Money in the bank

Last year U.S. residents paid down $277Bil of debt, while still keeping their savings rate at a respectable (for the U.S.) 3%.

Not including social security income, if you want to retire with $70k in annual income, you’ll need to have $3.7Mil in the bank (as interest rates are so low).

Interesting, in that this same $70k would put you in the top 25% of incomes.

To get in the top 5%, you would need $23Mil and your income would be $430k.

Insurance jobs in all categories are down from a year ago, except for health insurers (up .8%).

Ever hear of the Carlyle Group (private equity company)?

Their average return since their 1987 inception is 30%.

Can you imagine?!

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

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A recent article says you have nothing to lose negotiating for a better offer, if you are entertaining going to a new employer.

I wound insert a caveat to that: “only if the offer is less than what you had originally indicated you were seeking”.

Trying to “up the ante” at the end of the process, will not endear you to your new management team.

Linkedin has 60 million members, its site had $17Mil visitors in February, the average member makes $107k, and more than 25% are senior execs.

Every Fortune 500 company is represented.

Oracle found their new CFO (2008) via Linkedin.

Someone, too, may be reaching out to you!

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

Money in the bank

If you work remotely from your home, check with your employer about your workers’ compensation coverage.

You may not have any, or it could be limited.

New job listings posted on 22,000 companies websites that were surveyed were down 6% - and 43 states showed declines in new job listings.

Apparently 2.6 million jobs are vacant in the U.S. because there aren’t enough workers with those exact skills (Smart Money magazine).

Unfortunately... no mention as to what those skills are.

4.5% for a 15 year mortgage will save you $50,000 for every $100,000 borrowed, versus 5.2% for a 30 year mortgage!

Harvey Dorland

Money in the bank

A recent survey of 130 insurance entities across the country shows:

· 74% have current openings

· Only 20 don’t plan on adding to staff this year

· 21 said they’ll add more than 500

· Top hiring positions are sales, claims, underwriting, call center, and IT

· Most felt finding qualified/quality candidates is still difficult

On another note... our personal savings rate has quadrupled since 2008 to 4.5%, and we apparently hope to increase that to 15% (can’t be done, but a strong sign of how insecure most of us are feeling).

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

mon

A recent survey of 130 insurance entities across the country shows:

· 74% have current openings

· Only 20 don’t plan on adding to staff this year

· 21 said they’ll add more than 500

· Top hiring positions are sales, claims, underwriting, call center, and IT

· Most felt finding qualified/quality candidates is still difficult

On another note... our personal savings rate has quadrupled since 2008 to 4.5%, and we apparently hope to increase that to 15% (can’t be done, but a strong sign of how insecure most of us are feeling).

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

Money in the bank

According to Fortune magazine, more than 4000 Executive Directors and Analysts picked the companies they most admired.

The only one that had an insurance component was Berkshire Hathaway (#3).

The article goes onto say that “trust” is a key ingredient here (i.e. you can’t go dark on people, especially in times of crisis).

Implicitly, I gather this suggests that our insurance sector has gone dark.

Those most admired apparently invest in people and keep them employed, even in a downturn.

On another note, 5% of the unemployed have a bachelors degree or higher, 10.5% a HS diploma, 15.6% no HS diploma.

Advance degree holders earn triple what HS grads make.

Bachelors degree holders earn 2.4 times more than HS grads.

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

Money in the bank

1227 CEO’s left their jobs in 2009.

I guess the view from the top is not as lofty as many people think!

There are 4 million unfilled skilled jobs in Europe currently...

I wonder if our skilled unemployed workers could get VISA’s to work over there?

As the economy recovers, the number of temporary jobs could triple this year from a current 13% of employees to 39%.

Expenses for S&P 500 Index funds range from .1 percent of assets to 2 percent (sold through financial advisors).

Strange, in that similar index funds tend to basically own the same basket of stocks!

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting