Financial Literacy

07 April 2017

JOIN ME! I'M APPEARING ON THE MARRIAGE TALK SHOW!

Posted in Financial Literacy

Join Money reVerse on The Marriage Talk Show

JOIN ME! I'M APPEARING ON THE MARRIAGE TALK SHOW!

Saturday 4/8/2017 at 9 AM Central. Fishbowl Radio Network in the Red Stream.

It's financial literacy month and I'll be in the studio with Ralph & Shelia Green, hosts of The Marriage Talk Show. Our goal is to deliver financial empowerment to every marriage and every listner! We'll start with these money topics:

- Learn about 15 companies (in addition to the 3 major credit bureaus) that are collecting financial information on you and how you can get the reports to see your information - Free!

- Got a 401k, 403b or 457b plan? I'll detail 10 retirement savings terms that everyone should know.

- Are you stock market literate? Let's discuss why you should be and tell you about a no-cost stock market literacy class that you can take from Money reVerse.

Christian biblical principles will be the center of our conversations. You don't want to miss this. Tune in, listen in and call in to comment and get your marriage and financial questions answered.

Happy National Financial Literacy Month!

Carolyn

30 April 2016

Have you checked your Social Security Statement?

Posted in Financial Literacy

As National Financial Literacy month, comes to a close I will wrap-up with a reminder to check your Social Security Statement.

Checking your Social Security Statement is something that is easy to overlook – especially if you are not approaching retirement age or qualifying for disability benefits. Actually it is most important to check your statement annually well before you reach either of these times of life. In checking your Social Security Statement you will accomplish the following:

1) Verify that your annual income is being recorded accurately.

Any Social Security benefits that you and your family are entitled to are determined by the annual earning that are submitted to the Social Security Administration. These earnings are submitted by your employer or by you if you’re self-employed. If there are errors in the submission for your annual wages and earnings, the dispute request will need to come from you. It is best to review and verify this information before you get to the point of requesting benefits of which you’re eligible. Once a year is how often I check mine and this is what I’d recommend.

2) See your estimated Social Security benefits.

This is for your awareness and retirement planning purposes. Based on the information that is being stored for you, estimates of your benefits at early retirement, full retirement and at age 70 are calculated. This is information about your financial future of which you should be aware – regardless of your current age!

To get your Social Security Statement you can request to get it sent to you by mail or you can create an online account at SSA.gov. To make a request to have the statement mailed to you, contact your local Social Security office. With the online account you can view, download and print your statement at any time. This is how I check my numbers yearly and this is much more flexible than going the paper route. In the past, it has taken weeks for me to receive my requested statement in the mail. Online is much faster and there are several security features built into the account registration to help to ensure your privacy.

If you haven’t check your Social Security Statement in the past 12 months do it now! Make this something that you do each year during April, National Financial Literacy month. December of each year is also a great target time for this annual statement review!

Be in the know about all of your financial matters!

09 April 2014

Financial Literacy: Protecting your personal information #finlit

Posted in Financial Literacy

Protecting your personal information can help reduce your risk of identity theft. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), this is best done by employing operational practices that include the following four tactics:

  • Be selective and informed about those that you choose to share your personal information.
  • Store and dispose of your personal information securely especially your Social Security number
  • Ask questions before deciding to share your personal information
  • Maintain appropriate security on your computers and other electronic devices.

Before we get into a few more details, let's bring more info about the Federal Trade Commission to light.


FTC Banner

Federal Trade Commission

The FTC is a bipartisan federal agency with a unique dual mission to protect consumers and promote competition. The FTC protects consumers by stopping unfair, deceptive or fraudulent practices in the marketplace. They conduct investigations, sue companies and people that violate the law, develop rules to ensure a vibrant marketplace, and educate consumers and businesses about their rights and responsibilities

It benefits consumers by keeping prices low and the quality and choice of goods and services high. By enforcing antitrust laws, the FTC helps ensure that our markets are open and free. The FTC will challenge anticompetitive mergers and business practices that could harm consumers by resulting in higher prices, lower quality, fewer choices, or reduced rates of innovation.

Protecting your personal information

Store and dispose of your personal information securely, especially your Social Security number.

Before you dispose of a computer, get rid of all the personal information it stores. Use a wipe utility program to overwrite the entire hard drive.

Before you dispose of a mobile device, check your owner’s manual, the service provider’s website, or the device manufacturer’s website for information on how to delete information permanently, and how to save or transfer information to a new device. Remove the memory or subscriber identity module (SIM) card from a mobile device. Remove the phone book, lists of calls made and received, voicemails, messages sent and received, organizer folders, web search history, and photos.

Shred receipts, credit offers, credit applications, insurance forms, physician statements, checks, bank statements, expired charge cards, and similar documents when you don’t need them any longer.

Destroy the labels on prescription bottles before you throw them out.

Ask questions before deciding to share your personal information.

Before you share information at your workplace, a business, your child's school, or a doctor's office, ask why they need it, how they will safeguard it, and the consequences of not sharing.

Keep a close hold on your Social Security number and ask questions before deciding to share it. Ask if you can use a different kind of identification. If someone asks you to share your SSN or your child’s, ask

  • Why they need it
  • How it will be used
  • How they will protect it
  • What happens if you don’t share the number

The decision to share is yours. A business may not provide you with a service or benefit if you don’t provide your number. Sometimes you will have to share your number. Your employer and financial institutions need your SSN for wage and tax reporting purposes. A business may ask for your SSN so they can check your credit when you apply for a loan, rent an apartment, or sign up for utility service.

Maintain appropriate security on your computers and other electronic devices.

Use security software.

Don’t open files, click on links, or download programs sent by strangers. Opening a file from someone you don’t know could expose your system to a computer virus or spyware that captures your passwords or other information you type.

Keep financial information on your laptop only when necessary. Don’t use an automatic login feature that saves your user name and password, and always log off when you’re finished.

Read the privacy policies. Yes, they can be long and complex, but they tell you how the site maintains accuracy, access, security, and control of the personal information it collects. If you don't see privacy policies posted, consider doing business elsewhere.

This is a summary of helpful information available to consumers for our awareness and protection. Take a look around at www.ftc.gov.

To read the full FTC article on protecting your personal information, get there from here.

Carolyn

Carolyn

27 March 2014

April is National Financial Literacy Month!

Posted in Financial Literacy

"It is not good for the soul to be without knowledge…"

Poster

In response to multiple US senators taking a stand to assist in raising public aware ness about the serious consequences associated with a lack of understanding about personal finances, Senate Resolution 316 was passed in March 2004. From that point forward goals and actions geared toward educating individuals on the many areas of personal finances were taken. At that time, key focus areas were to help us as Americans improve our understanding of financial issues such as credit management, savings and home ownership.


We now have a Congressionally chartered Federal Financial Literacy and Education Commission. this commission is made up of more than 20 Federal entities that are coordinating and collaborating to strengthen financial capability and increase access to financial services for all Americans.

I'm energized about the number of resources available to anyone that has a desire to increase their financial understanding. If you're starting at square one and getting committed to managing your personal spending and saving there are resources that can help to instruct, motivate and encourage. Need to get info on retirement planning? There's a wealth of info available to you. If credit management is your focus there is no shortage of info in this area either!

Money

Throughout the month I will share with you information across the multiple areas of financial management. In addition to sharing the tactical advice, I will share the applicable biblical principles along with links to informational sites that are sponsored by the Federal Financial Literacy and Education Commission.

What is your task during National Financial Literacy Month?

Each of us should plan to get refresh or extend our knowledge in an area of finances each week. This could equate to spending 30 minutes a week reading your Money reVerse blog posts (I'm committing to posting weekly - there I said it!!) and accessing additional information that I will be providing.

Each of us should plan to get refresh or extend our knowledge in an area of finances each week. This could equate to spending 30 minutes a week reading your Money reVerse blog posts (I'm committing to posting weekly - there I said it!!) and accessing additional information that I will be providing.

Happy Financial Literacy Month! More to come!!

"It is not good for the soul to be without knowledge…"

Proverbs 19:2 NKJV

Carolyn

Carolyn

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