A few years ago, the Internal Revenue Service challenged the tax deductions a college professor took for losses he reported in his business as a book author.'They came in and said, 'OK, prove to us it's a business,'' recalled Joseph Newpol, a certified public accountant and tax attorney who advised the professor on how to deal with the IRS's scrutiny.'We showed them the history of his book writing activity and demonstrated that he didn't have income for several years,' recalled Newpol, who is also a professor in the tax and personal financial planning department at Bentley College in Waltham, ... view article details

Vacationing for a Living When you're lying on the white sands of the Mexican Riviera, the stresses of the world seem a million miles away. Hey, snap out of it! This is no vacation - you have a deadline to meet! Therein lies the dilemma for travel writer and food critic Edie Jarolim. "I always loved traveling and always like to eat, but it never occurred to me that I could make money doing both of those things," Jarolim said. Now you can read her travel advice everywhere - in Arts and Antiques, in Brides, or in one of her three published books, including The Complete Idiot's Travel Guide to Me... view article details

The U.S. Supreme Court decided in a 5-4 ruling that mandatory public-sector union dues are unconstitutional. Employees must now opt-in to having union fees deducted from their wages. In Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, Illinois State employee Mark Janus claimed that union fees are unconstitutional under the First Amendment’s rights to free speech and association. The decision effectively overturns a previous ruling in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education (1977) in which the Court unanimously affirmed that union fees for the costs of “collective bargaining, contract administration, and grievance adj... view article details

Recycled. Upcycled. Eco-friendly. Sustainable. Organic. Everywhere you look signs, labels, and headlines make it clear that the country is going green. But how – if at all – does that translate into jobs?An estimated 3.4 million of U.S. jobs qualified as 'green' in 2011, according to a recent report from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, up nearly 5 percent over 2010. In the private sector, environmentally friendly jobs grew at an even faster rater: more than 7 percent, from 2.3 million to 2.5 million. Employment across all industries and categories, meanwhile, grew by just slightly more... view article details

Q: Hello Jack,I just completed an exploratory (group) interview and mini-individual interview with an HR Manager at a prestigious non-profit organization that services Developmentally Disabled individuals nationwide. I have 12 years in the field of Disabilities, starting out as a case manager and working myself up to two supervisory positions within the last five years with a year gap in between as I was pursuing my Masters in Social Work. I'll be  getting my MSW by 2013. I cant help thinking that I made a huge mistake in writing a salary range of $48k-$50k on my application. When I sat with h... view article details

New London topped our list with salary ranges above the national average, a low cost of living, and a low unemployment rate. Are you living beyond your means? Is your paycheck not stretching far enough? Perhaps you're even having trouble finding a job. Maybe it's time to jump a plane to one of the cities at the top of Salary.com's 'Salary Value' index. We found the top (and bottom) US metros for building personal net worth (taking into account local salaries, cost of living, and unemployment relative to the national average). Median base pay was correlated across more than 2,500 different benc... view article details

Do Your Homework For our entire childhood, homework seemed like a chore or even punishment. 'OK class, take out your homework!''Go upstairs and do your homework!''You’re not watching any TV until you’ve finished your homework!'Aw, mom. But there’s a reason your parents and teachers insisted on this extra activity. When taken seriously, the extra work and practice prepares you to excel in a given task, be it algebra or literature.'Do your homework' is also the first thing any expert will tell you when preparing for a job interview or salary negotiation. Unfortunately, like an antsy tee... view article details

Discover How to Be the American Express for Visas During the last eight years, James Sheldon* has served his Uncle Sam in Athens, Tokyo, and the Sinai Desert. And he did not even have to go through basic training. Sheldon was working as a foreign service officer for the U.S. Department of State. Foreign service officers are America's diplomacy corps. They typically are generalists who perform a multitude of duties across the globe - issuing visas, protecting U.S. citizens overseas, accompanying foreign officials, reporting on diplomatic issues, and conducting press conferences for ambassado... view article details

Get a Tan & a Raise If the winter of 2013-2014 felt like one of the worst on record in your town, it probably was. The amount of snow in Chicago and New York City was in the top 10 all time, while Minneapolis had 50 days with temperatures below zero (and not surprising, reported 225 cases of frostbite). And even if you tried to escape it, the number of canceled flights was the worst in two decades.In other words, bring on summer!However, just because you can finally exchange your snowsuit for your swimsuit, it doesn’t mean you should ignore your career for the next few months.Here are... view article details

'Bonds come in many shapes and sizes. Those issued by the government include T-bills, Treasury notes and Treasury bonds. Municipal bonds are issued by a city, county, state, school, or park district for constructing roads, bridges, schools, libraries, airports, and so on.'    Now that the roaring bull that was the stock market has been put out to pasture, let us turn our attention to bonds and bond mutual funds. With investors accepting the sad reality that stock values can drop as fast as they may rise, bonds beckon as a lower-risk alternative - albeit one with a less exciting growth potentia... view article details