I’ve been kicking around this question for myself, which is ironic, because if someone asked me if I thought it was worth it, my typical immediate response is “depends.” But as I’ve become more and more involved in hiring the past few years, I’ve realized a couple things:
- Your experience, personality, and attitude will take you way farther than a MBA will
- MBA may get you in the door but won’t keep you safe unless you can perform
2. Unless you have an MBA from a top school, no one cares
3. We don’t want high level MBAs unless we’re hiring for the “wow” factor (to impress the client, for an executive level position that we’re going to use to market with, etc)
A full-time MBA program can easily cost you $80 – 100k and 2 years of precious earning power. Assuming an average salary for those entering a graduate program of $70k, that is $140k over 2 years, plus benefits, 401k matches, etc. Medical and other fringe benefits run approximately 30-40% of your base salary, and companies typically offer about 4-6% match on 401ks. Assuming an 8% 401k deduction with 4% company match on a $70k salary, comes to $8,400 per annum.
Benefits (though not included in the salary you receive, are still benefits to you and should be considered as such) add another $24,500 on top of that – so add those together for the 2 years and the costs for attending a full-time MBA program roughly $205k.
Then there’s the time it takes to actually pay off and earn a return on your investment. This article from Newsweek states that MBA grads average about $75k, with only 4% exceeding the $150k mark. PoetsandQuants is now reporting that elite MBA’ers from schools such as Stanford and Harvard take about 10 years or so to recoup the costs of their MBA, with Columbia coming in last of the top 10 at 12.8 years. If those aren’t dire stats, then I don’t know what is.
So my final determination? I’m still clueless. We’ll see.
My latest scheme to save money has to do with one of my favorite things, shopping! I realized that I could buy a gift certificate for less than face value from a site like PlasticJungle.com or Giftcardrescue.com, and use it on a site that also gives me cashback!
So my latest deal was:
1. I went onto PlasticJungle.com and found a giftcard for Ann Taylor worth $300 for $255, 15% off
2. Then I log onto Fatwallet.com for the 3% cashback on all purchases
Every quarter or so, they will have a 40% off sitewide sale, which is pretty great – combining all the coupons means I can actually save 58% on all purchases, and they offer free shipping on any purchases over $150!
I feel like this opens up a whole new world of savings, and it’s so exciting!
I found this Pan Am Airlines promotional photo (ca. 1956) in Christine Yano’s new book on the history of Nisei stewardesses called Airborne Dreams (Duke University Press, 2011). Yano argues that “Japanese American (and later other Asian and Asian American) stewardesses [as they were called in the 1950s
I’ve always loved vintage photos, and I stumbled upon this amazing blog, Of Another Fashion, that has vintage photos of “not-quite-hidden but too often ignored fashion histories of U.S. women of color”, along with personal stories. There’s an interesting and subtle message in the trends of their clothes and updos, and I love looking at this – it always leaves me feeling bittersweet and nostalgic, and like I am gaining a better understanding (or realizing just how much I don’t know!) about history and our past.
From the LA Times:
Did you know that in Southern California (and I am sure this holds true for any asian buyers out there), that having a number “4″in your address is bad, terrible, horrible luck? “4″ sounds like death in Mandarin, Cantonese, Taiwanese, Japanese, and several other languages.
Having an address with 4′s in it can cause your house to sit on the market for months, even if it’s in a hot area, like Arcadia or San Marino, many buyers will not even consider viewing your property. Numbers like “8″, and “168″ are good luck, and those houses often sell for asking, if not over. Asian culture is very superstitious, and if you are in any sort of sales, it’s always a good tip to know in case you deal with them.
This story cites an example of where a house was appraised at $1.4 million, and because there were two 4′s in the address, it could potentially knock $300,000 to $400,000 off the property. And it’s true – having been in real estate for a short stint, I knew hot to even bother showing the houses with too many bad numbers to my clients, unless they were more Americanized or specifically told me they didn’t care.
So, if your home has the poor fortune of having one too many “4s” in its address, the city of Arcadia now proposes a solution for you – you can pay to have the house number changed, which would hopefully lead to better luck and later, resale value. I think it’s a smart way to close the budget gap, if there is one, and if it creates multiple offers, why not?
I’ve been watching this show religiously since its premiere, and while I happily admit I’m obsessed and daydream about getting deals like these people do, (I told hubby that for my bday, I wanted to do one shopping trip and save what they do), I don’t know realistic their purchases really are.
In the Sunday papers, the coupons I get are mostly for non-perishable items – drugstore items, personal care/hygiene, makeup, canned goods, etc. Those, potentially stacked with a sale, store coupon, and manufacturer’s coupon, I understand. Easy to figure out how to save 30-60% or more on the item. I was wandering around Vons last week with a ton of coupons in hand, when I suddenly remembered that I needed to pick up some carrots, and realized that not only had I never seen any coupons for produce, but I hardly see the Extreme Couponing people buy fresh food.
It seems strange, but it does make sense. You don’t need to offer coupons and other incentives to purchase fresh food, it’s a necessity. How often have you seen milk go on sale or a huge coupon offered? And they’re all so proud of their stockpile, but I don’t think that at this point in my life (or ever), would I need to have 100 tubes of toothpaste or bags of cat food treats (when they don’t even have a cat). And what is their ultimate intention for their stockpile? There was a set of twins from Chicago, one of whom had a huge stockpile of babywipes or diapers. Absolutely huge pile. But she doesn’t have any kids yet.
I admire that they are saving so much money and are genius at finding these deals, but I don’t like being wasteful about buying items I don’t need or unhealthy foods, even if they’re free. I did like the one where the guy purchased everything and donated it though, that would be fun to try. Overall, I think I’m going to shoot for 40-50% off items we actually use, purchased on an as-needed basis or maybe stocked up only a little bit if a great deal, and go from there.
I’ve been watching Bethenny Frankel ever since I first saw her on Real Housewives of New York – she was spunky, ambitious, and most important of all, real, unlike so many of the other housewives on these shows. In the beginning, she was a organic food chef marketing her brand, “Skinnygirl”, and she’s since expanded upon that, into her own show, books, and started her own line of margaritas.
Whether you love her or hate her, you have to admit, she has built herself into a successful brand, outranking even J. Lo in just a few short years, and should be applauded for it. She’s started several businesses and failed (BethennyBakes, event planning, scarves), but it hasn’t stopped her from picking herself up and marching on. I’m not as big a fan of Kim Kardashian, but I have to hand it to her as well, she’s done the same thing.
Up next for her is skincare, shotglasses, shapewear, diet pills, and who knows what else. Given that her margarita line was just sold for $100 M last week, it’s definitely inspiring me to get a move on!
I’m not a big fan of trying to save money using daily deal sites – they advertise their services to be 40% – 60% off, but are they really such great deals? Below are some reasons why they may not be so awesome:
1. Not really the % discount they claim. Keep in mind that even though it might say 50% off, it may have been marked up to make it appear that there is a higher discount.
2. Will the business still be around for you to use the coupon? Many companies that offer daily deals are “mom and pop” (which was originally Groupon’s intention to promote). Having owned a small business myself, I can attest to how desperate things can become, and to what lengths we will go when offering deals or coupons, even when/if on the brink of shutting down. What options would you have if the business were to go under? Can you go back to the daily deal site and ask for your money back? Will they just issue you a credit and you have to buy something you didn’t really want?
3. Will you actually use the coupon? How many times have you had a great coupon and had every intention of using it, only to have things come up here and there, until you finally realized that the coupon was expired, or just didn’t have the energy to go use it? Businesses count on a certain percentage of buyers to not use the pre-purchased coupon. Same economics goes for giftcards.
4. Pre-payment required. I hate the idea of parting with my money before enjoying whatever it is I’m purchasing. I know that it doesn’t matter, I’ll still have to cough up the funds after, but something about paying for it beforehand doesn’t sit well with me. I have always been “anti” businesses that float cash as part of their business model.
5. It may end up hurting the business more than helping. I’m all for supporting small businesses over large corporations. One of my friends used one for his business – it turns out that the daily deal site not only takes 50%, but charges service fees on top of it, leaving my friend with only about 35%, which didn’t even cover the costs. On top of that, the phone was ringing off the hook, the customers were cheap and trying to lowball him on everything, and it turned out to be a bad experience, for him at least. He said he will never do it again.
If you’re using them for a one-time experience or for a place your frequent, it’s not a bad idea. Just make sure you’re really going to go and use it before purchasing. Also, there’s such market saturation now, I think even Facebook is trying to get in on the action - I wonder if Groupon doesn’t regret, even a teeny, tiny bit, not selling to Google for $6 billion just a few short months ago.
I love that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is playing on the claim that today is the end of the world. They’re typically thought of as a serious and rather stuffy bureau, and by doing this, all the news outlets are reporting this, so they are getting free advertising too. Good move.
One especially hilarious note:
“4. Plan your evacuation route. When zombies are hungry they won’t stop until they get food (i.e., brains), which means you need to get out of town fast! Plan where you would go and multiple routes you would take ahead of time so that the flesh eaters don’t have a chance! This is also helpful when natural disasters strike and you have to take shelter fast.”
Yikes, it’s been such a while since I’ve posted. It’s been a little hectic, I was running back and forth between the old and new companies, training my replacement at the former, and training with the one I’m replacing at the latter. There was a limited amount of time I had with the one I am replacing, as he is leaving to manage the project from another country, so I had to pack it all in to a week. It definitely wasn’t enough time, but I’ll try to figure it out. It’s good that he will still be available by email though.
Now that I have a few days off, I wanted to look into 401k/ESOP transfer options. My previous employer offered both, so I went ahead and put money into them. I could do any of the either:
1) Leave the 401k with the previous employer. I don’t think I will do this, because their fund selections are terrible and returns have been been really depressing.
2) Cash out. Did you know this was the most popular option in the US? I didn’t know – it seems unwise for the long-term – if the balance is cashed out, approximately 20% will be withheld for tax purposes, and a 10-15% penalty is due for early withdrawl. So essentially, I would be out 30 – 35% immediately.
3) Roll over into the new company’s 401k. With this, there won’t be any taxes or penalties, and it would definitely be easier to manage if it’s all in one place. This is the option I will most likely be choosing. I just received the packet with the new fund options in the mail, so I’ll be spending some time reviewing them.
My question is though, what about the ESOP? I haven’t been able to find any info about this – can I roll over the entire amount into a Roth IRA or the new 401k? One of my colleagues told me that ESOP is a mandatory cashout, but I’m not sure if that’s correct. The previous company requires it to be in for 5 years before considered fully vested. I was only there for 3 years, so am not – how does this work?
A study from the LA Times shows that women who use sites such as Facebook and MySpace confirms what many of us already knew – women who post tons of photos and updates about themselves on their sites are more likely to base their self worth on appearance and use social networking for attention.
The study involved 311 men and women with an average age of 23. In order to better understand aspects of social networking behavior, the researchers looked at the amount of time subjects spent managing profiles, the number of photos they shared, the size of their online networks and how promiscuous they were in terms of “friending” behavior. The participants completed a questionnaire designed to measure self worth and were asked about their typical behaviors on Facebook.
“The people who tended to base their self worth on things like academic competence, family love and support… spent less time online and showed less interest in attention-seeking through social media….Perhaps this reflects the distorted value
pegged to women’s looks throughout the popular culture and in reality programming from ‘The Bachelor’ to ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians.’ ”
I don’t know that we really needed a study like this done by so many smart people whose talents could have been put to better use, but it’s good validation!
