Feed items

This article is by GRS contributor Richard Barrington.

More and more, companies are dispensing with traditional annual employee reviews. They say this is out of sensitivity to a new generation of employees who find reviews stressful. The real reason may be that dispensing with employee reviews saves companies money — albeit at the expense of their employees.

Microsoft and Dell are among the high-profile companies that have made news recently by dumping annual employee reviews, and Silicon Valley has long turned its nose up at such traditional means of measuring performance and managing people. For many employees, the initial reaction is relief, but they would be wise to look closer. Without that annual review process, they could find that opportunities to get a raise are fewer and more difficult to obtain.

This is a guest post from GRS contributor Donna Freedman.

Get Rich Slowly contributor Lisa Aberle recently suggested putting 10 percent of income in a savings account. She provided guidelines in “How to save money each month” – tried-and-true techniques like having a yard sale, cutting the cable, dropping the landline, raising insurance deductibles, eating at home and lowering the thermostat.

Suppose you’ve done all that stuff already, you’re living pretty close to the bone — and you still need to build your emergency fund. Time for some stealth savings, i.e., small tweaks that can add up to big bucks.

This article is by GRS contributor Honey Smith.

“Impostor syndrome” is a term coined by two American psychologists, Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes, in 1978. Simply put, it is the belief that what other people perceive of as accomplishments due to your skill, intellect, or other internal factors are in fact evidence that you are a fraud.

When those who have impostor syndrome receive compliments, rather than feeling pride at the praise, sufferers probably feel unease instead. “It was just dumb luck,” they’re likely to think, or “What if I’m found out?” If you’ve experienced this feeling, it can prevent you from reaching financial goals like advancing your career or maxing out a savings account.

This article is by staff writer Lisa Aberle.

Is your to-do list filled with important things that are buried by urgent tasks? Or easier and/or quicker tasks?

Ostensibly, this article is about how a work-at-home parent opens a SEP-IRA (or any other type of self-employed retirement account). But also, once again, I realized that most tasks just aren’t as difficult as I imagine them to be.

When I wanted to open a self-employed retirement account

I’ve been working as an independent contractor since 2010, along with working a full-time job. While I had access to a work retirement plan, I didn’t consider opening any other retirement plans. Instead, I continued to contribute to my full-time job’s retirement plan. Then, in 2014, my resignation from my regular job meant that I no longer had access to a retirement plan.