Sept 2016 newsletter - Capstone Community Action

Tangible Assets
September 2016
www.capstonevt.org
Staff: Liz Scharf and Maureen Dougherty
Phone: 476-8493 or 800-639-1053 ▪ Fax: 479-5353
Address: 20 Gable Place, Barre VT 05641
Email: [email protected]
Bank Information for IDA Savings Accounts
Calendar of Events
Sept 8—New Financial Education Workshops starting, thru Oct 6
Sept 26—First Monday Morning Mixer, “Communicating is Key” with
guest speaker Donna Bate of dbatespeaking
Sept 27-30—Maureen & Liz out of office, at conference in DC
Oct. 12—First Social Media Marketing workshop, see article
Monday Morning Mixers!
Calling business IDA savers! Capstone is offering a new
opportunity for business owners on five Mondays.
The purpose of these informal, networking events is to provide a lightly structured gathering space for business owners
to share hopes, dreams, tips, and information. Perhaps
you’ll find some avenues for cross marketing or new ways to
attract customers to your business!
Our first mixer is September 26th from 8:00-9:30 a.m. at
Capstone with guest presenter Dona Bate of dbatespeaking.
The discussion topic will be “Communication is Key to Building Your Business”.
Come to these FREE events and learn tips and techniques
YOU can use! Mark your calendar!
Monday Morning Mixers:
8:00-9:30 at Capstone in Barre
Sept. 26, Oct. 17, Oct. 31, Nov. 21 & Dec. 5.
For questions or to register, contact Business Counselor,
Margaret Ferguson at 477-5214 or mferguson
@capstonevt.org.
Community National Bank
Barre: 316 North Main St., 05641; PH: 476-6565
Hours: M-W, 7:30-5:00; TH-F, 7:30-6:00; Sat, 8-12:30
Montpelier: 95-97 State St. (POB 1437), 05602; PH: 223-0598
Hours: M-W, 7:30-5:00; TH-F, 7:30-6:00; Sat, 8-12:30
North Country Federal Credit
Gabby Ballard, 264-6799
49 Carleton Blvd (PO Box 40), East Montpelier, VT 05651
Hours: M-F, 8:30-5:00 (drive thru 8-5); Sat, 9-1 (incl drive thru)
You can make deposits to your IDA account by mail!
Manage Your
Money!
Do you sometimes feel that you are
at the mercy of your money?! Do
you want to set a financial goal and ACCOMPLISH that
goal? Are you MOTIVATED to know where your money goes? Are you CURIOUS about your credit score?
Do you DREAM of retirement someday? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then these free
workshops are for you. Come to our classes and take
charge now!
Personal Money Management:
Five Thursdays, September 8-October 6
1:00-2:30 at Capstone in Barre
We appreciate advanced registration. These classes
are FREE and open to the public! Bring a friend!
Register/questions:
Call Liz 477-5215 or [email protected].
Social Media Marketing Workshops
Our MicroBusiness Program is pleased to offer FREE workshops with Kim Dixon of Insights, LLC at Capstone in Barre.
These workshops will focus on promoting your business through Social Media strategies.
Here’s the schedule:
Wednesday, Oct. 12th from 11 AM to 12:30 PM: Rock Your Holiday Promotions
Friday, Nov. 18th from 1:00-2:30 PM: Measure Your Marketing (How’s it Actually Doing?)
Thursday, Dec. 8th from 1:00-2:30: Get Ready for 2017– Digital Marketing Trends
To register: call Paige Johnson at 882-8191 or sign up online at: http://insights-llc.com/events
Calling All SAVERS!
Do you know anyone who would like to receive $2,000 in grant funds to help them
pursue a goal? If you feel the Tangible Assets IDA program has been worthwhile for
you, please share your enthusiasm with friends who may be interested in joining. We
currently have a few slots available in our most recent grant round for folks who are
interested in saving for post-secondary education or homeownership. Please encourage people you know to get in touch with us for more details and an application.
8 Financial Tips For Young Adults (condensed)
Let’s take a look at eight of the most important things to understand about money if you want to live a comfortable and
prosperous life.
1. Learn Self Control
If you're lucky, your parents taught you this skill when you
were a kid. If not, keep in mind that the sooner you learn the
fine art of delaying gratification, the sooner you'll find it easy
to keep your finances in order. Although you can effortlessly
purchase an item on credit the minute you want it, it's better
to actually save up the money.
If you make a habit of putting all your purchases on credit
cards, regardless of whether you can pay your bill in full at
the end of the month, you might still be paying for those
items in 10 years. If you want to keep your credit cards for
convenience or for the rewards they offer, make sure to always pay your balance in full when the bill arrives, and don't
carry more cards than you can keep track of.
2. Take Control of Your Own Financial Future
If you don't learn to manage your own money, other people
will find ways to (mis)manage it for you. Some of these people may be ill-intentioned, like unscrupulous commissionbased financial planners. Others may be well-meaning, but
may not know what they're doing.
Instead of relying on others for advice, take charge and read
a few basic books on personal finance. Once you're armed
with this knowledge, don't let anyone catch you off guard whether it's a significant other that slowly siphons your bank
account or friends who want you to go out and blow tons of
money with them every weekend. Understanding how money works is the first step toward making your money work
for you.
By Amy Fontinelle
certificate of deposit or a money market account. Otherwise,
inflation will erode the value of your savings.
5. Start Saving for Retirement Now
Just as you headed off to kindergarten with your parents'
hope to prepare you for success in a world that seemed
eons away, you need to prepare for your retirement well in
advance. Because of the way compound interest works, the
sooner you start saving, the sooner you'll be able to call
working an "option" rather than a "necessity."
Company-sponsored retirement plans are a great choice
because you get to put in pretax dollars and the contribution
limits tend to be high (much more than you can contribute to
an individual retirement plan). Also, companies will often
match part of your contribution, which is like getting free
money.
6. Get a Grip on Taxes
It's important to understand how income taxes work. When
considering a job, you need to know if the salary offered will
leave enough money after taxes to meet your financial goals
and obligations. Fortunately, there are plenty of online calculators that can determine your payroll taxes and net pay,
such as Paycheck City.
If you're thinking of taking a higher paying job, you'll need to
understand how your marginal tax rate will be affected. For
example, a salary increase from $35,000 a year to $41,000 a
year won't give you an extra $6,000, or $500 per month - it
will only give you an extra $4,129, or $344 per month
(approximately, the amount varies by state).
7. Health
If meeting monthly health insurance premiums seems impossible, what will you do if you have to go to the emergency
room, where a single visit for a minor injury like a broken
bone can cost thousands of dollars? If you're uninsured, apply for health insurance; it's easier than you think to wind up
in a car accident or trip down the stairs.
3. Know Where Your Money Goes
Once you've gone through a few personal finance books,
you'll realize how important it is to make sure your expenses
aren't exceeding your income. The best way to do this is by
budgeting. Once you see how your morning java adds up in
Also, take daily steps now to keep yourself healthy, like
a month, you'll realize that making small, manageable
eating fruits and vegetables, maintaining a healthy weight,
changes in your everyday expenses can have just as big of
exercising, not smoking, not consuming alcohol in excess,
an impact on your financial situation as getting a raise.
and even driving defensively.
In addition, keeping your recurring monthly expenses as low
8. Guard Your Wealth
as possible will also save you big bucks over time. If you
don't waste your money on a posh apartment now, you might If you want to make sure that all of your hard-earned money
be able to afford a nice condo or a house before you know it. doesn't vanish, take steps to protect it.
• If you rent, get renter's insurance to protect the con4. Start an Emergency Fund
tents of your place from burglary or fire.
One of personal finance's oft-repeated mantras is "pay
•
Disability insurance protects your greatest asset - the
yourself first". No matter how much you owe in student
ability to earn an income - by providing you with a steady
loans or credit card debt, and no matter how low your salary
income if you ever become unable to work for an extendmay seem, it's wise to find some amount - any amount - of
ed period due to illness or injury.
money in your budget to save in an emergency fund every
•
If you want help managing your money, find a fee-only
month.
financial planner to provide unbiased advice rather than
Having money in savings to use for emergencies can really
a commission-based financial advisor. Or work with
keep you out of trouble financially. Also, if you get into the
Capstone’s financial coaches for free!
habit of saving money and treating it as a non-negotiable
• Protect your money from taxes, which is easy to do with
monthly "expense", pretty soon you'll have more than just
a retirement account; and inflation, by making sure all
emergency money: you'll have extra savings for retirement,
your money is earning interest.
vacation and more!
Read more at http://www.investopedia.com/articles/
younginvestors/08/eight-tips.asp#ixzz4FS4sOFxg
Put the money in a high-interest online savings account, a