Health Insurance for the New Professional

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Sierra Miller

Employee compensation means more than just salary, and while most packages include vacation days, sick days and various employee discounts, the most important part of any compensation offer is often health insurance. Students are typically covered by their parents’ health plans while in college, while others may have opted for inexpensive student health insurance. When the first professional job offer is taken, quality and affordable health insurance is an important consideration. Using sites like Medical Health Insurance Today can help you get the best possible rates in your region. Here are some common health insurance issues:

Cost

Very few private companies fund 100 percent of employee health insurance. Some government agencies may still do this, but generally employees have to contribute to the cost or their health insurance, and the newly employed should be ready to have a portion of their salary deducted to pay health insurance premiums. Many companies have plans that allow for a yearly reduction of the employee contribution amount. An employee who has worked for 10 years at a company that allows a $15 per year reduction in health insurance premiums will save $150 per month.

Deductibles and Co-Pays

Most employer sponsored health plans come with different tiers of deductibles and co-pays. A lower monthly premium is the trade-off for larger out-of-pocket expenses. Those who choose large deductibles are betting that they stay healthy. More conservative employees will choose to pay larger monthly premiums in order to ensure that they will not face large medical bills because of a single serious illness.

HMOs and PPOs

When a visit to the doctor is needed, employees should always try to see an in-network provider. These doctors and facilities are always listed either online or in the company’s insurance brochure. Even though an employee may be partially covered if they choose an out-of-network provider, the costs can be exorbitant.

Care While on Vacation

Some policies limit out of state care. Others require out of state providers to sign an agreement that limits the amount of insurance company reimbursement they will receive. New employees are urged to read the fine print of their insurance contract before any travel is undertaken. Coverage while in a foreign country may also be seriously restricted.

Coverage for Spouses

While coverage for opposite sex spouses is usually automatic, coverage for same-sex spouses can vary according to the employer and its chosen insurance provider. Coverage for any spouse will almost always cost at least a few hundred dollars per month.

Although it may be a tedious process, every new employee should carefully read the entire health insurance brochure. This will take a couple of hours, but due diligence can prevent misunderstandings and problems in the future.

Go to Medical Health Insurance Today for the best Health Insurance rates for the new professional!

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Life Calculator

Posted on August 22, 2012 by Sierra Miller

Check out this article about how you spend your money during your lifetime. A new job can almost make saving money harder then it was during unemployment! But remember to save a good portion of your new income, and you’ll be living the good life in no time. You can see how much you’ll earn by saving more, and financing your life less!

Life Calculator

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How a Vegetarian Diet Can Raise Your Salary and Accelerate Your Career

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Sierra Miller


Over the past few decades, studies have increasingly shown the health benefits of a vegetarian diet. Some of these benefits are health related, such as disease prevention, weight loss, and life longevity. Others contribute to lifestyle improvements, like energy enhancement and financial savings. While these benefits will clearly improve your quality of life, they can also have a very strong positive effect on your career.

When an employer looks to advance or promote an employee, they look for certain attributes that indicate successful behavior patterns. The more you possess these qualities, the more eligible you become for career advancement. To assess the potential of a vegetarian diet on your career, we’ll pair each Health or Lifestyle Benefit with a commonly held Employer Benefit and show how it will result in a Career Benefit for you.

With several scientific studies as our basis, we’ll look at how a vegetarian diet can positively impact your career, salary, and life.

Disease Prevention Leads to Better Attendance

Health Benefit: Disease prevention
Employer Benefit: Sick leave reduction, increased productivity, decreased overtime cost
Career Benefit: Better attendance, promotability, career longevity

Most people already love the idea of preventing disease; the healthier you are, the more time you have to enjoy your life. Vegetarian choices have been shown to significantly reduce your susceptibility to disease in several studies.

One study, conducted by the American Dietetic Association in 2003, found that vegetarians have “lower rates of death from ischemic heart disease, lower blood cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and prostate and colon cancer.” [1] Another, published in the January 2006 issue of “Life Extension” magazine, adds that meat eaters are more at risk of developing appendicitis, chronic inflammation, gallstones, and kidney disease. [2]

These findings are great news for your health, but how will lessening your risk for illness improve your career potential?

Your employer’s objective is to finish projects on time and within budget. When an employee takes frequent or extended sick leave, the company’s is hindered. Sick days cause projects to fall behind schedule and add stress to the lives of coworkers who must compensate for lost productivity. This often forces the employer to pay unnecessary overtime, something every employer seeks to avoid.

The more you successfully align your behavior with your employer’s goals, the better your name will sound when it’s time to make a promotion. Maintaining few sick days or zero absenteeism (which sometimes offers an additional bonus) shows a track record of dedication and dependability, two qualities any employer will consider when it’s time to thin the herd or advance the stars.

Weight Loss Leads to Career Opportunity

Health Benefit: Weight loss
Employer Benefit: More presentable
Career Benefit: Client facing opportunities, social respect, more rapid promotability

We all know the benefits of eliminating excess weight: you’ll feel better, have more energy, and enhance your social presentability. Maintaining a vegetarian diet has been shown in several studies to reduce weight and achieve a lower body mass index.

A scientific article published by Nutrition Reviews in 2006 concludes that a vegetarian diet is highly effective for weight loss. While obesity rates in the general populace are at an all time high, obesity prevalence in vegetarians is only 0 percent to 6 percent. As a whole, “the body weight of both male and female vegetarians is, on average, 3 percent to 20 percent lower than that of meat-eaters.” [3] Another, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, indicates that vegetarians generally have lower average body mass indexes (BMI), and are generally leaner than meat-eaters. [4]

These effects can have an obvious impact on your physical health, but what kind of effect with losing weight have on your career and salary?

The fact is, when people see that you respect your body, they’re be more likely to have respect for you, too. Whether we like it or not, office politics play a huge role in which employees are pulled up the ladder. When people respect you, they like you, and they’ll want to help you succeed. Many jobs also require interaction with clients, and employers will want to put their best and most presentable person in the field. Enhancing your presentability can create all sorts of new opportunities for career advancement.

Life Longevity Leads to Longer Retirement

Health Benefit: Life longevity
Employer Benefit: Longer career
Career Benefit: Longer career potential, or more time to enjoy retirement

If the benefits of disease prevention and weight loss weren’t enough, this one should be. Several studies have shown that keeping a vegetarian diet can prolong the subject’s lifespan.

A report published by the “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition” in 2003 examined six different studies to establish relative life longevity of vegetarians. The publication found that “low meat consumption decreases risk of death and increases life expectancy. In fact, research shows that reducing meat consumption can increase your life span by 3.6 years.” The same report conveyed that cultures with plant-based diets were more likely to live beyond 70 years of age. [4] Another study, which tracked 6,000 vegetarians and 5,000 meat eaters for 12 years, found that “vegetarians were 40 percent less likely to die from cancer during that time and 20 percent less likely to die from other diseases.” [5]

Given these impressive effects on life longevity, what are the benefits for your career?

Since the main objective of career improvement is to align your behavior with the needs of your employer, we should seek to identify their needs. One of the greatest need of any employer is to reduce costs, and the cost of training new employees a major one. Even upon training completion, newer employees need time to gain experience and make mistakes – mistakes that can cost the company in revenue and liabilities. The longer they can keep you working and happy, the more valuable you’ll be to them, and that value can convert directly to higher earnings. And if you do decide to retire early, a longer lifespan means more time to relax and enjoy the fruits of your labor!

Energy Enhancement Leads to a Happier Workday

Lifestyle Benefit: Energy enhancement
Employer Benefit: Enhanced productivity
Career Benefit: Improved work ethic, heightened reputation, happier workday

We’re all familiar with that late-afternoon energy lull that washes over the office daily. It makes it hard to push through projects, deal with complex issues, or handle coworkers. Wouldn’t it be nice to have some extra energy to make it through?

One study, published by the Yale Medical Journal found that vegetarians have twice the stamina of meat eaters. To test this, candidates were gathered from three groups: meat-eating athletes, vegetarian athletes, and vegetarian sedentary subjects. The results were impressive. “Of the three groups compared, the meat-eaters showed far less endurance than the vegetarians, even when the latter were leading a sedentary life.” Overall, the average score of the vegetarians was more than double the average for the meat-eaters, despite half the vegetarians being sedentary in nature. [7]

What does this mean for your career? Just imagine how much more you’d accomplish every day with a significant boost in energy. You’d feel more enthusiastic about projects, more social with coworkers, and more driven to take on responsibility. Positive energy is contagious. You’ll likely elevate the performance of your peers, and your boss will take notice. If that isn’t the perfect storm for career advancement, I’m not sure what is!

Dietary Cost Reduction Leads to Financial Freedom

Lifestyle Benefit: Financial savings

Employer Benefit: None, this one’s for you!
Career Benefit: Financial freedom

If you aren’t motivated by health benefits, life longevity, or a daily increase in energy, then this benefit may be the one you were waiting for. Many of us struggle to find extra spending money, medium-term savings, or retirement money. Studies have shown that eating vegetarian can have a major positive effect on your savings by cutting your food and healthcare expenses.

The cost of a meat-heavy diet isn’t paid in physical health alone. Americans spend 10 percent of their annual food budget on meats. Eating vegetables, grains and fruits in place of the 200 pounds of beef, chicken and fish each nonvegetarian eats annually would cut individual food bills by an average of $4,000 a year.

Another study conducted by the American Dietetic Association found that a veggie-based diet yields lower medical costs compared with non-vegetarian diets. This is because vegetarians are 50% less likely to develop heart disease, 60% less likely to develop cancer, and nine times less likely be obese than meat-eaters. [8] These diseases may seem far off now, but some day they may because real concerns, and major costs.

If financial freedom is one of your career goals, putting away an extra $4,000 each year is like having a second retirement fund. Making healthy choices now will likely have positive short-term and long-term financial benefits.

How to Create a Vegetarian Diet

Each of the above dietary studies conveys the benefits of a vegetarian diet on health, lifestyle, and thus career. So our next question is, how can we maintain a balanced vegetarian diet? Fortunately, there are plenty of great resources out there who focus on this question thoroughly. A couple of my personal favorites are vegetariantimes.com and herbivoracious.com (recipes). To get an idea of a basic vegetarian dietary breakdown, let’s just check out this handy table:

Conclusion

There’s so much evidence nowadays pointing to the health benefits of consuming less or no meat, and new studies are released every year. As awareness for this evidence has grown, so has the availability of delightful vegetarian options. Local markets, neighborhood restaurants, cookbooks, and online recipe sites now offer vegetarian choices in abundance. With a little dedication, you’ll likely begin experiencing a healthier, longer, more energetic life, and before long, you’ll start to see positive changes in your career, too.

References

1. Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research. Summer 2003, 64(2):62-81

2. “Life Extension” Magazine; “Do Vegetarians Live Longer?”; William Faloon; January 2006

3. Berkow, S. E. and Barnard, N. (2006), Vegetarian Diets and Weight Status. Nutrition Reviews, 64: 175–188

4. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, № 6, 2011

5. “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition”; “Does Low Meat Consumption Increase Life Expectancy in Humans?”; Pramil Singh et al.; 2003

6. Appleby et al. 1999, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 70, 525S

7. Fisher, Irving, “The Influence of Flesh Eating on Endurance,”Yale Medical Journal, 13(5):205-221, 1907.

8. Position of the American Dietetic Association. J Am Diet Assoc. 2009

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Boost Your Buying Power

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Sierra Miller

“Good things happen when you get your priorities straight.”

If you’ve been a long time reading of this site , you’re hopefully either beginning your ascent of the career ladder or adjusting to your new (and hopefully better paying) job. If you haven’t, you’re probably feeling like all of this seems like a heck of a lot of work. Well I have great news for either group: you can still make a major improvement to your salary.

This final step is all about increasing your salary’s buying power. You can change how much you make by changing the way you spend it. I’ll explain with a few examples based on various financial goals:

More savings – Let’s say you make $50,000 each year (after taxes) and live a lifestyle that costs $40,000. Let’s say you want to increase your salary because you want to be able to save $20,000 per year. If you’re having trouble finding ways to increase your earnings, you can still achieve your goals by decreasing your spending. Cutting $10,000 from your annual expenditures will have the same effect as earning an additional $10,000. You’ll reach your goal either way!

More extravagance – Now let’s say your only goal is to live a flashy lifestyle. You make $100,000 per year (after taxes) and you already spend all $100,000 of it (or worse, you’re spending beyond your means). You can increase your buying power by making a list of your desired lifestyle’s absolute essentials, and then cutting the rest to the bare minimum. You can still drive the 2012 Mercedes if you skip Starbucks every morning, join a cheaper gym, and cut your eating out in half.

Budget Control – I know what you’re thinking: “This step is just a cheap trick to make me feel like I’m earning more.” In a way you’re right, that’s exactly what it is. All too often, people adjust their spending habits to exactly match their income. Be aware of where your money goes and spend based on your priorities. All too often, people fall into the habit of spending money simply because it’s there.

Don’t fall into the status trap – If you do get a raise, what’s the first thing you would do? Move into a nicer apartment? Lease a shiny new sports car? Treat yourself to a brand new wardrobe? Each of these choices would be a money sink, and you won’t be retaining a single dollar of your income. So often, people follow their 20% raises with a 20% increase in lifestyle cost. Here’s the question: weren’t you getting by on what you made before? Couldn’t you keep on spending what you did? Treat yourself a little, but keep your priorities in line.

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Career Spotlight: Occupational Therapist (Video)

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Sierra Miller

Would you like an immeasurably rewarding career that allows you to directly help people in need? As an Occupational Therapist, you’ll be helping patients with specific challenges improve their lives everyday:

Here are some great lessons from the video:

  • Occupational therapists guide mentally or physically challenged people to self-sufficiency by teaching them new skills or or helping them modify old ones.
  • The goal is to help patients develop, recover, or maintain daily living and work skills.
  • This career requires strong analytical skills and creativity to developing innovative treatments for changing challenges.
  • Occupational therapists need to be caring, supportive, and enthusiastic about working with people in need.
  • The career can be emotional and physically demanding, but the help you’ll be giving others is immeasurable.

Becoming an occupational therapist will allow you to work closely with people in need to make a real difference in their lives. If you’d like to learn more about this extremely rewarding career, visit the Occupational Therapist Job Description section of our site.

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Career Spotlight: Actuary (Video)

Posted on December 17, 2011 by Sierra Miller

Are you looking for an extremely well paying job that requires intense study, statistical analysis, and analytical skills? As an Actuary, you’ll be working with numbers to predict future economic circumstances:

Here are some great lessons from the video:

  • Actuaries are a rare breed of problem solver in the business world, as there are under 20,000 at work in North America.
  • They are in high demand in the financial securities and insurance industries because of their abilities to put a price tag on probabilities.
  • Mathematical models are used to project future risks and improve financial decision.
  • They typically enter the field with specialized math skills in statistics, calculus, and probability, but also require sharp analytical, project management, finance, and economics skills.
  • In add to being good with numbers, they must be able to translate their conclusions to clients and coworkers.
  • On the job training can last over a decade as you pass 8 required exams to become fully accredited. This can be very time consuming, as 400 hours of study are recommended for each exam.
  • The field is growing as multi national firms and government organizations call on actuaries to create projections for economic events.
  • All this work pays off, as salaries are usually well over six figures.

As an actuary, you’ll be involved in intellectually stimulating projects everyday to help businesses predict future financial conditions. To learn more about this very challenging career, visit the Actuary Job Description section of our site.

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The 10 Most Shocking Videos from Black Friday 2011: Depicting America’s Greed

Posted on November 26, 2011 by Sierra Miller

Black Friday seems to grow further out of control every year, and 2011 was no exception. Millions of Americans waited overnight to storm retailers’ gates and battle for limited deals across the nation. We’ve sorted through every video released so far to bring you the 10 most chaotic. Prepare yourself!

10. Hipsters Flood Urban Outfitters:

9. Housewives Gone Wild:

8. Wal-Mart Shoppers Battle Over Picture Frames:

7. Hoards of Angels Await Victoria’s Secret:

6. Mob Rush Aborted at Best Buy!:

5. Unbelievably Long Line At Target:

4. Conversely, Occupy Protesters Conduct a Mass Boycott:

3. Shoppers Storm Wal-Mart:

2. Woman Pepper Sprays a Crowd of 20:

1. Shoplifter Brutalized by Police:

Can’t you just feel the holiday cheer?!

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Career Spotlight: Paralegal (Video)

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Sierra Miller

Do you desire a challenging job that may lead to becoming a lawyer? Paralegals help law firms prepare for trails, write contracts, and create legal documents, and are an integral part of a firm’s operations:

Here are some great lessons from the video:

  • Since their creation in the 1960′s, paralegals have taken on much of the lawyers’ work.
  • They do almost everything attorneys do, except appear in court, set legal fees or give legal advice.
  • Paralegals use law libraries or computers to compile the information lawyers need to prepare for trials.
  • They may draw up contracts and affidavits and write reports to help attorneys decide how to proceed in a case.
  • Formal training is not always required, but many paralegal programs exist. Some firms offer on the job training.
  • If you pass the paralegal exam, you’ll become a certified legal assistant, and earn the initials C.L.A. after your name.
  • This job is also an excellent way to prepare to become a lawyer.

Paralegals help keep firms’ costs low while providing reliable legal services, making them a valuable part of a firms legal team. If you’d like to learn more, visit the Paralegal Job Description section of our site.

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40 Hilarious Passive-Aggressive Office Notes

Posted on March 8, 2011 by Sierra Miller

Isn’t life in the office fun? Sometimes a little anonymous tip is the best, and funniest, way to make your point. Enjoy!

Continue reading →

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Career Talk Around the Web

Posted on January 22, 2011 by Sierra Miller

We like to keep you informed of what other people in the career guidance industry are saying. These are 3 of our favorite articles from the month of January so far:

We’ll keep you up to date when we find more.  Have a great weekend!

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