Happy New Year! Along with Dick Clark, Times Square and In-and-Out lists, New Year’s resolutions are very popular every January. You may have already made — and broken — some of your resolutions for 2010. Among the most common types of resolutions people make are to improve their physical and fiscal health. Today’s column focuses on why you should resolve to save smarter and more in 2010 and some tips on how to do so.

Why you should make a New Year’s savings resolution for 2010
Making saving a habit is an important part of being fiscally healthy. Savings serve two primary purposes: They help you reach your financial goals, and the money you save provides a cushion for emergencies. (More about both of these concepts in a moment, but first you may be wondering why to bother making a resolution.)

It is common wisdom that people who state or write down their goals are more likely to achieve them. I was not surprised to read in The Wall Street Journal that the same goes for New Year’s resolutions. The Journal cited a study by John Norcross, a psychology professor at the University of Scranton, which found that people who make New Year’s resolutions are 10 times more likely than people who don’t make resolutions to achieve their desired changes. Kudos to those who have already resolved to save in 2010; if you have not already made such a declaration, today is a great day to do so. It is never too late to start the journey towards fiscal health.

Financial goal-setting: the reason to save
Saving matters not for its own sake, but for what it enables. The purpose of saving is not to have a big pile of money — like Scrooge McDuck — but to have the resources to do what you want to do. One of the most important financial steps you can take is to think about and set your own financial goals. You should set both short-term and long-term goals. Some goals will be common to nearly everyone — e.g. retirement as a long-term goal — while others will be more unique. Your goal may be to take a Spring Break cruise, but your roommate may want to buy an iPhone or donate $500 to a Haiti relief fund. The important thing is that you set financial goals that resonate for you. You will also find it helpful to make your goal measurable and time-bound. It is good to say your goal is a Spring Break cruise, but it is even better to specify that your goal is to reach $600 for a five-day Caribbean cruise by fourth year. Spending and saving is all about making choices. The more meaningful your goal is to you, the easier it will be to choose to save for it.

After you’ve established some goals and a time frame for achieving them, you can work backwards to determine how much you’ll need to save to reach them. Continuing on the cruise example, if you are a third-year student now, then saving $10 a week (for 60 weeks) would be sufficient, but a current fourth-year student starting from scratch would have to save about $100 a week! This illustrates the importance of determining your goals and starting to save for them far in advance.

Pay yourself first
One of the best strategies people find helpful for saving is to “pay yourself first.” This means you should set aside your savings as soon as you receive your paycheck or income, before going out and spending money on other things. Setting aside money for saving is easiest when your pockets are still full. Direct deposit from your paycheck can be used to automate your savings; this can be one of the most foolproof ways to save.

Set up separate accounts for each goal
Many people also find it helpful to set up a separate bank account for each of their savings goals. You will probably be saving for multiple goals at any one time, and having a separate account for each goal allows you to easily track your progress. Another reason why people have specially-designated retirement accounts or “Christmas Gift” accounts is that when the money in an account is earmarked for a particular purpose, you will be less likely to spend it on something unplanned and then later regret it.

Your emergency savings account — there for you in a pinch!
Apart from saving for particular goals, it also is very important to have an emergency savings account. An emergency savings account is pretty much what it sounds like: a special savings account that you only use for emergencies and unexpected expenses. You should not use money from your emergency savings account to pay for regular or optional expenses. This account is to provide a financial cushion when you unexpectedly lose income — like getting laid off from your job — or face urgent, unplanned expenses (e.g. your car breaks down, the air conditioning dies during the summer). If you lacked an emergency savings account and suddenly faced an expense of this type, you could be forced to borrow money from mom, dad or even worse, a credit card with high interest rates! Although borrowing from your parents or your MasterCard is better than going hungry or not repairing the car you need to drive to work, having an emergency savings account can help you avoid debt altogether.

How much should you have in your emergency savings account? A good rule of thumb is enough to cover three to six months of your expenses. This would suffice if you end up unemployed for a few months. Full-time students may be able to get by with only three months, but if and when you are working, then having six months worth of expenses in your emergency savings account is safest.
Where and how should you keep your emergency savings account? The most important thing is to keep it as a separate account. Do not mix it with your general checking account. The money should be kept at a bank or credit union in an account that is liquid (not a CD) and insured (e.g. by the FDIC). You can find accounts that pay interest, although these days you will probably not find much more than 1 percent. Generally money market deposit accounts work well and pay decent interest.

What if you don’t have an emergency savings account? It’s time to start one. Figure out how much money it should have — three to six months expenses — and set a short-term financial goal to save that much.

A new year is a great time to revisit your financial goals — or think about them for the first time. After adjusting or setting your goals, resolve that 2010 will be a year in which you progress towards meeting them. Good luck and happy saving!

Note: I strive to offer sincere, good faith advice in this column, although we do not legally enter into a fiduciary relationship when you read it.

Benjamin is founder and principal of Grosz Financial Planning, LLC and is a candidate for CFP Board’s certification. His column runs biweekly Thursdays. He can be reached at b.grosz@cavalierdaily.com.

While explaining his investment philosophy during an interview, Warren Buffett famously remarked, “I try to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will.”

Recognizing businesses that are wonderful, however, is no easy task. Perhaps the best strategy is to find a business at the center of a long-term economic trend. For example, some look to the aging American baby boomer generation and seek investment opportunities in assisted living facilities. Some look to a growing world population, dietary shifts triggered by increased incomes in developing countries and growing demand for biofuels as signals of imminent expansion in the agriculture industry. And some cite government fiscal irresponsibility and falling energy costs as rationale for overperformance in gold-mining stocks. In each of these cases, investors argue that outside factors are so strong that even poorly run businesses in these industries will do well since they stand to gain from enormous industry tailwind.

Some of the most profitable secular trends often can be found in the technology industry. Those that recognized the potential of the mainframe computer in the 1970s witnessed phenomenal returns in names like IBM, Sperry Rand, UNIVAC and NCR. Those who understood the high prospects of personal computing in the 1980s and early 1990s compounded their return with companies like Microsoft, Compaq, Dell and Intel. Those that spotted the growing importance of Web 2.0 at the turn of the century made money with names like Google, Amazon and Baidu.
I believe the next secular trend in the technology industry is the widespread adoption of new mobile device technology. Mobile technology has seen a remarkable evolution during the past 10 years, starting with just basic voice capabilities. Today, data-enabled mobile devices can be used for everything from social networks, video streaming, multiplayer games, music downloads, high speed data connectivity and video calling.

While Americans have grown used to these new features in the last year or two, the developing world is just starting to catch on. Past technologies, such as the Internet and telephone lines, were constrained in developing countries because of a lack of infrastructure. A recent study by the International Telecommunication Union found that mobile telephone subscriptions have decoupled from past infrastructure-constrained technologies such as the Internet and fixed telephone lines. Indeed, the study reports that 25.9 percent of the world has access to the Internet whereas 67 percent of the world has a subscription to a mobile cellular telephone. The most rapid growth in mobile subscriptions is occurring in the developing world, especially in China and India. Each is witnessing three-digit growth in 3G mobile devices. To put it in perspective, in 2005 there were 200 million subscribers to 3G networks and 160 network operators. Only four years later, in 2009, those figures have grown to 885 million subscribers and 590 network operators.

The fastest growing segment of the mobile device market is undoubtedly smartphones. Only about 12 percent of all new cell phones sold are smartphones, but that percentage is rapidly rising. A number of factors are now simultaneously converging to spark the widespread adoption of smartphones. First is the emergence of radical new phones. The release of Apple’s iPhone in June 2007 and Google’s recent release of the Nexus One serve as game-changing devices that offer a new kind of user experience. They are surprisingly similar to the release of DOS in 1981, which allowed third-party software for the first time ever, and the release of Netscape Navigator in 1994, which changed the way computers interacted with the Internet.
Second is the expansion of text messaging and mobile e-mail services overseas. Any college student can vouch for the value of texting. In countries with unreliable Internet access, mobile e-mail and texting have become even more valuable.

The third factor in the widespread adoption of smartphones is the development of third-party “apps” for smartphones. These apps allow users to do everything from checking the news to counting calories.

Another major factor is the convergence of several technologies onto one mobile device. Smartphones are not only phones, but also can serve as mp3 players, GPS trackers, cameras or handheld game consoles.

Finally, the development of faster mobile networks is allowing users to surf the Web at broadband speeds on their smartphones. The falling prices of smartphones and data plans put these services at a sweet spot for consumers in terms of affordability and service. Each of these factors converging during the next few years signals that the smartphone industry, and more generally the mobile device industry, is at an inflection point.

Inventors with the stomach to put savings into the mobile device industry may be handsomely rewarded over the next decade as the industry grows by leaps and bounds. The obvious choices include Apple and Research in Motion, maker of the BlackBerry. Less widely known names include Qualcomm, which is responsible for mobile device research; Syniverse Holdings, the worldwide voice and data network provider; and American Movil, a wireless communications provider in Latin America.

As with many companies in this sector, the odds are stacked in your favor as the industry is primed for explosive growth. I wouldn’t be surprised if the IBM, Microsoft, or Google of the next decade is heavily involved in the mobile device market.

Rahul’s column runs biweekly Thursdays. He can be reached at r.gorawara@cavalierdaily.com.

Internship. The word alone can strike fear into the hearts of many college students. Should you get one, and if so, what kind? How do you find it?

University Career Services is a valuable on-Grounds resource for students, especially rising third- and fourth-years. In addition to online listings through CavLink, UCS organizes the on-Grounds job and internship fairs each semester. Companies attend these fairs to advertise their programs and to recruit students for positions.

UCS will host its annual spring job and internship fair Feb. 3. At least 120 companies from the corporate, nonprofit and government sectors, are expected to attend.

This annual fair, though a valuable resource, is not the only opportunity for University students to explore their options, including those off-Grounds. One such upcoming event is a Feb. 18 panel on government and non-profit organizations at Georgetown University, to which UCS will be transporting University students.

Heather Rudd, assistant director for experimental learning at UCS, recommends using a multitude of strategies to cover all potential opportunities.

One area she said students should consider is the University alumni network — which extends to about 20,000 former students through UCS’ contacts.

“University alumni are a very strong resource,” she said, “not only as contacts, but to give you an idea of how they personally have used their major professionally.”

Rudd said she does not recommend asking alumni directly for internships, but rather for advice and to use the connections they offer to find positions.

“Look for listings online, identify companies and organizations in your area of interest and see what they have to offer,” she noted.

She added that sometimes a more proactive approach is effective, such as directly asking a company to create an internship position.

Daunting or daring as that may sound, asking a company to create an internship is not as unusual as it might seem. Many students are able to use family connections to find positions — this is simply a more formal way of creating future connections.

“I’m filing out as many applications as I can to places where I might know someone or have a connection, such as a U.Va. alum working there,” second-year Architecture student Kyle Bancroft said.
A multitude of strategies would then appear to be effective: online listings, personal connections and face-to-face interactions. But what if those listings or encounters do not seem to be there?
Rudd noted that certain fields are more likely to advertise for positions than others.

“Commerce and marketing companies tend to travel to Charlottesville and attend fairs more so than non-profits and environmental agencies,” Rudd said. The absence of conspicuous listings, however, does not mean internships are unavailable in those fields.

These are the instances that require more persistent searching, but sometimes the necessary resources to do so are already just a click away.

If you have already declared a major, you may be part of a department e-mail list-serv. In addition to providing information about courses and events pertaining to your studies, faculty members use list-servs to pass on information about companies searching for suitable interns. Companies that directly approach particular departments often have fairly specific qualifications in mind for potential interns, and the list-serv offers employers an efficient way to tap into just such an applicant pool.

Third-year College student Florette King said she came across the internship she is applying for via an e-mail sent out by one of her Global Development Studies professors. But a problem may arise in terms of making yourself stand out among a sea of students who will have completed similar courses in the same field.

“Employers want to see how you are spending your time as a student,” Rudd said. “Your clubs and organizations are evidence of your time management skills, your leadership skills and your motivation: This is what companies are evaluating.”

She added that employers also are interested in an applicant’s grade point average, volunteer work and past jobs as evidence of an organized student.

Rudd noted that many internships are aimed at rising fourth-year students because they already have completed the necessary coursework. She explained that some students wait until at least their third years to apply to internships and work on building their résumés in other ways.

“I don’t want to get an internship until third year when I start to get serious, and am applying to [medical] school and [graduate] school,” second-year College student Michele Caravella said. “A lot of people don’t want them yet because they aren’t really serious about what they want to do yet.”

Rudd noted, however, that some companies are just as likely to bring in younger interns in the hope of hiring them for two years and developing them as potential employees later on.
Though the current economic climate could scare some students into thinking they will not be able to find a suitable position because companies are cutting back, Rudd said this is not necessarily the case.

“In some cases, companies are actually hiring more interns than full-time workers, because they might not have the budget to maintain a full staff roll,” she explained.
Finances can be problematic for students during the summer, particularly if their chosen internships are unpaid. UCS has 25 $3,000 grants available to students who secure an unpaid internship in public service, as well as up to a $2,000 scholarship for rising fourth-year students.

“These grants are very much an under-used resource: UCS has a lot of money we’d like to give to students,” Rudd said, adding that she hopes to see an increase in applicants this semester.

Dan and Gil Harrington held a press conference yesterday on the Copeley Road bridge. Photo by Emily Poe.

After confirming yesterday morning that the skeletal remains found Tuesday morning in a remote field in southern Albemarle County are those of former Virginia Tech student Morgan Dana Harrington, state police continue to search the area for answers to her murder.

“Right now the crux of the investigation is how did she get there? How did she come to be there? What are the circumstances surrounding her death?” Virginia State Police spokesperson Corinne Geller said.

Police officials used dental records provided by Harrington’s parents, Dan and Gil Harrington, to identify the body, Geller said.

“Morgan’s mother, Gil, and I are overwhelmingly saddened by [Tuesday’s] discovery, but we are also relieved because our questions can now be answered and we can give our daughter a proper burial,” Dan Harrington said in a statement. “We know that because of the good life Morgan led and the love she created for everyone around her, she is now in a safer, better place.”

The remains were located at Anchorage Farms, a 742-acre property about eight miles south of Grounds, near U.S. Route 29. The farm’s owner, David Bass, located the body in a distant section of a hayfield, which he last visited in August.

Determining how Harrington’s body ended up in such a remote location will be central to moving the investigation forward. Barbed wire, in addition to other barriers, separated Harrington’s remains from the nearby road, Geller said. Harrington disappeared Oct. 17 shortly after exiting the John Paul Jones Arena during a Metallica concert.

At a press conference held yesterday on the Copeley Road bridge, the last place witnesses saw Harrington, Dan and Gil Harrington said they expected the Office of the Medical Examiner in Richmond to release the body within five to six days after determining the cause of death. A public funeral service is planned.

“For the first time in 101 days, I have faint tendrils of hope that are growing in my soul,” Gil Harrington said, standing before a memorial of flowers, banners and personal notes. “For the first time in 101 days, I am not thinking every minute, ‘What is he doing to my daughter now? What is he doing to her? What is she having to endure?’ We are happy to have resolution.”

Several dozen officers performed a grid search yesterday of the field in which Harrington’s body was found, Geller said. Police officers are also currently investigating information they received from a new influx of tips from community members, she added.

Christopher Kopacki, former Henrico County police detective and coordinator of Virginia Commonwealth University’s CSI program, said physical evidence, which contains the murderer’s DNA, and psychological clues — which would indicate the type of suspect authorities are looking for — are the two main factors police investigators will likely look for when examining the area surrounding Harrington’s body.

“Was she dragged there? Was she dropped off in car? Was it one suspect or multiple? What was the condition of the clothing?” he said. “The key is to take the scene as a totality into play.”

Kopacki noted, however, that the chance of finding physical evidence that links back to Harrington’s killer is “not very likely,” particularly because her skeletal remains mostly indicate that she had been left in the field several months ago.

“We are happy to know that Morgan very likely … did not live through the time of the concert,” Gil Harrington said. “She was a long time in that field. I am happy that she was not alive long enduring unspeakable things.”

The likely absence of significant concrete evidence, however, may not prevent law enforcement officials from narrowing in on suspects and advancing the investigation. Kopacki said most criminal cases today like Harrington’s do not rely on physical evidence.

“Most cases are circumstantial cases, which can be just as strong, but nowadays are hard to get through court,” he said.

If the autopsy indicates that there was any sexual contact between Harrington and her killer, the likelihood the two knew each other beforehand increases significantly, Kopacki said. Police officials have not yet released details regarding whether the killer made any such advances toward Harrington.

As police officials continued to scour Anchorage Farms yesterday for additional clues, Dan Harrington reflected on the factors that may have played a role in his daughter’s death.

“I think we have the responsibility with Morgan’s case to bring to light that people need to be careful,” he said. “You don’t go out by yourself; we didn’t want Morgan to go out by herself. There are so many things that if we could’ve changed one thing, we would’ve had a different outcome. We can’t turn back the clock, but we can go forward and figure out how we can honor Morgan, how we can remember Morgan.”

Anyone with information about Harrington’s disappearance should contact the Virginia State Police tip-line at (434)352-3467, officials said. Tips can also be e-mailed to bci-appomattox@vsp.virginia.gov.

Though the past two weeks have seen a widespread and popular outpouring of support for Haiti after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake rocked the tiny island, individuals and organizations on Grounds have not lessened their focus on helping to secure the devastated country’s future.

According to the Hoos for Haiti blog, the organization has almost reached the halfway mark of its $100,000 goal. University graduate students helped organize a silent auction at Random Row Books and Physics Prof. Andres Clarens held a benefit at Fry’s Spring Beach Club, netting more than $30,000 for Haiti.

Politics Prof. Robert Fatton said the abundance of aid Haiti is receiving, from the University and elsewhere, has been instrumental in rebuilding the nation so far, noting that personal donations, like those raised by several University organizations, are extremely beneficial.

“It’s an outpour of affection for Haiti,” Fatton said of the University’s efforts, “and it’s helping to alleviate some of the worst conditions imaginable.”

Fatton, however, also warned that Haiti must not become reliant on aid, and should instead make it a priority to secure its infrastructure.

“The Haitian government is an empty shell, unable to provide the support that its people need. Haiti must form a sense of national unity; a government that takes legitimacy from Haitians and is supportive of its people,” he said.

Christina Haden, a member of the University’s chapter of the national aid organization ONE, said she, too, is worried about Haiti’s dependence on foreign support.

“Debts incurred by loans for reconstruction could pose a serious problem in Haiti’s future,” she said.

The University’s ONE chapter, Haden said, drafted a letter petitioning the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank to cancel Haiti’s debts, and calling for businesses and countries to provide aid in the form of monetary grants rather than loans.

“Haiti [needs] to invest all their resources into education, health, the economy — rather than repaying new IOUs,” the letter states.

In accordance with the University’s ongoing support for the rattled nation, the University will host a panel discussion titled “Crisis in Haiti: The View from the Front Line” about the role of private businesses and non-profit organizations in this time of crisis. Event moderator and Darden student Paul Harper said the panel will discuss the proper role of American business in giving aid to Haiti, as well as the country’s social and economic background.

“This is something that should be approached as an economic problem,” Harper said. “Often private businesses are more efficient than government.”

The panel, which will meet today in Abbott Auditorium in the Darden School at 4 p.m., will include representatives from organizations ranging from Bank of America to Save the Children as guests.

University Transit System officials hope students will be able to plan their commute more carefully with the new alert system. Photo by Iram Shaikh.

The University Transit System recently debuted a new e-mail mailing list designed to warn users in advance about changes to bus transit schedules.

The new UTS 411 alert system, created in the fall by a bus driver, sends e-mails to bus users when routes change or are delayed because of inclement weather, road closings, holidays, construction and any other unanticipated incidents.

E-mails are sent out when there is a significant service interruption or delay lasting more than an hour, UTS marketing supervisor Andrew Abbott said.

“Last semester we used it to make sure everything was working well on it,” Abbott said, adding that the list was used frequently during December’s heavy snow storm.

After launching the new listserv, UTS officials have been working to efficiently market it to get as many daily bus users — students and University faculty and staff — to sign up for the e-mail alerts.

“The more people we get on it, the less people will wait around for an hour,” Abbott said.

Though the mailing list currently consists of only 160 subscribers, Abbott said he is confident more people will continue to join as they learn about it.

On Grounds, UTS 411 has been met with mixed reactions.

“I hadn’t heard of it, but I will definitely sign up for it as soon as I get back home,” second-year College student Catherine Burnett said. “I live far from Grounds, in Copeley, so it would be very useful to receive e-mails in order to avoid the road accidents and traffic around John Paul Jones Arena.”

Other community members, however, said they believe e-mail is not an effective or timely means of notifying users of possible bus schedule changes.

“I wouldn’t bother to check out my e-mail before I go out to catch the bus, but I think the system is very useful for first-year students who use the bus a lot,” fourth-year College student Jennifer Hovland said.

Spring cleaning took place a little early this year on Grounds. Various University offices destroyed 9,500 pounds of paper records as part of Records Management Day.

The event’s goal was to help University offices dispose of records they no longer needed and to promote proper record management processes.

The Office of Records Management organized the event, which took place Jan. 15. Director of Record Management Caroline Walters said the event was “very successful,” noting that some of the documents shredded were more than 30-years-old, including several time sheets that dated back to 1975.

“We’re here to help them figure out what they need to keep, and what they can get rid of,” Walters said.

Stacey Rittenhouse, office manager for the Office of the Comptroller, agreed that the event was a success. Her office removed more than 128 boxes of superfluous documents.

Walters said a large part of her job is to help office managers, like Rittenhouse, understand that it is appropriate to dispose of older documents.

“They don’t know how long to keep them, so they just kept them,” she said.

The results of this “culture of keeping” can be dramatic. Walters said one office freed an entire room, and during a previous Records Management Day in June last year, more than 29,000 pounds of paper were shredded.

Officials also use Records Management Day to promote the services that the Records Management Office offers, such as record management training for faculty and staff.

Walters said such training can help prevent fears of disposing of documents that might contain personal information, like social security numbers, which she cited as a major cause for the clutter.

The Office of Records Management is planning another shredding event for this July, after the University’s fiscal year ends.

After failing to extend its eight-game win streak last week, a Virginia team eager to regain momentum will face its fifth ACC opponent of the season tonight at John Paul Jones Arena, taking on in-state rival Virginia Tech.

“I think that’s the beauty of sports — you can’t be too discouraged or too elated if it goes well,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “We’ll prepare for the in-state rival and learn from the breakdowns — address those, and get ready to play. That’s all we can do.”

The Cavaliers (12-5, 3-1 ACC) began conference play with a 3-0 record after a road win against N.C. State and two impressive home victories against then-ranked Miami and Georgia Tech.

After a lackluster performance and loss in Winston-Salem last weekend, however, Virginia fell to 3-1 in the ACC. The Cavaliers also ranked first in the conference until Maryland picked up a win the same weekend tying with the Cavaliers for the top spot in the ACC.

“This game will be a learning experience for us — we’ll look at the tape [and] we’ll learn from it,” senior forward Jerome Meyinsse said of the Cavaliers’ showing against Wake Forest.

The Hokies (15-3, 2-2 ACC), meanwhile, have struggled through their conference schedule for the most part. Apart from a convincing win against Miami at home, Virginia Tech has lost both of its road games and barely edged Boston College — picked to finish ninth in the preseason media poll — by one point in the squad’s most recent home contest.

Though Tech is seemingly struggling, the Hokies are actually off to their best start since the 1994-95 season.

One threat the Cavaliers will have to look out for is Hokie junior guard Malcolm Delaney and his 19.5 average points per game, a statistic which is also tops in the ACC.

The Cavaliers were the only team in the conference to return all five starters from the 2008-09 season, but the Hokies’ starting lineup arguably possesses more overall experience. Tech will most likely field four juniors and a sophomore at tip-off, while Virginia’s likely line-up has only two upperclassmen to accompany two sophomores and freshman guard Jontel Evans at point.

Backing up Delaney for the Hokies are junior forward Jeff Allen and junior guard Dorenzo Hudson — both of whom average double figures in scoring. The key to a Virginia victory, therefore, will be to contain Tech’s multiple scoring threats and to bounce back from the team’s poor defensive showing last weekend against the Demon Deacons. In that game, Wake Forest shot 52.3 percent from the floor while the orange and blue managed only 33.8 percent.

Momentum will not only prove critical for the Cavaliers to win this game, but down the road as well, as the young squad prepares to face North Carolina on the road and Duke at home in the near future.