How to Prepare When Making a Career Change

new career aheadMany people dream of a new career earning more money doing the things they love. In fact, labor surveys suggest that four out of five people are unhappy in their careers and want to make a change. We Americans are optimistic with a tendency to accept that the “grass is always greener” on the other side of the fence. Yet few people actually pursue a career change voluntarily. Why? Because age, high income, and debt lock many into their current jobs or fields, making it that much harder to change.

If you desire to make a clean break from your current career and start anew – be it for more pay, personal satisfaction, or a better balance between your personal and work life – prepare yourself for a more difficult transition than seeking a similar job with a new employer. It’s unlikely that you will replicate your current salary or benefits in the beginning of a new career, while it is likely that you’ll need to invest in training or education to be hired. You may even be forced to relocate.

But these and other obstacles needn’t hold you back from your goals. However, they do require preparation in order to surmount. Read more . . .

Privatization of Public Services

Bridge under constructionSince the beginning of civilization, there has been tension over the role of government and the provision of services paid for with public funds (tax dollars). Before the advent of democracies, ambitious, enterprising men sought the favor of royalty in order to gain political power and riches at the expense of the population.
American governments, whether federal, state, or local, have not been immune from this trend where politicians manipulate the economy to fill their own pockets, as well as the purses of their friends. Boss Tweed and his cronies at Tammany Hall bilked New York City taxpayers of more than $200 million in the building of public works by private contractors. The Credit Mobilier of America scandal with Union Pacific during Ulysses S. Grant’s presidency reverberated for decades. According to The Atlantic, privatization leads to crony corruption, citing the example of Edward Snowden and Booz Allen Hamilton.
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How to Raise Venture Capital – Lessons from the “Shark Tank”

shark tank
The old adage, “Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door,” is no longer valid, and may never have been true in the first place. There are literally thousands of inventions and new products sitting in garages, workshops, and laboratories across the country, and they will never see the light of day simply because the inventor, lacking the capital to manufacture and market his idea with his own resources, is unable to attract investors.

Though there must be a way to find the money to back such a project, where can you turn to look for guidance?

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Moving Back Home – How to Make It Work

moving back home

At some point in your life, you have likely heard the phrase, “You can’t go home again.” However, as popular as the saying may be, it’s entirely wrong: Millions of young adults are moving back home to live with their parents, sometimes with children of their own.

According to a 2011 Pew Research Center Report, the country is now experiencing “the largest increase in the number of Americans living in multi-generational households in modern history.” More than 10% of all households (11.9 million) include members of multiple generations, the majority of which were an adult child living with a parent. The number of children returning home has become so commonplace that they have earned the appellations “baby gloomers” and “boomerangs.” One of every four young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 indicated that they had returned to live in their parents’ house after being independent; one in five of those between the ages of 25 and 34 reported the same.

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