Work + Money

By Sharon Epperson, CNBC.com

You didn't imagine it. Your paycheck shrunk. Thanks to an increase in payroll tax, more of your pay is going to fund Social Security. You got a break in 2011 and 2012 when the Social Security payroll tax temporarily dropped from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent. Now it's back where it started.

About 160 million workers pay this tax, and this year's two percentage point increase will cost the average worker about $700, according to the Tax Policy Center in Washington. Wealthier taxpayers may actually feel less of an impact since the 6.2 percent payroll tax only applies to wages up to $113,700.

Still, for a family with a household income of $100,000, the payroll tax hike means a loss in income of about $2,000 a year.

[More from CNBC: 5 Ways to Put Extra Cash In Your Pocket]

Financial planners and credit counselors say making up for that loss in income will require some careful planning to cut expenses and increase earnings so the hit isn't such a blow.

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Is coming to you via home delivery of The New York Times this weekend. An eleven-page in depth feature about Lindsay Lohan's onset drama in this week's magazine section, was released online in its entirety Wednesday.

I laughed, I cried, I understood momentarily why Lohan may be the greatest Hollywood star alive. Writer Stephen Rodrick provides a gripping all-access glimpse into the sordid filming of "The Canyons," an upcoming movie starring Lohan and porn star James Deen. The film itself, directed by the frightening Paul Schrader (he wrote "Taxi Driver") is based on a Bret Easton Ellis script. But Rodrick's Times profile focuses on the behind-the-scenes story of movie-making with a uniquely talented, emotionally unstable actress who won't be ignored.

It begins with Lohan in negotiations for the part and ends with the screening of a film with a questionable future. What happens in between can only be fully absorbed by taking 30 minutes from your workday to read the entire article. For

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By Samantha Toscano

Getting a better job can do more than benefit your bottom line. It can improve your health and well-being, too. "If you like what you do, you'd add five days to every week," says Devora Zack, author of Networking for People Who Hate Networking. Keep the following promises, and you'll enjoy your time at the office, no matter how long your workweek might be. Photo by Thinkstock.

Related: Learn about 9 bad habits that are good for you.

1. Network, network, network.
It's not just for the unemployed. "Networking is the key to opening up doors," says Holly Paul, US recruiting leader for PricewaterhouseCoopers. Among what you can get out of it: learning about new opportunities that interest you and meeting the people who can help you get hired. So how do you do it? Whatever works for you, but Zack recommends inviting one or two colleagues who don't work on your team for coffee or lunch and learning about their jobs.

2. Cut the gossip.

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Because she doesn't talk about her "craft". She doesn't use the word "instrument" as a metaphor for her body. She doesn't tattoo Marilyn Monroe on her forearm as an homage, and she definitely doesn't talk about "convincing" the director to let her audition for her celebrated role in "Beasts of the Southern Wild."

You know how actresses love to talk about their instincts? 9-years-old Quvenzhane Wallis, now the youngest Best Actress nominee ever, doesn't talk, she does. The little girl from a small town in Louisiana who helped turn a micro-budget film by a first time director into an Oscar nominee sweeper has no prior experience in Hollywood, film or acting in general. When the 85th Annual Oscar nominations were announced Thursday morning (see the full list here), somewhere sandwiched somewhere between the names Abe Lincoln and Anne Hathaway was the name Quvenzhane (nickname "Nazie") Wallis. Here's why:

-Because never took an acting class before: Wallis isn't a child actress in the c

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