Twila Van Leer

Higher Education Is A Step Up Financially

July 22, 2014 By Twila Van Leer

Education Still Pays – Source: TheAtlantic.com

It just makes sense. The more education you have, the more you are likely to earn over your lifetime. Even in a tough job market and burdened with student loans, the college graduate will have the advantage over those who don’t advance beyond high school.

$1.2 Million More

The Federal Bank of New York recently released a report confirming the value of higher education. Those who earn a bachelor’s degree can expect to earn about $1.2 million more during the usual work years — ages 22 to 64 — than their peers who stop short of that educational milestone.

Even those with an associate’s degree are expected to outstrip their non-degreed friends by some $325,000 over their work lives, reported the study, which was based on U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor data.

The college-educated have lower unemployment rates and are less likely to live in poverty, the statistics showed.

Between 1970 and 2013, those with a bachelor’s degree earned on average about $64,500 per year; those with an associate’s degree about $50,000; and those with a high school diploma about $41,000 per year.

The higher earnings tend to more than offset the costs of higher education, the report indicated. A bachelor’s degree, after subtracting tax benefits and financial aid awards, cost an average $122,000 in 2013. The cost for an associate’s degree in the same year was $43,700. Most college students also lose the income they could have earned while they are studying.

More Earning Power

Even so, college graduates have more earning power than their less-educated peers, according to data gathered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the College Board. Most employers, even if they provide only basic employment, will pay more for workers with any level of post-high school education.

In an Associated Press report on the New York study, the example of recent college graduate Katie-Beth Vornberger, age 24, was cited. She graduated in May from George Mason University, taking away with her some $20,000 in debt. She had worked part-time to help cover her tuition. She was immediately employed by a consulting firm that manages social media accounts at a salary $4 per hour more than she was earning while in school. She hopes for a full-time job with the firm and has expectations that her higher education will soon begin paying off.

Though it has always been clear that there are avenues besides college that lead to valuable job preparation, the statistics continue to affirm that some formal training, including trade schools and on-the-job experience, will lead to more earnings over a lifetime.

Women Starting Businesses At Unmatched Growth Rate

July 21, 2014 By Twila Van Leer

From 1997 to 2014, the number of American businesses owned by women rose an amazing 68 percent, twice the rate of increase shown by their male counterparts, according to a study based on U. S. Census Bureau figures.

Every day, about 1,288 women-owned businesses pop up on the horizon. That’s up from 602 in 2011-12, the study showed. The results were prepared by American Express using the federal data.

Women See Opportunities

Susan Duffy, executive director of the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership at Babson College, believes the phenomenon is related to a growing awareness among women that there are business options available to them. Differences in the job market since the most recent recession also favor the types of businesses in which women excel.

A general renewal of the entrepreneurial spirit in this country is another factor that favors women. A body of role models has grown up, offering patterns and incentives that younger women are applying to their own endeavors. Among those role models, according to an Associated Press article on the new statistics, are such notables as Oprah Winfrey, designers Tory Burch and Diane Von Furstenberg and technology gurus such as Weili Dai, co-founder of Marvell Technology. Even the current head of the Small Business Administration is a woman, Maria Contreras-Sweet. She succeeded to the position that was held by Karen Mills. Both have been business owners in their own right.

Summer Scarbrough had a built-in role model, her mother, Elizabeth, who is a former executive with a medical devices company. Together, mother and daughter now own VinniBag, travel containers for wines and other bottled products. The company, located in Ventura, Calif., is five years old.

Resources For Women

The number of resources devoted to aiding women in their entrepreneurship also is growing. The Women’s Business Centers, an arm of the SBA, is one that is encouraging women in their business start-ups, and there are a number of other organizations with the same purpose in mind.

Optimistic Views

Women tend to be more optimistic about their efforts than men, a survey conducted by Bank of America showed. Seventy percent of those surveyed expect to see rising revenues over the coming year, compared with 66 percent of men. Fifty-six percent of women said they expect to make new hires in the year, compared with 50 percent of their male counterparts. An optimistic 68 percent of the female entrepreneurs say they will expand their companies, again somewhat ahead of the 63 percent of males contacted in the survey.

If the trend continues, many more Americans can soon expect to be working for a “boss lady” than in the past.

Money Really Can Buy Happiness

July 17, 2014 By Twila Van Leer

We’ve all heard it a million times: Money Can’t Buy Happiness. But if you spend your money smartly, you’ll find it can increase your satisfaction and make life more pleasurable. It’s that “smart” part that makes the difference.

An article by Anisha Sekar in USNews.com cites a Princeton University study that concluded that when your annual income reaches at least $75,000, you are likely to have enough surplus over necessary expenses to do things that bring satisfaction.

The article suggests five ways to use your money to create happiness:

Give It Away

The first suggestion, strangely enough, is to give your money away. Using your surplus to help others is a feel-good option. The Chicago School of Business looked at what people did when they had a financial windfall. Those who shared their largesse with others reported they were more happy. If you want to indulge your own happiness, at least share an experience with someone else. Faceless donations are less satisfying than a shared positive experience. An experiment featuring college students and Starbucks gift cards came to the same conclusion. Students were divided into three groups. One was instructed to spend the gift card on themselves. A second group was to give their gift cards away and the third was to share the card with another person. The latter group reported the most satisfaction from the experiment.

Resolve Biggest Stresses First

Buy some peace of mind. Decide what is causing you to lose sleep at night and spend some money to resolve the problem. Worried about being burglarized or having your vehicle stolen? Buy products to safeguard your property and/or beef up your insurance to cover your losses if the worst-case scenario actually happens. Spend the added money to buy travel insurance if you are at all concerned that you might not be able to make the trip. The expenditure (everything you spend on insurance is a gamble) is worth the ease when you know you are covered.

Plan For Relaxation

If you are spending some of your well-earned excess on travel, decide in advance what sort of experience you want to promote. Would some relaxed time in a nearby bed-and-breakfast actually be as rewarding as a stressful as an expensive trip to Paris? What do you really want out of the vacation? Are you looking for the intense experiences or simply a longer time away from home at a more leisurely pace? Hire a cab instead of trying to fathom a foreign public transportation system. Tip a bellhop instead of schlepping a huge amount of baggage yourself. Budget ahead of your trip to avoid the penny-pinching after the fact. And if you and your traveling companions begin to show signs of stress, reconsider. Dropping items from the itinerary is easier than letting stress negate the whole experience.

Dining Decisions

If dining out is part of your plan for spending some of your excess cash, consider the alternatives. Do you want four $50 meals or one big $200 blowout that could more memorable? There are studies that say the $200 option might actually lend more to your overall happiness. But in this case, variety is, in fact, the spice of life. Doing the same exotic thing repeatedly, no matter how great it was the first time, can become a bore. You can afford it now. Look for different ways to spend a night out. Let each time become a new experience. Prolong the satisfaction by spending the month leading up to the event learning about the expected experience, studying menus and otherwise savoring the expectation.

Get Help

Buy some time. Move closer to work to minimize the commute. Hire someone to help with housework , yard work or any of the mundane and routine jobs most people spend the majority of their time on. Using some of your money to give you more leisure is a sure-fire was to increase your sense of well-being.

There, see? If you spend wisely, you can buy happiness.

Americans Admit Lack Of Personal Finance Savvy

July 16, 2014 By Twila Van Leer

Prepared — 8% of people surveyed feel they have a firm grip on their personal finance skills.

Most Americans believe they are not very proficient in managing their finances and one in four actually wish they could avoid the necessity altogether, a recent survey conducted by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling found.

Only 8 percent of the 644 respondents to the website survey said they had a firm grip on their personal finances. Thirty percent classified themselves as “mid-level management;” 35 percent as “entry-level” trying to learn the ropes; and 26 percent said they’d like to shuck the job entirely. Another survey by the foundation showed that 41 percent of the respondents would grade themselves at a C or lower in that area of their adult lives.

Most of those who were surveyed most recently and felt themselves inadequate to managing their finances also were under the impression that they were the only ones who were rotten at the job. But the truth is that many people are uncomfortable with the assignment, said Gail Cunningham, a spokeswoman for the foundation.

At the root of the problem is the fact that fewer than half the states require any education regarding personal finances to gain a high school diploma, Cunningham said. Most people learn from their parents, many of whom have the same lack of expertise when it comes to managing their money. It becomes a generational failing.

Many people seek financial counseling to help them, often after their finances are already in shambles. The typical household asking for counseling has $35,000 in annual incomes and unsecured debt of $17,500 spread over 5.7 credit cards. Poor management recently topped “reduced income” as the primary impetus for counseling. Poor money skills matched to poor nutritional skills.

Those who line up for credit counseling are primarily in the age range from 25 to 54, with young adults 25-34 at the top of the list (24 percent.) The lowest cohort was in the 45-54 age group, 21 percent of the total, while 23 percent were in the 35-44 age range. Those statistics indicate that financial problems are not uncommon all along the spectrum, boding ill for those who are still in the early stages of their work history. For some, recovery is a lifetime burden.

Other findings that cause concern for the credit counseling industry:

– Some people are earning more as the economy improves, but they are not managing the additional income well and the financial stress continues.
– Owing more than your income will support easily (a high debt-to-income ratio) makes it harder to meet debt and hinders future borrowing.
– The number of credit cards an individual or family has is not as relevant as how those cards are managed. Maxing out the credit lines is likely to reduce credit scores, impacting the ability to buy such things as homes or automobiles.

Last year, more than 1.5 million consumers sought help at the foundation’s counseling agencies, sharing concerns about debt, housing, budgeting and bankruptcy.

To learn about resources for free and affordable confidential advice, call (800-388-2227.) Spanish-speakers call 800-682-9832. Or visit www.nfcc.org.

Here’s How One Woman Became An Entrepreneur

July 15, 2014 By Twila Van Leer

Sherry Tingley – Digital Marketing Strategist

Sherry Tingley didn’t become an entrepreneur overnight. It was a step-by-step learning process, with many a detour and slip en route. She’s still learning, she says, but she’s no longer a tyro.

In a recent interview with Mint, the personal finance management website, she tells how her business, primarily developing websites on the Internet, has steadily grown and is now providing the underpinning for rapid growth and improvement.

Checks? Haven’t they become an anachronism, given the rise of online banking, debit cards and digital wallets? Not even close. American banks process more than 24 billion checks annually, she says. Many people, even while using new technologies to make their everyday purchases, bring out the checkbook for paying regular bills and make other financial exchanges. Small businesses use them to pay vendors, employees and other expenses. Deluxe Corporation, largest of the check-printing companies, has seen a rise in stocks from $16.18 per share in July 2009 to $59.71 per share in July 2014.

Sherry shares her experience and growing expertise via a personal finance blog housed on the CoolChecks site. The site focuses on general finance wisdom as well as updates on the check-printing world, including the most popular check designs and changes (how about skull-and-crossbones, a range of jungle prints and the latest Disney characters?)

She began her venture into e-marketing from square one. Like millions of Americans, she had little practical knowledge of personal finances, beyond the most basic household management. High school and college had done little to add to that base. At 51, she was the mother of two teenagers, still renting and earning less than $30,000 per year. She looked at the reality and decided it needed to change.

“I decided to educate myself about anything I could do to control my financial future,” she told Mint. “I vowed I would try everything in my power to avoid personal financial mistakes and focus on increasing my income.” She drew on available resources such as Fool.com forums and began to understand how she could make better use of the money she had. She received a lot of encouragement and support after paying off $5,000 in credit card debt and kept going. She read everything she could find that expounded on personal finance, from Dave Ramsey to Suze Orman. She consciously looked for ways to increase income without going into debt.

Some of the money-making approaches she tried didn’t work. But instead of throwing in the towel, she began to teach herself web design, PHP programming and the effective use of MySQL databases. More successes in affiliate marketing followed as she added to her knowledge about money management, wise investing and web development skills.

There is a long road behind, but she now is looking at financial security. She has two residential properties, invests regularly in mutual funds and has a savings account for emergencies. “Most importantly, I make much better financial decisions on a regular basis than I did in the past,” she says.

Her blog is aimed at anyone who needs help with finances. She focuses on setting budgets, controlling spending and distinguishing between needs and wants. She looks for ways to save money on media bills and other expenses. “I abhor the way that credit card companies entice people to spend more and more. The consequences of uncontrolled credit card debt can be devastating. Most of my articles help people deal with human mistakes in financial judgment.” Another area of emphasis is entrepreneurship. Sharing success stories of start-ups that make it is one of the ways she does that

Sherry sees the tendency of Americans to want what they want when they want it as one of the greatest challenges to wise money management. A little patience and a little time spent on comparison shopping, along with some realistic analysis between what is needed and what is merely wanted can help resolve this weakness, she says.

A careful and honest look at resources and necessary outlay is the place to begin to build a good budget, Sherry advises. Spreadsheets are available to help in the process. Then make a monthly evaluation of that budget the basis for spending. You can’t reach financial goals without knowing where you are, where you want to be and how you can get there. Whether you earn $15,000 a year or over $250,000 a year, the formula remains the same.

Money is not the objective per se, but what it can do for you, she tells the Mint readers. Living within a budget and saving for the future can open opportunities not possible by using haphazard finance practices. Sherry takes counsel from “Invictus,” a poem by Ernest Henley: “I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.”

Today’s checks, she told Mint, are a far cry from the past. Her CoolChecks.net site offers more than 6,367 products all check related. In all, the database has more than 20,000 items. Unique designs give buys the opportunity to express themselves with every check they use. There even is the option of printing one’s own picture on checks. The most popular designs of the moment are animals prints, with a pink zebra leading the pack. Girly themes (such as high heels) are hot with the ladies and sports checks, including Harley-Davidson designs, rank high with the men. The idea is to give you a lift each time you write a check. It’s a matter of expressing your own individuality.

Options for business checks are consistent with the varieties of check-printing equipment most companies use. The Quickbooks checks tend to be popular with small businesses. Travel checks top business choices today.

Checks are her thing, Sherry emphasizes, but the same business and financial principles apply to any product. Successful entrepreneurship lies in preparing and then applying sound business practices. Her own experience shows that it can and does work.