OCR Text |
Show 1, 1998 The Salt Lake Tribune BUSINESS Sunday, N Ski Bums Fade as Work Becomesa Career David Fishlock, general manager of The Lodge at the Mountain Village, said while waiting for pro- @ Continued from E-1 to puttheir careers on hold for a spective employees to come inuiring. In the old days, he recalled, competition for jobs was cutthroat among those who wanted chie with today’s snowboarders, HUMBERTO CRUZ Tax Savings Available for Some Expenses most came well-dressed and groomed — with the economics of a job rather thanthefun of skiing as their primary goal. In fact, the two-day fair drew only 250 applicants, down from 300 a yearago. “We used to have ski bums,” winteror two of great skiing. “We used to turn people away with [bachelor] degrees because we had people with master's degrees who wanted to work on the front desk,” said Fishlock. “You don’t find the traditional ski bum anymore. They're not around.” Indeed, career-track applicants wereon the prowl at the jobfair. Lynne Griggs, armed with an MBA, was making the rounds with hopes of finding year-round employment. “I’m looking for a professional position,’’ said the smartly Griggs, who came with experience in marketing and emae benefits. ‘The resorts are just fun places to be. Park City is a wonderful place. I love meeting visitors. If something shculd match up, at. David Ruf, a business teacher from North Summit High School, was searching for a part-time job as an accountant. Asfor the skiing and potentially free or discounted seasonski pass, hesaid, “It's not a majorfactor.” Melissa Paskoski, who was working the fair for Deer Valley Resort,also noticed the dearth of the transient ski fanatics. “It's not like it was,” she said. “There are a lot more career-oriented people. The college people don’t seem to want to take a year off any more.” She has changed herrecruiting strategy accordingly, hitting the recruitment trail in midsummer, traveling to national parks in search of seasonal workers who summerin the parks and winter at resorts. DeerValley even recruits overseas, bringing in chefs and ski instructors from Europe and snowmaking crews from New Zealand when their summertime ig our wintertime. Park City Mountain Resort recruiter Carrie Sullivan said the days of ski-bumming said. “That's the new ski bum.” But even snowboarders at the fair came with mainly capitalistic intentions. Boarder Brian Marley, 19, who was looking for a job as a cook, says while he has a passion for snowboarding, he was “looking for a job first.”” Georgina and I just went to the dentist and got our teeth cleaned. This month, we are the eye doctor for a checkup. Might as well do all'this now, whenit won't cost us It won't thanks to my flexible spending account at work —a widely available butlittle-used employee benefit program that allows workers to set money aside throughout the year to pay for out-of-pocket health-care and dependent-care e: You decide how much you want taken out of your paycheck -- my company’s maximum is $5,000 a year for dependent care and $3,000 for health care. Then you get reimbursed as you incur an expense. Aside from the convenience of payroll deduction, this plan offers the potential for tremendous savings because you don’t owe federal incometax, Social Security or Medicare tax on that money. So somebody in the 28 percent federal income tax bracket paying a combined 7.65 percent Social Security and Medicare tax and putting the maximum in both accounts can save $2,852 in taxes. In the health-care account, you can get reimbursed even before the money is taken out of your paycheck. I have $20 taken out every two weeks.If I incur a $520 expense in January, I can get it back right away. With dependent care — to pay for day care for children, or baby sitting, for example — you can get back only as much as you have put in up to that point. The.ay problem with the proit it is “use it or lose it. "You will forfeit any money you do not spend. “Careful estimating of health care and/or dependentcare expenses is crucial for using FSAs THIS MONEY Market ACCOUNT IS GUARANT t-ED FOR SIX MONTHS. OR HALF A YEAR, IF YOU PREFER FRACTIONS. Either way, it's guaranteed safety for your GUARANTEED GREAT RATE MONEY MARKET ACCOUNT 4.00; successfully,” warns a booklet on year-end tax strategies published by CCH Inc.. a publisher of tax information. Butit also says “setting up a flexible spending account with your employer canresult in significant tax savings.” Maybe it is the fear of losing money with no worrying about the ups and downs of forbalances of $10,000-24,999 the money. Or maybe is that most people don’t understand the program. Whatever the reason. only 6 percent of eligible employees in my company put moneyin the health-care account, and a mere 2 percent in dependent care — typical numbers for companies nationwide. To get the most out of a flexi- ~ ble spending account, it’s best to estimate conservatively, so you don't risk having money left over. But don’t be so conservative that you lose out on tax savings. Geor- the stock market. Put your money in our Guaranteed Great Rate Money Market te $10 of the amount we spend. As part of our year-end tax plan- ning, we make sure we spend the money that remains. Other things we are doing to cut our taxes: We sold some mu Six-month guarantee gives your highrate extra security FDIC insured Account, and (as the name gina andI usually come within $5 implies) you're guaranteed a great rate for six months. Completely accessible by ATM orin person (Afterall, it’s your money, isn’t it?) tual fund shares that had gone down in value to “realize” a loss of $3,000 that we can count against our income. (Losses are used first to offset Plus, if our rates rise, you'll get the new, even higher rate. And that's really don’t wantto sell anything now, and the law allows up to $3,000 in losses each year to reduce ordinary income, which is taxed at good news, no matter how youlookatit. the highest rate.) CALL 1-800-756-8000 FOR THE WASHINGTON MUTUAL FINANCIAL CENTER NEAREST YOU. FDIC Insured _. Humberto Cruz livesin Coral “Springs, Fla. Write him c/o Tribune Media Services, 435 N. n UZ Washington Mutual the winter and collecting unemployment all summer are definitely gone. “The culture of the ski bum now is in the snowboarder,” she |