Author Archives: admin

Will Your College (Really) Help You Find A Job?

Posted on by

To discover how much job search help you will receive from your college, answer the questions below. (Circle your answers – NS = Not Sure)

1. Does your college fully communicate the services that are available from the Career Services Office as soon as you enter college? YES, NO, NS

2. Does your college require students to prepare a written employment plan of action during the Freshman year? YES, NO, NS

3. Are students at your college coached through their employment plan of action throughout each semester of college? YES, NO, NS

4. Are job search preparation activities emphasized during each semester of college? YES, NO, NS

5. Does your college provide students with a list of job search preparation activities that should be completed before the senior year? YES, NO, NS

6. Does your college teach you how to conduct a comprehensive search for employment? YES, NO, NS

7. Does the Career Services Web Site contain all of the job search information and help you will need? YES, NO, NS

8. Is it easy to meet with or speak to a Career Services Representative or Employment Coach whenever you have questions or need help? YES, NO, NS

9. Do you know how many employers visited your college last year to interview students with your major? YES, NO, NS

10. Do you know how many students with your major were hired last year, as the result of campus interviews? YES, NO, NS

11. Do you know the six or eight primary requirements of the employers that hire students with your major? YES, NO, NS

12. Does your college provide you with the contact information for former students with your major who are now working in your field of interest? YES, NO, NS

13. Do the Professors in your major use their contacts to help students find part-time, summer and full-time jobs? YES, NO, NS

14. Is it obvious to you that all members of the college community are working together to ensure that the greatest number of students land good jobs? YES, NO, NS

15. Does your college make it clear to every students that “the senior year job search actually starts in the Freshman year?” YES, NO, NS

16. In addition to your academic performance, there are four other places where you can impress employers. Have you been told what they are? YES, NO, NS

17. Are there internships and part-time job opportunities available for students with your major? YES, NO, NS

18. Are employers, in your field of interest, invited to make presentations to students about their employment needs, requirements and expectations? YES, NO, NS

19. Does your Career Services Department conduct classroom training for groups of students on topics that are needed for employment success? YES, NO, NS

20. Are students trained in employment networking techniques? YES, NO, NS

21. Are students trained in interviewing strategies and techniques? YES, NO, NS

22. Is resumé preparation training available to you? YES, NO, NS

23. Is a large list of employment web sites made available to students in every field of study? YES, NO, NS

24. Are students trained in finding and researching potential employers in their own field of study? YES, NO, NS

25. Is it clear to you that your college is doing everything possible to help students find and land good jobs? YES, NO, NS

Rate your college:

If you answered yes 20+ times, your college is doing a superior job. A grade of (A)
If you answered yes 15 – 19 times, your college is doing a good job. (B)
If you answered yes 11 – 14 times, your college is doing only a fair job. (C)
If you answered yes 7 – 10 times, your college needs much improvement. (D)
If you answered yes 1 – 6 times, your college should reevaluate its commitment. (F)

Sending well educated college students into a highly competitive job market with little job search preparation assistance and training is not the way that concerned college leaders should operate. Therefore, parents and students at underperforming colleges must begin to demand more and better from them.

The Stock Market Vs Real Estate Investing

Posted on by

I am often asked about the stock market vs. real estate investing in terms of which is the better investment. Both offer growth and income. Real estate investing has its advantages and so does the stock market. How about the best of both worlds?

Other than the often touted fact that real estate investing has an advantage because “they’re not making any more of it”, many people have felt more comfortable in the past owning real property because it’s tangible. The stock market is not. Real estate investing traditionally takes the form of buying a property, renting it out, and dealing with maintenance and tenants. The need for active management and the fact that real property is not liquid (easy to sell quickly without significant expense) are its disadvantages.

On the other hand real estate investing has traditionally had one giant advantage called FINANCIAL LEVERAGE. Making a small out-of-pocket investment and borrowing lots of money to buy a property is how many people got rich in the past. After all, if your investment goes up in value by $50,000 or $100,000 your rate of return depends on how much YOU actually had invested. The average person has not been allowed to use heavy financial leverage in the stock market since the early 1930′s.

Financial leverage is now a dirty word in finance since the recent financial crisis threatened the world economy. The rules have changed, but there are still opportunities for the average investor. Forget the past and forget comparing the stock market vs. real estate investing in conventional terms. There’s really no sense in comparing the two as they have traditionally existed, because buying property is like actively running a business. Average working people often don’t go there because they have other duties and obligations to attend to.

In the stock market you simply buy and sell. That’s the advantage: liquidity, with no active management. Today you can make a transaction for $10. You can invest in any stock you like and buy or sell in your brokerage account over the internet. If you want to get into real estate investing the easy way, even on a budget, you can do it IN THE STOCK MARKET. Now you can own a piece of the action in commercial properties for an admittance price of $10, and sell in a matter of seconds if things don’t go your way.

Equity real estate investment trusts (REITS) invest in apartment buildings, shopping centers, office buildings and so on… diversified across the country. They’ve been around a long time and for years were steady performers that offered investors both growth and higher than average dividend income. Their stocks are traded in the stock market. When real estate got cheap so did these stocks. Two big names here: Simon Property Group and Vornado Realty Trust. And then there’s something quite new.

To get the best of both worlds… real estate investing and the stock market… without having to pick which stock(s) to go with consider an ETF that invests in a multitude of stocks like the two mentioned above. Stock symbols IYR and VNQ are two such ETFs.

You can invest anywhere from a few hundred dollars to millions, get in or out in a matter of seconds and be a real estate investor by simply buying the right stocks. With today’s unpredictable economic environment and markets a basic truth has become obvious to even the most casual observer. All markets, even the market for real properties, are dynamic and subject to change. Why not put liquidity on your side?