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Prep Your Finances for Success in 2016

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Brought to you by our partner Accel Financial Services
With 2016 just around the corner, many people will make resolutions to manage their personal finances better.  Whether that means saving more, or setting up a personal budget, the suggestions can get overwhelming.
Here are four easy personal finance goals for you to consider, to start the New Year on the right path:
1. Set up a money management system that works for you

Different systems work well for different folks, but here are a few ideas:

  • Write down your income and all of your monthly expenses. Look for opportunities to trim expenses, wherever you can.
  • Identify the areas where you might overspend, and then decide to use cash for these transactions. Then, limit the amount of cash you put in your wallet each week to the amount you’ve decided to spend. Seeing the amount of money available as a fixed, finite thing can help you control your spending. 
  • Set up automated budget alerts with a service such as our MoneyDesktop financial management program within online banking.

2. Review your credit report 
Visit www.annualcreditreport.com to receive one free credit report annually from each credit bureau. 

If you’re having trouble understanding how to improve your credit, a free credit report review through the Accel program can help.
3. Begin to save 
Once you’ve got a workable budget, automate the process of saving. Setting up direct-deposit into savings makes it much more likely that you’ll save. Plus, paying yourself first helps the money to be “out of sight and out of mind,” so that you’ll be able to stick more closely to the spending plan you’ve set for yourself.
It’s important to reach a point where you have a balance between short-term savings and long-term (retirement) savings. It should be a priority to try to adjust your budget, so that you can take advantage of any employer-sponsored retirement plan that your job might offer, especially if the employer offers a contribution match.
4. Get serious about reducing debt 
One of the first steps in decreasing your debt load is to stop adding to it in the first place. Begin to get out of the habit of using credit cards for purchases.
If you have consumer debts, look for ways to try to reduce your overall interest costs and fees. Through our credit union’s partnership with Accel, you have access to a Debt Management Plan, which may reduce interest rates, lower monthly payments and waive late fees, for free!  To learn more, call 877-332-2235 or visit www.accelservices.org.

Keep Yourself Safe During The Holiday Season

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Every year, we hear about the same holiday safety tips – don’t drive tired, don’t drive drunk, assume every other driver is drunk and/or tired, etc. Those are all good ideas to keep in mind year-round. Occasionally, we’ll hear one that’s specific to the season, like how frying turkey in the driveway is as dangerous as it is delicious, and it’s also not something to try while drinking or overly tired. Unfortunately, this time of year is also one of financial dangers, many of which you won’t hear about on the morning news or read about in the paper.  Take some time, read our tips, and hopefully you won’t be a holiday victim. 

Keep an eye on your surroundings – Crowded malls and shopping centers are a savory opportunity for pickpockets.  You’re expecting to get bumped and won’t notice one more jostle in a day full of them.  If you do recognize you’ve been robbed, the thief can probably get away into the crowd, disappearing like a needle in a haystack.  Purses should be worn across the body, wallets kept in the front pocket or inside a closed jacket.  Consider leaving the house with the bare minimum, such as your driver’s license or ID, health insurance card and our debit card – which offers fraud protection and security features not available with cash. 

RFID, RFID, RFID – Today’s pickpockets don’t need to take your wallet to cause you problems, because many modern debit and credit cards emit RFID signals with personally identifying information.  If any of your cards have a chip, then you need to account for them. Check our RFID wallet guide for some tips. In a pinch, you can wrap chipped cards in two layers of aluminum foil, which will offer you protection from high-tech pickpockets, but you may get some bewildered stares or questions from folks at the register.

 

Don’t leave checks in the mailbox – At some point, we all learned not to use those colorful envelopes that tell thieves which cards might have checks in them, but we never learned the next step: Don’t put checks in the mailbox at all.  It’s not hard for thieves to grab stuff out of the outgoing mail, whether it has the power company’s name on it or is shaped like a holiday card.  Drop all checks into a big blue mailbox, bring them into your post office branch, or hand them to your postal carrier in person.  By the way, this tip should be followed year-round, and you might want to consider setting up our online bill pay feature to minimize the number of checks you write, as well. 

Understand the dangers of every form of payment – Every form of payment has its dangers.  Cash is portable and untraceable, so it’s a target for thieves.  Cards without EMV chips are in danger from skimmers built into the card reader at registers (like what happened at Target).  EMV cards can be skimmed by people with specialized equipment who bump up next to you.  All cards, cash and mobile phones are in danger of being stolen.  Some experts are even saying that check fraud will be the most dangerous type of identity theft over the next five years.  Even if you attempt to return to agrarian-era bartering, an enterprising thief could run off with the cow you were going to trade for an Old Navy gift card.

Take a breath, recognize the dangers and take reasonable precautions. Do you know what kind of fraud protection you have on each of your credit cards?  Any card about which you’re unsure needs to stay home until you find out.  Unsure about a small boutique’s cyber security? Bring cash. 
Bring your own bag – Shopping bags are a great way for stores to advertise, but they also advertise to thieves.  “This overburdened, overtired, potentially unwary individual is carrying goods from all of these stores,” the bags say “some may even have receipts in them and might have been paid for with cash.” Don’t make it easier for thieves. Instead, bring a tote bag that zips up if you have one, or your canvas grocery bags if you don’t. 
Take a trip to the car – Carrying too much is asking for trouble.  It makes you less mobile, you’re less likely to feel someone remove an item from your bags, and even if no one hassles you, it’s a good way to end up with back pain.  If you’re enduring a marathon trip to the mall, take time every few stores to take your purchases out to the car. Keep receipts in your wallet and take pictures of the bags you put in your trunk (where thieves can’t see), so even in the worst possible scenario, your car insurance can cover the loss of your shopping from a car thief.
Plus, you’ll have less to carry, you’ll get some exercise, and the cold air can help you clear your head to decide if you need to purchase anything else.  Not a bad way to keep from overspending! 
Buy yourself a holiday drink from the coffee shop – You’re probably safer if you’re alert, but that’s just an excuse.  Holiday coffee drinks are delicious, you want one, and we just gave you an awesome excuse to justify the everyday luxury of a peppermint mocha to yourself.  You’re welcome. 
January is coming, be ready – If you’re going to binge on holiday shopping in December, you’ll need to purge in January.  Keep all of your receipts and do an extra-careful reconciliation of your accounts in January.  Be ready to spend a few afternoons making phone calls to make sure every charge is correct and accounted for.  Make sure to check your credit report in January as well.  While you’re checking your credit and your accounts, take the opportunity to start the new year off right:  you have your financial info gathered already, you have your credit report in front of you and your W-2s are starting to show up, so it’s time to do three things:
  1. File your taxes.  Don’t get mad at us, it’s not our fault.  We’re only reminding you to do it early because you’ll already have most of what you’ll need, so getting your homework done on Friday will give you the rest of the weekend off. And don’t forget to have any refund directly deposited to your Destinations account.
  2. Rework your debt.  You have every one of your credit card and other account statements in front of you, so it’s time to make some calls.  For your higher interest cards, it’s time to pay them down, transfer the balances to a MasterCard at Destinations Credit Union or negotiate a lower rate.  This is easier if you’ve got some cash in hand, possibly from the tax refund you now know you’re getting.  You can also take this time to explore using your home equity to eliminate some of the high-interest cards. 
  3. Set up a Holiday Club for 2016.  Alright, you just saw how much money you spent this holiday season.  Next year, resolve to do it all without taking on unnecessary debt.  You’ll save a ton of money and a ton of stress.  The best way to do that is with one of our Holiday Club accounts.  Use this year’s budget as a guide. Next year will be a breeze.

And that’s it.  It sounds like a lot, but it’s really taking the same level of vigilance you would use for normal shopping and increasing it to correspond with the increased spending of the season.  For a good rule of thumb, maybe we should just establish the “3-Mariah” rule:  Once you hear Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” for the third time on any day, you have to go home – you’ve either spent too long at the mall, or your brain has been turned into holiday slurry and you can no longer be trusted to remain vigilant.  Three Mariahs and you’re out.

How Will I Ever Retire If They Keep Moving The Finish Line?

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What happens if you’ve made it to the day you thought you’d be retiring, but you’re simply not financially ready? Perhaps you passed your “Plan B” date. Maybe even “Plan C” has come and gone. You know you’ve been making the right moves, but a temperamental stock market, kids who stayed home longer than expected or an unlucky series of events keeps pushing back your time frame.  So, in exasperation, you ask … 

Question: “How will I ever retire? When will it be safe to stop working?“ 

Answer:  Well, hopefully very soon.  We’re going to show you some ways to put luck back on your side.  It’s going to be part planning, part faith and a good deal of ingenuity, but we can get your pictured future back within sight again. 

Question:  “OK, so how do I know when I’ll have enough money?” 

Answer:  The first thing you need to do is realize that enough money is possible.  It’s scary to read headlines about Boomers running out of money because they lived so long, especially when they’re coupled with stories about how the 4% rule isn’t enough.  If you take these articles at face value, you’ve got to come up with 40 years of savings, assuming you’ll be taking out as much as 10 percent of your nest egg every year.  Because it’s difficult (if possible at all) to get to that point, it’s easy to give up. 

Instead, go back to 4%.  Or, if you’re being conservative, make it 5%. That’s a 25% raise! That’s a lot! Then, remember the lessons of your working life: Anything that happens far in the future should be weighted far less, because you never know what might happen between now and then.  You might find you don’t care for fly fishing that much or you no longer need that annual trip across the country. Your neighborhood’s home values could rebound.  Maybe you’ll stumble onto a strong investment.  There’s too much uncertainty in life to freak out about what’s going to happen far away into the future. Take 5% out, per year, until you’re 85.  That’s plenty. Anything beyond that is too much. 

Question:  “How can I make sure I’ve got enough retirement income?“ 

Answer:  One of the easiest ways to produce panic is realizing that money only flows one way once you stop working. You’ve been conditioned to treat any month in which you spend more than you earn with revulsion, shame and guilt. Now, that’s going to happen every month – for the rest of your life.

A lot of retirees feel more comfortable with money coming in on a regular basis. You can accomplish this in a variety of ways.  First, try to put off Social Security as long as possible.  The higher payout will make retirement much easier. Second, try to create passive income using investment products.  In the same way that dividend-producing stocks pay out on a regular basis, you can create passive income that can be accessed any time by moving chunks of your retirement into high yield savings products like money market accounts.  That way, you can still budget the way you used to without having to sell your stocks (while hoping you guessed the right time to sell).

You can also create passive income by using your home equity to fund a business venture.  Right now, mortgage rates are low, but a lot of Boomers are missing out because they paid off their homes in order to retire.  You use a home equity line of credit to buy a rental property (which builds equity at the same time it gives you a paycheck) or start an online business built around your hobbies.  If you love to knit, sell handcrafted items on Etsy.  Do you like to fish? Start manufacturing lures with the equity in your home.  These ideas can generate a monthly income for you and also give you something else to leave to your children.  In a pinch, you can even sell the rental property or sell shares in the business for a quick cash infusion. 

Question:  What about my health?  That can be a big cost, even with Medicare. 

Answer:  One of the best places to put some money when you retire is into various forms of insurance. You probably already have life insurance, homeowners, and insurance on your other big purchases, but you also probably only have Medicare to cover the health side of your insurance portfolio.  What happens if you need something Medicare doesn’t cover?  Is it worth it to go on Healthcare.gov and try to find a supplemental plan?

One way to keep your options open is to try a “do-it-yourself” Health Savings Account (HSA).  While traditional HSAs gain their benefits from your employer paying into them, you can get a lot of the same benefits simply from putting some spare cash into one of our high-yield money market accounts.  That way, you’ve got money put aside for a health emergency, but you’re not spending on a premium you’ll only need very rarely.  As an added benefit, you can access that money if you need it for things that aren’t health-related if some other kind of emergency comes up.

Hopefully, you’ve gotten a better idea of how to tackle retirement.  You need to have faith and protect yourself at the same time.  The best way to do that is to put your money with someone you trust and give yourself access to it, just in case.  If you need any more info, want more guidance, or just need someone to talk to about taking the leap, give Destinations Credit Union a call at 410-663-2500.

The Shoulds Of Retirement

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When it comes to retirement, the variety of ways to save money can be so confusing that even the most diligent investors might wonder if they are looking at the right information, doing the right thing or if they’re even on the right track. Would you know if you should be using a fancy savings plan?  Should you put more in? Less?  Should you panic?  While we’ll get to the rest of the questions, the answer to the last one is no, you should not panic.  There is no retirement plan anywhere that does better when you panic.

For anyone confused about retirement, there are lots of sources that explain who, what, how, when and why, but very few places to turn for one of the most important questions – should.  This guide is meant as a quick reference to that really tricky word, with some of the most common “should” questions answered. Like any other guide, though, it can’t be as specific as you’d like, so if you have more questions, get in touch with us at 410-663-2500, or ask questions our Facebook page.  Ask us your shoulds or see what shoulds other people are asking.  If you’ve got a question, it’s a safe bet you’re not alone. 
Question:  How much money should I have when I retire?
Answer:  This is the most common “should” question in America right now, probably because of its importance.  The answer that most experts give, “as much as you’ll need” isn’t particularly helpful.  A better, although still maddeningly incomplete answer involves some simple math you can do on the back of a napkin: take your annual income the year before you plan to retire and subtract your annual retirement income (Social Security, pension, trust, etc.) from it. Whatever that difference is, multiply it by the number of years you expect to live after retirement, probably 15-20.  That’s how much you need, give or take a bit.
For example, if your Social Security and pension pays you around $50,000 per year and you’re making around $150,000 before you retire, the difference is $100,000.  Multiply that by 20, and you’ll probably need around $2 million.  If that sounds like a whole lot of money, that’s because it is a whole lot of money.
Question:  How much should I be saving now?
Answer:  Another question that all-too-often results in a frustrating answer. You should save as much as you can, but not more than you can.  A better answer is that retirement should be your savings priority, ahead of college funds or other long-term savings simply because you can’t get a loan to retire, but you can for virtually everything else.  If you feel like your monthly contributions are just drops in the bucket, stop focusing on the bucket.  Instead, take a look at your monthly picture.  Make a pie chart with five big slices:  Bills, debt, spending, short-term savings and long-term savings.  This isn’t yet the time to go through and figure out how to trim your bills or refocus your spending, just look at those five. How much of your long-term savings is being used for retirement?  Could that number be higher?  If so, put more into retirement.  If you want to find ways to reduce your costs so you can save more money for retirement, look at those categories again and start making cuts from right to left.  First, cut some spending from other long-term savings.  Then short-term savings, spending, debt and finally bills.
Question:  When should I start saving?
Answer:  If you read the last two questions and have sharp pattern recognition skills, you might expect a frustrating answer, but this one is actually easy.  If you haven’t started, start today.  Like, right now. Seriously, either click this link for information on our IRA programs. It only takes a few minutes, and you’ll feel so much better.  Remember the motivational cliché: the best day to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second-best day is today.
 
Question:  What kind of retirement account should I get (or get next)?
Answer:  There are three major considerations when selecting a retirement account.  First, how many years do you have until you retire?  The answer to that question should help determine your risk.  The second question is how much money do you make?  The answer to that question determines whether you’d like to be taxed on the income now or in retirement.  Unfortunately, you’ll have to pay taxes on it at least once.  Finally, have you maximized the benefits of another account?  If you’re past the point of getting your employer to match your 401k, look at all of your options.  If not, put in as much as you can that your employer will match. You’re not going to find a lot of retirement plans that pay more than the 100% rate of return your employer is offering by matching funds, and if you do find one that can consistently outpace your employer’s contributions, it’s probably illegal.

Once you have the answers to those questions, check the link above or drop us a line at info@destinationscu.org and we’ll set you up with the best plan we can.

There are a lot of retirement guides out there, but most of them aren’t very good at those “shoulds” that matter so much in our daily lives. Hopefully, this guide has given you enough information to know what questions to ask.  We’d love the opportunity to talk about these shoulds or any others you might have. For now, check out our Facebook Page and join in the conversation!

Sources:

http://www.investopedia.com/university/retirementplans/529plan/

http://www.savingforcollege.com/articles/coverdell-ESA-versus-529-Plan
http://money.cnn.com/retirement/guide/basics_basics.moneymag/index7.htm
http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2014/12/19/7-retirement-savings-accounts-you-should-consider

What School Doesn’t Teach You About Money

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With the new school year either here or just around the corner, it’s time to fill your shopping carts with #2 pencils, protractors and all the goodies the kids will lose by the second day of school.  If they’re headed off to college, it can be even more exciting. But, instead of needing you to replace their pens on day two, your college-aged child will probably be calling to ask for money by then. 

It’s such a ritual that, at this point, many of us don’t really question it. But how much do our kids actually know about money?  You might want to only include the lessons you taught them, because their school probably didn’t teach them much at all.

Common core and other national guidelines don’t include requirements for teaching budgeting skills, how to balance a checkbook, or even explanations of basic concepts such as credit, loans, or mortgages. Basically, the last time your children learned about money at school, it probably involved finding out how many apples and oranges they could buy in some middle school math word problem.

We talked to some credit union members about the lessons they want to pass onto their kids, and below you’ll find some of our favorite lessons to teach your kids. 

  • Pay yourself first.  No one else is going to make you a financial priority, so don’t make them your financial priority.  
  • If you want to know if you can afford something, check your budget. If you have to check your checking account, you can’t afford it.  If you reconcile your accounts every month, you’ll have a pretty good idea how much is actually in each account.  But having enough money isn’t the same thing has having enough money.  Plan ahead. Make a budget. Execute the plan by sticking to that budget.
  • Take risks while you’re young.  You can afford to be more aggressive with your retirement and college funds while you have plenty of time to make it back up, so don’t be afraid to push those funds a little bit.  That said, not saving for retirement is not a risk. It’s just a bad idea.   
  • Make sure the Joneses are keeping up with you.  It’s easy to get lost trying to compete with your peers and almost as easy to ignore those consumer pressures entirely.  But what about the third option?  Instead of ignoring their financial situation, check in every now and then to see if they need help.  Our communities are better when we care about each other.

Whether your kids are in diapers or their kids are wearing them, it’s never too early or too late to teach financial literacy.  Make sure you’re instilling the right lessons, and check back in with Destinations Credit Union, because we’ve always got plenty of resources for young people to learn the lessons they aren’t getting in math class.

Tax-Free Weekend … Every Weekend

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Tax-free weekend will end this Saturday (8/15/15) for Marylanders.  It’s a heady rush, getting our Black Friday fix in the sunshine of August  The kids are ready to head back to school with new clothes (that they don’t yet hate) and school supplies (they haven’t yet lost).  But what about the people who missed out?  What about the kids who just need one more thing? What about mom and dad who deserve a tax-free spree, too?  Is there a way to shop tax-free every weekend without ending up with the IRS coming after them?
The answer is yes, you can shop with a 10, 15, or 20 percent discount every day and do it without breaking the law. Some of our favorite tips for keeping costs down are below. They also come with a plan for turning your shopping savings into long-term savings, because it’s not enough to keep money in your pocket, you’ll want to put it to good use, too.
When you’re done reading, hit up our Twitter feed or Facebook page to share your favorite tips and post pictures of your best hauls.
Bring your smartphone.  Don’t buy anything in a brick and mortar store without pricing it online first. If you’re the kind of shopper who frequently buys on impulse, just bring your smartphone and do a few searches of the most likely places you’d find the item you’re looking at, like eBay, Zappos or the website for the store where you’re shopping.  The Amazon app even lets you scan a barcode with your phone’s camera and does the searching for you.  You can save a lot with this simple 30-second step.
Shop for used gift cards.  We all know the feeling of getting a gift card we’ll never use.  Well, a variety of websites offer a place for people to sell their unwanted gift cards, often for well below the face value of the card.  Everybody wins: The seller gets some value out of a gift card that would otherwise be sitting in a junk drawer and the buyer gets a nice discount.
So, before you check out online or in-store, search Gift Card Granny and Gift Card Zen.  They have some gift cards that will transfer to you in five minutes or less, allowing you to save 10-15% right away.  All gift cards are backed by the site, so you don’t have to worry about scams.  For many of the big chain stores like Target and The Gap, those online codes work in store as well, so you can save money while you wait to check out.
Clear your cookies.  Retailers are smart, so they know that getting you to make a quick purchase on your first visit means they’ll probably get you to shop at their store for life.  They’ll offer you a coupon for 10 or 20 percent off of your first purchase if you sign up for promotional emails on your first visit. Those offers often expire within 24 or 48 hours.  As smart as retailers are, their websites are not quite as intelligent.  It’s easy to make websites think it’s your first visit so you can get that coupon every time you visit.  All you need to do is visit the site from a different browser than you usually use.  If you don’t have more than one web browser, you can download Chrome, Mozilla or Opera for free, and use that for this trick next time, too.  Sometimes you just have to use your phone. If none of that works, try clearing your cookies and browser history. Then, all you need is an email address you haven’t used at that site, and most of us have a few of those just waiting to be used.
Turn your everyday savings into long-term savings.  It’s great to save a few dollars every now and then, but it doesn’t always feel like you’re really getting anywhere.  But you were going to spend that money anyway, so if you put it in savings, it wouldn’t be a sacrifice.  You can pull up our website at www.destinationscu.org or use mobile banking and transfer that money to savings before you even leave the store.  If you put an extra $25 away every month, that’s $300 per year … without really trying!
If that seems like a lot of work, you can also work the gift card trick into your monthly budget.  If you normally spend $25 per month on coffee, buy a $25 Starbucks gift card online from Gift Card Zen for $20 at the the beginning of the month, then put $5 into your savings.  Now you’ve got the savings and an easy way to stay on budget.  The gift card can go into their app so the whole family has it on their phones – it’s like Starbucks is paying you $5 to make your life easier.
You can do this for all the places you shop.  For instance, do you budget $100 for clothes, $300 for gas, $50 for eating out, $25 for coffee and $25 for movies each month?  If you get gift cards for those stores at 10 percent off, you’ll save $50 each month, totaling $600 per year.  If nothing else, you can put that in one of our Holiday Club accounts and have it at the ready to take care of your holiday shopping!  
Sources:

https://www.starbucks.com/card

http://www.giftcardzen.com

http://www.giftcardgranny.com/

Building A Bridge To Retirement: Leaseback Arrangements

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Whether they want to get more sun, get closer to grandchildren or downsize their home to cash out some equity, Baby Boomers are moving more often during their first few years after retirement than did the previous generations of retirees. The final year in the workforce can feel a lot like moving, as individuals run themselves ragged trying to make last-second arrangements, finalize budgets and journey into a yet-unexperienced phase of life. So retirees who are moving often have twice the stress, too.  Leaseback arrangements, a staple of commercial real estate, have become far more popular as Boomers retire, allowing retirees to eliminate some of the stress and uncertainty involved in moving during retirement. 

How it works 

A leaseback is a financial arrangement in which an individual sells their home with the understanding that they will immediately enter a lease agreement with the new homeowners so they can stay in the house for an agreed-upon amount of time.  Leasebacks can work two ways for those nearing retirement. First, a retiree can sell the house in which they’ve been living and lease it from the new homeowner until they retire, or alternatively, retirees can buy the perfect retirement property as soon as it becomes available and lease it back to the previous homeowners until the retiree is ready to move in.  Leaseback arrangements don’t have to be complicated or intimidating, and they can provide security to both sides of a home sale. 

Benefits for home sellers 

  • Selling a home before retirement ensures retirees know exactly how much money they will get for their home.  One of the scariest parts of retirement planning is the fear that something will go wrong. Knowing exactly how much money a soon-to-be-retired individual will get for their home can help provide some peace of mind.
  • Leaseback arrangements let homeowners take a long time selling their home while having the confidence they can begin the process early without ending up without a place to live. The extra time ensures they don’t have to jump at the first offer that comes along, and can wait for a good bid.
  • With a traditional home sale, there is the potential that retirees won’t sell their home in time and then end up with two monthly mortgage payments.  A leaseback arrangement lets retirees sell their home first, guaranteeing they won’t end up with two mortgages.
  • Arranging a leaseback gives retirees cash in hand to improve their financial outlook.  By selling their home and becoming renters for a year, retirees can reinvest their home equity in the high-return parts of their portfolio, pay off high interest credit card debt or finance the business they plan to run in retirement.
  • The cash from a leaseback also helps reduce the uncertainty of the first year, when most retirement calculators ask people to guesstimate their expenses.  The first year of retirement is often the most expensive, as newly retired folks take celebratory vacations, buy hobby supplies or make COBRA payments while they await Medicare or Medigap eligibility.
  • Leaseback arrangements can also help retirees who are too young for full Social Security or pension payments by giving them cash up front to hold them over until they can receive full benefits.

Benefits for homebuyers

  • While leaseback arrangements offer more benefits to sellers than they do to buyers, they still offer buyers some pretty big advantages.  Most importantly, buying a home and leasing it back to the current residents ensures that retirees who can wait a little while to move in can get exactly the home they want.
  • Nothing says that homeowners need to lease their home at the same price as the mortgage.  By entering a leaseback agreement and waiting an agreed-upon amount of time, retirees can make a profit off of their retirement home while they wait!
  • Leasebacks give those near retirement the ultimate bargaining chip when they’re negotiating the sales price: By starting the process earlier and having more time to shop for a retirement home, those nearing retirement have the ability to walk away, helping ensure they get the best possible price.

Arranging a Leaseback

Arranging a leaseback is actually quite simple and only involves two steps, one of which you’ve done before.  First, arrange a home loan like you would for any other residential property.  If you already know what you want to buy, apply for your mortgage at Destinations Credit Union.

Then, talk to your realtor about a leaseback arrangement.  Many realtors offer temporary leaseback agreements as a standard part of a sale, so even if they haven’t arranged a long-term leaseback before, it should be a piece of cake.

Sources

The New Homeowner Diet

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Saving money is a lot like losing weight. It’s no fun, requires sacrifices and no one at a dinner party wants to hear about your plan.  For many first-time home-buyers, trying to save enough money for the down payment on a house can seem like a diet that won’t end. It might even be tempting to click one of those email links that promise magical results, even though you know there’s no magic pill for weight loss and no magic plan for saving money.  

Fortunately, if you’ve ever tried to lose weight, you already know how to save money. While most weight loss results are temporary, buying a home is something that won’t disappear if you skip the gym for a week: You’ll be living in a home you own, building equity and moving closer to financial independence.  So, here are some tips to get you moving toward that down payment, based on what you already know about trimming your waist:  

Don’t bite off more than you can chew

One of the biggest mistakes new homeowners make is buying more house than they can realistically afford. At Destinations Credit Union, we want to get the right loan for you so that you can move into the home that’s comfortable and fits your lifestyle.  That doesn’t mean you have to use every dollar you qualify for. Let’s talk it through to figure out exactly how much you can spend every month and make sure you don’t get in over your head.  

A good rule of thumb when planning is that you want to put down around 20 percent of the sale price. Before the financial crisis, a lot of people were putting down 10 percent or considerably less – as much as 0%. It didn’t turn out well for many of those folks, nor did it for their lenders.

Even if you feel comfortable with the risk that comes with a low down payment, putting down more money now can lower your interest rate, so you’ll pay less money in the long term and have a lower monthly payment.  It’s easy to see the down payment as your goal and forget about the rest of the mortgage, but this won’t be the last purchase you make.  You’re going to want to save for college, retirement or your dream vacation.  If you don’t put the money in now, you’ll have to do so later, and you’re essentially taking a loan from yourself against those future purchases.

No matter how long you run, you can’t burn off that midnight cheesecake

You may be making sacrifices and saving as much as you can, but still not feel like you’re getting any closer to your dream home.  You’re not alone.  Unlike their parents or grandparents, today’s typical middle class family has more than one job, and a surprising number of those families has three or more sources of income. Even with the popularity and necessity of taking on a second job, some people are embarrassed to do so, as if having a working spouse or taking on extra work on the side is a sign of failure.  Don’t be that person who’s too embarrassed to go to the gym because they don’t want anyone to see them get healthy.  There’s no shame in working.

You can’t lose weight without a scale

Most people keep track of their weight every day while dieting.  Some keep a food log.  Some count calories, points, or carbs.  The bottom line: You need to be able to see how you’re doing so you know when you can splurge and when you need to cut back.  The same is true when saving for a home. Make a budget and stick with it.  If you have a bad month, don’t get frustrated. Instead, commit to doing better next month.

Everyone needs a spotter

When you save money every month, where does it go?  Do you have a series of Mason jars filled with crumpled singles?  Is it sitting in your checking account, looking pretty when you check your balance but not doing anything else?  Even if you keep your money in one of our savings accounts, there’s a lot more we can do to help make your money work for you.  Our Kasasa Cash Rewards Checking pays a really high rate when you do a few simple things to qualify.  And, you can attach a high rate Kasasa Saver account to that checking which sweeps all of the rewards into the savings automatically.  We have a variety of great savings plans, from low-risk savings certificates to High Yield Accounts, which earn a higher dividend rate for your savings. High Yield accounts share many of the same conveniences as our regular savings accounts, including no-penalty access to your money if an unexpected emergency occurs.  

If you want to own a home, you need to save money, but you don’t have to do it alone.  Think of us as your personal trainer for your financial health.  Call us at 410-663-2500 or info@destinationscu.org, and we’ll help you figure out what you can afford and how you can get there.  Our plans are always easier to swallow than a kale smoothie. But then again, what isn’t?
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Lessons from the Richest Nation Ever

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As of June 2015, America is the richest society ever, after a strong spring in which Americans accumulated $1.4 trillion in total assets. With the Dow and NASDAQ recently hitting record highs and home prices finally reaching pre-bubble levels, there’s no telling what records might be broken in the future.

Not everyone is enjoying this windfall, though, and you may be one of those who are wondering where your gold-plated Ferrari is or why your etched crystal brandy decanter isn’t as jewel-encrusted as your neighbor’s.  If so, it might be a good time to take stock of your surroundings and draw some lessons from the country about accumulating wealth.

Who has all that money?

A very small number of people have a very large share of American wealth in 2015, as many middle class families are still feeling the effects of the 2008 financial crisis and The Great Recession.  A recent Pew study found the gap between the rich and the middle class is at a 30-year high, and most of the typical American’s net worth is tied up in their home.

While America’s total net worth is at a record high, the typical American household’s net worth is $81,200, down two percent in the last five years.  The top 10 percent of households are worth about 40 times more than the typical household, with an average of $3.3 million.  The top one percent of the top one percent of American households is even more staggeringly rich, with about 16,000 families owning 12 percent of American wealth, about $630 million each, on average.  More distressing, about half of  

Americans have a net worth of $0 or less.

Who are the rich people in the country?

The rich tend to be older than the country as a whole, with millionaires being 57 years old on average, while the typical American is in his or her late 20s. Millionaires typically come from more humble backgrounds, with about 80 percent being first-generation millionaires.  They are likely to be married, have two children and live in middle-class neighborhoods.  In other words, millionaires look a lot like the middle class, except a few years older and wiser.

What do I need to do to become a millionaire by my 50s? 
The first steps to accumulating wealth are the things you’d expect: 

  • Spend less than you earn
  • Save the rest
  • Invest patiently and
  • Own your home

It might seem obvious, but those four steps can be difficult and the difference between understanding the concepts and achieving them can be daunting.  If you’re looking for some guidance, Destinations Credit Union can help. Our online accounts and tools such as MoneyDesktop make budgeting a breeze and we offer a variety of savings products for members of any financial background. We have home-buying specialists who can guide first-time homebuyers through the process, from putting together a down-payment to securing one of our competitive mortgage rates. 
What might be more surprising is that the rich tend to own their own businesses, with about 4 out of every 5 American millionaires identifying as self-employed or retired from self-employment.  There are 28 million small businesses in the United States, defined as companies with 500 or fewer employees, and small businesses have created nearly 2 out of every 3 net jobs in the last 20 years, currently employing more than half of all working Americans.
Owning a piece of the American economy is a clear path to wealth, and with the knowledge base that comes with 21st century technology, that path is more well-worn than it has been in the past.  Seven out of 10 new small businesses with more than one employee survive for at least two years, half last for at least five years, and a quarter of those new small businesses are expected to still be going strong in 2030.  Over half of the small businesses created this year will operate out of their owners’ homes, often starting as an extension of their founder’s favorite hobby. 
Are there any other ways to grab the brass ring?
If you’re not interested in starting a business, you can still build a comfortable savings account by putting away part of each paycheck. It may be difficult, but it’s not impossible.  Of course, there are other options too. One woman in Las Vegas won the lottery four times in the last 25 years, so you might want to borrow her lucky rabbit’s foot.

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Credit Repair Scams Are Back, Don’t Let Them Fool You

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Earlier this month, the Better Business Bureau warned the country to keep an eye out for criminals masquerading as credit repair agencies, an old scam that keeps coming back every few years.  The scam is easy to spot if you know what to look for, so here’s what you need to know. 

How the scam works:

Companies advertise a service that can give customers a “new credit identity” and will immediately fix their credit score.  The scammers charge their customers an upfront fee in exchange for a 9-digit code, sometimes called a “Credit Profile Number” or “Credit Privacy Number.” They might say the number protects customers from identity theft, builds their credit or enrolls them into a new government debt-relief program.

The numbers they give to customers are not magic numbers that fix bad credit; they’re stolen Social Security numbers.  Not only won’t they improve your credit, but anyone who pays a scammer has unwittingly bankrolled an identity thief. 

How the scam can hurt you:

If a company sells you a stolen Social Security number and you use it to apply for a loan, you’ve committed fraud, even if you had no idea that the number was stolen.  If you lie on a credit or loan application, misrepresent your Social Security number or obtain an EIN under false pretenses, you’ve committed a federal crime.  You could face fines, or in some cases, time in prison.  If you suspect this might have happened to you, seek legal advice immediately. 

How to spot a scam:

Credit reporting scams are one of the many kinds of criminal activities built around identity theft. If you’re not sure if you’re dealing with a criminal, listen for some of these key phrases credit repair scammers use:

·        “We just need a small fee to get started”  – In the U.S. and Canada, credit repair companies can only receive their fee AFTER they’ve performed a service.

·        “We dispute all of the charges on your credit report, even the ones that are correct.  The worst thing that can happen is that they say ‘NO’ and you might even get lucky” – Legitimate credit companies will not encourage you to lie to credit agencies because that’s a crime.  It is a good idea for you to check your credit report for inaccuracies from time to time, but don’t lie to those agencies.

·        “If a loan asks for your Social Security number, put in this code instead” – There is no magical code to fix your credit.  If it seems too easy, proceed with caution.

Remember, some credit repair companies work hard and treat their customers fairly.  They’ll write a contract, make their loan rates known and follow the law.  When you call an honest company, you’ll know the rates and terms.  Scammers tend to make outlandish promises or omit details, so if a deal seems too good to be true, or if it’s hard to find out what you’re getting into, you might want to walk away. 

What to do if you think you might be a victim:

If you’ve been the victim of this kind of scam, you have some legal options.  You can sue them for any money you lost, seek punitive damages on top of that or join a class action suit.  Talk to a lawyer immediately.

You can also file a complaint online atftc.gov/complaint 

Who can I trust to repair my credit?

If you have bad credit, it can feel like everyone is trying to scam you.  If you need to repair your credit, and you don’t know who to trust, talk to Destinations Credit Union‘s counseling partner Accel.  Accel can help you make a plan to get out from under your debt, build your credit successfully, and plan for the future.

If you don’t have any credit, then Destinations Credit Union can help you, too. Unlike the multinational corporate banks and credit cards, we’re local and personal.  You’re more than a number to us, and we look forward to helping you.

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