Unemployment rates in the United States are going up and up. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in a report released only a month ago: over the year, jobless rates were up in 35 states and the District of Columbia, down in 13 states, and unchanged in 2 states. The national unemployment rate, at 5.0 percent, was little changed between March and April, but was up from 4.5 percent a year earlier.

At this point, many of us are realizing that the only employer we'll be able to trust is ourselves. Entrepreneurs go into business for themselves, assuming the risks but also organizing, managing, and providing the creativity for the business. Today, entrepreneurship may be the ONLY way to go.

The Kauffman Foundation is helping entrepreneurs by continuing to study entrepreneurship, providing training and education (not only for entrepreneurs but also for disadvantaged youth), and staying on top of the latest technologies and trends. Furthermore, by teaching college entrepreneurship (showing universities how to teach their students, as well as entrepreneurial procedures for the universities themselves), and by offering additional minority entrepreneurship (this includes women and underserved populations), the Kauffman Foundation not only assists those who want to learn but also reaches its key objectives.

Ewing Kauffman, born in 1916, worked as a salesman for a pharmaceutical company after his stint in the Navy. An entrepreneur, he opened a pharmaceutical business in his home basement. He bought the Royals, which he made a winning baseball team; and he created Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation for other entrepreneurs. When he finally sold it to Merrill Dow, the basement business had grown to a "globally diversified health care giant."

Because the Kauffman Foundation provides grants towards entrepreneur initiatives as needed (guidelines here), United States programs - especially those in Ewing Kauffman's Kansas City - entrepreneurship (and being an employer YOU can trust!) doesn't have to be out of reach.

Money's tight; we're all feeling the crunch. It seems that every article about how the economy is improving is followed by two articles about companies closing, and thousands of jobs lost. Many of us are caught short every week, every month, even when our jobs are secure, because we don't plan carefully (if we plan at all).

"You don't have to be a Genius to manage your finances like one!" says Finance Genius.( But the numbers confuse me.. tell me more! )



That last one - College Savings Calculator - is so important - what if our kids can't get enough scholarships? The more we can save now -- without hurting the rest of our budget, without indebting ourselves [further], without severely harming the quality of our lives -- the less our children will have to pay back in student loans. (One of my doctors has been treating me for almost twenty years. He'd been in practice for a while before that. He is still paying off his college loans.)
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