Don't Quit Your Day Job…

CNN recently weighed in with a helpful article for you tax-procrastinators out there. Did you know that in many cases, the IRS doesn’t mind if you file your taxes late? Yes, you guessed it… file late if you are owed money by the Government… most likely you won’t be penalized!

You already screen out embarrassing photos from you Facebook profile. Do you soon have to start screening out your credit-unworthy friends? That’s the gist of an article that appeared in PC World: those you associate with online may be reflected in the credit offers you receive when you apply for credit.

A collection of article links and carnivals for the week.

How has the recession been affecting the job market? A new report from the research firm Towers Watson says that workers are tending to stick with the same employer as long as possible in the midst of the current recession (US Workers were surveyed in November and December). The number of workers in the survey who say they want to work for a single company or two or three companies is an impressive 79%.

Carnivals and links for the week!

Payscale is a great site you can use to compare your salary offers (or current salary) with other people in your field. It aggregates data anonymously, so you can know the going market rate for your job offer (or current position!). Anyway, Payscale has a large amount of data from various sources. One of the variables they track is the college that Payscale participants attended.

Even though St. Patrick’s day is known as a drinking holiday, it doesn’t do too much to spur beer sales for home consumption. Nielsen, a market research company, tracks the purchase of beer for the two weeks leading up to holidays… and St. Patrick’s is the lowest. Of course, St. Patrick’s day also sees a higher number of people going out to restaurants and bars (only 16.7% went to a private St. Patrick’s party in 2009).

The release of the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s 2010 Retirement Confidence Survey is something that really interests a person like me. For years I’ve been digging into personal finance and economics texts in the ravenous pursuit of knowledge in the fields. However, occasionally a report like the RCS comes along and allows me to really benchmark my own behavior against that of my peers – other Americans. What does the report show? In my opinion, many people aren’t taking the whole investing for retirement thing seriously.

I’m a sucker for bold graphics (keep that in mind if you want free links!). A graph in the always enlightening “By The Numbers” section on Real Clear Markets caught my eye- it definitely fits the criteria. This article graphs the employment rate amongst people aged 55 and older in various countries, and europe as a whole. Not that unexpectedly, the United States leads the way in this category.

What would you say if someone offered you money to report your tax-evading friends? If you are staring at the screen incredulously, allow me to introduce you to Uncle Sam, who wants to make it worth your while to report on your loose-moraled tax cheat friends (and acquaintances!). If you know someone who is particularly dastardly, you could even make bank- the IRS will reward you 15% of the underpaid amount, up to a whopping $10 million!