Money Talking

Alex Samuel says she never really grew up. And, she adds, neither did you.  “The truth is, all of us have that little kid who doesn’t want to their homework buried inside somewhere,” Samuel told Charlie Herman, host of WNYC's host Money Talking. The author of several books on mastering technology, Samuel wrote the article "How to Trick Yourself into Doing the Tasks You Dread" for the Harvard Business Review by turning to her own kids for inspiration. She says she gives herself something like the gold stars you get in grade school to motivate her to get work done. She's not above it — and she gets results. But it's not only trick she uses to. First, it helps to identify the tasks at hand. According to her, there are two main types of tasks we tend to dread: the mindless ones, like emptying out email; and the daunting tasks, like writing a novel. Depending on the kind of task she's tackling, she gives herself a different kind of reward.  Regenerative Rewards: To get yourself started on a this chore, promise yourself a restful reward at the end. These are rewards that recharge you body and brain and give you energy to take on the next task. Productive Rewards: There are some items on your To-Do list you actually enjoy. Reading a book you've been itching to read or an interesting article, for instance. Maybe you like tidying your desk or installing the latest editing software you've been dying to use. These tasks are easy and fun, like candy. They can be the light at the end of a dark tunnel of daunting tasks that can keep you going.  Concurrent Rewards: Some things you have to do are so boring that a reward at the end isn't enough to even get you started. In this case, reward yourself while you're doing it. For example, watch TV while you're emptying your inbox. Complete your quarterly budget report while sitting at your favorite coffee shop. This kind of reward is great for the tasks that don't take your whole brain to finish.  Cumulative Rewards: Think deferred gratification. Create a big reward for when you get something done. For example, create a special bank account where you pay yourself every day you do the task you don't want to do. Then once your finish, you get to put the money to use wherever you want as a reward. Samuel says it's important to tailor the grown-up star chart to your own preferences. "One person’s delight is another person’s dreaded task," she said Pay attention to which tasks stay undone on your To-Do list — that's where you should apply these rewards. But wait. There's one more to consider. It's what Samuel calls "Avoid These Tasks." If there are projects you go out of your way to avoid doing, then just don't do them. Get rid of the guilt. And what you might find, as Samuel did, once you do that, you will actually check them off your list.

President Obama is proposing changes to how financial advisers provide retirement advice. “The challenge we’ve got is right now there are no uniform rules of the road that require retirement advisers to act in the best interest of their clients,” Obama said, speaking before the AARP in February. As it stands, advisers can suggest retirement plans that include high fees and provide low returns without facing significant consequences. To change that, the Labor Department in April proposed a new set of standards known as a "fiduciary rule." During hearings this week about the proposed rule, representatives from the financial industry said it's impractical and burdensome, and would increase the cost of marketing, which would make it impossible to reach people living in remote areas of the country or clients with relatively small portfolios. Others said the rule patronizes consumers who should be able to make financial decisions for themselves. Some groups have proposed amendments to the rule which they say will help those who have less money to invest. Money Talking host Charlie Herman interviews guests Jason Zweig, investing and personal-finance columnist for the Wall Street Journal, and Helaine Olen, "The Bills" columnist for Slate and author of Pound Foolish, about what the rule would accomplish and what it says about the current state of the financial advice industry.

Obama is calling his clean power plan the "most important step" the country's taken to fight climate change. But how will it change the U.S. energy industry?

Friendship at work can be a special kind of torture. We spend most of our waking hours with our coworkers, so right off the bat, we have a lot in common with them. But the intensity of a work friendship can sometimes fluctuate between two opposites: we love them or we hate them. Shimul Melwani experienced this kind of tortured love-hate relationship at work, and she chose to find the silver lining: the proof is in her Harvard Business Review article, "Love-Hate Relationships at Work Might Be Good For You." Melwani tells Money Talking host Charlie Herman the workplace seems perfectly designed for these kinds of relationships.  "We're expected to cooperate with our team members," Melwani said, "but then we're also expected to compete with them for resources and promotions and time with our leader and money." She added, however, that love-hate friendships might actually improve your work in the office more than purely positive or purely negative relationships ever could. Having a friend at work can be distracting, and if you have a someone you just despise, you can dismiss them completely. A love-hate friendship keeps you both empathetic and a little angry, so it can motivate you to work harder to understand what is going on and perhaps find a way to get along better. The key is to minimize the damage your inevitable frenemy can cause to your psyche. As Melwani puts it: Focus on the love. If you have to pick one side of this relationship to fixate on, keep your attention on the good parts. Enjoy the positive aspects of having a partner in crime as much as you can. Have some self-compassion. Understand where your negative feelings come from. If you feel competitive and resentful toward someone you also respect and like, the consequence is often to feel guilty. Give yourself a break. This kind of thing is normal. Teams, by default, reward people for acting cooperatively and then also expect people to individually shine: this is fundamentally confusing and it's okay to feel conflicted. Melwani said most of all, it's important to find a balance. "Just having lots of different kinds of relationships [at work] is really what's going to help you," Melwani said. You can have that best friend at work that keeps you sane and satisfied, a frenemy or two to push you to do better, and maybe even a straight-up enemy, to keep things interesting.

The fight for $15 is catching on. Fast food workers in New York claimed victory last week when a panel appointed by the governor agreed with them: their minimum wage should be increased to $15 an hour over the next few years. That recommendation must now be reviewed by a high commissioner, who's expected to approve it. But in Seattle and Los Angeles, city councils have already approved citywide increases to $15. And at the national level, a bill before Congress would more than double the federal minimum wage to $15 from $7.25. This week, Money Talking raises a perennial economic question: do raises in the minimum wage help or harm the workers who fight for them? A raise might help the wage stagnation we're seeing in the national economy, but some economists suggest a raise too big could shrink the pool of jobs. In Los Angeles this week, some union leaders are asking to be exempt from the $15 city-wide minimum they fought for, in order to have more flexibility in asking for other benefits. And some critics suggest industry-specific raises, like the fast food one in New York, could lead to distortions in the economy. Guest host Cardiff Garcia of the Financial Times asks Josh Barro from The New York Times and Reihan Salam from the National Review, who've both written on the topic, what the raises at local and national levels could mean for the workforce and other ways the government might improve conditions for workers.

Cuba and the United States officially opened embassies in one another's country this week. But for years, there's been a U.S. presence in Cuba by another name: "The U.S. Interests Section." What does this change signify? U.S. capitalism has been creeping its way into communist Cuba since the 1990s. They called that decade the "Special Period," when the fall of the Soviet Union drained Cuban coffers and forced the economy to get creative. In 1993, using U.S. dollars was decriminalized and a mixed economy, combining elements of socialism and free market capitalism, emerged in a recession-plagued island. Then in 2011, private ownership was legalized when the government allowed ordinary Cubans to buy and sell homes. With the embargo still in place and travel restrictions still technically in place, what's changed now?  Money Talking host Charlie Herman asks Cardiff Garcia from the Financial Times and Tim Fernholz from Quartz, both of whom recently traveled to Cuba, for their view on the island's economy, and what this week's news means for the Cuban people. 

If you want to succeed at work, there's no way around, you're going to have to learn how to brag gracefully. But how to do it without being obnoxious?

"Everybody on Staten Island know, if you wanna pay $8 for a pack of cigarettes, go to Bay Street." Almost one year ago, cigarette salesman Debo Lato stood on the street where Eric Garner also allegedly sold loose cigarettes. Lato told reporter Solange Uwimana, writing for Vice, that Garner's death would not hamper his black market business. Today, one year has passed since Garner died after being placed in a police chokehold — after he resisted arrest for selling loosies. Uwimana says the black market still seems to be thriving.  Cigarettes in New York City are the most expensive in the country, thanks in large part to the taxes here. The state tax is $4.35; the city excise tax adds another $1.50. Garner's death has sparked a debate among both conservatives and liberals about whether the tax is leading smokers to quit, as it was designed to do. Staten Island is the borough with the most smokers in the city, according to a 2012 NYC Dept of Health and Mental Hygiene Report. Shortly after Garner's death, Police Commissioner William Bratton said though the sale of loose cigarettes may seem like a "minor quality-of-life offense," it hurts local businesses. While untaxed cigarettes continue to thrive, the Wall Street Journal reported that arrests of illicit cigarette salesmen have dropped in the past year. Money Talking Host Charlie Herman speaks with Uwimana, now with the Village Voice, about her Vice report to explore how the market works and what's changed one year later.

A free-styling, singing and dancing Alexander Hamilton sheds light and delight on the origins of our nation's financial system. And it's a lot of fun.

At some point in your career, you've probably dreamed about it: the day that you quit your job. Maybe you envision you'll shoot up out of your cubicle, march gallantly over to your awful boss's office, and say exactly how horrible it has been to work for him (or her). In this fantasy, coworkers congregate, cheer, even applaud, as you storm off into the night, never to return to the corporate torture chamber where they'll continue to spend their days. This, says Len Schlesinger, a professor at Harvard Business School, is a horrible idea. "Those are kinds of things you should leave to sitcoms on television." In his article for the Harvard Business Review, "How to Quit Your Job Without Burning Bridges," Schlesinger explains that if you're on your way out, your coworkers and management won't care about your complaints. You're leaving anyway. And the glory of a dramatic exit does not outweigh the harm you could do to your reputation. You never know when you'll meet your old boss again. "Think hard about how you start [a job] and think harder about how you leave," Schlesinger tells Money Talking's host Charlie Herman. People will remember. Schlesinger says there are a few cardinal rules for making a graceful exit. Tell your boss first. If you tell anyone else before your boss, he or she will probably hear about it before you tell them. Be respectful. Tell your coworkers the same story. Be consistent in what you tell everyone involved in your exit. Give at least two weeks notice. And be flexible if the company needs more time. In your conversations with your boss, the key is to shift the focus from your departure to how you can help your coworkers with the transition after your departure. Tell people where you're going next. Transparency will quiet gossip and shift the conversation away from speculation as to why you're leaving to the facts about where you're going. Beware the exit interview. It's not the time to air all your grievances to Human Resources; that could end up hurting more than helping if you find yourself back in business with your old coworkers. Furthermore, if you've never talked about the problems with HR or your boss before you left, do you really think the company will listen now that you are leaving? And if you're a boss on the other end of an exit, Schlesinger says, don't take it personally. When someone decides to leave, both you and the person quitting should express gratitude for the work that's been done and focus on making the transition as painless as possible.  

The American Dream of owning a single family home is looking more and more like a landlord's game — and the rest of us are just renters. Homeownership is lower than it's been in over 20 years, and the stock of apartments and houses for rent is getting competitive as the share of households renting is at a 20-year high. In New York City, only 3.45 percent of rental properties are up for grabs. With so many people looking to rent so few apartments, that's helping to drive up rents. But even so, home sales are rising to nearly six year highs, who's buying? Sure, there's been an increase in first-time buyers, but increasingly, Wall Street private equity firms are buying up properties and turning them into rentals.  Money Talking host Charlie Herman asks Rana Foroohar of Time and Heidi Moore of Mashable what a renter dominated market means for the country.

If you're smart, you understand the power assistants hold. Melba J. Duncan, for instance, once stopped a plane. The former executive assistant to Pete Peterson, former CEO of Lehman Brothers, Duncan says people often don't give people like her enough credit. Assistants succeed and become an asset to their bosses because they're not limited to their job description. Other employees, however, often misunderstand what exactly assistants do.  Duncan now runs the Duncan Group, a consulting company that recruits, coaches and trains assistants. She says the good ones are adept at a delicate skill all employees should master. It's called "managing up." Learn what the executive — or your boss — is responsible for. Help your boss by taking away from her responsibilities you can take care of, though that will require you to understand what you're capable of managing, And if you are asked to do too much, be up front and explain this. Ask your boss what her priorities are and which tasks take precedence over others. Duncan says employees can underestimate the skills, judgment and influence of executive assistants. Everyone in the office can benefit from taking a moment to pay attention to how effective assistants communicate with and manage the corporate bosses. And if you're the boss, and you want to know what kind of people work for you, watch how they treat your executive assistant.

A few of the country's biggest brands are making some strange moves.  Goldman Sachs, a bank accustomed to multi-billion dollar dealings with wealthy customers, will make smaller loans to less wealthy consumers and small businesses via an online service. American Express — the brand (in)famous for its ultra-exclusive "black card," available only to those who charge more than $250,000 a year — is teaming up with Walmart to offer a pre-paid debit card, a product traditionally sold to low-income customers who don't have bank accounts. Banking brands of the rich and famous seem to be making grabs for the middle class. Meanwhile, kale breakfast bowls popped up on the McDonalds menu earlier this year. Then, the hamburglar got a hipster-esque makeover. This looks like a piecemeal response to a post-recession slump in the industry. Fast food brands that survived the financial crisis relatively unscathed have been struggling. Just this week, KFC fought a campaign against its Chinese competitors, who accused the chain on social media of raising eight-legged chickens to maximize drumstick production. Money Talking's guest host Stacey Vanek Smith of NPR's Planet Money invites Shelly Banjo of Quartz and Ben White of Politico to make sense of these moves — and asks the critical money question of the week: Which woman should be on the U.S. $10 bill? 

There's a reason Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg earned herself the nickname "Notorious RBG" on internet memes.  In the next few weeks, she and the other eight justices could be making a long list of friends — and enemies — when the court issues rulings on the the fate of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) and same-sex marriage. One group paying close attention are the businesses who have taken very visible positions on the two controversial issues. 379 companies have urged the Supreme Court to back gay marriage, while insurance companies and healthcare providers are demanding that the healthcare law be upheld.  In their friend-to-the-court briefs, the Federation of American Hospitals and the American Hospital Association wrote that if the Supreme Court strikes down the health care law, "Many people will get sick, go bankrupt, and die." Money Talking Host Charlie Herman asks guests Emily Bazelon of New York Times Magazine and Rana Foroohar of Time if this court, helmed by Chief Justice John Roberts, has been listening to big business this term and what fallout we might expect as the justices make their decisions.

Mike Kibler calls it "brown out:" you're doing find a work, you may even be as busy as usual, but you feel overwhelmed and might even be a little disengaged. Consider it a step before you could end up burned out at work. So how can you get that spark back again? And what can a boss do to reignite your excitement at work? In this episode, Kibler explains why more people are feeling this way, and then role plays how to bring back the thrill you once had for your job with Money Talking's host Charlie Herman.