JoeTaxpayer

Data on this topic is pretty scattered, as each school takes its own survey, but it appears that employment for college grads for a job within their major looks to be between 25 and 30%, much lower than the historical average of above 50%. Tough times.
Good luck to the Class of 2009.
Joe

No finance post today.

Just wanted to let my readers know my family is in California attending the graduation of a special friend. The Governator is on the list of speakers, I had hoped to grab a decent photo and update with a picture or two, but the crowd was so large, as 4000+ students were graduating, that we sat behind one of the huge jombotrons set up to watch the event.

So instead of any Arnold picture, I’d like to pass along his Six Rules of Success:

1. Trust yourself. Figure out for yourself what makes you happy no matter how crazy it might sound to other people.
2. Break the rules. We have so many rules in life about everything. I say break the rules. Not the law, but break the rules.
3. Don’t be afraid to fail. You can’t always win, but don’t be afraid of making decisions.
4. Don’t listen to the naysayers. Don’t pay attention to the people that say it can’t be done.
5. Work your butt off. You never want to fail because you didn’t work hard enough.
6. Give back. To your community, state, country.

This is just a summary, the speech ran nearly twenty five minutes and was laced with Terminator references, and jokes about his movies which were flops. For someone under such pressure each day, he showed a great sense of humor. All in all, a great day.

Joe

The May 4 issue of Barron’s had an article which started, “Some top medical experts claim the swine flu virus has a 50-50 shot at becoming the deadliest bug to hit the planet since 1918-9, when some 50 million people perished, at least a half million of them in the U.S.”
I find this reporting to be irresponsible and panic provoking. Even though one of those experts quoted is Larry Brilliant, chair of the Centers for Disease Control, the CDC itself continues to offer in its press releases that this strain appears to be no more contagious than previous virus strains that we’ve seen over the past few years.

Google Flu Trends confirms that the current flu activity is within the norm for this time of year. Others will claim that the swift action of airlines, schools, etc, is what kept this from becoming a pandemic.
What does this have to do with finance? The same Barron’s article suggested that this flu, if it continued on the path predicted, would have taken what ever wind that started to blow out of this economy’s sails. (My metaphor, not Barron’s)

Joe

This was the title of a Wall Street Journal article a couple months back. At first glance, it seemed to me this should be no different than our 401(k) accounts which have all taken a beating over the past couple years. But there are two major differences. A 529 account typically has a target date, where you tell the sponsor when college starts, and the investments are adjusted accordingly. The second major difference is the finite ending date. You see, while a 60 year old may only have 2-5 years to the start of retirement, the end is a good 25 years away. When saving in a 529 account, since the funds may only be used for higher education, for most people withdrawals are only made over a 4 or 5 year period. So as this article suggests, a student 1-3 years from entering college should not have 40% of his funds in stocks, as the state of Oregon’s plan allocates. If you have a 529 account for your own child, check the prospectus and understand exactly how the funds are invested.

Joe