Know Your Financial State
(Americans For Decency,
6/2/08)
Recently the state of
California was sited for taking from their citizens safety
deposit boxes. What they were doing was this, if a person
did not visit their safety deposit box within one year the state
would go in and remove the money and apply it to be used in the
state general fund! Poof. It was gone! Jewelry, etc. was gone!
Though the state was supposed to do due diligence for the people
to see if they were at the same address or even look them up in
the phone directory and contact them, California was not
following up appropriately. The banks were following state
regulations as required by law.
Due to recent court
attention, California is doing better at notifying their
citizenry before removing safety deposit box funds. However, it
still gives only one year.
Americans for Decency
contacted Arizona State Treasurer Dean Martin to ask what
Arizona’s laws were regarding this issue. Mr. Martin stated
that Arizona gave three years. If a safety deposit box
had not been accessed for three years, they begin a search for
the owners. If unable to contact anyone, they too remove the
funds.
Be aware of your
rights. Do not simply monitor your accounts and boxes.
Be active in the bank at least once a year to know that your
funds are secure. Check with your bank to know what the
policies are regarding all accounts.
Ways to Protect Your Finances
·
It is always good
to have at least $1,000.00 in savings to cover unexpected
breakdowns in furniture, glass, car repairs, etc. More is
better. That is a start.
·
Pay off your
credit cards each month so when a financial setback occurs you
won’t be left with immense bill pressure.
·
Many financial
experts recommend having at least 6 months to a year set aside
of finances for rough times.
·
When purchasing a
home allot only one quarter of what you make to pay for the
mortgage. This way you will have enough to buy the items you
need and put money away in savings.
·
Get a good term
insurance to cover your wage earners.
·
If you are
assisting your children with loans for college, get term
insurance for them in the accidental event of their deaths. This
then covers death and college expenses that can wipe you
out.
·
Make a plan to pay
off your bills. Start with the smallest first. List them for
your entire family to see, then go after them! Cross them out as
you pay them off. Make it a family activity.
·
You could also
plan a vacation this way. This gets the family to involved. It
teaches your children financial responsibility and planning, and
you are rewarded with a vacation all can take credit for!
·
Be prudent. Don’t
over spend. Write up a budget so you know where the money goes.
In this way you will know how much is left over for play and
other stuff. Include in your budget things like electricity,
mortgage/rent, furniture, clothing, auto gas, payments, auto
repair, home repair, all credit card bills. Make sure these are
listed first. Then vacations and fun stuff.
·
Planning is
important for you to have a good future.
·
Pay into your
retirement even if it is very little at first.
·
Get fired up. Pay
off your mortgage by adding more money to your payment and
writing on the bill that the extra payment goes to pay off the
principle. This decreases the interest charges and makes your
mortgage pay off faster with less interest payments at
thousands less in costs!
·
Have a Trust or
Will set up in the event of your death/deaths.
·
Give to nonprofit
organizations.
·
By having these in
place now when you are receiving a salary, when bad times come
you are in a much better position to ride out the storm.
Riding out Bad Times
Remember you are not alone.
Everyone goes through tough times. A wise preacher once said,
“Tough times don’t last, tough people do.” So be kind, stick
with it, and you WILL get through it.
Most people now have more
than one firm with whom they work during their lives.
Be kind to your friends and
to everyone. Some have been recommended by people who admired
their work even though the individual recommending was not close
to them.
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