Once a year, every former and current American worker aged 25 and older receives a statement in the mail that summarizes the estimated benefits they will receive upon their retirement or death. 

In addition to these automatic mailings, workers of any age can also request them from the Social Security Administration. 

The purpose of these statements is to help with your long-term financial planning, to ensure that your information is correct, and to inform the public of disability protection and death benefits allowed to a family. 

Here is a sample Social Security Statement:

If you are looking for a job (or a second job), you might be discouraged.  It seems that jobs are few and far between these days. 

However, if you extend your job search to a few specific industries, you may find that there are quite a few industries that are actively hiring right now. 

Here are some places you may want to look to find a job, or possibly even... to start a business.

Whether you work at home running your own home-based business or you telecommute as part of your job for another employer, you should know that there are certain tax deductions that you can take.  (And some that you can't.)

In fact, some people avoid taking home business deductions so as not to signal a tax audit.  However, if you follow the rules, then you will have no reason to worry.

For starters, check out these 12 Tax Deductions For Your Home Business.

These tips come from the manager of a temp agency here in Nashville, as well as some of the best job search experts on the Net.

I realize that very general job search tips can be found in books and websites everywhere, but the tips that follow are truly geared for today's job seeker.

Consider these the best new "modern" job search tips that will make the biggest difference in whether you get the job ...or not.

Numerous reports are stating that there will likely be very few job opportunities for teenagers this summer.  This is unfortunate. However, there are some fun alternatives that you might not have thought of.

Since the "traditional" summer jobs may be fewer in number this summer, teens just need to be a little more creative to come up with their own job opportunities.

Here are some ideas...

According to the U.S. Census, the national average commute to work is 24.4 miles.  If you combined average commute times into days, you will find that New Yorkers commute 6.7 full days each year, while people in San Diego commute only 3.9 days a year. 

These numbers do not include extreme commuters who can travel 5 and 6 hour commutes each day. 
 
While there are many good reasons to live in a home miles away from your place of employment -- such as price, and the fact that you may have owned the home before you got the job -- there are also many reasons to live closer to your job. 

As I read an article on a Seattle News website about the money squeeze that seniors face, I couldn’t help but wonder why these seniors don’t move in with their adult kids. 

I realize that I recently wrote about how adult kids living with mom and dad can put a drain on the parents'  retirement. But if you turned the situation around, it could actually be quite advantageous for parents to move in with their adult children.

Extended families are good for finances...