At first, I didn’t get it. Shouldn’t women and men be seeking parity in everything?  If so, why do financial advisors like Suze Orman write books called “Women & Money,” and why are women opening brokerage houses catering to women? I spoke to financial expert Manisha Thakor, one of the rising voices in the financial-advice-geared-towards-women set to get some answers.

As Manisha put it to me: In the new economy, where many financial decisions formally made by employers (particularly with regards to pensions and healthcare) are now squarely in our hands, a solid knowledge of personal finance is important for both men and women.  That said, financial knowledge is extra important for women – because the place that women are ending up right now is a financially ugly one. {Read the rest at Yahoo!}

One of the best ways to find work is to work part-time in the hopes of it turning into full-time employment. Another strategy is to try to work for yourself as a freelancer, consultant or entrepreneur. But either of these have one giant downside — if you collect unemployment insurance and you earn more than a certain amount a week from work, you’ll jeopardize your unemployment earnings.

Here’s how it works in NY, where I live (it varies state by state, but most states have a similar system):

If you work less than four days in a week and earn $405 or less, you may receive partial benefits. Each day or part of a day of work will result in your weekly benefit rate being reduced by one-quarter. For example, if your weekly benefit rate is $100 and you work three days and earn less than $405, you could potentially receive $25 in benefits. If you work two days, you could potentially receive $50 in benefits. If you work one day, you could potentially receive $75 in benefits.

As I talk to people, I’ve noticed a pattern. Though almost no one could support themselves on the paltry sum they receive from unemployment insurance, many folks (especially at the lower end of the income spectrum) use unemployment benefits as a cushion that supplement with some other income until they find a full-time job. But in order to preserve their unemployment benefits, they look for off-the-books work.  Sometimes they do consulting or freelance work, again only if they can find clients willing to pay them on the sly. By doing this, they might be taking steps towards finding full-time work. But they are probably living in fear of being discovered (and facing severe penalties, including jail time in some states). {Read the rest at Yahoo!}

I’m back in business after taking pretty much the whole month of September off for my wedding and honeymoon. And since we returned on the night before Yom Kippur, back-to-work was further delayed by another day.

I’ve had quite a few work/life interruptions over the years — times in which I’ve said no to almost everything that comes up on both the personal and work front because life is just too busy. Some of them have been for awful reasons like when people have been ill or passed away. In those cases, people usually understand that you’re going to be out of commission for an indefinite period of time. And they usually leave it to you to tell them when you’re ready to re-engage.  When you’re lucky, they offer the right kinds of support.

But few reasons for dropping out of work and life feel as good as taking time off to get married. {Read the rest at Yahoo!}

Creating a LinkedIn profile is pretty straightforward when you have a job with a well-defined title. But I’ve been getting questions lately about how to create a profile on LinkedIn when what you’re doing isn’t so tidy. Two scenarios that come up a lot are how to create one of these profiles if you have a slash career (e.g. yoga instructor/caterer), or if you’re unemployed (or, as they say, consulting).

There’s some overlap between the two scenarios because in both cases you are taking what feels like a standard tool and tailoring it to fit your needs. And the good news is that when you spend a little time with it, LinkedIn allows for a lot of customizing.

Here are a few ideas: {Read the rest at Yahoo!}

For a long time I had trouble saying no. I’d get a request, and have a hunch I should say no. But because I generally hate to disappoint people, I’d say yes. And then one of two things would happen. I’d do the thing and resent it. Or I’d realized that I shouldn’t have said yes and have to back-pedal my way out of it. Not anymore. Now I say no. Often.

I’ve been thinking of this lately as I’m in one of those crunch periods where I can’t take on anything else personally or at work. I’m getting married in two weeks and will be taking some time off after that. So I’ve been trotting out my “noes” with increasing frequency. In fact, I did it twice last week. …

Being able to say no has lots of benefits. It helps with time management, reduces stress, and most important, ensures that you can do the things you’ve said yes to….

Here are some rules for figuring out when to say no: {Read the rest at Yahoo!}

If you spend any amount of time online, you’ve probably needed to post a head shot or other image of yourself. If you’re lazy, you leave the photo area blank or go with a random photo you have lying around. But some folks are adopting avatars, those tiny cartoon-y images which are becoming increasingly common.

During the election, Obamicons (avatars in the style of the iconic Shepard Fairy Obama poster) were flooding the Web thanks to a free program offered on Paste Magazine’s website. Now, during the “Mad Men” frenzy, images like the one here are cropping up, courtesy of the “MadMenYourself” campaign on the show’s site.

So, why would you want one of these avatars? I’ve been talking to lots of folks who use them, and here’s what I’ve learned: {Read the rest at Yahoo!}

Every time I enter a negotiation it feels like the first time. I can rehearse, prepare and strategize, but if I really want something or have any emotional stake in the deal, all the wisdom I think I’ve collected over the years starts jumbling together (For example, “Never start the money conversation,” mushes together with “Name your price first to make sure you’re negotiating from your number, not theirs.”)  And if negotiating requires a long waiting game, my impatience gets the best of me as all I want to do is get the deal sealed.

I decided to talk to a pro to see if I could improve my ways, so I rang up Jim Camp whose latest book, “No: The only Negotiating System You Need for Work and Home,” just landed on my desk. Camp is a seasoned negotiator and coach who has trained the FBI on how to negotiate in hostage situations, so I figured low-stakes negotiations like mine would be much easier to manage. {Read the rest at Yahoo!}

One of the lasting effects of the recession of 2009 may be that many upper middle class parents who expected to send their children to private universities now can’t afford it. And since those families are probably too well-off for financial aid, there will be a huge boom in attendance at state colleges and universities, and even community colleges, which are upgrading their offerings at a furious pace.

But that might not be the only route for future students. According to “Who Needs Harvard,” an article in the current issue of Fast Company magazine, we might be just a couple of decades away from a time when a good chunk of higher education will be taking place online. It’s not just virtual courses; now that online social networking allows for conversation and connection these new outfits can also offer an entire online community to share the learning experience with.  And both venture capital firms and the Obama Administration are plunking down lots of money to support experimentation in this sector. {Read the rest at Yahoo!}

When I was researching my book a few years ago, I was looking for employers who were taking advantage of people’s desires to build significant careers while working a flexible schedule. I highlighted companies like Axiom, a new kind of law firm that caters to lawyers who don’t want traditional full-time hours (e.g. working parents, artists, or those starting businesses on the side).  Axiom pitches itself to clients as an economical alternative to big law firms since it can avoid the high overhead associated with overstaffed firms. Another firm, Virtual Law Partners,
has been getting some buzz lately with a similar approach.

Now scores of companies are thinking flexible and virtual, in all kinds of fields — from virtual assistants (check out Delegate Solutions), to corporate executives (see EPOCH). The troubled economy has been a boon to businesses like these, which can offer part-time employment to displaced workers and deliver lower cost services to clients. {Read the rest at Yahoo!}

I have a 21-year old personal trainer, Scott, whom I’ve been working with for about two years. He is a good trainer and knows his stuff. But that’s not why I see him two to three times a week. I use him because he is a natural marketer who happens to be marketing himself.

At a birthday dinner last week with Scott and a group of his clients, talk turned to how many of us, well into our 30s and 40s and established in our careers, could learn a lot about career management by watching our young trainer. And it has nothing to do with his use of technology or some of the other ways we think young people are succeeding today.  It’s pure old-fashioned business smarts.

Scott is a first-generation American who was raised by a single mother and grandmother. He tested into the best schools and has held part-time jobs since he was around 14. By age 16, he was contributing to the family finances. When I started working with him, he was in his junior year of college, and this fall he’ll be starting graduate school. All along, he has worked up to 30 hours a week at the gym, building a serious career out of an arrangement that could easily look and feel like a part-time gig.

Here’s some of what he does right: {Read the rest at Yahoo!}