It is tempting for people who earn less than $400,000 to think that they got off easy this week under the tax deal to end the fiscal impasse, given that only those with incomes above that level will be in a higher income tax bracket in 2013. But the legislation that both houses of Congress have now approved could increase taxes on people with incomes that are not quite that high as well. (The New York Times)
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The fiscal cliff crisis has been averted! But wait: No one seems happy. The Democrats want more tax increases. The Republicans want more spending cuts. And small business owners like me are divided. So is this latest solution good for my business? Will it be good for the American people? Is it enough to help the country's struggling economy? It seems like every economic expert's got theories. And they all conflict with each other. (Inc.)
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Your to-do list is meaningless if you can't prioritize. Justin Moore, CEO of Axcient, recommends limiting your list to a ranked top 5 every day – and not leaving until they're done. (Video) (Fast Company)
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As we bid another year adieu, our thoughts turn to making resolutions: this year I will lose that extra weight, drink less alcohol, give up sugar, get out of debt. All worthy goals, but why do we perennially return to resolutions that seem based on the idea of fixing all the things we're doing "wrong?" (Harvard Business Review)
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Four years after the financial crisis, Wall Street hiring has remained weak, and many college graduates have searched for jobs and even careers in other fields. In the last several years, hundreds of such would-be finance professionals and management consultants have taken their high-powered ambitions and spreadsheet modeling skills to the classroom. (The New York Times)
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Weekends always seem to go quickly, but they’re longer than we think. There are 60 hours between that 6 p.m. Friday beer and that 6 a.m. Monday alarm clock. Even if you sleep for 24 of those hours, that leaves 36 waking ones. That’s plenty of time for fun, relaxation and more importantly, recharging the batteries. In our competitive world, successful people know that great weekends are the secret to workday success. You want weekends that leave you refreshed, not exhausted or disappointed, so you can hit Monday ready to go. (Fast Company)
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It's a new year, and here come the resolutions that lead to new gym memberships and eventually, abandoned treadmills. Office workers are especially prone to make these promises to get healthy, with their desk jobs often making them sedentary. I am one of those workers (though, without the resolution), and I wondered if I could use the burgeoning field of auto-analytics – collecting and analyzing data about myself – to make my life more active without having to join a gym. (Harvard Business Review)
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As we prepare to embrace a new year, women have been sharing their plans to improve their work lives in 2013. We asked women to tell us their career New Year's resolutions, and you have inspired us with your ideas. Whether they're big ambitions, a change in attitude or new priorities, the women who contributed know what they want and how to get it. Here are some of our favorite pieces of advice – we hope you find them helpful too. (CNN International)
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You might think that, six years after the global financial crisis first broke, the downturn would be well behind us and the economy would be humming along. Instead, huge swathes of the world seem to be embarking on a Japanese-style experiment with long-term stagnation. (The Economist)
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On the morning of July 30, 2012, an accountant named Michel Gauvreau arrived at the Global Strategic Maple Syrup Reserve, housed in a huge red brick warehouse on the side of the Trans-Canadian Highway in Saint-Louis-de-Blandford, about two hours northeast of Montreal. Inside, baby-blue barrels of maple syrup were stacked six high in rows hundreds deep. Full, each barrel weighs about 620 pounds. With grade A syrup trading at about $32 per gallon, that adds up to $1,800 a barrel, approximately 13 times the price of crude oil. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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Want to get into business school? Be employable. As schools focus more attention on their job-placement numbers, several M.B.A. programs are now bringing in career-services staff to evaluate candidates for admission and set expectations for prospective students on what the school can, and can't, do in an uncertain job market. (The Wall Street Journal)
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It’s the end of the holiday season, and many of us are counting the cost of eating and drinking more than we thought possible. Nothing was worth watching on any of several hundred TV channels, and if you couldn’t face talking to your relatives any more, you may have turned in desperation to the old family favorite, Monopoly. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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Willard Moore III was recently elected as the national President/Chief Executive Officer for the National Black MBA Association Leaders of Tomorrow program. He will plan and oversee the nation-wide community service project conducted next spring by over 150 high school students in their respective cities. (St. Louis American)
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Google Inc. is challenging Facebook Inc. by using a controversial tactic: requiring people to use the Google+ social network. The result is that people who create an account to use Gmail, YouTube and other Google services – including the Zagat restaurant-review website – are also being set up with public Google+ pages that can be viewed by anyone online. Google+ is a Facebook rival and one of the company's most important recent initiatives as it tries to snag more online advertising dollars. (The Wall Street Journal)
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Updating your travel apps on your smartphone or tablet at the New Year is a good habit to have – like changing smoke-detector batteries. A number of new and established apps offer more sophisticated tools and information this year to make your travels more enjoyable, easier and safer. (The Wall Street Journal)
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If effective business networking is so important, why do so few people see any benefits? The problem starts with expectations. Most people approach networking as a key driver of sales. ("Networking is like advertising... but networking is free!") While networking can occasionally lead to a sale, if selling is your primary intent you will almost always fail because potential clients instantly recognize that your attempt to "network" is just a poorly veiled sales tactic. (Inc.)
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Holiday leftovers aren't even cold before conversation typically turns to resolutions for the new year. A December 2012 TD Ameritrade survey found that half of Americans want to improve their health and 32 percent hope to strengthen their finances in 2013. Companies also will be taking steps to achieve greater prosperity next year. To make your own resolutions about growing your business, consider these 10 steps as part of a successful 2013 action plan. (Entrepreneur)
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Suddenly, the new year is looking a bit brighter – at least in the eyes of most economists and investors. On Day 1 of 2013, Congress voted to veer away from the "fiscal cliff" by passing a package of provisions that avoided broad tax hikes and big spending cuts. And on Day 2, stock prices shot up. (NPR)
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As part of the deal on the so-called fiscal cliff, Congress extended tax breaks for middle-income families but did not extend a payroll tax cut that was set to expire this year. As of Tuesday working Americans saw a tax on their paychecks rise to 6.2% from 4.2% last year. Economists estimate that this could strip $115 billion in disposable income from the economy this year. (Los Angeles Times)
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Don't let credit card debt accrued over the holiday season linger. Use a few key tips to help pay down your balance quickly so you don't keep it all year long. (Video) (CNN/Money)
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Winter is upon us with storms moving through various parts of the country. We came up with 12 simple strategies that can help you protect your home from some of the most common causes of winter-storm damage. (Kiplingers)
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You can find matchmakers in many different forms in just about every society. Chinese, Hindu, and Jewish cultures have institutionalized the role for several millennia. At different points in time, talented Matchmakers have held positions of status, and with good reason. By connecting people for romantic or other reasons, an intermediary can dramatically expedite the connection process, decrease search costs, and help individuals find better matches than they could on their own. (Fortune)
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The nation didn't go over the fiscal cliff, but tax refunds remain up in the air. Congress' late action on the fiscal cliff tax provisions has caused headaches for the Internal Revenue Service, which now has to program its systems and issue tax forms based on the revised laws. It has not announced when taxpayers can start filing their 2012 returns, which means refunds will most likely be delayed. Filing usually begins in mid-January. (CNN/Money)
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It feels like a lifetime ago, but within the past decade one of the main problems hovering over the U.S. Congress was corruption. Sometimes it was gross corruption like when the FBI found almost $100,000 in bribes stashed in the freezer of then-Rep. William Jefferson or the millions in cash accrued by ex-Rep. Duke Cunningham as bribes. But the rot sometimes went deeper. (Slate)
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In the midst of crisis, don't play it safe and just try to scrape by, says Vincent Stanley, Patagonia’s VP of marketing – rather, use it as an opportunity to exhibit true leadership. (Fast Company)
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Too often, conventional approaches to organizational transformation resemble the Big Bang theory. Change occurs all at once, on a large scale and often in response to crisis. These approaches assume that people need to be jolted out of complacency to embrace new ideas and practices. (MIT/Sloan Management Review)
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