Julie Rains's blog
Posted 1 week 1 day ago by Julie Rains
Career Building
I have encountered job seekers who had taken part in informational interviews but seemed to find them fruitless. Admittedly, having helped many clients using a straightforward approach, I was skeptical about the winding path to a career that the informational-interview process seems to represent. Recent conversations have shown me that taking the right approach, though, can land positions in competitive fields even in a difficult economy. I'll share what I learned about what not to say, how to leverage social media, and more.
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Posted 3 weeks 1 day ago by Julie Rains
Life Hacks, Food and Drink
If you’re willing to be patient, gracious, and alert to opportunities, you can enjoy free meals on certain occasions. Here are ways that have worked for me.
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Posted 4 weeks 1 day ago by Julie Rains
Productivity, Career Building
There was a brief period, before the last recession, when my career-services clients actually found jobs on online job boards. They’d post resumes, and interview requests and job offers quickly followed. For the past several years, though, clients have told me that they felt as if online applications led to a black hole: resumes were submitted but companies never made contact; even a rejection letter would have meant progress, indicating that a human was somehow involved in the decision-making process. Though I don’t recommend online boards as a direct path to a new position, I do find them extremely useful in a job search and I’ll tell you why.
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Posted 6 weeks 4 days ago by Julie Rains
Investment
I just finished reading The New Coffeehouse Investor by financial adviser Bill Schultheis. He's an index-fund investor and discusses his rationale for investing in non-managed funds. What I enjoyed most, besides his easy-to-follow style and references to mountain climbing and other adventures, was the way he applied analogies of common activities to making some financial decisions. I'll tell you about my favorite comparisons and give you the basics of his investment planning.
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Posted 8 weeks 1 day ago by Julie Rains
Life Hacks
My husband and I celebrated our 24th anniversary last week. Here are a few things I've learned about having a happy, long-lasting marriage.
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Posted 9 weeks 2 days ago by Julie Rains
Career and Income, Productivity, Budgeting
One of my favorite frugal resources is the community college. Even though I’ve taken several classes at my local college, I’ve barely tapped into the depth of resources available not only to enrolled students but also to community members. Here are ideas on getting value from your tuition and tax money, especially useful for the currently employed, unemployed, entrepreneurs, and business owners interested in starting a new career, expanding skills, and saving money.
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Posted 11 weeks 1 day ago by Julie Rains
Life Hacks, Shopping
Around springtime last year, as my niece’s university graduation date loomed, I picked out (but waited to buy) what I thought would be an ideal gift: a watch with her alma mater’s insignia emblazoned on its face. I emailed my sister to get my niece’s mailing address and found out, very quickly, that she didn’t need a watch but was ready with alternatives. Here are a few picks for graduation gifts and ideas for those soon to graduate, from a gift-giving perspective.
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Posted 12 weeks 2 days ago by Julie Rains
Career Building
Need ideas for parlaying volunteer hours into skills and experiences valued by employers? Even if you haven’t received a paycheck in exchange for creative ideas, event planning, or some equally worthy contribution of time and talent, you have proven capabilities that could be useful to the right organization. I’ll share ways to present volunteer experience as a meaningful part of your professional credentials.
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Posted 14 weeks 6 days ago by Julie Rains
Life Hacks, Lifestyle
I had been thinking about shedding my landline for a while. I was attached to the convenience for a long time and, more recently, unlimited calls for one price in the United States. What I wanted most from a landline, though, was reliability; but, for me, neither the cable company nor the traditional bell company could deliver. So, after more than four decades, I cut the cord. Here’s how I’m getting along without a regular phone.
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Posted 16 weeks 3 days ago by Julie Rains
Personal Finance
I grew up trusting two men who lied to me. They arranged snipe hunts and told outlandish stories from long ago (their childhoods and young adult years in the 1920s, '30s, and '40s). But, of all the adults I remember from my growing up years, these two men were the most honest and authentic. Their legacy to me is not cynicism from being fooled but healthy skepticism of those who should be trusted. Here’s what I learned from them.
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Posted 19 weeks 2 days ago by Julie Rains
Career and Income
The bad thing about being unemployed during a period of high unemployment, besides the obvious of being jobless, is that the competition can be unusually fierce. Though I encourage pursuing the ideal (whether it’s a company-paid position, freelance work, or business start-up), career nirvana may be a few steps away in this economic environment. Over the years, in good times and lousy ones, I’ve met folks who have started or retooled careers in entry-level positions; they laid the groundwork for greater opportunities and, when the time was right, moved up and along quickly. Here are some uneven career paths.
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Posted 20 weeks 6 days ago by Julie Rains
Investment
I just finished reading “Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is” by Natalie Pace, who has been ranked as a #1 Wall Street Stock Picker by TipsTraders.com. She wants us to love investing not because we love number crunching or looking at what she calls “mind-numbing charts” but because we love shopping for bargains and making the world a better place! From her book, I’ve put together some of her simplest, savviest tips on picking stocks.
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Posted 22 weeks 5 days ago by Julie Rains
Career and Income
When I was a new college grad, I wanted to live and work in a big city with great opportunities. I didn't know that an unemployment rate of 9-10% as I entered the workforce wasn't the economy as usual; I did know that just a few of my classmates had real jobs waiting for them upon graduation. So, I searched for a job anywhere, and landed in a small town. Since then, I’ve spoken with others who have made similar moves. Here are some advantages and disadvantages of career building and living in a small town that's not your hometown.
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Posted 25 weeks 12 hours ago by Julie Rains
Taxes, Real Estate and Housing, Investment
The borrow-at-a-low-interest-rate-and-invest-to-get-greater-returns mentality was so embedded in our belief system that there almost seemed to be a stigma attached to not carrying a mortgage balance forever. Some financial experts indicated that the early mortgage payoff had merely a psychological benefit but no clear financial benefit or worse, a financial disadvantage. I won't tell you what to do because personal financial circumstances vary, and vary greatly over the life of a 15-year or 30-year mortgage. But I'll tell you what some of these experts were thinking and what they forgot to mention when it comes to paying off the mortgage.
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Posted 26 weeks 1 day ago by Julie Rains
Career and Income
I have often thought of a professional career as something built brick by brick, climbed ladder rung by ladder rung until one reached the pinnacle, enjoyed the view, and, then, retired. But I have known at least a few people who may have stopped short of the peak, either intentionally or as the result of outside circumstances, stepped down, and pursued a different kind of working life. Can downsizing your career make you happy?
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Posted 27 weeks 3 days ago by Julie Rains
Career and Income
He is a Forbes’ billionaire and the largest individual landowner in the United States, having built his wealth as he constructed a media-entertainment empire now known as Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (TBS). In 1991, he was named Person of the Year by Time magazine in recognition of his company’s innovative, on-the-ground coverage of Operation Desert Storm (though CNN's intense global coverage has been controversial at times). Whether you love him or loathe him, Ted Turner with Bill Burke in “CALL ME TED” lends some credibility to the value of wacky thinking and impulsive action. Embedded in the book are stories of how television was transformed from network domination to niche programming along with the role of deal making in growing a business. Here are lessons gleaned from the book.
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Posted 29 weeks 6 days ago by Julie Rains
Shopping
Kmart isn't perfect. Compared to its mass-merchant counterparts, its merchandise selections are generally slimmer and prices higher. And, its retail execution can be sloppy (apparently coupons need to be presented with correlated products, like in the olden days, rather than matched with products by the point-of-sale system based on barcode technology). But, with a Kmart store close to me and congested drive to Target or Wal-Mart, I have discovered what to love about Kmart. Here are the bargains I’ve found.
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Posted 31 weeks 2 days ago by Julie Rains
Personal Finance
Winning a scholarship takes effort, even to snag an award that is relatively small ($500-$1,000) compared to the cost of attendance at a state university (more than $16,000 per year). But, depending on your financial circumstances, you'll save on tuition now, and reduce the interest and principal on student loans later. And, if you can acquire multiple awards (which is easier once you land the first scholarship), you can rack up big savings. Even as an information junkie, I find sorting through the volume of information on scholarships overwhelming. So, I decided to get professional help. Here's what I learned.
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Posted 32 weeks 3 days ago by Julie Rains
Shopping, Credit Cards
Layaway never completely disappeared from the retail landscape but it’s become more prominent with promotions by some national chains and locally-owned shops. Instead of paying for merchandise in full with paper (cash, check) or plastic (credit card, debit card), you enter into an agreement to pay over time, taking possession of an item after you have finished paying. From a financial-discipline and delayed-gratification perspective, layaway is a great concept. Here are questions to ask to make sure a layaway program makes sense for you.
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Posted 33 weeks 3 days ago by Julie Rains
Career Building
Over the past few years, I have had the privilege of working with military veterans and active duty personnel who anticipate, are in the process, or have already transitioned to the civilian world. Based on my experiences with military personnel, here are attributes that veterans often have and that make them great employees.
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