Author: Debra Watkins

Time-Banking

Ever wanted help with a project?  What if you could exchange needed services with your friends and neighbors?  This group did just that through the time-banking model.

Time-banking is a model for trading skills, goods, and labor instead of money—a sort of barter system where members “deposit” hours doing things like teaching, cooking, or repairing things, and “withdraw” hours of other members’ services. It’s been around in the U.S. since the 1980s, and there are close to 500 such banks across the country today.   No Price Tags: These Neighbors Built Their Own Economy Without Money

Most function on a one-hour to one-hour system that helps members meet their needs in non-monetary ways, often saving money.  This allows stay-at-home mothers, retirees, and business professionals alike to contribute.

Simple Is Better

Ever had a gadget that took months to learn?  Companies often fall to the idea that newly designed tech gear should be the most advanced and up-to-date. This may translate to non-user friendly as Jeffery Zeldman, a web designer and entrepreneur recognizes in the article, Uncomplicated Technology, and Why It’s Always Worth Your Money,  “When I started in web design, computers were for nerds, and people took pride in how difficult everything was,” but in reality, the most successful products, “haven’t been the most advanced, sophisticated or beautiful, necessarily,” he explained, “but they were the ones that understood what consumers wanted to do and enabled them to do it.”

Money Talk

Many of us shy away from discussing our salaries with others.  Employers often forbid this practice, although it’s illegal to do so in the private sector.  Another reason we may feel uncomfortable talking about money is that we see it as self-worth, not just an amount we are paid to do a job.  Tim Herrera for the New York Times, Smarter Living, encourages these discussions as a way to expose pay discrepancies.

“I can remember in the not-too-distant past having been discouraged from talking about wages,” Ms. Cornell said. She added that years ago she learned through a conversation about salaries with a male co-worker that he was making about $50,000 more than her, and that there was “no objective justification for the disparity in pay, but he had been in the position for a longer period of time.”

Herrera encourages co-workers to not be afraid of these conversations but to approach them with genuine interest and the idea of mutual benefit.

Why You Should Tell Your Co-Workers How Much Money You Make

We All Have a Social Media Past

“Social media is a permanent archive that can be used proactively and reactively to out anyone on any subject.”

A simple statement that most of us truly do not grasp.  When you are in a position of power within a company, social media can easily be your downfall, as Drew Adamek admonishes in his article, Keep your social media past from haunting you. “Remember that a stain on your reputation will last forever via a simple Google search. It is up to you to manage how deep and wide that stain runs.”

Adamek goes on to offer six, detailed steps that an individual can take to best manage past social media gaffs while encouraging those in higher management to employ a team and take their advice.  “Trust your team to manage the response, even if you feel like fighting back or defending yourself.”  He closes the article reminding us all that it can actually be simple to keep the past from haunting a career.  “The bottom line is that it all comes back to common sense,” he said. “Would your content bear the scrutiny of front-page news?”

 

Retirement?

As clients approach the presumed age of retirement, some are beginning to question this expectation. In her article, Why retire? 10 reasons clients should keep working, Ann Marsh for financialplanning.com offers ten valid reasons why you might want to continue working, drawn from money management professionals.  One sites this article as well, Voices The worst retirement advice I ever gave. What will you do when the time comes?

A List To Save Money

Looking for ways to save money?  Want to better organize your thoughts before heading to the grocery store, find useful coupons, and create an easy meal plan?  Then this site is for you!  In a society where we so readily waste food, it’s nice to know these organizational tools are there to help us save, be more healthful, and conserve our resources.

Free Printable Grocery Lists

Plan For The Future

Financial planners often encourage clients to plan ahead, but what if the life change you are considering is divorce?  There are many factors to consider when separating, including: alimony, prenuptial agreements, business valuation, and other shared assets.  Deciding when to end the marriage on paper may be affected by a number or variables in the current tax climate.  Paul Sullivan for the New York Times Wealth Matters, sheds light on a number of these elements in his article, Should You Get a Divorce Now or Later?

Avoiding Money Decisions?

Many of us, even if trained in the field, often struggle with decisions about our finances and retirement.  Thinking about money opens the door to discomfort for most,m as Tim Herrarra for the New York Times states in his article,  A Smarter Way to Think About Financial Decisions.  

These feelings span all levels of financial training,  “I have a Ph.D. in business and an M.B.A. in finance, on top of a degree in architecture, so I think I can understand financial products pretty well,” Professor Sela said. “But still, every time I get a letter from my bank, my instinct is to shove it in some drawer.”

How do we reframe our thinking and make these decisions easier?  Try picturing the questions from a lifestyle vs. solely financial product view, such as, I would love to visit Paris or take a cruise around the world, as opposed to just choosing which annuity would suit you best.

Retirement Ready?

Does the thought of retirement make you nervous or are you still in the stage where you’re throwing out all the mail you get from AARP?  Peter Finch for the New York Times offers a detailed, five-year plan to help you prepare.  Finch explores the process by breaking each year down into easy steps, ranging from calculating self-worth/future needs, to recognizing health insurance options, investigating reverse mortgages, and considering long term care.

Countdown to Retirement: A Five-Year Plan

Student Loans May Affect Homeownership

Rising tuition costs and student debt are becoming significant factors in the ability of millennials to buy houses.  An analysis published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York last year suggests that student debt was responsible for up to 35 percent of the decline in homeownership among people between the ages of 28 and 30 from 2007 to 2015. (Homeownership for people under 28 tends to be low.). With many young adults leaving college with large bills, even landing good jobs isn’t enough to pay their debt in a timely manner.

How Student Debt Can Ruin Home Buying Dreams