You're Never Too Old or Too Young for Business Schoo

The profile of the typical business school applicant has changed significantly over the past decade. Once upon a time, few would contemplate applying without first having the requisite 5 to 7 years of work experience under their belts. The prevailing wisdom held that older candidates would have more to contribute to class discussions because of their substantial real-world experience.

Flash forward to today and you'll see schools taking a closer look at younger candidates, including those with no work experience. The reason for this shift is that business schools fear some applicants would attain so much success after only a few years that they would not want to go back for an M.B.A. Some candidates really are ready for business school right after graduating from college; some have started a company while in school, played a strong role in a family business, or gained relevant experiences in other areas.

[See U.S. News's rankings of Best Business Schools.]

But as more M.B.A. programs welcome younger applicants, and in some cases actively court them with programs geared toward younger students—such as Harvard Business School's 2+2 Program, Yale School of Management's three-year Silver Scholars M.B.A. Program, and the deferred enrollment option for college seniors offered by the Stanford Graduate School of Business—anyone over age 28 may feel that she or he doesn't stand a chance of getting in.

When a client asks, "Am I too old (or too young) for an M.B.A.?" I respond that it's not about chronological age. It's more about maturity, readiness, and where you are in your career. Sometimes these things can be linked to age, but that's not a certainty.

Instead, think about what you want to gain from and what you can contribute to an M.B.A. program. You may be 22 but have a ton of insight to share and highly focused career goals. That would give you a leg up on the 28-year-old who is lost and just using the M.B.A. as something to fill the time.

So while I have seen posts in online business school forums that essentially tell people there is "no chance" past a certain age, and older candidates do face certain obstacles, these applicants get into the top programs every year, and can and should apply if an M.B.A. is the necessary stepping stone to advance their career. If you're contemplating business school in your mid-30s, the key is to demonstrate confidence, how you've progressed professionally, and what you've contributed on the job.

[Get advice directly from business school admissions officials.]

A 38-year-old candidate who has spent more than a decade in the same position without showing progression will have a hard time being admitted to a top M.B.A. program. This is not because of age. Rather, it is because the candidate may not demonstrated growth during that time. If you're applying to an elite school like Harvard, which values great leadership, you should've already developed terrific leadership skills. Many people with great leadership skills have achieved so much by the time they near 40 that they're not interested in going back to school.

However, if one of these people is interested and can demonstrate great achievement balanced with a legitimate need or desire to return to school, then they have a good chance. Proving that you are a strong and accomplished 40-year-old leader, and balancing that with the fact that you want to improve in order to get to the next step, is tough to pull off. That said, "old" people are admitted every season!

Younger applicants, meanwhile, have their own set of obstacles to overcome. They'll need to demonstrate to the admissions committee that they have the focus and maturity required to succeed in an M.B.A. program.

[Weigh the pros and cons of taking the GMAT in college.]

Since a huge part of the b-school classroom experience is the exchange of ideas from diverse individuals, younger candidates will also need to prove that they have enough life experience to contribute to an incoming class. Business schools are looking for authentic experience, not just students who subscribe to the Wall Street Journal. Finally, younger applicants will need to show an admissions team they have a strong reason for returning to school so soon after graduation.

Regardless of whether you are young or old, if you can achieve what is written above, you will have a good chance of getting into a program that is the right fit for you. Your age should never be the sole deciding factor of whether to apply to business school.

Via hector shung

Bernanke says Low Rates, Markets Agree:

Even though Quantititave Easing II (QE2) officially ends today, small cap investors should look for much of the same from the Federal Reserve under Ben Bernanke with top gainers such as Alanco Technologies (NASDAQ: ALAN), China Distance Education (NYSE: DL), (NASDAQ: CHCI), and LiveDeal (NASDAQ: LIVE) enjoying the liquidity pumped into the financial markets.

As his press conference in April, Bernanke stated that the Federal Reserve was commited to a low interest rate environment. This obviously entails that the United States is able to sell Treasury bonds easily to underwrite the Federal budget decifit. As QE2 entailed the Federal Reserve buying about $70 billion a month in Treasuries, about 70 percent of the total, the questions naturally beckons of who now will step in with QE2.

The answer: the Federal Reserve. As a result of the expansion of its balance sheet from bailing out the financial sector during The Great Recession, the Federal Reserve now has about $3 trillion in assets. This is well over $2.3 trillion more than it had in 2007. Much of it is in "toxic assets" from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other instutions. Obviously, these assets cannot sit on the balance sheet foreover as there are no appropriated funds from Congress backing them. The purchases were the result of bookkeeping transactions with the Federal Reserve and its regional banks, not the Federal budget process.

The price of toxic assets has risen. This has transpired due to several factors. Wall Street naturally overreacted and drove down the prices of mortgage backed securities too much. A rebound has naturally occurred. In addition, with interest rates so low the yields on these instruments now makes them very attractive. By keeping interest rates low, the Federal Reserve increases the value of the toxic assets on its balance sheet, making a sizeable profit: nice work if you can get it as "the house always wins."

By selling off the toxic and assets and letting other bonds mature and reinvesting the proceeds, the Federal Reserve can continue to underwrite the United States budget deficit and keep interest rates low. QE2 required about $70 billion monthly in Treasury bond purchases by the Federal Reserve. With $3 trilion on its books and an investor community hungry for high yields, the Fedeal Reserve can sell off its holdings at a profit to finance the purchase of Treasuries. This is a balancing act, for sure: if the Fed sells too many securities and removes too much liquidity from the banking system, interest rates will rise. It is working so far as since the ending of QE2 was announced, rates have not risen. There are political considerations too: QE2 did not commence until after the November 2010 elections. With a presidential election coming in November 2012, small cap investors can bet that the Federal Reserve will keep rates low until at least 2013.

Best sign in Chelsea Today

5 Secret Credit Card Perks - My Money (usnews.com)

5 Secret Credit Card Perks - My Money (usnews.com)

10 Costs That Can Ruin Your Retirement Savings

It's said that what you don't know can't hurt you. No so. What you don't know can cost you, and sometimes cost dearly. Case in point: Advisers and others say there's a host of unknown costs and fees lurking inside your 401(k) plans, IRAs and other such retirement accounts. And often, those fees can make a world of difference in your overall investment returns.

ALSO SEE:

• How Much Are We Really Saving in Our 401(k)s?
• You vs. the Joneses: Site Shows How Your Nest Egg Measures Up
• What Weiner Walks Away With

Now truth be told, many an expert and firm the most famous of all being Vanguard are beating the drum about how 401(k) fee can be a drag on performance.

Many Americans are simply unaware of the fees they pay to their plan providers. More than seven in 10 (71%) 401(k) plan participants incorrectly reported that they did not pay any fees and 6% said that they did not know whether or not they pay fees, according to a recent AARP study.

Of note, AARP launched a 401(k) fee calculator on its web site that aims to help investors better understand 401(k) fees and their potential impact. You have to register to use the calculator, but it's easy. See the AARP 401(k) fee calculator here.

News Hub: 401(k) Borrowings Surge

4:05

New data show that employee borrowing from 401(k) plans in 2010 was way up over the previous year, in some cases in the high double digits. Jason Zweig examines the causes--and the consequences.

And come Jan. 1, 2012, plan sponsors will have to disclose the fees participants pay for their 401(k) plans.

But there are other lesser-known fees to consider. Case in point: An adviser with whom I am acquainted recently switched brokerage firms. And as is the custom in that world, he began asking his clients to move their accounts from the old brokerage firm to the new one. Well, as it turns out, those clients who moved their IRA accounts were whacked with two unexpected fees one was the so-called account transfer fee and another was the annual maintenance fee.

"Brokerage firms do not like having assets transferred out, so they like to create fees and charges to discourage asset transfers," said Michael J. Sommers, CPA/PFS, of Advanced Tax Strategies, PC

Advisers say the account termination and annual maintenance fees are perhaps the most common of the lesser-known fees and other examples of these costs abound. Jason Branning, a certified financial planner with Branning Wealth Management, LLC, moved his client accounts from one large custodian (firms that hold the assets that advisers manage for clients) to another some seven years ago and faced the very same fees.

Another variation on the account termination fee comes with retirement accounts that use managed-money programs, such as mutual fund wrap accounts. Often, these accounts have termination fees that must be paid prior to money being moved from the current manager to a new money manager, according to Timothy P. Bogert, CLU, ChFC, LIC, AIF.

RETIREMENT RESOURCES

• Retirement Planner
• Asset Allocation for Retirees
• Bond Allocator

Those fees, which are generally subtracted from the account balance prior to the transfer, might include that quarter's asset fee, management fee and custodian fee all of which are usually billed at the end of each calendar quarter.

And, depending on how the mutual funds owned in the account were purchased if they are A shares, B shares, or C shares there might be contingent deferred charges as well, Bogert said.

In some cases, those fees can catch account owners unaware. "Clients often fail to read the fine-print custodial disclosures that explain custody fees, annual maintenance fees and termination fees," said Branning. But in many cases, Branning said, these fees are unavoidable for all but the largest accounts. "There seems to be no way around the custodian assessing fees; retirement accounts require special reporting by the custodian," he said.

According to Denise Appleby, CEO and founder of RetirementDictionary.com, the fee with which most owners are familiar is the annual maintenance fee, which on average runs $35 to $50. "For an IRA with a large balance, this may seem negligible," she said. "But for a small balance for instance, someone just starting an IRA with a $5,000 contribution, a $50 maintenance fee is 1% of the account balance. This is in addition to any ticket charges and commissions charged for trades placed with the contribution. Not all custodians charge this fee, and some will waive it if the account balance is in excess of a specified amount."

10 fees that are eating up your retirement savings

According to Appleby, here are 10 of the fees that can eat away at your retirement savings:

1. Account termination fees

2. Account maintenance fees

3. Various account transfer fees

4. Roth conversion fee: This is usually charged when a traditional IRA is converted to a Roth IRA.

5. Federal fund wire fee and overnight delivery fee: For account owners who are unable to wait for regular delivery and instead choose to have the funds sent via federal fund wire, which usually means same day receipt, a fee might be charged to the IRA, as well as by the bank that receives the funds. For overnight delivery of checks, an express delivery fee might apply.

6. "Special investment" fee: According to Appleby, this fee applies to non-traditional/non-publicly traded investments such as private placements, real estate and certain limited partnerships. She said this fee can range from a few hundred dollars to more than $2,000 per year.

7. "Special investment" set-up fee: As with the special investment fee, this fee also applies to non-traditional investments that are not publicly traded. But unlike the special investment fee, it's not an ongoing fee. Such fees are usually one-time charges applied for reviewing and setting up the investment, Appleby said.

8. Form 990-T filing fee: For accounts that hold non-traditional/non-publicly traded investments, the custodian/trustee may need to file IRS Form 990-T with the to report unrelated business income. This fee can be up to a few hundred dollars.

9. Loan processing fees: Account owners who take loans from their 401(k)/403(b) or other employer plan account may be charged a loan processing fee, said Appleby.

10. Recordkeeping fee: And Appleby said small business owners with solo-K/individual-K plans may be charged a recordkeeping and filing fee of several hundred dollars, if they use the services of a recordkeeper. This is in addition to fees charged by the custodian.

While the fees are troubling, there are some things you do about it to make the costs less onerous. "We can't make the fees go away, but there may be a tax-efficient way to pay them," said Sommers. "If the account owner can be billed direct, and if allowed by the custodian, some fees may be able to be paid direct by the account owner which may have some tax benefit."

So, for instance, if the account owner is in the so-called "accumulation" phase of saving for retirement, it would also make sense to pay any allowable fees with what's called non-qualified money, money outside of the retirement accounts. "This would allow more money in the account to grow tax-deferred, Sommers said.

By contrast, if an account owner is in the distribution phase of retirement, it may make sense to have these fees paid from the qualified account, Sommers said.

Other even more obscure fees include those sometimes absorbed by the plan sponsor that effect plan participants in subtle ways. "I have come across 401(k) plan sponsors who suffered a market value adjustment because they fired the third-party administrator (TPA) and tried to move the stable value fund to a new provider where the Committee on Uniform Security Identification Procedures (CUSIP) was attached to the TPA," said Ary Rosenbaum, an attorney with Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C. "In that stable value fund, this restriction was added because the producing TPA received an extra 25 basis points in fees. There are also termination costs that some TPAs don't spell out."

And though it's not a fee, Bogert said one troubling trend with 401(k) plans is this: Depending on the type of investment the participant has chosen, the money manager may have actually frozen the assets in a fund or investment. "I have seen this happen over the past three years with the market meltdown," Bogert said. They may totally freeze withdrawals for a period of time or limit the withdrawals to a percentage in the fund over a period of time. If a plan participant has money in a fixed account this can happen too."

Louder than words