Setting Realistic Goals To Manage Your Financial SituationLofty New Year’s Resolutions could be hard to stick to, whether they are financial goals, health goals, etc. However, setting realistic goals and a desire to reach those milestones consistently could make all the difference. Once you’ve established or set a goal and written it down, you’re more likely to change your behavior and take actionable steps to achieve that goal.

Set a SMART GoalGoals help clarify what you want. Instead of having a vague dream or occasional wishful thinking, setting a goal helps uncover what you truly want and, more importantly, it’s the first step in figuring out what you need to do to reach it.

SMART stands for: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound. SMART goals can help you break apart your goal and understand what it will really take to achieve it. For example, if you want to save money, your SMART goal could be “Paying off $5,000 in student loans by July 2021”. Setting a certain amount ($5,000) makes the goal specific and measurable, and “by July 2021” makes it time-bound.

Get Organized Being organized is a huge time-saver, as you think through your financial priorities and goals for 2021. Make sure you have your bank and credit statements for the previous year and tax returns for the past 3 years handy. There are many, easy-to-use, financial planning apps available to organize your transactions and provide insights regarding your spend patterns, debt payment schedules etc. Organizing and summarizing your financial situation will enable you to assess your financial priorities more efficiently.

Set Up Achievable MilestonesIt is much easier to stick to a goal when the “end” of the goal is not a whole 365 days away. Break up your end goal to give yourself small wins. For instance, one of your goals could be to “save $200 each paycheck.”

For each paycheck that you put away $200, that’s a win to celebrate! If you want to go even smaller, you could say, “pack lunch 3 days this week,” or “make your own coffee 4 days this week.” Small goals like these are steps on your way to reaching your bigger end goal.

Automate SavingsWe’ve all heard the saying, “out of sight, out of mind.” That’s the mantra we are channeling with the idea of automating your savings. If you already have retirement contributions set up to come out of your paycheck before it ever reaches your checking account, you know what we’re talking about. Set up automatic transfers to deposit money into your savings account each time you get paid. If it doesn’t feel like you’re missing or losing anything when you’re saving money, it is much easier to swallow.

Invest Time in Tax PlanningBefore you get into the midst of the tax season, think through your tax-related items in advance. These include decisions pertaining to itemizing your deductions or crafting strategies to manage your capital gains taxes. If you plan to itemize your deductions, now would be a good time to get your receipts and paperwork together. You may also want to figure out how best to use your anticipated tax refunds – e.g., making additional contributions to retirement savings plans, paying down debt or perhaps donating to a charity or a non-profit organization. Please consult your tax, legal and accounting professionals before making any decisions related to tax strategy.

JANUARY 2021

In This Issue 2. CEO Message || 3. Small Savings Add Up | GreenPath || 4. Scholarship for College Bound Students | Tax Refund

expanding

Horizons

Did you know? Your Patriot Mobile App offers helpful tools to organize and manage your account information. View balance and expense trends in your Patriot savings or loan accounts. Take advantage of the “Calculators” to understand how much you could save by refinancing your loans or transferring your high interest credit card balances.

As we bring 2020 to an end and begin a new year, I’d like to again thank our members for your trust during a difficult year. Patriot Federal Credit Union had another good year, growing deposits by roughly $100 million and loans by $60 million. Additionally, our net income exceeded budget with net earnings ending just over $7 million.

Yet, there are more important things than numbers. Mainly, our ability to effectively serve you in difficult times as well as good times. And once again, the good news is that consumer loan charge offs and delinquencies were lower in 2020 than during 2019. Patriot offered loan payment skips for up to four months due to COVID-19. We worked closely with members who requested individualized help. We introduced curb-side service, implemented cleaning protocols, social distancing, and sneeze guards in our branches, as well as added bandwidth and more phone lines to keep wait times low. And again, independent surveys listed Patriot as the best in Franklin County and Washington County for adjusting quickly to our members needs. Therefore, I want to thank you for your continuing faith in our ability to serve your financial needs.

Now it’s time to turn to the future. For the past four years, Patriot has attempted to expand our Community Charter/Field of Membership. If an organization is unable to grow, it inevitably begins to wither and die. Patriot has reached a saturation point within Franklin County according to many industry benchmarks, and is rapidly growing in Washington County - - - all while maintaining a focus on the under-served and low income designated individuals within our membership.

Accordingly, it gives me great pleasure to share some exciting news. The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) has agreed to expand our community charter/field of membership, enabling Patriot to serve more residents within our designated community. This means in addition to Franklin County,

PA and Washington County, MD, Patriot membership is now open to businesses, organizations, and individuals who live, work, worship, attend school or regularly conduct business in Frederick County, MD and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia – Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan Counties. We can now offer our brand of credit union service, servant leadership, and community support through our mission of People Helping People to more individuals, families and organizations.

But to serve this larger area, Patriot found it necessary to identify a legally recognized well-defined community and stay within these boundaries. Unfortunately, Fulton County and the Borough of Shippensburg (within Cumberland County only) aren’t recognized as part of this legally defined field of membership and were therefore removed.

First, you should know that this decision wasn’t made in haste. Patriot’s been approved to keep all existing members regardless where they currently reside. Once a member, always a member! Second, we’ve received approval to open accounts for those who work, worship, go to school and generally do business within our approved field of membership. And Patriot believes that most potential members living in Fulton County and the Borough of Shippensburg will continue to be eligible for membership through their work, worship, education, or because they regularly do business in Franklin & Washington Counties.

Finally, I’m announcing Patriot is building a new branch in the Borough of Shippensburg (Franklin County) in 2021. And we’ll continue to operate our existing ATM in McConnellsburg. As we look for future branch locations in this larger field of membership, Patriot also remains ready to serve members regardless of location by leveraging new digital services. One of the biggest lessons we’ve learned during these past few months is that members are quite adept, and look for newer convenient ways to serve their banking needs. Stay tuned for more to come regarding a digital wallet.

In the meantime, if you have family, friends, and/or coworkers who live, work, study, worship, or regularly conduct business in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia or Frederick County, Maryland, please help us spread the news of who we are, and share with them the Patriot difference!

Brad R. Warner CEO - Patriot Federal Credit Union

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A Message from the CEO

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As a valued member of Patriot, we are committed to providing you with the financial services and solutions that meet your needs. And as a benefit to you, we are providing you with free access to GreenPath Financial Wellness, a financial education and counseling program. Through comprehensive education and exceptional service, GreenPath has been assisting individuals for more than 50 years.

You can receive assistance with:• Personal and family budgeting• Understanding your personal credit report and

how to improve your score• Personal money management• Debt repayment (fees may apply)• Avoiding bankruptcy, foreclosure, and repossession

GreenPath can give personalized answers to your individual needs. For issues ranging from a proactive savings plan to saving a home from foreclosure, advice is only a phone call away.

GreenPath counselors are available:Monday through Thursday 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.Friday 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.(all times EST)

To use this service, simply call (877) 337-3399 or visit https://www.greenpath.com/greenpath-financial-wellness/.

Scholarship for College Bound Students

2021 Baumunk Scholarship CompetitionPatriot is committed to assisting young adults who would like to continue their education. Each year, the Richard E. Baumunk Memorial Scholarship is awarded to a high school senior who will be attending an institution of higher learning immediately after graduation.

The winner will receive a $2500 scholarship awarded over 2 years, with the second year’s distribution contingent upon a first year GPA of 2.5 or higher. The scholarship was established in the memory of Richard Baumunk, a former educator and member of the board of directors.

To qualify for the scholarship, you must meet the following requirements:

• Be a member of Patriot with at least $5 in a share savings account

• Be a 2021 graduate with a GPA of 2.5 or higher and be accepted as a full-time student at an institution of higher learning carrying 12 credit hours or more

• Submit a 300 to 500 word typed essay entitled, “My Credit Union is important to me because…”

To enter this year’s competition, submit a cover sheet with your name, address, telephone number and Patriot account number, along with your essay to:

Patriot Federal Credit Union Scholarship Competition Attn: Marketing Department P.O. Box 778 Chambersburg, PA 17201-0778

Essays must be received by Patriot’s Marketing Department no later than Friday, April 2, 2021.

Getting a Tax Refund via Direct Deposit?

Follow These Instructions for the Routing and Account NumberIf you're filing your taxes and are expecting a refund, please provide the following information to ensure that your refund is processed correctly:■ Patriot's Routing and Transit Number

231379979■ Your Patriot Account Number

• Refund Deposited into your Checking Account – use the 12 digit number on the bottom of your checks beginning in "77001..." and choose checking.

• Refund Deposited into your Savings Account – use your membership identification number on your membership card and choose savings.

Make sure you DO NOT use your debit card number as the account number, as this will cause a rejection and/or a delay in processing your refund. Please be sure that the beneficiary of the tax refund is an owner of the account to which the direct deposit is being made.

1 APR = Annual Percentage Rate. Introductory APR for Balance Transfers is 1.64% until 6/30/22 for applications submitted through 12/31/21, with NO Balance Transfer Fee. Rate will return to the normal rate based on your credit score after 6/30/22.

2 APR at the normal variable rate is as low as 7.49% based on your credit score. The APR will vary with the market based upon The Wall Street Journal Prime Rate which was 3.25% as of January 1, 2021 plus 4.24% for credit scores of over 735. All loans are subject to credit approval. Programs, rates, terms and conditions are subject to change without notice. Foreign transaction fee of 1% of the amount of the transaction in U.S. dollars. VISA® is a registered trademark of Visa International Service Association. THIS CREDIT UNION IS FEDERALLY INSURED BY THE NATIONAL CREDIT UNION ADMINISTRATION.

NO TRANSFER FEE | patriotfcu.org

&Intro APR11.64% 7.49%

AS

LOW

AS

APR Thereafter2

Enjoy the SavingsPatriot Visa Credit Card

Transfer Your Balance to a New

until 6/30/22 for Balance Transfers Conducted Through 12/31/21