Many entrepreneurs have to rely on their keen business sense in order to succeed in the market. Because of this requirement, it may be a good idea for entrepreneurs to consider pursuing an MBA degree as it can train them to properly run a business.
There are some sectors where having an MBA degree could be a useful tool for entrepreneurs, according to the Business Insider. Individuals who are thinking of entering the engineering field may not need one. But entrepreneurs who are thinking of entering the financial, business, marketing or technology sector should consider an MBA degree.
Additionally, entrepreneurs who have a prior business background may want to consider enrolling in an MBA program to build upon their previous experience. Not only could this be beneficial to the individual, but could also offer insight to their fellow peers.
According to Forbes, many MBA programs are tailoring their curricula in order to meet the needs of individuals who are looking to start their own business. READ MORE>>>
Graham defends calling Islam inferior By Julia Duin
Evangelist Franklin Graham was the undisputed center of attention Thursday during National Day of Prayer observances in the nation's capital, putting in an early morning appearance outside the Pentagon, speaking to 350 people on Capitol Hill and then meeting the media at a press conference afterward.
Despite the controversy that attended his participation, Mr. Graham's message was unchanging and unapologetic - that Islam is inferior to Christianity.
"I don't believe Muhammad can lead anyone to God, but salvation is through Christ alone," he told reporters outside the Cannon House Office Building caucus room. "I don't accept this notion that all roads lead to God."
He added, "What Islam does to women is wicked and evil," he added. "It's horrid, horrid. I'll stand up for women's rights every day of the week."
The Pentagon last month rescinded an invitation to Mr. Graham, eldest son of evangelist Billy Graham, to its annual National Day of Prayer event after Muslim members of the military complained about his 2001 remarks in the Wall Street Journal characterizing Islam as a "very evil and wicked religion."
"Those were statements nine years ago," Mr. Graham told reporters Thursday. "To be prevented from speaking at a Christian gathering is a shame."
The prayer day events went forward across the city despite a Wisconsin judge's ruling last month that the event was an unconstitutional mix of church and state. U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Crabb has delayed implementing her ruling while Obama administration lawyers prepare an appeal.
Mr. Obama signed the annual proclamation last week noting the National Day of Prayer, but for the second year in a row, the president took part in no public events Thursday to mark the day. During the Bush administration, National Day of Prayer organizers held an early morning prayer service at the White House attended by the president.
The lawsuit challenging the day was brought by Madison, Wis.-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, a group that opposes religious expression in public places.
Despite the cancelled invitation, Mr. Graham appeared at the Pentagon early Thursday. He and a handful of supporters and relatives including his wife, Jane, gathered on a sidewalk to pray. Then he held an impromptu press conference.
When asked how he felt about being cut from the Pentagon guest list, he replied, "It looks like Islam has gotten a pass. They are able to have their services, but just because I disagree ... I'm excluded," the Associated Press reported.
At the Capitol Hill event, James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, congratulated Mr. Graham for giving "a loving response to his critics."
"We have a lot of opposition," Mr. Dobson continued, "but we have a God in heaven who hears us every time we open our mouths."
After Mr. Graham took the podium, he greeted members of other faiths present by saying, "I love you but please allow me to speak today as a minister of the Gospel. I don't want to offend anyone, but I only know how to pray and preach as the Bible instructs me." READ MORE>>>
Despite the controversy that attended his participation, Mr. Graham's message was unchanging and unapologetic - that Islam is inferior to Christianity.
"I don't believe Muhammad can lead anyone to God, but salvation is through Christ alone," he told reporters outside the Cannon House Office Building caucus room. "I don't accept this notion that all roads lead to God."
He added, "What Islam does to women is wicked and evil," he added. "It's horrid, horrid. I'll stand up for women's rights every day of the week."
The Pentagon last month rescinded an invitation to Mr. Graham, eldest son of evangelist Billy Graham, to its annual National Day of Prayer event after Muslim members of the military complained about his 2001 remarks in the Wall Street Journal characterizing Islam as a "very evil and wicked religion."
"Those were statements nine years ago," Mr. Graham told reporters Thursday. "To be prevented from speaking at a Christian gathering is a shame."
The prayer day events went forward across the city despite a Wisconsin judge's ruling last month that the event was an unconstitutional mix of church and state. U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Crabb has delayed implementing her ruling while Obama administration lawyers prepare an appeal.
Mr. Obama signed the annual proclamation last week noting the National Day of Prayer, but for the second year in a row, the president took part in no public events Thursday to mark the day. During the Bush administration, National Day of Prayer organizers held an early morning prayer service at the White House attended by the president.
The lawsuit challenging the day was brought by Madison, Wis.-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, a group that opposes religious expression in public places.
Despite the cancelled invitation, Mr. Graham appeared at the Pentagon early Thursday. He and a handful of supporters and relatives including his wife, Jane, gathered on a sidewalk to pray. Then he held an impromptu press conference.
When asked how he felt about being cut from the Pentagon guest list, he replied, "It looks like Islam has gotten a pass. They are able to have their services, but just because I disagree ... I'm excluded," the Associated Press reported.
At the Capitol Hill event, James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, congratulated Mr. Graham for giving "a loving response to his critics."
"We have a lot of opposition," Mr. Dobson continued, "but we have a God in heaven who hears us every time we open our mouths."
After Mr. Graham took the podium, he greeted members of other faiths present by saying, "I love you but please allow me to speak today as a minister of the Gospel. I don't want to offend anyone, but I only know how to pray and preach as the Bible instructs me." READ MORE>>>
What lies behind lost jobs - Chicago Tribune
America is still waiting for "the recovery," hoping that one morning we'll read a newspaper headline declaring that the problems of the last few years are behind us. The real recovery, however, is unlikely to be so tidy. While the stock market is up 65 percent from its low last year, millions of Americans are still unable to find a job. In Illinois, the unemployment rate is stuck at 11.5 percent, while the jobless rate among teens nationally is more than 25 percent.
But if jobs are in short supply, one thing that's not is economic advice from people who have never run a business. Bob Herbert, columnist for The New York Times, has written prolifically about the problem of teen unemployment. His prescription, to raise the minimum wage, is emblematic of an all-too-common syndrome: self-proclaimed experts who suggest "solutions" that bear no resemblance to practical possibilities. Armchair economists like Herbert appear to inhabit a world in which businesses have unlimited resources, there is no federal budget deficit and everything will be all right if our intentions are good enough.
Back here in the real world, forcing new costs on businesses does not create jobs — it kills them. And while there's a chance borrowing billions of dollars to pay for half-baked stimulus schemes will put some people to work in the short term, we know with absolute certainty that it will drive up the national debt and push us even closer to the precipice of bankruptcy.
We need to stop pretending that the minimum wage is a policy without negative consequences. It's not hard to see how a mandatory wage level kills job creation: Imagine you are a teenager looking for work in San Francisco. You go to a restaurant and offer to wash dishes for $8 per hour, but the manager replies, "It is illegal for me to hire you."
That's right; it's illegal to pay someone $8 per hour in San Francisco. The minimum wage there is $9.79 per hour — but restaurants survive on razor-thin margins, and paying $9.79 to someone without a marketable skill is a nonstarter. What ends up happening is that the current employees have to work harder for the same pay, and eventually the restaurant invests in a new automatic dishwashing machine. And you go home without a job.
This isn't just some abstract scenario. Businesses respond to all kinds of rising costs by finding substitutes or new efficiencies. In some cases this can be a positive thing: When the price of electricity goes up, businesses switch to fluorescent light bulbs or install double-paned glass to cut their heating bills. But when the price of an entry-level employee goes up, businesses respond by replacing jobs with technology.
In America today, hundreds of thousands of teens are jobless because they have been priced out of the labor market. Earlier this year, an analysis by the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University found that roughly 310,000 teenagers have lost out on part-time employment because of the minimum wage hikes of 2008 and 2009.
Those teens aren't just losing out on the money they'd be making in those jobs. When the recession ends and America gets back on its feet, today's displaced teens will still be looking for a first job and a foothold in the new economy.
The minimum wage is hardly the only cause of the unemployment crisis — but it is a cause. This much is certain: The economic recovery is going to come from entrepreneurs and small businesses hiring new workers, not from pundits and bureaucrats telling the private sector what to do. And the sooner we can get government out of the way, the faster we can move ahead.
Rick Berman is executive director of Employment Policies Institute, a nonprofit research organization that studies public policy issues surrounding entry-level employment.
But if jobs are in short supply, one thing that's not is economic advice from people who have never run a business. Bob Herbert, columnist for The New York Times, has written prolifically about the problem of teen unemployment. His prescription, to raise the minimum wage, is emblematic of an all-too-common syndrome: self-proclaimed experts who suggest "solutions" that bear no resemblance to practical possibilities. Armchair economists like Herbert appear to inhabit a world in which businesses have unlimited resources, there is no federal budget deficit and everything will be all right if our intentions are good enough.
Back here in the real world, forcing new costs on businesses does not create jobs — it kills them. And while there's a chance borrowing billions of dollars to pay for half-baked stimulus schemes will put some people to work in the short term, we know with absolute certainty that it will drive up the national debt and push us even closer to the precipice of bankruptcy.
We need to stop pretending that the minimum wage is a policy without negative consequences. It's not hard to see how a mandatory wage level kills job creation: Imagine you are a teenager looking for work in San Francisco. You go to a restaurant and offer to wash dishes for $8 per hour, but the manager replies, "It is illegal for me to hire you."
That's right; it's illegal to pay someone $8 per hour in San Francisco. The minimum wage there is $9.79 per hour — but restaurants survive on razor-thin margins, and paying $9.79 to someone without a marketable skill is a nonstarter. What ends up happening is that the current employees have to work harder for the same pay, and eventually the restaurant invests in a new automatic dishwashing machine. And you go home without a job.
This isn't just some abstract scenario. Businesses respond to all kinds of rising costs by finding substitutes or new efficiencies. In some cases this can be a positive thing: When the price of electricity goes up, businesses switch to fluorescent light bulbs or install double-paned glass to cut their heating bills. But when the price of an entry-level employee goes up, businesses respond by replacing jobs with technology.
In America today, hundreds of thousands of teens are jobless because they have been priced out of the labor market. Earlier this year, an analysis by the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University found that roughly 310,000 teenagers have lost out on part-time employment because of the minimum wage hikes of 2008 and 2009.
Those teens aren't just losing out on the money they'd be making in those jobs. When the recession ends and America gets back on its feet, today's displaced teens will still be looking for a first job and a foothold in the new economy.
The minimum wage is hardly the only cause of the unemployment crisis — but it is a cause. This much is certain: The economic recovery is going to come from entrepreneurs and small businesses hiring new workers, not from pundits and bureaucrats telling the private sector what to do. And the sooner we can get government out of the way, the faster we can move ahead.
Rick Berman is executive director of Employment Policies Institute, a nonprofit research organization that studies public policy issues surrounding entry-level employment.
Pope blames church's own sins for sex scandal. By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer
LISBON, Portugal – Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday blamed the church's own sins for the clerical abuse scandal — not a campaign mounted by outsiders — and called for profound purification to end what he called the "greatest persecution" the church has endured.
His strong comments placed the blame for the crisis squarely on the sins of pedophile priests, repudiating the Vatican's initial response to the scandal, in which it blamed the media as well as pro-choice and pro-gay marriage advocates for mounting a campaign against the church and the pope.
Speaking en route to Portugal, Benedict said the Catholic church had always suffered from problems of its own making but that "today we see it in a truly terrifying way."
"The greatest persecution of the church doesn't come from enemies on the outside but is born from the sins within the church," the pontiff said. "The church needs to profoundly relearn penitence, accept purification, learn forgiveness but also justice."
Benedict was responding to journalists' questions, submitted in advance, aboard the papal plane as he flew to Portugal. His four-day visit will take him from Lisbon to the famed Fatima shrine to Portugal's second city, Porto.
It is not known whether Benedict would make further remarks about the scandal during the trip, but there have been no reported cases of sex abuse in Portugal, unlike in Malta, where Benedict met with abuse victims on a trip there last month.
Despite the Vatican's initial, defensive response to hundreds of clerical abuse reports in Europe, Benedict has called for penance and promised that the church would take action to protect children and make abusive priests face justice.
As far as the church's purification is concerned, Benedict has already started cleaning house, accepting the resignations of a few bishops in recent weeks who either admitted they molested youngsters or covered up for priests who did.
Just last week, the pope took control of the conservative Legionaries of Christ order after it was discredited by revelations that its founder fathered at least one child and sexually abused young seminarians.
More bishop resignations have been tendered and the Vatican official in charge of handling sex abuse cases has said he would not be surprised if the pope asks for other resignations.
While Portugal has not experienced the surge in reports of abuse by priests that has emerged in other European countries, including Benedict's native Germany, it is facing the same problems as other European nations in terms of the financial crisis.
Portugal's economic growth has been pedestrian for years, averaging less than 1 percent between 2001-2008, and the global downturn brought a steep contraction of 2.7 percent last year. A three-year austerity plan to ease the country's crippling debt load is expected to bring greater hardship to a people already feeling the pinch.
The pope said the crisis demonstrated the need for greater moral responsibility in running the global financial system and noted that he outlined his vision for a more ethical financial system in his 2009 encyclical "Charity in Truth."
"We must confess that the Catholic faith, the Christian faith is often very individualistic and has left concrete economic things to the world ... without realizing that there was an implicit global responsibility," Benedict said.
He called for greater dialogue within the financial system with an eye to ethical considerations.
Similarly, the pontiff called for greater dialogue between faith and the secular world. As has been the case with much of western Europe, Portugal has drifted away from church teaching on key issues.
Portugal's center-left Socialist government passed a law in 2007 allowing abortion. In 2008, it introduced a law allowing a judge to grant a divorce even if one of the spouses is opposed.
In January, Parliament passed a bill seeking to make the country the sixth in Europe allowing same-sex couples to marry. Conservative President Anibal Cavaco Silvo now has to decide whether to veto or ratify the bill.
Benedict praised Portugal's Catholic heritage, saying it was a "great force of faith" in spreading Catholicism around the globe, from Brazil to Africa, during colonial time. But he acknowledged that secularism had taken hold.
"We must find the synthesis of dialogue," Benedict said.
Portugal is nearly 90 percent Catholic, but only around 2 million of the country's 10.6 million people describe themselves as practicing Catholics.
Religious sentiment, however, runs deep. At least 500,000 people are expected to attend the pope's Mass in Fatima on May 13, the anniversary of the day in 1917 when three Portuguese shepherd children reported having visions of the Virgin Mary.
The Fatima stop will be at the heart of the pope's pilgrimage. Benedict will also celebrate a Mass in Porto before returning to the Vatican on Friday.
Original article>>>
His strong comments placed the blame for the crisis squarely on the sins of pedophile priests, repudiating the Vatican's initial response to the scandal, in which it blamed the media as well as pro-choice and pro-gay marriage advocates for mounting a campaign against the church and the pope.
Speaking en route to Portugal, Benedict said the Catholic church had always suffered from problems of its own making but that "today we see it in a truly terrifying way."
"The greatest persecution of the church doesn't come from enemies on the outside but is born from the sins within the church," the pontiff said. "The church needs to profoundly relearn penitence, accept purification, learn forgiveness but also justice."
Benedict was responding to journalists' questions, submitted in advance, aboard the papal plane as he flew to Portugal. His four-day visit will take him from Lisbon to the famed Fatima shrine to Portugal's second city, Porto.
It is not known whether Benedict would make further remarks about the scandal during the trip, but there have been no reported cases of sex abuse in Portugal, unlike in Malta, where Benedict met with abuse victims on a trip there last month.
Despite the Vatican's initial, defensive response to hundreds of clerical abuse reports in Europe, Benedict has called for penance and promised that the church would take action to protect children and make abusive priests face justice.
As far as the church's purification is concerned, Benedict has already started cleaning house, accepting the resignations of a few bishops in recent weeks who either admitted they molested youngsters or covered up for priests who did.
Just last week, the pope took control of the conservative Legionaries of Christ order after it was discredited by revelations that its founder fathered at least one child and sexually abused young seminarians.
More bishop resignations have been tendered and the Vatican official in charge of handling sex abuse cases has said he would not be surprised if the pope asks for other resignations.
While Portugal has not experienced the surge in reports of abuse by priests that has emerged in other European countries, including Benedict's native Germany, it is facing the same problems as other European nations in terms of the financial crisis.
Portugal's economic growth has been pedestrian for years, averaging less than 1 percent between 2001-2008, and the global downturn brought a steep contraction of 2.7 percent last year. A three-year austerity plan to ease the country's crippling debt load is expected to bring greater hardship to a people already feeling the pinch.
The pope said the crisis demonstrated the need for greater moral responsibility in running the global financial system and noted that he outlined his vision for a more ethical financial system in his 2009 encyclical "Charity in Truth."
"We must confess that the Catholic faith, the Christian faith is often very individualistic and has left concrete economic things to the world ... without realizing that there was an implicit global responsibility," Benedict said.
He called for greater dialogue within the financial system with an eye to ethical considerations.
Similarly, the pontiff called for greater dialogue between faith and the secular world. As has been the case with much of western Europe, Portugal has drifted away from church teaching on key issues.
Portugal's center-left Socialist government passed a law in 2007 allowing abortion. In 2008, it introduced a law allowing a judge to grant a divorce even if one of the spouses is opposed.
In January, Parliament passed a bill seeking to make the country the sixth in Europe allowing same-sex couples to marry. Conservative President Anibal Cavaco Silvo now has to decide whether to veto or ratify the bill.
Benedict praised Portugal's Catholic heritage, saying it was a "great force of faith" in spreading Catholicism around the globe, from Brazil to Africa, during colonial time. But he acknowledged that secularism had taken hold.
"We must find the synthesis of dialogue," Benedict said.
Portugal is nearly 90 percent Catholic, but only around 2 million of the country's 10.6 million people describe themselves as practicing Catholics.
Religious sentiment, however, runs deep. At least 500,000 people are expected to attend the pope's Mass in Fatima on May 13, the anniversary of the day in 1917 when three Portuguese shepherd children reported having visions of the Virgin Mary.
The Fatima stop will be at the heart of the pope's pilgrimage. Benedict will also celebrate a Mass in Porto before returning to the Vatican on Friday.
Original article>>>
America's most expensive homes by Francesca Levy, Forbes.com
Candy Spelling, widow of television giant Aaron, has listed the Manor, Los Angeles' largest, and arguably most opulent, house up for sale at US$150 million, out-pricing every other listed home in the country. Just down the street the owner of a sprawling classical style marble mansion is asking for US$125 million, making it the second most-expensive home in America. Yet another home for sale is in the triple-digit millions, a massive but secluded US$100 million Lake Tahoe ranch.
You'd never know the country was in a recession based on the cost of these homes. In fact, pricing for this small group of properties is even stronger than last year's list, which was riddled with markdowns. This year's top 10 ranges in asking price from $65 million to US$150 million, with an average price of $88.5 million. That's nearly $10 million higher than last year's average. A handful of incredibly expensive homes have been on the market for several years at prices that have not budged through the housing crisis.
But the cost of these estates doesn't serve as much of an economic bellwether - fluctuations of price in this stratosphere have almost no relationship to supply and demand in the broader market. At this price point, the sale of even one home can be a game changer.
To find the country's most expensive homes, we studied real estate listings and news reports, contacted brokers of prominent luxury homes and spoke to those that follow the luxury real estate market. We limited our list to homes on the public market - some high-priced sales are closed-door transactions - but we included ones we could verify. Sales of land alone were also excluded. We included properties with a commercial element if they were anchored by a significant residence, like ranches, or townhouses that include retail space.
The Priciest Get Pricier
Five of the homes on our list have been added since we compiled last year's list, at prices high enough to bump two $60 million homes off. One of them is the Manor, which didn't make the list last year because its listing couldn't be verified. The Kaiser Estate, on the coast of Oahu, is on the market for $80 million and comes with landscaped grounds and some history; it originally belonged to the industrialist Henry J. Kaiser.
The other newcomers are a $75 million California estate outside of Palm Springs that features a world-class golf course, a stately grey historic mansion on Manhattan's Madison Avenue for $72 million, and a sprawling estate in Bridgehampton, N.Y., with waterfront views and acres of rolling farmland. It is at the low end of our list, at $68 million.
Movement at the highest end of the market
Two of last year's homes have been sold - no small feat in a down economy. But neither commanded anything near their sky-high asking prices. The massive Bel Air mansion Le Belvedere, which went on the market in early 2009, was quickly reduced from $85 million to $72 million. The discount worked: It is currently in the escrow stage of a sale for an undisclosed price.
The sellers of Colorado's Bootjack Ranch, a rambling property replete with natural beauty, were sensitive to a changing market. The home was once listed for $88 million, but in 2008, $20 million was shaved off the price to lure buyers. Last week Bootjack was sold for $47 million. In spite of a 47% price cut, $47 million hardly smells like defeat to Bootjack's broker Bill Fandel, of Peaks Real Estate Sotheby's International Realty, who echoes luxury brokers that have newfound hope for the market.
“News of its sale may stimulate additional activity among the nation's top-tier properties,” says Fandel.
One example: the $75 million Portabello Estate, in Newport Beach, Calif., which was pulled from the market late last year. The McMonigle Group realtors are negotiating with the owners to re-market the home, and interested buyers are welcome to tour it.
Several of last year's most expensive properties are still for sale. This is because it often takes far longer than a conventional listing for trophy homes to find a buyer, since the universe of people with the assets to purchase them is so small. It's worth noting that those four homes, the $125 million Fleur de Lys, $100 million Tranquility estate, $75 million former Julius Forstmann home on Manhattan's Upper East Side, and $65 million Robert Taylor ranch in Brentwood, Calif., have held firm on price since their appearance on last year's list, suggesting buoyed seller confidence.
What's missing from this list are the luxury auctions, dramatic price reductions and fire sale prices that became de rigueur among multimillion-dollar homes in the past year. The owners of these homes seem to have the patience, and the means, to wait for the right buyer.
Original article>>>
You'd never know the country was in a recession based on the cost of these homes. In fact, pricing for this small group of properties is even stronger than last year's list, which was riddled with markdowns. This year's top 10 ranges in asking price from $65 million to US$150 million, with an average price of $88.5 million. That's nearly $10 million higher than last year's average. A handful of incredibly expensive homes have been on the market for several years at prices that have not budged through the housing crisis.
But the cost of these estates doesn't serve as much of an economic bellwether - fluctuations of price in this stratosphere have almost no relationship to supply and demand in the broader market. At this price point, the sale of even one home can be a game changer.
To find the country's most expensive homes, we studied real estate listings and news reports, contacted brokers of prominent luxury homes and spoke to those that follow the luxury real estate market. We limited our list to homes on the public market - some high-priced sales are closed-door transactions - but we included ones we could verify. Sales of land alone were also excluded. We included properties with a commercial element if they were anchored by a significant residence, like ranches, or townhouses that include retail space.
The Priciest Get Pricier
Five of the homes on our list have been added since we compiled last year's list, at prices high enough to bump two $60 million homes off. One of them is the Manor, which didn't make the list last year because its listing couldn't be verified. The Kaiser Estate, on the coast of Oahu, is on the market for $80 million and comes with landscaped grounds and some history; it originally belonged to the industrialist Henry J. Kaiser.
The other newcomers are a $75 million California estate outside of Palm Springs that features a world-class golf course, a stately grey historic mansion on Manhattan's Madison Avenue for $72 million, and a sprawling estate in Bridgehampton, N.Y., with waterfront views and acres of rolling farmland. It is at the low end of our list, at $68 million.
Movement at the highest end of the market
Two of last year's homes have been sold - no small feat in a down economy. But neither commanded anything near their sky-high asking prices. The massive Bel Air mansion Le Belvedere, which went on the market in early 2009, was quickly reduced from $85 million to $72 million. The discount worked: It is currently in the escrow stage of a sale for an undisclosed price.
The sellers of Colorado's Bootjack Ranch, a rambling property replete with natural beauty, were sensitive to a changing market. The home was once listed for $88 million, but in 2008, $20 million was shaved off the price to lure buyers. Last week Bootjack was sold for $47 million. In spite of a 47% price cut, $47 million hardly smells like defeat to Bootjack's broker Bill Fandel, of Peaks Real Estate Sotheby's International Realty, who echoes luxury brokers that have newfound hope for the market.
“News of its sale may stimulate additional activity among the nation's top-tier properties,” says Fandel.
One example: the $75 million Portabello Estate, in Newport Beach, Calif., which was pulled from the market late last year. The McMonigle Group realtors are negotiating with the owners to re-market the home, and interested buyers are welcome to tour it.
Several of last year's most expensive properties are still for sale. This is because it often takes far longer than a conventional listing for trophy homes to find a buyer, since the universe of people with the assets to purchase them is so small. It's worth noting that those four homes, the $125 million Fleur de Lys, $100 million Tranquility estate, $75 million former Julius Forstmann home on Manhattan's Upper East Side, and $65 million Robert Taylor ranch in Brentwood, Calif., have held firm on price since their appearance on last year's list, suggesting buoyed seller confidence.
What's missing from this list are the luxury auctions, dramatic price reductions and fire sale prices that became de rigueur among multimillion-dollar homes in the past year. The owners of these homes seem to have the patience, and the means, to wait for the right buyer.
Original article>>>
When it pays to use PayPal. By MAYA FISHER-FRENCH
FNB introduced PayPal to South Africa a few months ago making it far cheaper to do low value overseas transactions. This can be valuable to the bed and breakfast trade who typically have a low-value bookings or for independent contractors which may do ad hoc work for overseas companies.
Although technically the cost of transferring funds is not that high with the average charge by a bank at around 0,4%, it is the minimum fees which really bite and this is where PayPal scores well.
FNB PayPal charges 1,5% commission with no minimum fee no matter how much you are transferring.
For example, if you are sending $100 (about R760) from South Africa it will cost you R11,42 to use PayPal.
The banks have minimum fees of R100 or more plus a Swift fee ranging from R57 to R100. So that R750 transfer could cost as much at R200.
Money transfer service providers like MoneyGram and Western Union are cheaper than the banks at R69 and R48 respectively but still significantly higher than PayPal.
For payments received from abroad, $100 would attract a R11,42 fee from PayPal (you would need to have an FNB account). In comparison the banks’ minimum fee of around R100 still applies, although not the Swift fee so you would pay around R100 to receive about R760.
Important to note however that Nedbank has reduced its fee on incoming funds to R68 and neither Western Union nor MoneyGram charge any fees on incoming payments.
Where PayPal gets expensive is when you are transferring amounts over $1500 (R12 000) because this is when the banks’ minimum fees no longer apply and PayPal’s 1,5% starts looking very pricey compared to the banks’ fee of around 0,4%. The banks also have a maximum fee of around R600 while there is no maximum fee for PayPal.
Although technically the cost of transferring funds is not that high with the average charge by a bank at around 0,4%, it is the minimum fees which really bite and this is where PayPal scores well.
FNB PayPal charges 1,5% commission with no minimum fee no matter how much you are transferring.
For example, if you are sending $100 (about R760) from South Africa it will cost you R11,42 to use PayPal.
The banks have minimum fees of R100 or more plus a Swift fee ranging from R57 to R100. So that R750 transfer could cost as much at R200.
Money transfer service providers like MoneyGram and Western Union are cheaper than the banks at R69 and R48 respectively but still significantly higher than PayPal.
For payments received from abroad, $100 would attract a R11,42 fee from PayPal (you would need to have an FNB account). In comparison the banks’ minimum fee of around R100 still applies, although not the Swift fee so you would pay around R100 to receive about R760.
Important to note however that Nedbank has reduced its fee on incoming funds to R68 and neither Western Union nor MoneyGram charge any fees on incoming payments.
Where PayPal gets expensive is when you are transferring amounts over $1500 (R12 000) because this is when the banks’ minimum fees no longer apply and PayPal’s 1,5% starts looking very pricey compared to the banks’ fee of around 0,4%. The banks also have a maximum fee of around R600 while there is no maximum fee for PayPal.
How a recent college graduate can go about getting a first job. By Lily Garcia
How can you get a job with a bachelor's degree when people won't hire you without experience? How can you get the experience if no one will hire you without it?
You ask, in essence, how you a recent college graduate can go about getting a first job. In good economic times and bad, the best answer to that question has always been the same: Start at the bottom.
Having invested at least four years of your life and paid or borrowed possibly tens of thousands of dollars, you have a right to expect a more encouraging answer than that. But I am only telling you the truth.
Sure, there are fortunate and capable recent college grads who manage to secure enviable first jobs through networking, perseverance, or even sheer luck. I don't think that you should rule out the possibility of finding a first job that fulfills your expectations by leveraging your professional network (which you do have, even if you are just starting out, in the form of friends, relatives, relatives of friends, alma mater alumnae, former mall job bosses, etc.) and diligently sending out applications.
If you don't have the luxury of time, however, I would suggest that you open your mind to the possibility of a job in which you had not necessarily envisioned yourself. My first job after college, for example, was as a part-time restaurant hostess. I humbly removed my crown of laurels and got to work because I had to. There were student loans to pay and, even though I was able to move back with my parents for a time, I could not afford to be picky about how I made money. Unexpectedly, that job led to a higher paying full-time job in the administrative office of the restaurant's operating company. Had I not left to go to graduate school, I could have easily leveraged that position into other opportunities working for more selective employers who might not have hired me without direct experience.
Every entry level job, blue collar or white, has a manager. And that manager probably has a manager who supervises other functions that might ultimately interest you. As you continue your job search, do not lose sight of your career goals, but shift your focus for the moment to finding the right employer rather than the right job. Once you are in, you will have the chance to prove yourself and later aspire to other jobs that better fit your self-image. Even if you are hired to unclog the toilets, I can guarantee you that your employer would sooner hire you ¿ a known quantity ¿ for that cool new position in the Marketing department than a complete stranger from a job board.
There are certainly many far more compelling professional success stories that mine. For inspiration, you might want to read the biographies of Oprah Winfrey, Associate Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, J.K. Rowling, and others who have excelled remarkably against the odds. My point is just that you have to start somewhere and that the alchemy of hard work and time will eventually create for you the opportunities that you are now missing.
Lily Garcia has offered employment law and human resources advice to companies of all sizes for more than 10 years. To submit a question, e-mail HRadvice@washingtonpost.com. We reserve the right to edit submitted questions for length and clarity and cannot guarantee that all questions will be answered.
Original article>>>
You ask, in essence, how you a recent college graduate can go about getting a first job. In good economic times and bad, the best answer to that question has always been the same: Start at the bottom.
Having invested at least four years of your life and paid or borrowed possibly tens of thousands of dollars, you have a right to expect a more encouraging answer than that. But I am only telling you the truth.
Sure, there are fortunate and capable recent college grads who manage to secure enviable first jobs through networking, perseverance, or even sheer luck. I don't think that you should rule out the possibility of finding a first job that fulfills your expectations by leveraging your professional network (which you do have, even if you are just starting out, in the form of friends, relatives, relatives of friends, alma mater alumnae, former mall job bosses, etc.) and diligently sending out applications.
If you don't have the luxury of time, however, I would suggest that you open your mind to the possibility of a job in which you had not necessarily envisioned yourself. My first job after college, for example, was as a part-time restaurant hostess. I humbly removed my crown of laurels and got to work because I had to. There were student loans to pay and, even though I was able to move back with my parents for a time, I could not afford to be picky about how I made money. Unexpectedly, that job led to a higher paying full-time job in the administrative office of the restaurant's operating company. Had I not left to go to graduate school, I could have easily leveraged that position into other opportunities working for more selective employers who might not have hired me without direct experience.
Every entry level job, blue collar or white, has a manager. And that manager probably has a manager who supervises other functions that might ultimately interest you. As you continue your job search, do not lose sight of your career goals, but shift your focus for the moment to finding the right employer rather than the right job. Once you are in, you will have the chance to prove yourself and later aspire to other jobs that better fit your self-image. Even if you are hired to unclog the toilets, I can guarantee you that your employer would sooner hire you ¿ a known quantity ¿ for that cool new position in the Marketing department than a complete stranger from a job board.
There are certainly many far more compelling professional success stories that mine. For inspiration, you might want to read the biographies of Oprah Winfrey, Associate Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, J.K. Rowling, and others who have excelled remarkably against the odds. My point is just that you have to start somewhere and that the alchemy of hard work and time will eventually create for you the opportunities that you are now missing.
Lily Garcia has offered employment law and human resources advice to companies of all sizes for more than 10 years. To submit a question, e-mail HRadvice@washingtonpost.com. We reserve the right to edit submitted questions for length and clarity and cannot guarantee that all questions will be answered.
Original article>>>
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