| April 23, 2013
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National Financial Literacy Month is a Chance to Start Good Habits

national-financial-literacy-month-is-a-chance-to-start-good-habits

Originally posted on CUInsight.com.

This article references a study done by Discover, the NAFCU Services Preferred Partner for Debit Card Programs and Debit Networks.

It’s no coincidence that National Financial Literacy Month falls in April, the height of tax season. It seems like there are some teachable moments to be found while scrutinizing every financial decision of the past year. Tax preparation reminds me of holiday get-togethers where the family examines every bad idea everyone has ever had. But doing your taxes shouldn’t be like judgment day at the Santos dinner table. By developing good financial habits, especially at a younger age, managing your money can be a breeze.

National Financial Literacy Month is recognized as an opportunity to promote good financial habits through savings, smart purchases, and long-term personal financial planning to meet one’s life goals. Sound familiar? This is what credit unions do every day, of every month. Credit unions have a long history of helping their members make effective financial choices by offering better service, low fees, and financial education. Tools such as CULookup.com, NAFCU Services’ credit union locator website, offer personal finance calculators covering topics such as home buying, saving, borrowing, retirement and auto financing (also available free of charge for NAFCU Members to use on their websites). The site also includes links to personal financial education resources.

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Category: Growth & Retention, Management & Operations | Tags: , , , ,
| April 18, 2013
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Obama Budget Proposes Cap on Retirement Plan Balances

obama-budget-proposes-cap-on-retirement-plan-balances

Originally posted on CUInsight.com.

Guest post written by Dennis Zuehlke, Compliance Manager, Ascensus.

Ascensus is the NAFCU Services Preferred Partner for IRA, Retirement Plan, and Health Savings Account (HSA) Solutions Software, Training, Documents and Consulting.

The Obama Administration has proposed a cap of $3 million on IRAs and retirement savings plans in order to raise $9 billion of additional revenue over the next 10 years. This is the first time that the Obama Administration has proposed a cap on the total amount of assets that can be accumulated in IRAs and retirement savings plans held by individuals. It comes on the heels of the Administration’s proposals in last year’s budget to reduce the tax incentives for making retirement plan and IRA contributions.

The Administration released details of the proposal in the Fiscal Year 2014 Revenue Proposals. Under this new proposal, contributions to tax-advantaged retirement savings plans (such as IRAs, 401(a) plans, 403(b) plans, and funded section 457(b) governmental plans) would be prohibited for individuals who have accumulated assets past a certain threshold. That threshold is the amount necessary to provide the maximum annuity permitted for a tax-qualified defined benefit plan (currently $205,000), which, for an individual age 62 in 2013, would be approximately $3.4 million.

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Category: Management & Operations | Tags: , ,
| April 3, 2013
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Credit Unions Calculate Your Member Share

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Originally posted on CUInsight.com

Guest post written by Dan Green, Mortgage Cadence, LLC.

Prime Alliance, the NAFCU Services Preferred Partner for Credit Union Mortgage Solutions is a Mortgage Cadence company.

Year-end 2012 credit union data was released in the last few weeks. That’s an awful lot like running up and down the streets yelling, “Hey, everyone, the new phone book is here.” But for data nerds generally and these mortgage data nerds specifically, it’s a highly anticipated event. Although trends are trackable intra-year and performance predictions are easy to make, this is when we find out what really happened.

2012 was an eventful mortgage lending year. Credit unions closed $124 billion in first mortgages, the highest amount recorded in the industry’s five-decade home finance history. While dollars lent are good, market share is better. It grew, too, to 7.09%, also the highest it has ever been. If you are keeping score like the two of us have for so many years, this is truly good news. Both dollars and share continue the upward trend that began in 2006.

There are many different ways to look at mortgage lending performance. Total dollars and share of the US market are two broad measures. They are simple to calculate and easy to obtain. The reality is, however, neither tell us much about individual credit union performance, and neither provide a means of judging lending achievement vis-a-vis other credit unions. We think there are four simple ways to do that, too.

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Category: Growth & Retention | Tags: , , ,
| April 1, 2013
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Great Strategy and Great Wine

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Originally posted on CUInsight.com

No, this is not a post about how strategic discussions can be improved with fine wine, although that is probably true, and it would be fun to test the hypothesis. This post is about the best of both worlds, and combining a vocation with an avocation.

I love my job, which often involves thinking strategically on behalf of credit unions and with our Partners, and have also become a fan of wine, in particular California Cabernet. My chance to blend the two and share with all of you as well is coming at the NAFCU CEOs and Senior Executives Conference (Sonoma, CA, April 24–26, 2013).

NAFCU Services sponsors a welcome reception every year at this Conference. Given that we are in wine country, we wanted to do something special that would be a more interactive and interesting experience than just having house wines for a “typical” reception. We’ve all been to plenty of them, where you grab an anonymous glass of non-descript wine and look for the next hors d’oeuvres tray.

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Category: Other Fun Stuff | Tags: ,
| March 28, 2013
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Individually Focused IRA Marketing

individually-focused-ira-marketing

Originally posted on CUInsight.com

Guest post written by Dennis Zuehlke, Compliance Manager, Ascensus

The April 15 tax filing and IRA contribution deadline is only one month away. Much of the marketing focus this year is on the higher IRA contribution limits. For 2013, the IRA contribution limit is $5,500, up from the previous $5,000 limit.

This is good news for baby boomers socking away money for retirement, but for young millennials just starting out, making a $5,500 IRA contribution may be out of reach, and such a marketing campaign may appear out of touch. Targeting the right message to the right audience is key. Remember, the “I” in IRA stands for individual. IRA marketing efforts focused on the individual—based on their generational demographic—will benefit both your members and your credit union.

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Category: Growth & Retention, Management & Operations, Marketing | Tags: , , , ,
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