Friday The 13th

Today is a seemingly innocent but quite interesting day – Friday the 13th. There are a lot of superstitions and supposed bad luck surrounding this day, but how much of it is true and how much has been blown out of proportion?

Friday has traditionally been thought of as an unlucky day (to me it is the best day of the week – start of the weekend) and 13 has been considered an unlucky number (my lucky number). The combination of the two has even led to a phobia paraskavedekatriaphobia – the abnormal fear of Friday the 13th.

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Federal Funding for Job Training

The Department of labor recently announced the availability of $240 million of funding for the training of U.S. workers in high tech and high skill jobs. The H-1B Technical Skills Training Grants were announced on May 2, 2011 and have two closing dates: June 2, 2011 and November 17, 2011. The grants are aimed at providing training, education, and job placement assistance in different fields including information technology, with the goal to provide workers with the opportunity to update or gain new job skills that will help them get higher paying jobs.

The Department of Labor expects to fund 75-100 grants. Training grants will be awarded for those that provide On-the-Job training to all participants totaling $150 million. Applicants that propose to start training for occupations in the health care industry are expected to receive $45 million. $60 million is expected to be awarded to applicants that serve long-term unemployed individuals.

If you are working toward providing more training for your employees and are interested in finding more information on these grants, read the full announcement to find out how to access a webinar with more information.

Lack of Management Training

A recent survey from CareerBuilder.com showed that 26% of new managers said they were not ready to become leaders. That’s a high percentage of people in positions they don’t feel ready for! Some of the weaknesses pointed out in the survey are:

Dealing with issues between co-workers on my team – 25%
Motivating team members – 22%
Performance reviews – 15%
Finding the resources needed to support the team – 15%
Creating career paths for my team – 12%

The solution to this problem is to properly train employees, open lines of communication, and provide support. If you are handling the promotions at your company, take note of this, make sure that your human resources department is setting up training for new managers, and is providing them with the resources they need to be successful.

If your company is looking for training for new managers, check out LearnKey’s Leadership & Management category to see what we have to offer.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Many of us in this country think of Cinco de Mayo as just another day to throw a party with great food, but here is some history behind why we celebrate Cinco de Mayo.

There is a common misconception that Cinco de Mayo is Mexican Independence Day, but September 16, 1810 is actually the day that Mexico declared its independence from Spain. The fifth of May is celebrated because it is the day that Mexico won a key battle in the fight to stop France from taking over their country. On May 5, 1862 4,000 brave Mexican soldiers fought against the French army of 6,000 just outside Mexico City. Although the French did not withdraw until five years later, the Battle of Puebla forced the French back to the coast and was a turning point for Mexico, becoming a symbol of Mexican resistance to foreign domination. This was the first loss Napoleon’s army had suffered in 50 years.

France was interested in stopping the United States growth because the world powers felt threatened by the power the U.S. had. It is thought that if France had taken over Mexico they would have marched north to give aid to the Confederate Army so that they could divide the country into two less powerful countries. President Lincoln and the United States depended on Mexico to hold the French troops off until the Confederacy was defeated and troops could be sent south to help Mexico.

So with all that said, have a happy Cinco de Mayo, and be sure to party responsibly!

Thank You Teachers!

Today is the day to celebrate and appreciate the educators in our country that work so hard to make sure that each student receives a quality education. Teachers play a key role in our development and growth, impacting us in ways that often times they will never know. The lessons they teach impact us personally and professionally, and we carry them throughout our lives.

We want to say Thank you, for working hard and striving to improve our country, one individual at a time. We all have teachers that influenced us in ways we will never forget, and stand out in our minds as not only incredible teachers, but incredible people. For some of us, you are the biggest influence in our lives, and your actions will model positive behaviors that we will emulate.

To the teachers that go above and beyond, and make it clear that they have a passion and dedication to their jobs that far exceeds what is required and expected of them, you are priceless. Every lawyer, doctor, athlete, astronaut, business person, cop, firefighter, pilot, writer, artist – everyone has an educator or educators that encouraged and challenged them to strive to do better and be better, and in large part because of you and your hard work, they did just that.

So today we tip our hats to you, and congratulate you for the difference you are making in so many lives.

Start Today! – Financial Literacy Month

If you haven’t already, today is the day to take charge of your finances. It is easy to hide from financial problems, and it is much harder to own up to them and take the steps to make changes, but even though it might be easier it is not healthier. Hiding away from problems can negatively impact your performance at work, and can lead to emotional and physical health problems.

There are a variety of resources available that can help you get started on your road to financial success, and you don’t have to wait until another Financial Literacy Month to get them. Be sure to visit learnkey.com/financiallitmonth for your free white papers, and our Financial Literacy Month blog archive, featuring all 20 financial literacy tips.

Share Responsibility – Financial Literacy Spending Series

If you are single, you must take responsibility for your spending habits. You have to come to terms with the fact that you got yourself where you are because of the spending decisions you have made, and you are the only one who can make the decision to change.

If you are in a relationship, however, you need to share both the responsibility of where you are financially and the responsibility of making changes. It is easy in relationships to play the blame game, but you shouldn’t, especially when it comes to money. This is not the time to pit yourselves against one another and see who wins, that will only lead to more problems. You are both in the relationship, and are equally responsible for where you are financially.

The next part, is that you need to share responsibility for the changes that you need to make. You should work together to create the spending plan. Each person should track their own spending, and each month you should sit down and make decisions together about where adjustments need to be made.

Be sure to visit learnkey.com/financiallitmonth for your free Financial Literacy white papers and other resources, and you can also Like Us on Facebook and Follow Us on Twitter for more daily Financial Literacy tips

Make Spending Plan Adjustments – Financial Literacy Spending Series

Another very important aspect of your spending plan is to make adjustments where needed. This is where the wiggle room comes in, you can see how the month goes and then make changes to your spending plan accordingly. If you have an emergency and get a flat tire that has to be replaced you can work around that. With a spending plan instead of a budget, you adjust and then keep moving forward.

Life is constantly changing and things are coming at us all the time, it is important to stay flexible and head in the right direction.

Record ALL Expenses – Financial Literacy Spending Series

One very important step toward financial literacy and success with your spending plan is to track all of your expenses. Being able to visualize your spending allows you to use this information to make future purchasing decisions.

Track all of your expenses for a full month, and make sure that everyone in the family participates in this process; it has to be accurate for it to work. This means that you even have to fess up to the $1.00 a day you use in the vending machine for your afternoon candy bar. Even cash transactions count! Once you have this all added up, you will know where you stand every month because you will have the accurate amount that you spend.

Once this is completed, you need to get the amount that you earn each month. Then you will look at these numbers and see where each of these expenses figure in. After doing this, you will be able to see areas where you can save, and where you can apply extra money, such as paying off debt or toward your savings accounts.

Track Your Spending, Don’t Budget – Financial Literacy Spending Series

This might sound different than the advice you are used to getting about your finances, but there is some sound reasoning behind it. Budgets don’t work because they are static and do not account for life and the unexpected costs you will encounter. Instead track your spending and create a spending plan.

Think of this like tracking your calories in a food journal versus dieting. Dieting is hard and often times results in failure because you are being restricted, feel like you are missing out, and are being deprived. A food journal on the other hand lets you analyze the calories you have consumed and burned so that you know where you need to make adjustments and you can control your eating. A spending plan is the same concept.

To get started

Plan how you will spend your money
Track your spending
Compare your plan to reality
Make adjustments and decisions about your goals monthly.

Spending plans allow for wiggle room so that if you take a small detour off your path you won’t feel completely defeated and give up. Instead you can look at the numbers, adjust and get back on course.