Live chat: Rebuilding Wall Street

Thomson Reuters, Evercore Partners, and Korn/Ferry, the world’s largest executive search firm, have teamed up to deliver a live online forum that discusses where Wall Street is headed. Will it return to its former self or has the landscape changed forever? If you’re a financial services professional, join us here on Feb. 3 at 10 am. The panel is waiting for your questions. Leave them in the comments below and we’ll answer them on the day.

Our panel includes: Jane Gladstone, senior managing director, Evercore Partners; Alan Guarino, global sector leader, fintech & electronic trading, Korn/Ferry; and Dan Wilchins – editor-in-charge of Reuters’ coverage of U.S. banks and insurance companies.

from Summit Notebook:

Tax evaders on the run

  By Neil Chatterjee     The U.S. has promised it will hunt down tax evaders.     And it seems tax evaders are on the run.     DBS bank, based in the growing offshore financial centre of Singapore, told Reuters it had been approached by U.S. citizens asking for its private banking services. But when told they would have to sign U.S. tax declaration forms, the potential clients disappeared.       Swiss banks also approached DBS on the hope they could offload troublesome U.S. clients to a location that so far has not been reached by the strong arms of Washington or Brussels.     DBS said no thanks. In fact many private banks and boutique advisors now seem to be avoiding U.S. clients.     Will this spread to other nationalities, as governments invest in tax spies and tax havens invest in white paint?     Is this the end of offshore private private banking?

Uncle Sam needs you! More than 270,000 of you

Out-of-work Americans pining for a bright spot amid the still-bleak unemployment landscape should welcome news that the federal government is in need of new recruits. A lot of them.

The feds need to hire close to 273,000 people over the next three years to fill so-called “mission-critical” jobs across the U.S. and abroad, in part because more federal workers are inching closer to retirement age, a new survey of 35 federal agencies by think-tank Partnership for Public Service shows.

Perhaps not surprisingly, agencies in the public health and medical fields are in need of the most new bodies. A total of 54,114 people are in demand to fill positions in areas ranging from radiology to consumer safety, according to the study.

Job seekers should also look to the security, law enforcement, legal and administrative fields, all of which are projected to boom over the next few years.

Desperate times, desperate career measures

It’s no secret that the economic downturn is having an impact on the careers of millions of Americans.  Just ask Matthew Derra (pictured here), who found himself pursuing a degree in renewable energy after his job at American Axle disappeared.

As the U.S. braces for yet another monthly dismal jobs report, thousands more will be faced with one big question: what now?

Turns out, not everyone is looking for jobs in the field they once called home.

Five tax tips for when a spouse becomes unemployed

– Bob D. Scharin is a senior tax analyst for the Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters. The views expressed are his own. –

It’s bad news when a spouse loses his or her job, but the blow can be softened by several smart tax moves.

1. Reduce income tax withholding. With only one wage earner in the family, you can have less income tax withheld from your pay. Before making the change, consider potential increased eligibility for tax deductions and credits that have income phaseouts, as well as the tax effect of any severance payment to your spouse. Also, bear in mind: up to $2,400 of unemployment compensation is tax-free in 2009.

2. Health care flexible spending account (FSA). Generally, you cannot change a health care FSA contributions election mid-year, but your spouse’s employment status sometimes translates to an exception. You’ll need to check rules on this mid-year change with your employer’s plan. If your spouse was making health care FSA contributions at his or her former job, your best bet, if you are permitted, is to opt for a higher contribution rate on your own plan.

A time for change – part II

Last December, Reuters reported how one innovative New Yorker’s desperate search to find a job had paid off big. Joshua Persky, known to many as the “Sandwich Board Guy,” found employment at accounting firm Weiser LLP in midtown Manhattan. Persky, who wrote for Trading Places about his search for work last year, explains how he ended up leaving Weiser to start his own business:

When I received the offer from Weiser, my wife and I were ecstatic. I had been unemployed for 10 months. We had quite a sincere Thanksgiving celebration in Omaha where she was living with our children, but they decided to remain in Omaha to finish out the school year. It was difficult to leave my family, but I returned to New York to get my feet on the ground and focus on my new job as Senior Manager, Valuation & Corporate Finance.

When I started working in December, I was treated to a second round of viral publicity and became a feel-good “Happy Ending Holiday Story.” Whereas before I had been the “Face of the American Economy”, a “Sign of the Times” and the “Sandwich Board Guy,” suddenly I was an inspirational and extreme job hunter who could give expert job hunting advice – and I did:

Car technician sees “short-time fever” at Texas dealership

This is part of a series of personal accounts about how people are surviving the recession. The writers are contributors to Associated Content. For more stories in this series, click here.

by Eloah James

My husband, Jason, an employee at a Saturn dealership in Texas, says co-workers are experiencing “short-time fever.”

Jason has worked for Saturn and GM for nearly 15 years as a service technician. For the last 10, he’s worked at the Saturn of Austin dealership.

Out of work, but plenty of Viagra

Pfizer has launched a new program to provide free drugs, ranging from cholesterol fighting Lipitor to its infamous little blue pills, to Americans who have lost their jobs in 2009.

“The current economic environment has added considerable new stress to the daily life of millions of hard-working Americans, and our colleagues are responding to help their neighbors in the communities where they reside,” said Pfizer CEO Jeffrey Kindler.

Click here for an application to the MAINTAIN (Medicines Assistance for Those who Are in Need) program, which kicks off on July 1.

Changing attitudes about contract labor

This is part of a series of personal accounts about how people are surviving the recession. The writers are contributors to Associated Content. For more stories in this series, click here.

By Steven Bryan

For years, I clung to the “Leave it to Beaver” business model, in which the breadwinner worked at an office for 40-plus years before quietly retiring with a gold watch and pension. Unfortunately, the eroding American economy has made that particular fantasy more of a pipe dream than ever before.

But recent economic news isn’t all doom and gloom. For me and other working Americans, it took, as Jimmy Buffett is fond of singing, changes in latitudes plus changes in attitudes. After working 12 years for A.G. Edwards, a brokerage firm with headquarters in my hometown of St. Louis, I abandoned the security of a permanent position to become a contract employee at a new firm.

Mom goes green in the recession

This is part of a series of personal accounts about how people are surviving the recession. The writers are contributors to Associated Content. For more stories in this series, click here.

Written by Sylvia Cochran

Bills are piling up, creditors are calling even before the grace period has elapsed, the kids’ college funds are virtually zero, and I hear a drum roll whenever I open the IRA statement.

Welcome to a day in the life of a Los Angeles-area stay-at-home mom.