Earlier this year, Fortune Magazine writers looked at several research studies to see what major changes are taking place in the working world in 2008. This meta-analysis of statistics is very interesting, especially for people considering taking a new job or moving into a new career. But first there are some key findings you should know about if you are staying in your current position.

For starters, if you are expecting a raise this year because last year's wasn't so good, you might be mistaken. According to the study:

Pay hikes for salaried employees and managers this year will be exactly the same as in 2007, averaging a ho-hum 3.9%. Hourly workers will make out a tiny bit worse, with increases of 3.7%.

One very interesting change is the increasing willingness of employers to offer flexible working arrangements.

Almost 80% [of employers] said they'll introduce or expand alternative work schedules, for instance, allowing employees to come in early and leave early or come in late and work late; 38% plan to allow compressed workweeks, in which people work the same hours but in fewer days; and 33% expect to encourage an increase in telecommuting.

If you are considering changing jobs or careers, be sure to pay special attention to this trend: more than ever, your online reputation is critical.

Hiring managers and recruiters were surveyed by executive career network ExecuNet, and apparently job seekers' "online image management will make or break more job searches" in 2008 than ever.
The article includes useful tips, advice and other resources for job hunters including how to manage your online image.

The world would be a much better place if it operated within the realm of board games. Candyland® would end world hunger. Operation® would cure expensive healthcare. And Mousetrap® would make pest control the most enviable job on earth.

Nearly every board game would have a positive effect on our lives, especially when it came to the economy. Monopoly, the gold standard for fake-business board games, would be an ideal candidate to fix the problems facing America's economy today. If our economy mirrored the activity found in Monopoly, there wouldn't be talk of a recession. There would be talk of burgeoning property values, giant hotels, and who was first to pick the car.

The lessons that our country's sagging state of business can learn from this simple board game are vast. Everything from picking out the proper game piece to knowing when to buy and sell translate perfectly into the arena of money and finance.

Here are five (humorous) ways to steal some karma from the board game magnate:

Community Chest:

These spaces on a Monopoly board are a veritable cornucopia of good news. "You've just been named mayor." "Bank error in your favor." "You've won second place in a beauty contest."
The best part is that you didn't have to do anything to earn these rewards. You might not have any political background, any bank accounts, or any flattering outfits, but it doesn't matter. Community chest rewards players for simply being players.

The economy could learn a great lesson from this board space. Rewarding consumers for being consumers is a grand idea. Tax rebates hit on this idea somewhat; however, they are only a start. A grand economic plan would be to reward consumers in the same way that Monopoly rewards players: for simply being who they are.

Getting a tax break is nice, but winning a beauty contest is much nicer. The government should get creative with its monetary gifts by doling out cash to consumers under the guise of Community Chest congratulations. "You've voted Democrat. Collect $100." "DMV error in your favor. Collect $350." "You are not on the government's terrorist watch list. Collect $500." The possibilities are virtually endless.

Passing "Go":

Monopoly also rewards players for determination, longevity, and progress by putting money back in their pocket simply for getting around the board. This celebration of inertia would make just as much sense in the real world.

Having a financial plan is hard. There are so many temptations to spend, spend, spend, that saving money for the future can seem like a waste of time. This is where the government can step in by creating a program that rewards thrifty citizens.

The economy would be better off if people thought of the future rather than living entirely in the here and now. As such, rewarding these spendthrifts would be a great way to show government support for financial planning. Programs that encourage saving (i.e., don't spend more than you earn and you'll get $200!) could be the economy's own version of passing "Go."

Jail:

Going to jail in the real world is pretty lame.

But when you go to jail in Monopoly, you get to escape the troubles of the board and concentrate solely on the luck of the dice. And get yourself an iced tea.

A Monopoly jail might be the perfect solution to some of the unwise tycoons doing business today. Many problems can be traced to big, important men making bad, important decisions, so having a holding cell for these economic hampers might not be a bad idea.

If the economy created a jail for business idiots (sub-prime lenders?), America's market might be better off for it. Simply hole up everyone who makes bad business decisions, temporarily suspending their decision-making until the economy can support their ideas' failures. Then, when financial times are safe to let them out, these entrepreneurial ball-and-chains can wreak their net-loss havoc all they want.

Trading:

Many of those who struggle in today's economy find themselves in unenviable financial positions. Likewise, anyone who has banked on purchasing all the light blue properties in Monopoly only to see that stupid dog come in and swipe Continental right out from under their nose can relate.

Trading in Monopoly helps move the game along and creates opportunity for excitement, success, and strategy—three things that the economy would kill to have. The idea behind Monopoly trading can translate just as easily into the business world, since Monopoly players are essentially just trading one poor situation for a better one.

Suppose that you have a house on the market that you just can't seem to get rid of, and your neighbor has a giant collection of classic cars that he is trying to move. Well, if it just so happens that you love owning multiple cars and he loves owning adjacent homes, then you would have yourself a deal: the cars straight up for the house. Everyone wins.

Too often, bureaucracy can get in the way of progress, which is often the case in business. Monopoly found a way to skirt the red tape by allowing cut-and-dry deals by responsible players. Shouldn't the economy be just as easy?

Free parking:

Free parking might be the most wonderful part of Monopoly, so why shouldn't it be the most wonderful part of the economy, too?

Some might argue that we already have free parking with the lottery, but the two ideas are different. Free parking is as free as it gets, while lottery tickets cost money, scorn, and judgmental looks from the guy at the gas station counter. Monopoly players who land on free parking did not have to do anything special to rake in their haul other than roll the dice and move their piece.

Consumers deserve a free parking space, too. Monopoly created the space as something for players to look forward to as they rounded the board. The only thing consumers have to look forward to is April 15th.

By creating a free parking space in the economy, the government could raise the spirits of the rapidly depressed population. The free parking could be a certain day of the year when everyone named "Jim" wins $500. It could be a monthly contest, rewarding the person whose mortgage rate matches the national threat level. So long as consumers have something to look forward to, the economy will be fun and exciting.

Many different types of expenses cause people to overrun their budgets. Perhaps none is as common as eating lunch out. All households could save money by reducing this expense category.

One of the main reasons that it’s so easy to severely overrun your budget for eating lunch out is that the expenses are so frequent. If your estimate of the cost is a little low, the cost overrun gets multiplied by the number of times you eat out. If you regularly buy your lunch at work, you can imagine how this could add up. It’s much less expensive to bring your own lunch, where you can effectively take advantage of buying in bulk.

Saving money by bringing your own meal doesn’t mean that you have to eat cheap food. Even replacing purchased meals with similar food that you bring yourself will save you money. Think about what it costs to get a sandwich from a deli or fast food sandwich chain. Compare that to the per sandwich cost of making it yourself, and you’ll quickly realize how much money you could be saving. Adding in the cost of drinks and side items, purchased in larger quantities than a single serving size, increases the cost savings even more. On a per lunch basis, I spend less than $3 a day. You’d be hard pressed to find similarly healthy, quality food for anywhere near that cost by eating out.

For the financial benefits of bringing your own lunch there are some tradeoffs. Obviously, it takes time and effort to buy and prepare food for yourself. Also, you may be tempted to eat less healthy food that’s easy to prepare. Many of us choose fast food when eating out for lunch though, which isn’t anywhere near as healthy as what we can bring for ourselves. Bringing your own lunch also lets you control portion size more easily.

Reducing your expenses from eating out doesn’t necessarily have to mean eating out less. It can also mean eating out more intelligently. Many restaurants have weekly specials or a particular day with discounted menu items. Shifting when you eat out to these days can yield substantial savings. You can also save money by getting multiple meals from one dining experience. Increasing portion size makes this easier than ever. Eating half of your meal and saving the other half for lunch the next day will not only be good for your finances, but likely your health as well.

Reducing the cost of lunches is a small change that can have a large effect. There are lots of ways to reduce our overall expenses, but lunch is one expense category that is common to nearly every household. It does take some discipline and effort to do so, but the benefits make it worthwhile.

Lending Club has started a process to register, with the appropriate securities authorities, promissory notes that may be offered and sold to lenders through our site in the future. Until we complete the registration process, we will not accept new lender registrations or allow new commitments from existing lenders. We will continue to service all previously funded loans during this period, and lenders will be able to access their accounts, monitor their portfolios, and withdraw available funds without changes.

The borrowing side of our site will remain generally unaffected by this registration process; borrowers can continue to apply for loans and new loans posted after April 7, 2008, will be funded and held only by Lending Club.

Until the registration process is completed, the company will undergo a quiet period and will not be able to respond to press and other inquiries about Lending Club or the registration process during that time.

Today, we happily deployed the second iteration of our company blog.

If you’ve been following Lending Club since we launched last May, you’ll recall that our deployment path was first as a Facebook application, represented primarily through posts on this blog, and at the time Lending Club was available to Facebook members only. In the wake of opening up the platform to users beyond those with Facebook accounts, the organic growth has kept accelerating and that’s been really energizing. While rapid growth has its “good problems to have” per se, e.g., ensuring ongoing scalability and stability in concert with feature developments and other value adds, the challenges and feedback from our members and readers on how well we’re meeting them keep us continually psyched.

Off-the-cuff, here are some highlights of the upgrade:

• Updates on the front end
  • More seamless look and feel with the rest of our site
  • More integrated, highlighted tertiary navigation specific to the blog
  • Internal and external search optimizations
  • Randomized, standardized rotation of press and video highlights
  • Standardized, more convenient content sharing and syndication options
  • Printer-friendly pages
  • Friendly error pages
• Updates behind the scenes
  • New caching hooks for improved performance
  • Improved usability measurement and other tracking points
  • Improved anti-spam rules and other security enhancements
  • New content QA routines

We look forward to bringing you more insights, perspectives, musings and debates from the realm of personal finance: borrowing and lending, also social networking and other related technology topics. Whether you’re a new visitor or a longtime subscriber, please enjoy pounding away on this latest configuration and drop us a comment to let us know what you think.

Better Blogging. Together.