I’ll be on WCCO’s Good Question segment with Jason DeRusha tonight at 1o. The topic? How to prepare financially in case you’re canned. Check out his “Deblog” entry about the upcoming segment. Now that I was on the show, I forgive him for naming his blog Deblog

Dealing with a layoff also happens to be the topic of tomorrow’s Dollar Duo, and my co-host John Ewoldt will have a column on the unfortunately hot topic as well.

The bottom line message I hope everyone takes away from the stuff I’ve done on this topic is this: Have some cash at the ready.

Even if you can get nowhere near 3 to 6 months, set a goal of saving $50 a month, or having $1,000 in the bank, and you’ll be much better off if you end up paycheck-less. If you keep your job, you’re still better off with some savings.

A comment I’m sure won’t make it on the air that I made is that it’s time to get back to some of our Depression-era values of saving, conserving, and reusing. We media doom and gloomers have been focusing too much on the “Depression” and not enough on the “Great,” joked DeRusha.

Seriously though, as I argued in a recent column, it’s time to return to the values of thrift. Anyone in?

It was my husband’s birthday yesterday. He was born in 1974, at a time when the country was experiencing steep job losses. Apparently, job losses this November were the highest they’ve been since he entered this world. More than 600,000 jobs were lost according to the official number. And that doesn’t count everyone without jobs, including those who gave up the hunt long ago.

Never in my life have I worried about losing and finding a job until this year. At my first work holiday part in 1998, I remember some co-workers swapping tales about the horrible job market of the early 90’s and thinking to myself, “‘Hmmm…that’s so interesting that I’ve got to get back to the open bar.’”

This year, I’m wondering if anyone will mind if I stuff treats from the holiday dessert buffet in my purse? (more…)

The Star Tribune launched infoCenter today — a place where you can view salaries of select public employees as well as real estate transactions, homicide maps and other intriguing data.

The paper across the river also recently launched a salary database for public employees.

As one who is on the liberal side when it comes to sharing my personal financial data, the sites don’t bother me. But I imagine others, especially those who have their salaries listed, may feel uncomfortable.

How would you feel if your salary were listed for your friends and family to look up?

I’ve always been a proponent of making money a less taboo subject. Then we can finally put those Joneses to rest and perhaps some of the credit card debt along with ‘em.

Today, the Wall Street Journal’s work and family blog The Juggle has a post about whether sharing salary could be beneficial, helping to reduce salary disparities at work and eliminate the sometimes damaging assumptions that people might have about who makes what.

The blog mentioned a story in The New York Times from a couple of weeks back that I’m surprised I missed (Oh– they put it in the Fashion section– I guess it’s fashionable to talk salary).

Anyway, the story is about how people in their 20s and 30s are more likely to share their salaries with each other than workers in older generations.

It’s a thought provoking story, but when I read this paragraph, I couldn’t help but think, oh puh-leeze:

For people old enough to remember phone booths, a blunt reference to salary in a social setting still represents the height of bad manners. But for many young professionals, the don’t-ask-don’t-tell etiquette of previous generations seems like a relic.

There was a phone book junking up my front steps when I got home from work yesterday. They aren’t like do-do birds or dinosaurs. Clearly I am so old that I need glasses, or so young that I hadn’t even heard of those booth-things so I figured it must be a typo. Sorry for the confusion.

And I bet that most people still don’t reveal their salaries without at least considering whether they should first– even if they are 25.

I’ll say from my experience that salary still is not a comfortable discussion in my circle of friends.

What do you think? And if you’ve been dying to tell people how much you make, or are willing to trade your salary in a “safe place” in order to gain insight on others’ salaries, do spill.

This just in.

Peter Bielagus, an author and financial educator who has given himself the lofty title of “Young America’s Financial Coach,” is giving away money.

He is collecting 250 word essays from entrepreneurs ages 12 to 19 about their business ideas. Write about a venture that’s up and running or in the planning stages and you could win a$1,000 grand prize. The 100 runners-up receive one of his free Quick Cash For Kids entrepreneurship guide.

Send the essays to peter@peterbspeaks.com with the word “contest” in the subject line.

Here’s a link from SCORE to several web sites for young entrepreneurs, although I think the retired folks who run that organization have geared the list to college aged kids.

I have a gazillion entrepreneurial thoughts– from opening an ice cream shop in my neighborhood to writing a newsletter for financial adviser geared towards their client’s young adult kids. But there’s a big difference between coming up with ideas and executing them.

Entrepreneurs out there, do tell. How did you make the leap from steady paycheck to being your own boss?