14 Eylül 2012 Cuma

Back to School Finances: Managing Credit Cards with Care

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The Credit Card Act of 2009, signed by President Obama, makes it difficult for anyone under 21 to get a credit card. You now must have verifiable income or a co-signer.

It’s still possible to have a credit card while in college, and it’s not necessarily a bad thing unless used incorrectly.

Here are some tips on how to build good credit and use credit cards wisely.
  1. Know your credit card’s Annual Percentage Rate (APR). Read the fine print of any credit card you sign up for and know the APR. The higher the APR, the more you will pay if you don’t pay off your balance each month.
  2. Pay off your balance each month. Avoid getting in over your head by paying off the balance each month. Minimum payments may look attractive, but if you only pay the minimum each month you’ll pay a lot more for the original item.
  3. Look for annual fees. You’re a college student with limited money. If your credit card has an annual fee, you’ll want to know about it.
  4. Only charge what you can afford to pay. Many people use credit cards to buy things they can’t afford. Change your mindset. If you can’t afford it, don’t charge it.
  5. Think twice before signing up for gimmick credit cards. Many department stores and airlines offer credit cards with nice perks. Only you can determine if the perks outweigh the terms of the credit card. Again, look for APR and annual fees.
Tomorrow, I'll share some financial tips I wish I knew while I was in college. If you have any tips, feel free to share them with me at Jeremy.Lushene@dfi.wa.gov

Back to School Finances: Managing Checking Accounts

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Going off to college is definitely a right of passage in personal financial management. Not only does money become tight, but now you are responsible for managing your own financial accounts and records.

Today, we cover tips on managing your first checking account.
  • Track your expenses and account balance. Less people are balancing a checkbook due to advances in online banking. If you choose not to track expenses and balance a checkbook, at least get in the habit of reviewing your online account to get a clearer picture of your spending habits and to get an estimate of your account balance. It’s important to remember that the amount that appears on your online account balance does not reflect checks or deposits that have not yet been processed.
  • Check your account statements frequently. If you use online banking, get in the habit of checking your account statements and balances frequently. Not only will you have a better idea of how much money you have in your account, you can act quickly if you spot a fraudulent charge. If you don’t use online banking, review the account statement that the bank or credit union sends to you.
  • Review the terms of your accounts. Some checking accounts have fees associated with them. Review the terms of your account to understand the fees. If you have questions, contact your bank or credit union. Also, understand the overdraft protection policies of your account. New rules require that you opt-in for overdraft protection services.
  • Do not float checks. The "float" is that time delay between when a check is deposited and when the money is withdrawn from your account. With the advancement of electronic check processing, float time has been significantly reduced or in some cases eliminated. Don’t write checks you don’t have sufficient funds for.
Resources
  • FDIC - What kind of account is right for me?
    http://www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/news/cnsum12/chooseaccount.html
  • FDIC - Preventing and managing overdraft fees
    http://www.fdic.gov/consumers/overdraft/
  • Federal Reserve - What you should know about checks
    http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/check21/shouldknow.htm

Back to School Finances: Financial Tips for College Students

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The last blog in our series for college freshmen includes some of our favorite financial tricks and tips.

Use student discounts – Movies, insurance companies, and museums typically offer student discounts. Save a few bucks and take advantage of them.

Watch out for scams – Scams artists are always looking for ways to con you out of your money. Always remember the motto: “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” Also, protect your identity. Be careful who you give your social security number and other personal information to. Be sure to shred documents with your personal information on it.

Continually look for financial aid – Research financial aid options each year you are in school. Work with your financial aid office and visit www.fafsa.ed.gov.

If you have a meal plan, use it – You’ve already paid for the food. Simple as that!

Save on snacks and soda – Buy snacks ahead of time at a grocery store. Stops at the vending machine add up over time.

Learn to pay yourself first – Get into the savings habit now. Even if you can only afford to put a few bucks into savings each month, do so. Good savings habits start young.

Resources
  • MyMoney.Gov – Going to college - http://www.mymoney.gov/category/topic1/going-college.html
  • Nine back to school financial tips for college students http://www.ed.gov/blog/2011/09/nine-back-to-school-financial-tips-for-college-students/
  • DFI’s Right on the Money for College Students - http://dfi.wa.gov/consumers/education/college_book/collegebook.pdf

Students Improving the Financial Lives of Underserved Yakima Valley Residents

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In a geographic area known for economic and educational poverty, lies a unique set of university students who are working hard to improve their communities – students who are creating phenomenal change for the better.

Meet the Heritage University SIFE team, an extra curricular group that works to improve the quality of life and standard of living for those living in the Yakima Valley.

Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) is an international non-profit organization that works with leaders in business and higher education to mobilize university students to make a difference in their communities while developing the skills to become socially responsible business leaders. Participating students form teams on their university campuses and apply business concepts to develop outreach projects that improve the quality of life and standard of living for people in need.

Yakima Valley – The Need for Financial Education

90% of the population in the Yakima Valley has been characterized as financially illiterate by Consumer Credit Counseling of Yakima. This illiteracy stems from the Yakima Valley’s largely immigrant populations who have come to work in agricultural labor, which predominate the valley’s economy.

Development of Financial Education Workshops

Through their partnership with DFI, Heritage University SIFE created a series of workshops to expose primarily Spanish speaking immigrants to credit, homeownership and other relevant financial issues.

By the end of the workshops, attendees understood not only the benefits and responsibilities in obtaining good credit, but also the consequences that come with poor credit habits.

Workshops have been known to draw 200 attendees including parents and children. Pre and post tests indicate the adult attendees went from 10% knowledge of their skills to a 97% comprehension of what is necessary to have good credit report, how to obtain it, and how to maintain it.

Radio Broadcasts

In addition to the workshops, Heritage SIFE and DFI work together to participate in radio broadcasts that discuss financial topics. Radio broadcasts have covered topics such as what to do if you’re facing foreclosure, how to avoid fraud, and how to maintain good credit.

Learn More

Learn more about the Heritage University SIFE program by visiting www.sifehu.com.

View the 2011-2012 SIFE Annual Report - http://dfi.wa.gov/consumers/pdf/sife-annual-report.pdf


Small Business Fair Set for September 29 in Renton

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The 2012 Washington Small Business Fair (Biz Fair) will take place September 29 in Renton. The Biz Fair provides information on how to form and run a successful business.

DFI will have a booth with information aboout our small business assistance programs at the Exhibitor Resource Center.

Saturday, September 29, 2012
8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Renton Technical College

Seminars
The Biz Fair features 40 workshops throughout the day covering a variety of topics on how to start, run, or grow a small business.

Exhibitor Resource Center
Take advantage of the 30-minute breaks between seminars and lunchtime to visit business assistance organizations and government agencies in the Exhibitor Resource Center. The Resource Center opens at 8:00 am and closes at 2:30 pm (just before the last set of seminars begins), so don’t miss out!

More information at http://www.bizfair.org/ 

14 Ağustos 2012 Salı

Political Cartoon: Chicago-style Obama campaign smokescreen!

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Tweet
With a record from his first-term in office that to sum up in one word stinks while at the same time possessing no vision for the future of the country, the campaign strategy of Barack Obama is to rely on diversion and smokescreens to convince the American people that Mitt Romney is no good.

Now the Obama campaign will set its sights on the choice of Paul Ryan as Romney's running mate trying to portray him as a lover of the rich and destroyer of medicare by telling lies and half-truths.

The problem for you Mr. President is that the American people are far too smart to fall for that tactic!

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A Republican Jew from New York's story on growing up Democrat!

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TweetNew York to Obama in November is a foregone conclusion right?

This is most likely an accurate statement due in no small part to the cradle-to-grave affinity that Jews have for the Democrat Party.

Jews voting Democrat is a tradition that's passed down from father to son and from mother to daughter because the Democrat Party has craftily positioned itself as the Party of tolerance, of the poor, of the downtrodden and protector of all races, ethnicities and religions.

At the same time the Left portrays the Republican Party as the party of the elitist rich that's exclusionary rather than inclusionary.

In actuality the reverse is basically true but as the saying goes marketing and image is everything!

The greater point here is that the membership and ideology of no political party can be painted with a broad brush and that in truth each candidate needs to be closely inspected for who they are and what they actually stand for or in some cases don't stand for.

In the 2012 presidential election those who follow Barack Obama with blind faith because of his party affiliation and mostly empty rhetoric would be wise to heed this cautionary advice not only for the good of themselves but also for the good of the United States.


Liberal Wall of Shame!

Take a look at some of the worst liberal offenders who are often considered fine examples of those who  unite and tolerate, some of whom are still active preaching divisiveness and class warfare.

Not on the list below but of course an honorary member is one President Barack Obama. His 20-year + relationship with Reverend Jeremiah Wright speaks for itself which includes the award presented by Obama friend and mentor Wright to Jew-hater Louis Farrakhan!

Some of the most prominent and notorious hate-mongers from the Left include but are not limited to...

  • Hugo Black (KKK)
  • Senator Robert Byrd (KKK rising to the rank of Kleagle), 
  • Senator Ernest Hollings (segregationist), 
  • Jesse Jackson (who can forget Hymietown), 
  • Al Sharpton (Tawana Brawley and the 1991 Crown heights race riots), 
  • Dick Gebhardt (speaking before the Metro South Citizens Council in St. Louis), 
  • Opponents of the 1964 Civil Rights Act including the aforementioned Robert Byrd, Clinton mentor J. William Fulbright,  Al Gore, Sr., Sam Ervin etc. 

These are men who have somehow overcome the taint of these socially deviant proclivities to become liberal icons. (Source)

The bottom-line is that when someone tells you that they're not happy with Obama but that they can't vote for Romney because he is a Republican tell them to look past the Democrat talking points and really look at who and what each candidate is, what they stand for and what they want for America's future.

If they do that, and I mean really do that, then the choice in November will be clear.

Unfortunately most Americans will give more thought to the soup they are going to order at dinner than  about who they will vote for to be the next President of the United States!

Now on to the story of a man who overcame his environmental bias to determine his own destiny.

"A Turning Point" written by an Anonymous New York Jew
Growing up, I had never met anyone who wasn't aLiberal-Democrat. This included my  entire family, everyone on my block inBrooklyn, all my parent's friends and all of our relatives. WOW!!
    But, at the age of 14, we moved toForest Hills, and I got a job as a babysitter, working for a young couple"upstairs", who owned their own business.  Unheard of !!
They were the first people I had ever met, who didn't"work for the city" !!
   Guess what. ? They were Republicans!  But,according to my parents, "they were very nice people anyway ".
     In 1962 I entered NYU DentalSchool, we got married, moved into the city,  and Judy taught third gradeon the lower Eastside. For the first time in my life, we saw a segment ofsociety that I had never met before : "welfare" people !  Thefamilies were "hidden"  in certain areas of town, but theschools were rapidly being filled-with their children.
      It was 1963, and what I didn'tknow then, but I certainly know now, is that welfare, which my parents hadpreached as a necessary, temporary,  safety net for those who truly neededhelp, had been transformed into a permanent, underclass of dependent people whoappeared to be rather "comfortable" being subsidized by this program.
     We all know the escalation of entitlements, not only in their cost  but how it changed oursociety forever. The mantra became "Why should I work, when I make as muchmoney on welfare?"  What used to be a humiliation to be "on thedole", became an accepted way of life!
    But,then, in 1996, only afterDemocrat Bill Clinton had vetoed welfare reform three times, did the RepublicanCongress and the American people continue to press for reform. PresidentClinton realized  that his reelection depended on it, and this legislationfinally passed.      The Democrats went ballistic. The NYTimes predicted that children  would be "dying in the streets"!All because a federal law was passed that mandated that at least one half of alladult welfare recipients had to be involved in "work activities"which could be actual jobs, education or training programs.
    The Liberals were flabbergasted withwhat happened!  Within three years, The U.S. Government estimated that notonly were  4.7 million Americans removed from the welfare rolls and thefederal welfare caseload declined 54% between 1996 and 2004 but there was aprofound  beneficial effect on their family structure.
    But, the Progressives never letresults stand in their way of creating a permanent subculture of dependent people.
    Soit was no surprise to anyone, when Barack Obama , on July 12, unilaterallyremoved the federally mandated  work requirements  for welfarerecipients.
        I never thought I would eversay that European Socialism has taken over the American culture !! But after 4years under this President, nothing surprises me any more . 
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