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How to start your IT career after becoming a mom

homerun October 26, 2012 Home 0

For many reasons, it can be optimal to start an IT career after you have already become a mother, but the situation also presents some unique challenges as well. The IT field is very unique field with specific difficulties. It’s a field that values experience highly, and can be entered into by virtually anyone who has the knowledge to do so, but working moms suffer some unique problems in the IT industry that hiring managers are also well aware of.

First, we have to be honest. It can be difficult for any woman to break into the IT industry. Statistically, almost all IT professionals are male, and while it is getting better, many companies shy away from hiring female IT workers. There is a practical reason to this, though not a fair one. An IT worker, in general, needs to be on call 24 hours a day, constantly.  Especially when working in a field like healthcare where lives are literally on the line.   Healthcare IT jobs can be found at HealthITJobs.com and are often very high paying.  Without digressing too much, this means that not only does maternity leave affect the position, but having to take care of children does as well. In fact, many IT positions require that you be available 24 hours a day. This means that if you are going to start your IT career as a mother, you need to have a husband who is willing to be a complete and total partner to you. It is a sad truth, but it is ideal not to reveal the fact that you do have children during the interview process.

Now that we have covered these challenges, let’s discuss the practical matter of breaking into the IT field. If you don’t already have an IT degree, you should strongly consider getting one. If you don’t want to go back to school, you should instead pursue certifications that are relevant to the type of work you want to do. These certifications are very valuable, and some of them need to be studied for quite some time. Either the degree or the certifications will enable you to prove your worth to a company.

An IT career, by its nature, consists of hard work and long hours that eventually turn into rewards. You will need to be prepared to put in these long hours. In other industries the hours usually go down as the pay scale goes up, but this isn’t true in IT. IT, however, is not a career but a calling to most who pursue it. It’s not a decision, but instead, it’s something you know that you were born to do.

How to Use Annuities for Your Retirement

homerun October 17, 2012 Annuity, Home 0

While there is no such thing as a perfect investment, there are a number of ways to use annuities for your retirement. An annuity is a financial product that offers an investor the opportunity to purchase a defined benefit. For example, a person may buy an annuity that would provide him or her with a steady stream of income, such as $1000 per month. While annuities do not offer rates of return as large as other investments, an annuity offers an investor a guaranteed benefit amount. This guarantee is made by the insurance company that offers the annuity.

Due to this guarantee a fixed annuity is an attractive option for a person who is nearing retirement or who is in retirement and who needs a safe place to invest his or her money. By purchasing a fixed annuity, a person can stop worrying about the ups and downs of the stock market and the effects on his or her retirement account and simply relax. Once purchase, the annuity will provide monthly payments to the annuity owner for as long as the annuity contract stipulates.

For those with some time before retirement, an alternative type of annuity is a variable annuity. In a variable annuity, an investor can invest money in the stock market or other investments in a tax advantaged manner. While tax advantages are available in other types of retirement accounts, not everyone has access to a 401(k) or similar retirement account. By allowing the annuity owner to make stock and other investments with the money in the annuity, a variable annuity may provide a higher rate or return than a fixed annuity. The amount of the payoff from a variable annuity will depend on the investment performance of the money in the annuity, though variable annuities do also offer fixed rate investment options.

Annuities are offered in a number of different variations beside fixed and variable. For example, a person can choose an immediate annuity or a deferred annuity. In an immediate annuity, payments start at the time of the annuity purchase, while payments start at a later date with a deferred annuity. Some deferred annuities are also offered with flexible payments that are based upon a person’s income in a given year. Annuities can also have two owners, allowing a husband and wife to provide for a steady income stream for a spouse after one of the owners passes away.