By Kevin M
Conventional wisdom holds that once a car reaches a certain age and book value that the collision coverage portion of an auto insurance policy be canceled. But I may have stumbled upon a compelling reason why you might not want to drop the coverage no matter how low the book value of your car.
My wife and I own two cars, both of which have long since been paid off and at least one of which has a book value low enough that most financial advisors would recommend dropping collision. However, as both cars are of advanced age, we’ve been renting vehicles for the two or three long distance trips where flying doesn’t make financial sense. This saves a small fortune over the purchase of four round trip air fares and gives us use of a late model vehicle a good distance from home.
When renting a vehicle, one of the requirements of car rental companies is current and adequate auto insurance coverage, including collision and comprehensive. Had we dropped our collision coverage, we would be required to pay for coverage through the rental company.
Continue reading One Good Reason NOT to Cancel Your Collision Coverage →
By Kevin M
There probably isn’t a soul in the workforce who hasn’t dreamed of or at least contemplated the possibility of working from home. There are many benefits to this arrangement but it’s important to understand the limitations as well.
I’ve spent a good deal of my life working from home and I strongly recommend it as a preferred work style. But I’ve also become quite familiar with both the advantages and the downsides of home basing. For years I worked from home as a mortgage loan officer. It was a natural advantage because it provided the ability to concentrate all of my efforts on serving my customers. It also forced me to learn to work independently and to identify and utilize outside sources who could enable me to do that fully.
Over time I became comfortable with the proverbial “chief cook and bottle washer” aspect of self-employment, and was able to transfer those skills to subsequent businesses, including recruiting and this weblog.
One element of work-at-home that I know to be absolutely critical above all other concerns: your contribution must add tangible value to your employers business.
Work-at-home isn’t about us nearly as much as it’s about our employers and what we can do for them through the arrangement. Never forget this.
Continue reading Making Work-At-Home Work For You →
Guest Post
There can be extreme competition out there these days when it comes to making an impression on the people who matter at work. Finding ways to impress the boss while maintaining your sanity can be difficult to say the least. While you certainly don’t want to have to work 70-hour workweeks just to get ahead, the benefits of career advancement probably won’t just fall into your lap. Most of the time, it takes hard work, dedication, and the ability to learn and adjust to changes in your work environment to get ahead in your career. Here are some tips to take into consideration.
Continue reading Ten Great Tips to Advance Your Career →
STRATEGY #10 TO SURVIVE A DOWN ECONOMY
By Kevin M
When careers and money become questionable foundations in our lives, what’s left? It’s often only in bad economies that we even entertain the question.
In 10 Ways To Survive a Down Economy (published on Christianpf.com June 1) we listed ten strategies to help us deal with the bad economy. Our topic for today, the final strategy, Strategy #10:
Seek fulfillment beyond your work. In a world where careers are no longer either peaceful or progressive, self actualizing through your work may not be the path it’s been in the past. Fortunately, there are plenty of opportunities to find fulfillment outside of work. Take more active roles in regard to your health, family, faith and community.
Continue reading Seek Fulfillment Beyond Your Work →
By Kevin M
It often seems that people who work for someone else, who hold traditional jobs, dream of the day when they’ll break out of their cubicle and go it alone, running their own business. But talk to many of the self-employed and you’re likely to hear of a deep desire to pitch it all for the predictability of a steady paycheck. Is anyone actually happy where they are? And how do you know if you’re best suited for one or the other?
Many of the discussions of traditional employment versus self-employment center on the financial side of the debate. For example, questions might center around the amount of capital you have to enter and maintain an upstart business, or on your track record of success as an employee at other businesses. While these certainly matter in the decision to transition into self-employment, I’d like to center this discussion on some of the more personal characteristics that could mean the difference between success or failure.
Continue reading Steady Paycheck VS. Self-Employment; Which is Right For You? →
Face the Future Informed and Without Fear
By Kevin M
Unemployment ticked down in November for the first time in many months, some of the big banks have announced plans to pay back TARP money given to them early in the financial crisis and Wall Street is on the rise—a classic recovery is underway!
Or is it?
Before you think of this as a gloom-and-doom post, please read through to the end and you’ll see it’s anything but.
Continue reading Face the Future Informed and Without Fear →