J.P. Morgan Chase Will Be Adding 4,000 Jobs in the U.S. Due To Trump Tax Cuts

J.P. Morgan Chase is joining a handful of companies planning to add jobs using savings from the recently passed tax bill. The banking giant announced plans to invest $20 billion in the U.S. over the next five years.

That investment includes opening 400 new bank branches and hiring some 4,000 new employees, 3,000 of which will work at the new locations. The bank currently employs over 240,000 individuals worldwide. As of 2016, over 167,000 of those were based in the U.S.

J.P. Morgan also announced plans to increase wages for 22,000 employees by an average of 10%, “notably in branches and customer service centers, in an effort to attract and retain great employees,” the company stated in its press release. The new wages, effective Feb. 25, will range from $15 to $18 an hour, depending on the local cost of living. It’s not the first time J.P. Morgan has done this, with the bank raising its minimum wages for some 18,000 employees in 2016.

“This long-term investment, which both increases and accelerates the firm’s current growth, is made possible by the firm’s strong and sustained business performance, recent changes to the U.S. corporate tax system, and a more constructive regulatory and business environment,” the release read.

The bank also said it would boost small business lending by $4 billion, making up a significant chunk of the investment.

The announcement was noticed by first daughter Ivanka Trump, who tweeted about the news.



Despite taking an initial $2.4 billion hit from the tax bill, J.P. Morgan may be expecting long-term benefits from the new corporate tax cuts. The bank said its effective tax rate is now 19%, down from 35% a year ago.

J.P. Morgan isn’t the only company pledging investments following the tax bill overhaul.

Earlier this month, tech giant Apple also said it would create 20,000 new jobs and build a new campus. Disney announced plans to offer a $1,000 one-time cash bonus to over 125,000 eligible employees.

Here is 2016 Top Ten Worst Entrepreneurs

All entrepreneurs fail. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but when their misdeeds take investors, employees and customers down with them, that is. In terms of dysfunctional screw-ups and negative stakeholder impact, here is this year’s list of the worst entrepreneurs of private companies, counting down from ...

10. Matt Harrigan, founder and former CEO, PacketSled

On election day, Harrigan threatened to get a sniper rifle and kill Donald Trump. The Facebook post blew up social media, including Twitter and Reddit. The cybersecurity entrepreneur says he was drinking and joking, but the U.S. Secret Service and his board didn’t think it was funny. He has since stepped down as CEO. Talk about dumb and irresponsible. He's not the only one who suffered, mind you; his stakeholders lost a good CEO.

9. Shani Higgins, CEO, Technorati

Technorati was famous for tracking and rating blog sites. A high-ranking Authority score meant your blog had arrived. Then came Higgins, who pivoted to an ad platform. When she became CEO in 2011, Technorati was reportedly profitable, growing and ranked by ComScore as the nation’s 14th largest media company. But in February 2016, it was sold for just $3 million after having raised $38 million in venture funding. What happened? I don’t know, but it’s on Higgins. A sad ending for a once-storied brand.

8. Dave McClure, founder, 500 Startups

In a childish, expletive-laden temper tantrum, the Silicon Valley angel investor melted down on stage at a Web Summit conference in Lisbon. Why? McClure’s candidate for president, Hillary Clinton, lost the election. The thing is, nobody attended that conference to hear a political rant. That is not how a business leader is supposed to behave; certainly not a public figure who influences so many entrepreneurs. It’s an embarrassment and sets a terrible example for up-and-comers.  

7. Jessica Alba and Chris Gavigan, cofounders, the Honest Company

What’s more dishonest than using a toxic ingredient (SLS) you “guarantee” your products don’t contain, then denying it and calling the Wall Street Journal’s investigative reporting “junk science?” Calling yourself the Honest Company. Once reportedly valued at $1.7 billion and close to an IPO, Honest, which has raised more than $200 million in venture funding, now faces several consumer lawsuits and a potential down exit.    

6. Shervin Pishevar and Brogan BamBrogan, cofounders, HyperLoop One

In a wacky feud, BamBrogan and three executive coconspirators attempted a coup and were ousted from the startup. The insurgents then sued Pishevar and HyperLoop One, alleging breach of contract, wrongful termination, defamation, cronyism, nepotism and a death threat involving a hangman’s noose. You just can’t make this stuff up. The suit was later settled.   

5. Dinesh Lathi, former CEO, One Kings Lane

After raising more than $200 million at a most recent valuation of $800 million under then-CEO Doug Mack, who left to run Fanatics, Dinesh Lathi took over the company in 2014 and apparently ran the flash retailer into the ground. Bed Bath & Beyond acquired the home furnishings site in June for just under $12 million.

4. Gurbaksh Chahal, founder and CEO, Gravity4

Despite pleading guilty to two counts of battery against his former girlfriend, using political clout to attempt (unsuccessfully) to make the charges go away, getting ousted as CEO of RadiumOne, a workplace harassment and retaliation lawsuit, a new assault arrest against yet another girlfriend, the revocation of his probation and a one-year jail sentence, Chahal is still running what’s left of Gravity4. Crazy.

3. Josh Tetrick, founder and CEO, Hampton Creek

In August and September, Bloomberg broke several stories alleging that Tetrick was buying up his own Just Mayo to inflate sales figures and potentially defraud investors. Tetrick claims that a recent $100 million funding round valued the startup at $750 million, but the vegan reportedly has a habit of stretching the truth. Now the feds are investigating. So far, investors have his back, but for how long? It doesn’t look good.

2. Parker Conrad, founder and former CEO, Zenefits

As CEO of high-flying HR software startup Zenefits, Conrad promoted an aggressive sales culture. That’s fine, but not circumventing state regulations by enabling unlicensed salespeople to sell health insurance to small businesses. The scandal led to Conrad’s resignation and a $2.5 billion decline in the company’s private valuation.

1. Elizabeth Holmes, founder and CEO, Theranos

I took a lot of flak for naming Holmes the worst entrepreneur of 2015, but the last 12 months has shown the world what some off us saw from the beginning: that the self-promoting founder and her purported breakthrough technology that would transform the lab testing industry were frauds. Once valued at $9 billion, Theranos has abandoned its much-touted blood testing service and faces lawsuits from Walgreens, investors and customers. This will not end well for Holmes and company.

You Don't Need To Hate The Things of Life To Improve Your Budget. Here's How.

New year, new you, right? Resolutions are often framed with the purge mind-set: Get rid of bad habits and start fresh. It feels like a chore. Here's our case for skipping them entirely! It's easy to feel guilty about big-money items that eat up your paycheck, but the important questions to ask are, Does this bring me joy, and is that absolutely worth it to me? Therapy is a huge cost for me monthly, but I make it work because I consider it a nonnegotiable expense—and I manage it by eating out less and buying less crap that I don't need! I refuse to give it up because it's essential to my mental health and makes me happy.






"Create a budget you can actually stick to," says Alexa von Tobel, founder and CEO of LearnVest, a financial-planning company. "It’s important to have a framework for your day-to-day spending that doesn’t require a ton of mental math and doesn’t make you feel deprived." At LearnVest, von Tobel says, "we follow what I like to call the 'one number strategy': We take your take-home pay (income after taxes) and subtract your goal contributions (money you’re putting toward your vacation fund or retirement account, for example) to calculate the one number left over, which is yours to splurge each week on everything from date night to fitness classes."

So, in the spirit of making your money actually work for you, how about in 2017 we stop feeling guilty about things that are sources of joy? Sure, life would be easier if we ended that pricey gym membership or stopped buying our dog so many plush toys. But sometimes the benefits outweigh the price tag (yes, even when it comes to plush toys). Here's how these women make those $$$ hard-to-give-up items work.

"One of my biggest expenses is my car that I bought in January—it’s a customized jet black Subaru Impreza with the all-important seat warmers that every Northerner wants. It makes me feel safe, warm, classy, and composed. I'm willing to put a high price on that. I'd rather give up a few meals or drinks out or some new shoes in order to pay for what I use every day. It's been challenging to justify such a high car payment at times, like when I got a pay cut at work. I thought about trading in my car for a used one that I could afford more. But I strongly believe that you are actually saving money by spending more to have nice things instead of buying a lot of cheap items. At times spending more on something you truly love is a way to respect, honor, and value yourself." —Grace Norberg, 27, Chicago


"For the last few years, I’ve been taking private yoga classes at a yoga studio near my job that I go to right after work. It’s super convenient, and I miss rush hour traffic. After a stressful day, I’m able to stretch, meditate, breathe, relax, and work on my yoga practice. It helps me connect on a spiritual level and work out all the kinks I develop at my desk all day. I’m investing in my health—it’s benefited me in so many ways. And I make it work in my budget because I buy discounted class packs—the unit price goes down significantly when buying in bulk. I'd spend $6 more per class if I bought them individually, so I'm saving a lot. I also attend free or donation-based classes on days I feel like switching it up. I ask myself, Does what you are buying help you better yourself? If the answer is no, you may think twice about investing in it. Does it make you happy? Is it worth your hard-earned salary? I ask myself these questions about my yoga classes, and the answer is always yes! That is how it should be.” —Tiffany Milakovich, 26, Miami

"Putting money into my savings account each month has become something that I can't give up—I shoot for $600 a month. Budgeting has gone from a painful chore to a pleasurable check off the to-do list! I put away more up front to feel assured that I can do the things that make me happy, like shopping, a fancy trip to Whole Foods, ordering essential oils, or seeing a Broadway show guilt-free. My biggest expense pays off expenses I will have in the future, no matter how big. My rule of thumb is, Pay yourself first, and that has helped me move out of the Bronx to Brooklyn, pay off my credit card, and buy presents for friends and family guilt-free!"—Dani Berkowitz, 25, New York City


"There's a misconception that traveling is an out-of-reach luxury—but if you start small, you can see a lot in your own backyard. I spent the first half of my 20s working several jobs at once to pay exorbitant rent in New York City. Unless I went home for Christmas, I never used vacation days. But I started taking small, affordable trips upstate on the weekends. I'd come back to the city feeling renewed before another busy week. By the end of 2015, I made a personal choice to leave my full-time position in the city and work freelance. My new schedule and the money I'd managed to save up allowed me to relocate to Florida and travel elsewhere. I booked two trips to Honduras and spent the rest of 2016 traveling domestically, exploring cities in Alabama, mountain towns in North Carolina, and rural parts of Texas, among other places. In 2017 my money resolution is to continue putting more time and money aside for longer, international trips because they’re important to me. I like to research new locations, things to do there, and travel costs even when I'm not really planning a trip. Knowing I have something to work toward or look forward to someday is enough motivation for me to save.” —Renee Rodriguez, 26, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

CEOs of These Big Companies: Uber, SpaceX/Tesla and PepsiCo Joins Trump Business Council

Elon Musk, the chairman and chief executive of SpaceX and Tesla as well as Uber Technologies CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick and PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi have joined U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's advisory council, Trump's transition team said on Wednesday.

The group, which includes numerous other top business leaders, aims to give industry input on the private sector to Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20.

Here is How To Make Money in 13 Ways While You Sleep

Do you remember in the past we were warned to be careful about being in debt because interest never stopped charging us, interest never slept, never took a day off, never took a holiday. Well the reverse is true, as well.

Is your money making money while you sleep? Does it sound too good to be true? Since we still live in the age of the interest, it’s not that difficult to earn extra money on the side.

With that in mind, here are 11 ways that you can actually earn money while you sleep.

1. Start a blog.

Perhaps the most popular way to earn a passive income is by launching your own blog. It only takes a couple of minutes to setup and is cheap to start - just purchase your domain name and pay for hosting.

After that, start creating amazing content that people would be interested in reading or sharing. For example, if you’re an accountant that has helped small business owners with their taxes, then that could be your blog. I personally have my invoicing blog to help customers know everything there is to know about invoicing. This draws thousands of signups a month.

Make sure the topics you write about are popular. If you still love your pet rock, I doubt there would be enough people visiting your our site to monetize it. But, you never know.

Once you’ve gained a following, you can start making money from of your blog by:

Earning commissions as an affiliate. This is where you push other people’s products or services on your site. Make sure these products or services are relevant to your blog. For example, that accounting blog could become an affiliate for accounting or invoicing software. Once you find an affiliate partner you’ll be given a unique code so that whenever a visitor clicks that link on your site you’ll earn your commission.

Sell-advertising. If you’re site has the traffic to become an affiliate, then it may also be good enough for advertisers to purchase ads on your site. You may start off small, like making under $20 per ad. But, you may eventually be able to charge triple digits. Again, you site must be quality.

Find sponsors. This is slightly different than just selling ads on your site. Sponsorships may be a one-off piece of sponsored content or permanent logo embedded in your footer.

2. Sell your own information product.

If you’re knowledgeable in a certain area, then you can start creating products, such as eBooks or videos, and selling them on your blog. It may take a lot of work to create and market your products, but once all the leg work is over, you can just set back and collect the proceeds.

3. Earn royalties.

If you’re a talented musician, actor, or author, then you could earn royalties from your work. In other words people will pay you for using your work or creative assets.

If you aren’t talented enough, but still interested in earning royalties, then check out Royalty Exchange. It’s a marketplace where you can buy and sell royalties.

4. Create a membership community.

If you’ve proven yourself to be a authority figure, then you can create a membership community where you pay a monthly fee to receive additional high-quality content and information that’s not available to non-members.

One of my favorite examples is Timothy Sykes who makes more than $100,000 per month in passive income through his membership community which discusses how people can make money in trading penny stocks. 

5. Install an autoresponder.

Another common online business model is using autoresponders to sell services, products or memberships. This is where people leave their email address on your site and then they’ll receive an automated email containing the link to download products or quality information you have to offer, as well as follow-up with a series of emails.

You’ll a need service like OptinMonster to make this possible. I also recommend you read this Quick Sprout guide to get started with autoresponders.

6. Flip websites.

If you’ve put in the time and effort in building a website and you have gained a lot of traffic, then you may be able to sell it to an interested party by listing on marketplaces like Flippa. I've bought and sold a lot of sites here and made a lot of money.

7. Sell physical products.

Just like with a blogging site, there are several ways to earn a passive income by selling physical products. Probably one of the best known ways is by selling your old junk on eBay. But even if you don’t have anything left to sell you can start drop shopping. This is where you sell products for a company on eBay or Amazon and they’ll take care of the rest - including shipping.

You can also launch your own eCommerce store by using Shopify. They literally give you everything you need to sell products online from a complete online shop to including buy buttons on your social media channels.

8. Invest in stocks or shares.

When you invest in stocks you become a stakeholder. That entitles you to a share of their profits. Investing in stocks has been a popular way to earn a passive income for years, and thanks to the internet, it’s easier than ever to research and invest in stocks on your own.

Keep in mind that the stocks you invest in can change throughout the various stages of life. For example, I look for investments that can benefit my daughter, such as a CA529 plan that will go towards her college tuition.

9. Peer-to-peer lending.

Companies like LendingClub, Propser, and Harmoney have created a new industry where anyone can become a lender. They will then match you with a consumer who either prefers or has trouble securing a loan from a bank. You can earn a higher interest rates on the loans you issued since you’re dealing directly with the borrower.

10. Rent out property.

Thanks to Airbnb, you can rent out your home while on vacation or your vacation home when not in use. You can also rent out your garage, parking space, or unused office space. It’s a nice supplemental income without really doing anything except placing an ad.

11. Hire a middleman.

This is also known as arbitrage and is basically where you have someone else do the work for you. For example, you could start a dog walking service or web design firm, but outsource the actual dog walking or coding to someone else. You’re much better doing anything except being the middleman who is in charge of marketing these services.

Barack Obama and Donald Trump Fights Over Free Trade at Asia-Pacific Summit

US President Barack Obama on Sunday defended free trade as fellow Asia-Pacific leaders vowed to fight protectionism after Donald Trump's shock election victory sparked fears for the future of global commerce.

Trump's triumph in this month's US presidential poll has raised concerns that years of rolling back trade barriers could be reversed after the populist billionaire vowed to tear up a series of key deals.

His victory overshadowed a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group held in Peru this week where leaders, including Obama, China's Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin, found themselves under fierce pressure to defend free trade.

Globalization and trade deals have been increasingly blamed in Europe and America for sending jobs abroad and eroding living standards, concerns reflected in both the election of Trump and Britain's "Brexit" vote in June to leave the European Union.

At the APEC gathering there was particular concern about the future of a major US-backed accord -- the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which Trump has vowed to kill off -- and that China was positioning itself to forge ahead with its own trade deals and fill a vacuum left by any American withdrawal.

But after the summit closed on Sunday, Obama said that the 12-nation trans-Pacific deal, a key part of his much-vaunted "pivot" to Asia, was far from dead and those involved still wanted to move forward with the United States.

The president also insisted trade was positive as long as it was carried out in the right way and sought to answer rising concerns about globalization, conceding that "historic gains in prosperity" had not been evenly distributed.

"That can reverberate through our politics," he said.

"That's why I firmly believe one of our greatest challenges in the years ahead across our nations and within them will be to make sure that the benefits of the global economy are shared by more people."

And he sent a message to a world that is increasingly wary of globalization: "The answer is to do trade right."

- 'Fight protectionism' -

Obama's concerns about growing inequality were echoed by other leaders at the gathering, with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong saying steps must be taken to ensure that "no groups in society are left behind."

"Only then can we push ahead with trade and economic cooperation," he said.

APEC's 21 members from either side of the Pacific offered their own staunch defense of free trade as the annual summit ended, pledging to "fight against all forms of protectionism."

In addition the group vowed to refrain from competitive devaluation of their currencies, after Trump repeatedly accused China of keeping the yuan undervalued to boost exports and threatened to declare Beijing a currency manipulator.

But analysts were not convinced by the APEC statement, with senior analyst Jeffrey Halley at forex broker Oanda saying it sounded like "empty rhetoric."

"Most participants have very different definitions of what constitutes open markets and protectionism," he said.

While Obama sought to be upbeat about the TPP's prospects, some experts say Trump's attacks on the agreement -- which he called a "terrible deal" -- and his Republican allies' control of Congress mean it is dead in the water.

Other observers have suggested that the deal-making real estate mogul may seek to negotiate changes to the agreement once he takes office in January, and then claim a victory if a new version is passed.

A failure of the TPP would likely be welcomed by China, which was excluded from the deal and saw it as an attempt by the US to increase its clout in Beijing's backyard.

As the summit concluded Sunday, Chinese foreign ministry official Tan Jian took a veiled swipe at America, saying that countries "should not politicize free trade arrangements."

Trump's victory and the potential demise of the TPP means that even longtime US allies may soon be turning to Beijing in a region hungry for trade.

President Xi set himself up as the anti-Trump at this week's summit, defending open markets and pushing two rival agreements -- an APEC-wide deal and a 16-member accord that excludes the US.