Spare Change

Net Nugget

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports occupations that received the highest average pay last year, broken out by metropolitan area. It’s available for free at www.bls.gov/oes; look for the alphabetical list of occupations, then click on individual jobs and scroll to the bottom of the page. Here’s a flavor of the data: San Jose, Calif., was the best-paying location for nurses, who earned $96,928 annually; Vineland, N.J., topped the list for correctional officers, at $58,600 a year; and Seattle musicians ranked No. 1 with average pay of $44.78 an hour.

Market Tip

With wireless carriers eager to put their newly won spectrum to work, cellular tower companies stand as one of the primary recipients of any capital investments. Some believe the longer-term potential has yet to be priced into the stock, despite companies’ already lofty valuations. The likely beneficiaries are Crown Castle International, American Tower Corp., SBA Communications and Global Signal Inc.

Money Tip

A cruise ship vacation can cost thousands of dollars, but if you can get a group of people to go with you, you might be able to travel (almost) free. Many major cruise lines such as Carnival, Princess and Royal Caribbean offer group travel deals: get enough people to sign up for a cruise, and the cruise line will pay for one booking. The free fare does not include port charges, taxes or airfare.

Survey Says

The American work force is rapidly changing, and that includes the number of older workers. There were 24.6 million working Americans age 55 or older in August, up by more than 1 million from a year ago, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas.