Managing your career: Ariane de Bonvoisin and John Kilcullen identify 10 skills you need to survive the next round of layoffs at your job
What’s triggering fears and sleepless nights for many of us about the unemployment abyss is not the job-loss stats themselves, but the depth of the cuts—and the qualifications of some of the people getting jettisoned. The questions we keep hearing are: Why do highly skilled, seemingly essential people get cut while others don’t? Are there patterns? How can I make myself indispensable?
In talking with employers about what they most value in employees right now, it became clear that the key to surviving isn’t so much about the skills you have, the awards you’ve won, or the tasks you perform day in and day out. It’s as much about qualities, habits, and capacities.
This is no time to keep plugging along head down, half expecting every meeting invitation you open to be your exit interview. You must take action to embody the qualities of those employees who always get promoted and always avoid the next round of layoffs.
And don’t think that just because your company isn’t downsizing or has said it has no plans to that you’re safe. Things can and do change fast in this environment, so take preventive measures. Plus, the kinds of qualities we’re talking about will serve you well when things turn around. Read more…
Although forex is the largest financial market in the world, it is relatively unfamiliar terrain to retail traders. Until the popularization of internet trading a few years ago, FX was primarily the domain of large financial institutions, multinational corporations and secretive hedge funds. But times have changed, and individual investors are hungry for information on this fascinating market. Whether you are an FX novice or just need a refresher course on the basics of currency trading, read on to find the answers to the most frequently asked questions about the forex market.
How does this market differ from other markets?
Unlike the trading of stocks, futures or options, currency trading does not take place on a regulated exchange. It is not controlled by any central governing body, there are no clearing houses to guarantee the trades and there is no arbitration panel to adjudicate disputes. All members trade with each other based upon credit agreements. Essentially, business in the largest, most liquid market in the world depends on nothing more than a metaphorical handshake. Read more…
The stock market’s damage has already been done. And if you’re one of those people near or already in retirement, you already know you’re going to have to work longer, save more or spend less.
But what should you do right now with the money you have left? Should you wade back into the stock market, if you bailed out when the market was plunging? Or if you watched your investments drop and then recover a little in the last few months, should you just hold on? What happens if the market doesn’t fully recover for a long time? (That happened in Japan in the ’90s.)
This economic downturn has been steep enough and frightening enough to undermine the idea that the stock market, over time, will always deliver. So a lot of investors have retreated to a more conservative stance. Read more…
Thank you, fellow taxpayers, for your generous contributions to the Angelo Mozilo defense fund. Bank of America(BAC Quote) confirmed on Tuesday it is covering the legal fees for the former Countrywide CEO who has been charged with securities fraud and insider trading. BofA, America’s biggest bank, says it is obligated to shell out for Mozilo’s defense as a result of an indemnity clause in place when he ran Countrywide.
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil charges against Countrywide’s co-founder last Thursday, alleging he raked in more than $139 million of improper profits by exercising stock options in 2006 and 2007 while the nation’s housing market and Countrywide’s finances were collapsing. Read more…
WASHINGTON – The Treasury Department has approved 10 of the nation’s largest banks to repay $68 billion in government bailout money.
The department on Tuesday said the banks, which were not named, will be allowed to repay the money they received from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program created by Congress last October at the height of the financial crisis.
The banks have been eager to get out of the program to escape government restrictions such as caps on executive compensation.
Among the banks that last month passed government “stress tests” and confirmed that they received permission to repay the bailout funds were: JPMorgan Chase & Co., American Express Co., U.S. Bancorp, Capital One Financial Corp., Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and BB&T Corp. Read more…
Lehman Brothers Holdings
Rank: 1
Date of bankruptcy filing: 09/15/08
Assets: $691 billion
One of the biggest calamities of the current recession is the fall of the once highly regarded (and onetime fourth-largest) Wall Street investment firm, which was forced to file for bankruptcy protection last September, the largest corporate filing in the history of U.S. bankruptcy court. As a result, the company’s North American investment banking and trading businesses and New York City headquarters were sold to British bank Barclays. Some of Lehman’s U.S. businesses, including wealth management firm Neuberger-Berman, continue to operate as stand-alone entities under new ownership. And because of the company’s global reach, its bankruptcy proceedings are complex, ongoing, and have resulted in the closing of 80 of the bank’s smaller subsidiaries. Read more…
It’s being touted as a big win for consumers — but the new credit card legislation that President Obama signed into law Friday hardly means that cardholders can start swiping that plastic worry-free.
In fact, as the new rules kick in (most will go into effect nine months after the president signs the bill, while others will kick in as early as 90 days afterward) and banks start curtailing the abusive practices this legislation reins in, other practices will likely emerge that can hurt consumers just as badly. “The pendulum may have swung in the wrong direction”, says Dennis Moroney, research director and senior analyst for TowerGroup, a research and advisory-services firm focused exclusively on the financial-services industry. “The banks now have to respond to these changes.” Read more…
NEW YORK (AP) — The dollar tumbled against the other major currencies Wednesday, touching a fresh low against the pound for the year and a 4-month low against the euro as signs of a resolution to the financial crisis drove investors to riskier investments. Equities in Europe and the U.S. rose, as did oil prices, as cheered investors moved their cash into commodities and stocks.
Since last summer, the dollar has tended to trade inversely to stocks, as fearful investors deserted their positions in emerging markets and commodities and jumped to the buck’s “safety” lure. When stocks and oil prices trend higher, that pattern tends to reverse.
The euro jumped to $1.3782 in morning trading in New York from $1.3650 late Tuesday, peaking earlier at $1.3794, its highest price since Jan. 8. Read more…
The stock market has run out of reasons to rally, at least for now.
After a two-month surge that saw the Dow Jones industrials average soar 31 percent and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index shoot up 37 percent, investors gave up some of those gains last week. As the new week begins, there doesn’t seem to be any catalysts that could restart the rally.
The market barreled higher as investors realized that worst-case scenarios in the banking industry weren’t going to happen. Indications that the recession was slowing also gave investors reason to buy at a pace not seen in decades. Read more…
The winner of Berlin short film festival. Chicken a-la-Carte.
Truly heart breaking….may we always count our blessings and also remember to be a blessing to others. This six minutes short film will change your outlook in life. Must watch!!
Please be sure your family and children watch it together.
Put on the speakers.
