Personal Finance Archives - Page 12 of 21

How to Land your Dream Job in Washington DC

This is a guest post.

For many job seekers, working in our nation’s capital is a dream. Washington, D.C. offers a number of jobs in both the private and public sectors. The city is home to many large corporations. Government jobs are more than plentiful, and in the last two years, the city’s unemployment rate has dropped from 8.4% to 8.1%.

While the city has plenty to offer, job seekers may find themselves overwhelmed or unsure of where to start their search. If you’re searching for a job in the D.C. area, use the tips below to help you get started.

1. Look for Jobs in the Right Places

While you can still find job openings in the local papers like The Washington Post, online job search sites tend to be a better option. On these sites, Washington jobs are updated daily unlike the listings printed in the paper. Job fairs are also a great option as is the Federal government’s official job site.

Knowing where to find jobs is half the battle. If you start looking in the right places, you will be surprised at how many opportunities are available.

2. Don’t Rely Solely on Social Media

Social media can be a great networking tool, but do not rely on these platforms as a means of landing a job. Use them to make connections with people who matter in the industry.

Start following industry leaders on Twitter or connect with them through LinkedIn. Once you have made that connection, make the effort to nurture and build your relationships with these contacts to improve

your chances of nailing your dream job.

Keep an eye on the Twitter accounts of job posters too, like The Washington Post and USA Jobs.

3. Search in the Right Sector

Just like any other job market in the country, certain sectors in Washington, D.C. are more promising than others.

Not surprisingly, Government is the largest sector and offers the most job opportunities. Education and health services are also a smart pick. Professional, technical and scientific services are the third largest sector in the city.

4. Optimize Your Resume

Optimizing your resume to tailor the needs of your potential employer is essential. What skills is the company in need of? What is the biggest challenge the company is facing right now? Tailor your resume to include these skills. Highlight your best attributes in a way that is appealing to that particular

company. Exclude irrelevant skills. Instead, place emphasis on your relevant skills and experience, particularly on your cover letter.

Also, many larger companies now use applicant tracking systems. These search and sort through resumes automatically based on the employer’s preferred keywords. Without the right keywords, your resume will be buried in the sea of applicants.

5. Donate Your Time

Washington, D.C. is home to a plethora of non-profit organizations. You can keep your resume up to date by volunteering your time and services to a local organization. The key is to make sure that you are volunteering at organizations that are relevant to your field. This will make the experience more attractive and relevant to potential employers.

Picture provided by Freedigitalphotos.net

We are Already Happy

Recently my daughter Lily was struttin her stuff around the house in her Twin sister’s boots. I asked her why do you have your sister’s boots on, and she replied because I like them. I smiled and said, ok baby that’s fine. But I had a an experiment that was formulating in my mind at that very moment. After 5 minutes I found her actual boots and offered it to her sister, stating out loud to Sophia that she needs to wear Lily’s boots because she was wearing Sophia’s boots. Across the room Lily seemed ok with the idea for a brief moment. Then as I go to place the boots on Sophia’s feet, Lily sits down and begins to remove the borrowed boots yelling no no no. She wanted her own boots. What just happened within her that made her change how she felt about lending her boots?

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The Dichotomy of Money Behaviors

What is “The Dichotomy of Money Behaviors”, and how will it help me succeed with personal finance? Every day I see how behavior money issues can be on one spectrum to another from person to person. The society we now live in is constantly in a financial battle. Through one media source you are getting advice to save money, but another source around the corner is telling you to spend now. One of the most popular websites on how to manage money, has a revolving ad so that its readers can get credit cards. (Really!)

Individuals must remove all the white noise from the decisions influencing us that we get from the media. For example everyone who works in sales they wish to make money; by getting as many clients as possible. They will pay for marketing lists, to advertise on social media, to do whatever it takes to get clients. They are trying to make money to save and spend money. Their clients are in the same boat, battling every day to protect cash flow from being taken away. Read below how you can see my feelings around the dichotomy of money behaviors.

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Always being Flashy Equals Living above Means

Hey have you ever seen millionaires driving around in Ferraris, wearing Gucci scarfs and rocking Louie V. sunglasses every day of the week? Do you stop to notice that the only people who are flashy are the TV entertainers because they are getting paid to promote a brand? Well I believe people who are flashy all the time in regular neighborhoods, are not making a living as entertainers in the public eye thus living above their means. People with self made wealth do anything possible to stay under the radar for the most part. I can attest that most millionaires care more about continuing their high income and assets far more than living a flashy lifestyle.

What experience have you witnessed with someone who is always flashy? Buying the latest things, just to say they have something new. Trading up cars every 2 years, because they want to impress others. I cannot shake the feeling that those people always being flashy equals them living above means.

The standard definition of flashy is -stylish and expensive-looking in an obvious or ostentatious way.

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Milestones I achieved in 2013

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hello friends if you are reading this you will soon learn all the milestones I achieved in 2013. I want to do this every New Year as a way to remember what I accomplished and as a way to help me set up my new goals going forward. I hope you succeeded in completing a few goals of your own. This past year was a very memorable one, I can’t complain as I am one step closer to reaching FI and hopefully becoming a full time blogger one day.

Now this is not a post to brag, but a way to recognize that I am finally keeping track in a personal finance capacity and that just transforms me to keep superseding past goals. I want to give you a few milestones relating to several topics, but the majority will be related to personal finance or money management. If you want to catch up with Last year’s Milestones click Here

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Do you Value your Loose Change?

Did you know that in airports all across the world travelers leave behind loose change because they are in a hurry to not miss their flights? I understand that some of these travelers need to go in a rush to the airport gate, but this is why planning beforehand is important for your financial future and for many areas of life. The amount of loose change left every year is staggering, and it gives evidence to the wastefulness of certain people. Do you value your loose change? I hope you do because every coin you keep and save will provide you with dollars in terms of compound interest. How hard is it for a traveler to inspect their pockets before reaching the TSA station, and easily transfer any coins from pockets to their on board bags. If they don’t have a bag, then just take 5 seconds to place the coins back in your pocket. Do you really think that in 5 seconds you will miss your flight?

I will provide you all the evidence for the biggest offenders in the Airport loose change travesty. Obviously the people who are traveling are the offenders, but you can clearly see that the first two airports are the party destination locations. I wonder who travels to these airports the most? I will assume it is young people and people working in the entertainment industry, who travel the most to these destinations. One segment of the travelers is too young and careless to care about loose change, and the other segment of the travelers is making so much money that the change might be a way for them to give back to society. (Insert Sarcasm)

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What are my values?

When I decided to write about my values and what they mean to me, I had to think for a second because of all the other white noise in my head. But for a few seconds as I stared into space, I drew a blank then reconfigured my priorities based on what are my values. My values are the important aspects of my life that I will not change or give up for any reasons, and yes my values have changed over time with age.

One of the definitions for value is- The worth, importance, or usefulness of something to somebody This is why I value what I am doing for the blog, because it I am keeping a journal for what’s going on in my head, plus I am inspiring others with valuable financial information all at the same time. I wish to assist my readers with self improvement behavior tactics primarily based around money management. I have always wanted to teach others as much as possible about personal finance, and I am achieving it every day through this blog. OK enough tooting my own horn; let’s discuss what are my values?

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How Candy Crush makes you Poor

Hey Friends, did you know that Candy Crush is Taking over people’s minds every day by the minute? That little app has blown up to the tune of millions and millions of users, happily plugging in hours a week playing a useless game. I will show you in the post below how Candy Crush makes you poor in various ways. This game can not only drain you fiscally, but can damage you to the point you feel poorish in other areas of your life.

Granted this game craze is not a new phenomenon, do you remember the Tetris and Bejeweled addiction? Well Candy Crush is along the same line and premise behind those two games. Here is the difference that all of you will be stunned to know, Candy Crush executives are raking in 690,000 thousand dollars a day from its users. Say What! Tetris and Bejeweled never made that kind of money; boy technology has benefitted the app developers hasn’t it. It boggles me to wonder how much time is being wasted in the millions of households playing this game.

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