While we've enjoyed economic growth for four straight years, recent studies have shown that American workers are less confident about their financial security than they were two years ago. Consider these sobering statistics: The median weekly salary in 2005 was $659. After inflation, that's 1.9 percent less than 2004.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com, said "Corporate profits' share of the national income is at a 60-year high - and that has come directly out of wages and salaries, which are at a record low."

In 2005, for the first time since the Great Depression, Americans borrowed more than they earned. "Wages haven't kept up with inflation, and many employers have pushed the cost of health care back to employees in the form of higher premiums and co-pays," said John Challenger, chief executive of outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Wages of the top 10 percent of earners in the United States - those making more than $90,000 annually - have risen much faster than everyone else's. One study found that the average worker's pay stayed nearly flat at $27,000 from 1990 to 2004. (Above figures from Parade magazine.)

Our annual salary survey (page 32) reflects these trends, with a pay raise slowdown of more than half a percent compared to last year. Like national figures across all industries, it was those at the top rung who enjoyed higher increases - which is all the more reason to keep moving up that ladder, to raise your level of professionalism, and increase the value you bring to your organization.

This issue is meant to help you do just that, with a how-to strategy for getting a seat at the executive table (page 38). Contributor John Parke argues that, as the person who is responsible for what is often their organization's most important financial asset, that's a senior planner's rightful place.

In "Mentoring: A Relationship With Benefits" (page 46), industry leaders share how having and being a mentor has shaped their careers. According to Thomas Dolan, Ph.D., FACHE, CAE, president and CEO of the American College of Healthcare Executives, success depends not only upon the skills that you learn in school, but "the interpersonal and political skills that you learn from mentors." For more on mentoring, turn to Workplace for some ground rules (page 20). You'll even find the theme resonating in Leading by Example (page 56), with the profile of a woman whose livelihood is based on helping other women pursue their entrepreneurial dreams.