into soap operas, forget it – nobody has a job but everybody lives in big homes,” he says. Even more strange? “Rarely do you see them use a credit card.” Realistic? Hardly, but if you watch carefully, you can pick up some credit clues to use. Here are a few…

90210

West Beverly High student Naomi Clark was thrilled to have her older sister return from France, and Jen easily convinced Naomi to use her trust fund to buy and furnish a new house. She also deceived Naomi to give her more money for a racehorse. Naomi made those decisions in a matter of minutes instead of having the lengthy discussions necessary when spending thousands or even millions of dollars.

Credit lesson learned: “[On TV], nobody ever plans their spending. There’s never a challenge with buying things,” Schiano says. “What you’re missing on television is you see a lot of spending, but you don’t see a lot of saving. You don’t see a lot of talk about investing for the future.” You also don’t hear about tanking credit scores that could keep those of us in the real world from owning a home or buying a car. In short, think before you swipe.

The Office

Image is everything for “The Office’s” Michael Scott, so he makes financial promises and can’t deliver, says Laurie Hutzler, a story and character consultant for ETB Screenwriting. In the show’s fourth season, Scott became overwhelmed with debt while dating former company executive Jan Levinson, living outside of his means to pay for her flashy Porsche and other splurges. After quitting a part-time job as telemarketer, he was forced to have an honest conversation with Jan about money.

Credit lesson learned: Now he lives within his means, owns a condo, and drives a PT Cruiser – a big improvement, says Al Martin, professor of sociology at DePaul University and president of What Works Communications, a marketing communications firm. “Yes, he’s a bit of a buffoon, but his sense of lifestyle is not as out of whack as, say, the ladies on ‘Sex and the City.’” In other words, don’t pull out the plastic to keep up with the big execs or designer labels, and you’ll be better able to use credit in a realistic way.

Project Runway

The designers on “Project Runway” take on the weekly challenge of completing a task with limited funds. They might have as little as $50 or $100 to create a look. What they do well, says Hutzler, is “take what limited means they’ve been given and be the most creative in maximizing that in order to fulfill the challenge successfully.

Credit lesson learned: It sends a positive message that you should use the money you have wisely, to the best of your ability. Good rule of thumb: Only spend on credit what you can afford to pay back sooner rather than later. Carrying lots of debt can reflect poorly on your credit score.

30 Rock

Liz Lemon may be one of the best examples of a lead TV character who displays a good use of money, Martin says. “Not only is she frugal, but she can’t actually even afford to purchase an apartment in New York,” he says.

Credit lesson learned: “Unlike a lot of other shows, like Friends, Seinfeld, and Sex and the City, it places her within a realistic realm of what life in the city is all about.” Take that idea one step further by having realistic expectations about mortgage rates and how your credit profile will affect a potential home purchase before you start scouring the real estate listings.

The next time you get set to watch TV, take a lesson.. your wallet may thank you for it later.

“Ready, Set, Action! What TV Characters Teach Us About Money” is provided by Experian.com

You’ve heard the story of the lottery winner who burns through his millions like Monopoly money and ends up in a trailer park. And if you haven’t, here’s a roundup of eight such cautionary tales.

It’s an appealing story. You and I are never going to win the lottery, so we can tell ourselves, hey, I’d never be that much of a dumbass. Yes, I deserve a big pat on the back—except, wait, I’ve made the same mistake on a smaller scale. Repeatedly.

Big hunks

When a professional financial adviser says “windfall,” they are generally talking about an amount of money that would kill you if it fell on you. I know this because I recently spoke to a bunch of financial advisers. The word “million” was used many times, as was “wealth management.” How do you know if you need wealth management? If you can read this without putting on your monocle, you don’t need it.

Then again, a lot of us will have an actual windfall. Maybe not a million, but say five figures plus. It happens most often when people inherit money, get divorced, or sell a business. And to hear the planners talk, a person coming into money is kind of like a country striking oil. Awesome! How could this possibly go wrong? Then a few months later you’re at war with Iran/your greedy brother.

So windfalls are an important topic, and it’s good to think about the big event before it happens, but it’s probably not the first thing on your mind in 2010. After talking with those financial planners, however, I realized that there isn’t much difference between big windfalls and little ones.

Nearly every planner gives the same advice: if you come into a big chunk of money, the first thing you should do is nothing. Don’t quit your job; put the money into an extremely boring account (like a money market fund or CD); let it sit there for three to twelve months until the urge to break a bottle of Cristal over the bow of your yacht passes. Some planners are a little more generous. “I encourage them spend a small amount, five to ten percent, on something frivolous to acknowledge the windfall,” says Jorie Johnson of Financial Futures in New Jersey.

While the money is sitting in the boring account, you make a plan: How can I best use this money to achieve my long-term goals? Retirement or college savings? A house? A new career? (You know, boring stuff.)

Meanwhile, your planner will be delivering a necessary buzzkill. “I had a client years ago who got divorced and got $5 million,” says Jill Boynton of Cornerstone Planning in New Hampshire. “And we had to show her that even this money is not going to give her an extravagant lifestyle for the rest of her life.”

Little lotteries

I’ve never received the kind of windfall that would have me running to a financial planner or yacht dealership. Not even close. But I have let money slip through my fingers because I didn’t recognize it as a windfall.

Forget about the million dollars. What if you made an extra thousand dollars? A holiday bonus, a sales commission, overtime pay, a gift from a rich uncle, the first paycheck at a new job—it happens all the time. You know it’s not a life-changing amount of money. It’s extra. You’re probably already thinking about the cool stuff you could do with an extra grand. (I certainly am.)

I think Jorie Johnson’s advice applies equally well to a thousand bucks as it does to a million: set it aside until the thrill wears off, spend a little, save the rest.

Recently I started doing something often recommended by frugal people. I have a couple of moderately expensive hobbies. When I want to buy something related to one of these hobbies, I have to do two things. First, I save up the money. (Duh.) Then I write down what I want and how much it costs. I keep this information on a spreadsheet. Once an item has been on the sheet for a whole month, I can go ahead and buy it.

You know the rest: by the end of the 30-day waiting period, I rarely actually want the thing any more. I’m looking at my spreadsheet right now, and in the last four months, I’ve decided not to buy $600 worth of stuff, including some really stupid stuff. (Why did I think I wanted a box that lets you hook up four pairs of headphones to one computer?) Of course, I did spend some money on my hobbies during this time—about $300.

Sure, I knew philosophically that people (other people) spend money on stuff they don’t need. Now I have proof.

Adding it up

Little windfalls add up. That $1000 could take a chunk out of some high-interest credit card debt or pay for a credit or two of college. And the average person living in anything other than desperate circumstances receives several such mini-windfalls every year.

There’s one other type of windfall that tends to magically disappear: a raise. What should you do when you get one? “The best thing they can do with it is immediately increase their 401(k) contributions by the amount of the raise if they’re not already maxing out the 401(k),” says Jill Boynton. “So that way they’ve just increased their savings and they haven’t changed their lifestyle at all.” (I’m so glad Boynton said this so I didn’t have to!)

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I seem to have misplaced my monocle.

Matthew Amster-Burton, author of the book Hungry Monkey, writes on food and finance from his home in Seattle.

(DaveyNin)

Local economies are historically the biggest victims of recessions. When the market takes a turn for the worst, it is local shopkeepers, restaurant owners, hotels and other merchants who feel the squeeze most personally. Accordingly, most cities are eager for any economic stimulus they can get. Over the years, one of the great economic boons to any major town or city has been major sporting events. No matter how bad the economy has been, there is nothing like a World Series, Super Bowl, or World Cup game to infuse some much-needed vitality into local markets. Many fans believe the locations of these events are an afterthought, but economically speaking, nothing could be further from the truth. During the 2009 World Series, for instance, ABC estimated that the event was “…expected to funnel some $25 million into the local economy” of Philadelphia, including “…$3 million or more directly to the city in taxes.” Given the amount of money at stake, and especially the current economic climate, a deeper examination of how local economies benefit from major sporting events seems timely.

Hotel Reservations

Among the most obvious ways a city benefits from hosting a premier sporting event is a surge in hotel reservations. Naturally, the many fans, onlookers, journalists, and friends and family of the athletes need places to stay for the duration of the event. This is true even for events like the Super Bowl, which only last one day but are purposely held in tourist-friendly areas to encourage extended stays. (This year’s Super Bowl XLIV, for example, is slated to be played in sunny Miami, Florida.) Indeed, a spike in hotel reservations is a driving force behind the intense competition that occurs between cities to host the Super Bowl. A January 2009 article from Bradenton.com predicted the economic impact of last year’s Super Bowl between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals by interviewing hotel owners in Tampa. Patti Davis, owner of Harrington House Bed & Breakfast on Anna Maria Island, confirmed that, “…it does add quite a bit to our business.” USA Today likewise predicts that fans will fill, “…an estimated 110,000 hotel rooms during the 10-day buildup” to Super Bowl XLIV, in addition to the NFL having reserved, “…the entire 433-room Westin Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale” as its base during the event.

(Alan Light)

Hotels can benefit even more during events like the World Series, which encompass several games in a given city. Joe Broderick, a doorman for forty years at Center City’s 10,400 room Latham Hotel, spoke excitedly last fall about the, “…uptick in business only the sport’s biggest spectacle can create.” The NHL’s Stanley Cup Finals are another boon for nearby hotels, given the potential for a full seven game series. Pittsburgh’s Business Journal, for instance, reported in June 2009 that, “…a number of hotels are fully booked, including the Omni William Penn, which hosts the NHL’s management, the Renaissance Pittsburgh, with the caveat that it always sells out Tuesdays and Wednesdays anyway to business travelers, and the Westin Convention Center”, whose general manager, Tom Martini, commented, “…we would’ve been busy, but we wouldn’t have been selling out” after all 616 of his rooms were booked.

The World Cup draws immense crowds of its own. Cape Business News, for instance, cites an expected, “… influx of 3 million additional visitors to the country” who are projected to pump, “…an estimated $21.3 billion into the South African economy”, no small portion of which will go to lodgings. Naturally, hotel owners have found that they can raise rates in anticipation of these events, knowing that (within reason) fans who are dedicated enough to travel for the event will pay whatever it takes.

Restaurants & Bars

As noted earlier, most major sporting events are hosted in tourist-friendly metropolitan areas. Such areas are well-equipped to entertain the throngs of people who travel for the events before and after it takes place. One major facet of this is food and entertainment. Take a typical example of a family or a group of buddies who visits a city for two World Series games. At minimum, these people can be expected to buy four to six meals at area restaurants. And it’s not just the eating that takes place before the game that fattens a local economy’s bottom line. Arizone State University points out the, “…tabs and tips at local restaurants and taverns, and food and drink for countless house parties and block parties” that take place during the event itself (such as the Super Bowl.) The Detroit Free Press reported in 2007 that Tigers fans “spend enough money outside the stadium to make the Tigers’ pennant chase lucrative” during that year’s World Series, which led nearby franchises like Little Caesars to participate with World Series-themed sales, according to Franchising.com. RealEstateChannel.com likewise cites the boost Orlando’s local restaurants received from the Magic’s NBA Finals run in 2009. Citrus Restaurant general manager Joe O’Grady was specifically quoted as saying, “…Citrus has seen a huge increase in business for the playoff games.”

(LoveJanine)

Sports bars get an even bigger boost from their city hosting a major sporting event. Fans who can’t afford to attend often opt for the next best thing: watching on huge, flat-screen TVs with crowds of rowdy, inebriated fans. The World Series provided an apt example last year. With playoff profits “…six times bigger than usual” (according to ABC) Philly’s Cavanaugh’s Rittenhouse sports bar was hardly the only establishment pulling for the best-of-seven series to go the distance. NJ.com quoted Jack Monsousos, owner of Hamilton, New Jersey’s Publick House, as expecting, “…between 50 and 75 extra patrons during series games, which could bring a $1,000 bump in sales.” Chicago-based research firm Morningstar even opined that the Yankees’ World Series appearance “…could be better for business than the Giants’ Super Bowl run during the 2007 season.” The story is the same for World Cup soccer. The UK’s Times Online reported in December 2009 that ,”…among the biggest winners” of the projected £1.5 billion- £2 billion in expected revenue this summer “…will be pubs and clubs showing matches on big screens and off-license catering for those watching at home.” In total, “…the industry could earn more than £150 million extra for every week that England survives in the competition.”

Gentleman’s Clubs

One local beneficiary of major sporting events that seldom gets much press attention are gentleman’s clubs. Bradenton.com interviewed University of South Florida economics professor Philip Porter, who contends that ,”…the only true beneficiaries are businesses like gentleman’s clubs that cater to the predominant 18-60 year old male crowd” in his scholarly study of the economic impacts of Super Bowls. It’s not the most heartwarming of stories, but AZCentral.com concurs, citing the 43 strip clubs in Tampa’s metropolitan area and the fact that, “…the week of Super Bowl XLIII is to Tampa’s naughty nightlife what Black Friday is to America’s shopping malls.” In fact, the expected surge in adult entertainment spending even prompts local clubs to, “…audition more dancers and upgrade their interiors”, with some establishments staying open 24 hours. A dancer named Claudia, who has worked four Super Bowls and was interviewed by AZCentral, admits to making, “…as much as $2,000 a day” at previous Super Bowls – not bad for a 25 year old! The Tampa Tribune did its part to assist in 2009 by helpfully, “…adding a feature to its Web site listing the 43 strip clubs and allowing Super Bowl visitor to search for such information as the cover charge and dress code.”

(Alex Castella)

Again – with all the feel-good stories making the rounds during the Olympics, Super Bowl, World Series or World Cup, you aren’t likely to hear very much about the surge in local strip club business. But it is nevertheless a huge beneficiary of the event for as long as its participants are in the area.

Bottom Line

As we have seen, major sporting events bring more to a city than fan excitement. In addition to the thrills of game action, these events routinely funnel tens of millions of dollars – and sometimes hundreds of millions – into the surrounding area in the form of hotel reservations, bar and restaurant sales, snack and party supplies, and “adult entertainment.” Far from being incidental, the location of a major sporting event can be instrumental, which explains why cities compete intensely for the right to host one.

]]> http://www.mint.com/blog/trends/how-local-economies-benefit-from-big-sporting-events/feed/ 6 http://www.mint.com/blog/trends/will-obamas-middle-class-tax-cuts-impact-you/ http://www.mint.com/blog/trends/will-obamas-middle-class-tax-cuts-impact-you/#comments Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:03:47 +0000 GE Miller http://www.mint.com/blog/?p=8369 ]]>
Source: WIkipedia

In last week’s State of the Union address, President Obama announced proposed tax cuts and other programs aimed at easing the financial burden on the middle class. The proposed changes were the brainchild of the Middle Class Task Force (MCTF), chaired by Vice President Biden.

The MCTF released a fact sheet addressing some of the proposed middle class assistance. Here’s a breakdown of some of the proposed changes that may impact you.

The Saver’s Credit

The ‘Saver’s Credit’, also known as the Retirement Savings Contribution Credit, would be expanded and refundable. This change might have the broadest impact on middle class families overall, since it hits those without dependents.

Expansion: In its present state, the Savers Credit ranges from 10 to 50 percent on the first $2,000 of contributions made to a 401(k), IRA, or other qualified retirement plan. The current income limit for receiving this credit is $55,500 for a married couple and the credit percentage fades out up to that limit.

The new proposal would allow couples making up to $65,000 a year get a full 50% credit on the first $1000 they each contribute for a maximum $500 credit per individual. Couples making up to $85,000 would now become eligible for a partial credit.

Refundable: The credit would be made refundable, meaning that those have no tax liability will get the additional credit added to their tax return versus a non-refundable credit, which only subtracts from your tax liability.

The Child & Dependent Care Tax Credit

The value of the tax credit nearly doubles, from 20 to 35%, for all families making under $85,000 a year. A family that makes between $85,000 and $115,000 would also see a tax credit increase. This means that a qualified family that claims the max amount of $6,000 in expenses will see a tax deduction of $2,100 instead of $1,200.

It may also force a strategic switch to claiming the Dependent Care Tax Credit instead of funding a dependent care flexible spending account, which has a maximum funding amount of $5,000.

Unlike the Savers Credit, the Child & Dependent Care Credit is non-refundable (meaning you won’t get a check from the government if you are already owed a refund).

This credit may be long overdue since it had only been increased once in the prior 28 years and is not indexed to inflation. Meanwhile, child care costs have increased at twice the rate of the median family income over the last decade.

Student Loan Payment Cap, Automatic IRA’s, Support for Elder Care

Obama’s middle class task force also proposed several other initiatives relating to student loans, automatic IRAs, and elder care.

Student Loan Caps:

Two big changes here: A student loan borrower’s payments would be limited to 10% of discretionary income above a standard living allowance. All remaining debt will be forgiven after 10 years of payments if in public service and 20 years otherwise.

Automatic IRA’s:

78 million working Americans are not offered an employer based retirement plan. Under the change, all employers would have to offer a direct deposit IRA to employees, who could opt out, if they chose to. Contributions to the IRA would be voluntary and matched by the Savers Credit for eligible families.

Elder Care Support:

$102.5 million in additional funding will be available for counseling, training, respite care, and more to help families care for seniors in the home.

Your Thoughts?

It remains to be seen whether these proposed changes will pass upcoming budget revisions. If they do and you fall into the ‘middle’ class, how would these proposed changes impact you and your family?

For more of GE Miller’s writing, visit 20somethingfinance.com, a personal finance blog geared towards young professionals.

A friend asked me how he should save for his daughter’s college education. (His daughter was born in 2009, which means probably I should be asking him the personal finance questions, but whatever.) “A 529 college savings plan,” I said.

529s are great, I explained: you put in after-tax money and it grows tax-free. You can put a lot of money into them; the money can be used for tuition, room, board, textbooks, and other fees; there are no age or income limits; and you can change the beneficiary if your kid decides to attend the school of hard knocks instead of college. (Although, heck, these things are so flexible, the School of Hard Knocks is probably a qualified educational expense.) If you have a child, you should have a 529.

“Okay, but which 529?” asked my friend, who lives in Vermont. “The Vermont one?”

“Uhhh,” I replied. Not only did I not have a good answer to this question, but I realized that I didn’t know whether my own six-year-old daughter’s 529 was any good. Answering my friend’s question turned out to be pretty easy. As for my own child’s future, well, I’ll tell you what I’ve figured out so far.

A messy system

You’re familiar with the Roth IRA, right? Maybe even have one of your own? Part of what makes the Roth such a handy investment vehicle is that it’s just a generic tax-advantaged box for putting your savings in. You can open a Roth with any financial institution and put any kind of investment or deposit account in it. Easy.

Now, imagine if the Roth IRA system were administered by the state governments, and each state could implement its Roth in an entirely different way. Imagine further that you didn’t have to invest with your own state’s fund, that you could choose nearly any of the 50 state Roths. Fifty states, 50 different (sometimes wildly different) plans.

Given this absurd situation, I’m guessing you’d do one of two things: go with your state’s Roth, regardless of whether it was a good investment, or throw up your hands and vow to choose a good plan someday, but not today.

Roth IRAs aren’t like that, but 529s are. The morass exists because 529s were invented by the states about 20 years ago and eventually blessed by the Internal Revenue Code in their current form in 2001.

“It does create a messy system,” says Joe Hurley, CPA and founder of savingforcollege.com.

It sure does. Choosing a 529 is harder than getting a group of friends to agree on a restaurant. So let me help narrow it down for you.

Choosing a 529: the basics

• If you pay state income tax, check whether you can get a tax credit for contributing to your own state’s plan. A list of those states can be found on FinAid.org. If you qualify, it’s like having the state drop a sack of doubloons onto your porch. “In Oregon, for example, we have a 9% state income tax rate, and so if you put $10000 into a plan, you’re going to get $900 back,” says Eric Lochner, a certified financial planner at McDonald Franceschi in Portland, Ore. “You can think of that as an immediate 9% return on your investment.” My Vermont friend gets a $250 tax credit every year for socking at least $2500 into the Vermont 529. It’s a no-brainer. Bonus: Some states, such as Pennsylvania, give you a tax deduction for contributing to any 529 plan. Check the Finaid.org page linked above.

• Otherwise, look for a plan with low fees. Some 529s have such a high expense ratio, they should be called the Cash Under the Mattress Fund. Lochner recommends the Utah or Nevada plans, which offer low-cost Vanguard funds.

• Conservative investors should consider the Montana 529, which lets you invest in a CD whose interest rate is pegged to the tuition and fees inflation rate at private colleges. You can’t lose principal, and if average tuition skyrockets, so do your earnings.

Prepaid tuition plans

This is the plan that resembles a pension, and it’s the plan my family is in right now. My wife and I both graduated from University of Washington. We would like our daughter to go there, too. It’s a good school and it’s near our home, so she could visit us anytime.

Washington’s 529 plan, which is called Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET), lets us buy credits at UW now. For every 100 GET units we buy, our daughter gets a full year at UW, guaranteed. You’re not buying the credits at today’s rate, however. Right now, a year at UW costs $7700; a year’s worth of GET units is $10,100. You can use the money to attend other schools, but it always pays out at the current UW tuition rate.

What do the experts think of prepaid plans? “In theory, they should work great, because they satisfy a need that many families have simply to put the money away now and not have to worry about tuition inflation,” says Hurley. “But they come with a lot of rules. It’s very difficult to understand exactly what you’re paying for and how much it’s costing.”

Lochner is even more skeptical. “Every time I read about them, it sounds like they’re riddled with problems,” he says. “They can run into underfunding problems and unfunded deficits in the future.”

A prepaid plan is a good idea if you want to buy exactly what it’s selling: tuition at the colleges listed on the back of the box. If my parents had expected me to attend a specific college, though, I would have told them to bite me. Since Washington has no state income tax and I have no interest in biting anyone, I’m going to invest with either the Nevada or Montana 529 in the future.

Matthew Amster-Burton, author of the book Hungry Monkey, writes on food and finance from his home in Seattle.

In times of plenty, relocating for work usually means a better job or a higher standard of living. But in today’s tough economy, many are finding that they just can’t find work or maintain their standard of living where they currently live. It’s especially bad in New York and California, two places where the economy is suffering and the cost of living remains high. Many of these financial refugees are ending up in Texas, a place where the cost of living is low. And many of those that are relocating are in the very lowest income bracket, a further indication that money is their motivation for moving.

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So, your resume has gotten you a job interview; it’s the first big step toward the job you want. When your interview begins, however, job skills become secondary. You’re now being interviewed largely on the kind of person you are. Your resume tells people who you are, but your manners — good or bad — show them.

the “e” word

Don’t panic over the “E” word. Etiquette is nothing more than the grand set of all good manners. Put simply, etiquette is a language used to relate your respect and consideration to others. For the sake of this article, the “others” are the interviewers of the world, the ones who typically matter no more (or less) than anyone else in our lives, until one day when, instantly, their opinion of us matters most.

Therefore, the day of your interview is not the time to appear uncouth, disrespectful or inconsiderate by violating any of the following etiquette tips.

Be punctual

Like anyone at work, your interviewer is in the midst of a busy workday. Show them that their time is valuable to you — after all, aren’t they showing you that same respect with this chance to come in and present yourself off of the printed resume page?

Being late tells others that you’re self-centered, disorganized, rude or all three (qualities only sought after by the recruiters of reality television). So, unless you’re seeking a spot on the next The Real World, leave home with plenty of time to account for delays that are beyond your control.

Dress accordingly

At an interview, proper etiquette dictates that your manner of dress should by and large fit in with the scene around you, but in a show of respect for the occasion, you should dress just a step above the norm of that environment. The reason is because inappropriate business attire — in either direction, up or down — creates an unacceptable distraction. When the focus should be on you and all your skills, your clothes shouldn’t be stealing the show.

Take note of that handshake

A handshake is a physical interaction. At an interview, it’s a physical interaction between strangers, making it a prime moment for etiquette. A firm handshake — in which you pump the hand once or twice with a secure, steady grip, then release — conveys affability and openness, and can create an immediate feeling of comfort between two people.

On the other hand, a meek, milky handshake or a flesh-grinding cinch can make a person uncomfortable. Before they have the chance to get to know you, you’ve already given them an unpleasant feeling. Making people comfortable around you is an essential aim of all etiquette. Think about it: Do you really want to make your interviewer uncomfortable?

Present a positive personal image

During the job interview, countless moments will come up when etiquette is required. Getting them right gives you a confidence visible to your interviewer. Enunciate, as well as animate, your language. An interviewer shouldn’t have to ask you to repeat yourself or wonder if they heard you right.

Look the interviewer in the eye. It’s a trusting gesture to which people always respond positively. Anything else is simply rude. Use engaging, non-threatening body language. Good posture alone can convey your interest in being there, while slouching conveys disrespect and indifference.

Use your interviewer’s name, but in moderation. It proves you’re involved and listening. It also helps establish rapport, which goes a long way in making for a successful interview.

Thank them “twice”

At the end of the interview, when you will invariably thank your interviewer, make sure to thank them both for their time as well as for the opportunity. Much like arriving on time, thanking them in this way sends a message that you understand and appreciate the value of one’s time.

Don’t consider the interview completely over until, that evening, you have written a short thank you note. Keep it short. E-mail is acceptable but snail mail is preferred. Since this is a business communication, it shouldn’t be handwritten.

3 definite “don’ts”

Don’t get caught unprepared

Learning as much as you can about the company and about the position for which you’re applying is a sign of respect. As simple as it sounds, don’t forget that your interviewer works for this company; it’s a big part of this person’s life. Therefore, a modest but competent display of your commitment to this interview through prior research makes you look good while flattering them at the same time.

Don’t disparage past employers

If you can’t say something nice about someone, don’t say anything. It’s disrespectful to take shots at former employers and companies (in part because they’re not around to defend themselves), and doing so can seem cheap and offensive to others.

Furthermore, the interview is about you and about this company, and how you fit together; don’t leave your interviewer with descriptions of former bosses and coworkers who have nothing to do with it.

Don’t lie — about anything

For all the many reasons not to lie or to wildly embellish anything, remember that a gentleman never lies. He doesn’t need to.

The bottom line

In their many publications over the years, the Post family (they who man the Emily Post Institute of etiquette) have pointed out that, all told, good manners actually tend to go unnoticed. What’s noticed is their result: a smooth and enjoyable social connection between people.

What’s impossible to miss, however, is the lack of etiquette. In this case, you want to leave the interviewer thinking about how friendly, intelligent and engaging you are — not how obnoxious you are, what a ridiculously painful handshake you give or what you were thinking when you put on your dirtiest jeans before leaving the house.

Job Interview Etiquette Provided by AskMen.

Unless you’re a real wine aficionado, you probably lack the confidence to know which of those bottles of wine on-sale at the local BevMo are a bargain and which deserve the appellation, two-buck-chuck. That’s why we’ve asked two Master Sommeliers to suggest some wines that can stand-in for more well-known (and expensive) bottles. With the right attitude and our handy chart, you’ll upgrade your wine cred, impress your guests, and save money.

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<a href="http://www.mint.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/wine-3.jpg"><img src="http://www.mint.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/wine-3.jpg" alt="wine-3" title="wine-3" width="1323" height="794" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-8301" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.mint.com/">budget planner</a> – Mint.com

(Bijoy Mohan)

Few countries have improved their economic prospects so dramatically as India has in the last twenty years. Indeed, one would be hard-pressed to read a long-term forecast that did not view India as a large and growing force in the world economy. With a population of over 1 billion (as of 2008), it might seem like it could hardly be any other way. Nevertheless, the story was once very different in India. A Brookings Institution report on January 13 states that India was, “…essentially insulated” from world markets as recently as 1990. Not only did, “…ups and downs in the world economy matter little” to India, but perhaps worse, “…movements in the Indian economy were even less consequential for the world economy”, as the proportion of world trade and investment India personally accounted for was negligible at best. Difficult as it may be to believe today, foreign direct investment in India stood at a paltry $100 million in 1991. By 2006-2007, FDI had increased to $19 billion. Moreover, Business Standard reports that India boasted a 9% per annum growth rate between 2004-2009. Despite being all but irrelevant to the world economy just two decades ago, India has clearly become a force to be reckoned with on the global stage. Continuing our series on growing economies, we’ll look more closely at India’s economic landscape – the opportunities, government incentives to producers, fastest-growing industries, and what the future holds.

The Opportunities

The phrase “economic opportunity” is frequently used in economic discussions, but within India, it has always had a somewhat nebulous meaning. For generations, the opportunities open to citizens were determined by a socially stratified “caste” system and one’s place within it, which was itself determined by birth. A University of California at Santa Barbara essay referred to the 3,000 year old caste system as a, “…pernicious practice that discriminates against nearly a fourth of the country’s billion-plus population.” Naturally, such a system was not conducive to widespread prosperity or entrepreneurship, and as a result, neither flourished until the caste system began to wither away. Fortunately, as the BBC reports, “…today, caste barriers have largely broken down in the large cities.” The result has been nothing short of transformative from an economic standpoint. A USA Today article from 2004 interviews Sumant Anand, a native Indian returning home after a three year absence. When asked about his friends, Anand remarked, “…they were all talking about opportunities in India rather than how to find jobs in the USA.” In a stunning turnaround from just ten or fifteen years earlier, Anand reports that, “…if you talk to people my age, nobody wants to leave India.”

(Marco Bellucci)

Largely thanks to market reforms and caste system erosion, India has begun transitioning from low-paid outsourcing fodder into a sophisticated service economy. The nation’s, “…world-class software developers are moving into high-margin consulting”, striving ambitiously to, “…take business from the likes of Accenture and IBM.” In fact, India’s IT industry alone Outsourcing professionals have graduated from, “…filling orders for infomercial ab crunchers to handling financial analysis for Wall Street firms.” And India’s drug makers, previously held in contempt by the developed world for patent piracy, “…are being wooed by the same global giants whose medicines they were copycatting.” In short, India has become a place where talented, intelligent and hard-working people can get ahead.

The Incentives and Top Performers

No small amount of India’s longtime economic struggles owed to the government’s perennially “self-reliant” policies. As early as 1947, when it became an independent country, India “…set out to achieve what its leaders called swadeshi, or self-reliance”, according to USA Today. In practice, swadeshi amounted to, “…walling out foreign investment and imports, and playing the role of obstructionist in global free-trade talks.” Unfortunately, in its quest to be self-reliant, India succeeded only in reducing itself to economic helplessness and virtual destitution. Liberalization occurred at an, “…agonizingly slow pace” until 1991, when soaring oil prices triggered a balance-of-payments crisis. Since then, India has taken great strides to promote entrepreneurship, trade, production and risk-taking throughout the economy. One major boost came in the form of lowered tariffs on imports, which were as high as 87%-113% as recently as the early 1990’s. Today, import tariffs are generally lower than 20%. Another longtime obstacle to entrepreneurship were stifling foreign exchange controls, which limited when and how much profit foreign multinationals could take home from India. After being shunned by multinationals for decades, the foreign exchange controls were relaxed, and in 2007 the BBC reported that multinationals were “…leading India’s IT revolution.”

(DraconianRain)

Another incentive that has done much to spur business activity in India is the removal of arbitrary restrictions and barriers. In 1988, for instance, the BBC explains that the Indian government did not make it easy for Texas Instruments to do business there. So involved with every minute detail was the government that, “…the Indian Ministry of Communications refused to allow them to set up their own private satellite dish unless a government official was present in the control room of the company’s satellite data transmission centre at all times.” Fortunately, “…within a decade, all such barriers were swept aside”, and the cost of data transmission subsequently, “…plunged due to the creation of trans-oceanic fibre optical cable networks.” The 2009 Legatum Prosperity Index gives India favorable marks as well, observing the existence of, “…only 11 formal business start up procedures.” USA Today notes, in agreement, “…private business can now do virtually anything except operate a railroad, nuclear power plant or university.” As word of India’s new found permissiveness to entrepreneurs spread, multinationals began doing business there in unprecedented numbers. Today “…more than 500 major international companies have IT operations in Bangalore alone.”

As mentioned, India’s $28 billion IT industry is an economic juggernaut and easily its most robust sector. Additionally, however, the country boasts the world’s fastest-growing telecom market, with some estimates clocking new subscriber signups at 1.6 million per month. NextBillion reported that 2008 was, “…a watershed when India’s subscriber base topped 350 million users to make its network the second largest in the world after China, displacing the US.” (NextBillion also explains how the telecom industry has benefited tremendously from the lower tariffs discussed earlier.) India is also the global leader in business process outsourcing, exporting $25 billion worth of such services per year as of 2007 and expected to rise to $60 billion by 2010, according to BBC.

What The Future Holds

While businesses like Hewlett-Packard, Dell, IBM, and Accenture coming in India is certainly encouraging, perhaps more encouraging than any isolated event is the overall, ongoing trend of liberalization in India’s economy. In 1991, trade in goods and services as a proportion of India’s GDP stood at a meager 16%. By 2007, that number had shot up to 49%, according to the Brookings Institution. The country also, “…grew 13% per annum in real dollars during the four year period spanning 2003-04 to 2006-07.” Brookings notes that, “…if this rate is maintained and the US economy grows at 3% per annum”, India will grow to “two fifths of the US economy in just two decades.” Nor, it should be noted, are US companies only making “token” investments in India. In 2007, networking giant Cisco Systems “announced a $1.1 billion investment in Bangalore, creating 6,000 jobs” in one fell swoop. Chief Globalization Officer Wim Elfrink weighed in on the deal by declaring “we believe that India is the hub for the world where the ICT sector is concerned.” Taking the improvements and deregulation of the last twenty years into account, it seems that India is on the road to joining the world’s major economies in less time than anyone thought possible.