Tangible Assets September 2016

www.capstonevt.org Staff: Liz Scharf and Maureen Dougherty Address: 20 Gable Place, Barre VT 05641 Phone: 476-8493 or 800-639-1053 ▪ Fax: 479-5353 Email: cedinfo@capstonevt.org

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

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!

Bank Information for IDA Savings Accounts Calendar of Events

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 pro-vide 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 Build-ing 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.

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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 mon-ey goes? Are you CURIOUS about your credit score? Do you DREAM of retirement someday? If you an-swered 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 cedinfo@capstonevt.org.

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 encour-age people you know to get in touch with us for more details and an application.

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. 12

th from 11 AM to 12:30 PM: Rock Your Holiday Promotions Friday, Nov. 18

th from 1:00-2:30 PM: Measure Your Marketing (How’s it Actually Doing?) Thursday, Dec. 8

th 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

Let’s take a look at eight of the most important things to un-derstand 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 al-ways 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 peo-ple may be ill-intentioned, like unscrupulous commission-based 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 mon-ey works is the first step toward making your money work for you.

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 a month, you'll realize that making small, manageable changes in your everyday expenses can have just as big of an impact on your financial situation as getting a raise.

In addition, keeping your recurring monthly expenses as low as possible will also save you big bucks over time. If you don't waste your money on a posh apartment now, you might be able to afford a nice condo or a house before you know it.

4. Start an Emergency Fund One of personal finance's oft-repeated mantras is "pay yourself first". No matter how much you owe in student loans or credit card debt, and no matter how low your salary may seem, it's wise to find some amount - any amount - of money in your budget to save in an emergency fund every month.

Having money in savings to use for emergencies can really keep you out of trouble financially. Also, if you get into the habit of saving money and treating it as a non-negotiable monthly "expense", pretty soon you'll have more than just emergency money: you'll have extra savings for retirement, vacation and more!

Put the money in a high-interest online savings account, a

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 cal-culators 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 im-possible, 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, ap-ply for health insurance; it's easier than you think to wind up in a car accident or trip down the stairs.

Also, take daily steps now to keep yourself healthy, like eating fruits and vegetables, maintaining a healthy weight, exercising, not smoking, not consuming alcohol in excess, and even driving defensively.

8. Guard Your Wealth If you want to make sure that all of your hard-earned money doesn't vanish, take steps to protect it. • If you rent, get renter's insurance to protect the con-

tents of your place from burglary or fire. • Disability insurance protects your greatest asset - the

ability to earn an income - by providing you with a steady income if you ever become unable to work for an extend-ed period due to illness or injury.

• If you want help managing your money, find a fee-only financial planner to provide unbiased advice rather than a commission-based financial advisor. Or work with Capstone’s financial coaches for free!

• Protect your money from taxes, which is easy to do with a retirement account; and inflation, by making sure all your money is earning interest.

Read more at http://www.investopedia.com/articles/younginvestors/08/eight-tips.asp#ixzz4FS4sOFxg

8 Financial Tips For Young Adults (condensed) By Amy Fontinelle