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Thumbs Up, Bucks Up 2019

Credit Card Late Fees: What You Need to Know

Our very own Principal Experience Officer, Adam Marlowe, was recently featured in a Yahoo! Finance piece on credit card late fees. Read the whole article here.

“For one, late fees can cost you even more in added interest charges and contribute to an ongoing cycle of debt if you aren’t careful. “Most credit card companies will add the late fee to your balance on the card. The downfall is that if you don’t pay the late fee, the credit card company will earn interest on your late fee,” says Adam Marlowe, principal experience officer for Georgia’s Own Credit Union.”

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On the Money: 10 podcasts that are guaranteed to make you smarter with your cash

Podcast popularity is at an all-time high, and the number of listeners, especially among millennials, is continuing to skyrocket. Today, in 2019, there are more than 700,000 active podcasts and over 29 million episodes. According to Apple, these numbers stood at 550,000 and 18.5 million respectively just one year ago.

People listen while they’re at home, in the car, commuting to work, and at spinning at the gym. They’re running errands, waiting in the doctor’s office, shopping for groceries, and walking to their next class.

You can find a podcast on almost any topic—comedy, business, news, politics, pop culture, religion, and more. Many listeners use them not only for entertainment, but to be inspired, to stay educated and informed, and to learn something new.

Money is an especially popular podcast topic. You can tune in to any number of shows that offer advice about saving, investing, paying off debt, and every other way to maximize your financial future.

We’ve put together a list of our favorite money-themed podcasts. Check them out when you have a few minutes. They’re guaranteed to deliver great financial content and sound advice:

1. Stacking Benjamins

Hosted by Joe Saul-Sehy, it’s a combination of financial education and comedy delivered straight from his mom’s basement. Together with “the other guy” and “crazy neighbor Doug,” you’ll learn about investing, creating multiple income streams, and other essential money management strategies. Be careful where and when you listen, though, because this show is laugh-out-loud funny.

2. Girlboss Radio

What’s it like to be a woman in charge? Ask American businesswoman and host of Girlboss Radio, Sophia Amoruso. She talks in depth about the world of entrepreneurship and how women can rock the virtual corner office. Her podcast is not an exclusive women’s club, though. Girlboss Radio can help any listener define their own personal meaning of success and create a plan to get there. Tune in, and you’ll hear honest conversations with trailblazing women who are sharing, showing, and encouraging others to own their future, too.

3. The Side Hustle Show

Nick Loper is the Chief Side Hustler at Side Hustle Nation. He’s the host of the top-rated weekly podcast called the Side Hustle Show.He’ll teach you how to maximize your time and amplify your earning power through additional income streams.If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, this is your guy.

Nick used to work for corporate America during the day and worked on building his side business at night. He’ll share his experiences and advice as well as tips and business strategies from other successful entrepreneurs he features on the show.

4. Afford Anything

Paula Pant is a real estate investor and blogger. Throughout her award-winning podcast, she’ll tell you that you can afford anything, just not everything. She wants to help you build a better life, and that begins when you make decisions about how you spend money, where you spend your time and energy, and on what you focus your attention. Every decision, big or small, is ultimately a trade-off against something else.

Pant interviews a wide variety of guests, including entrepreneurs, investors, millionaires, artists, scientists, adventurers, productivity experts, world travelers, and just plain regular people. She uncovers and shares their secrets about how they’ve cultivated an extraordinary life and connects them with practical application in the lives of her listeners.

5. Smart Passive Income

Pat Flynn is an entrepreneur and the host of Smart Passive Income. His weekly show features interviews, strategies, and advice about how to establish an online business that’s optimized for passive income.

Flynn uses his own experiments, successes, and failures to show his listeners how to make more money and save more time. While the internet is flooded with resources that can help entrepreneurs build a business, Flynn believes that properly tested ethical advice is what’s missing. During his show, he shares the specific strategies that have worked for him, and, to prove it, he publishes his income report each month.

6. So Money

Host Farnoosh Torabi is a top-rated female host with an award-winning financial podcast. Her podcast, So Money, was voted one of the best at helping you grow your business. She has a knack for attracting top names in business and entrepreneurship and delivers candid conversations about creating a richer and happier life. Torabi’s goal is that her listeners will find inspiration, will be motivated to dream bigger, and ultimately live their best financial lives.

7. ChooseFI

Learn how to reduce expenses, pay down your debt, maximize credit card rewards, and more with hosts Jonathan Mendonsa and Brad Barrett. It’s all about guiding you down the path to financial health and independence for these two. But make no mistake, a happy life is not just about the money. If you want to optimize your life—and your finances, while you’re at it—these are your people. They’ll help you clear away the noise, figure out what’s important, paint a clearer picture of what you want, and then help you build an intentional plan for how to get there.

8. The Tim Ferriss Show

Tim Ferriss is an author, best known forThe 4-Hour Workweek. His podcast is frequently ranked as the #1 business podcast of all Apple Podcasts andhas surpassed 300M downloads. In each episode, Tim interviews high achieving, world-class performers like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vince Vaughn, and Tony Robbins, for example, who share their insights on business, productivity, and life hacks. He’s able to break down each guest’s approach into routines, tactics, and tools that the listener can practically apply to their everyday lives.

9. Money for the Rest of Us

Financial expert Davis Stein’s goal with this podcast is to help improve his listeners’ retirement IQ. He walks his audience through the process of building a retirement nest egg that will support them in their golden years. That may be decades away for some of us but stay with us. This is not your grandparent’s podcast. Stein offers emphatic lessons on building wealth and investing for the long term. The sooner you start, the more time you have, and the greater the opportunity for financial freedom in the future. We’re talking to you, millennials.

10. Radical Personal Finance

Joshua J. Sheats is a financial advisor and the host of Radical Personal Finance. He’s a straight talker who has no qualms telling you that the responsibility of your current and future financial health is 100% on your shoulders. In his show, Sheats delivers the information and the actionable items that will bridge the gap between the life you envision and the reality of your current life. He focuses on in-depth, no fluff content and education, stories and strategies, practical steps, and critical thinking that will help turn your vision into a reality.

Cyber Security Tip: Who’s that friend request from?

Social Media friends or foes?

Cyber criminals often create fake profiles to befriend you. The ultimate goal is to get you to leak confidential data to them (either about you or the company you work for). Be careful of the friend requests you accept on any Social Media sites (Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.).

Trust no Social Media “friend” (unless you know them in real life and you’re absolutely, positively sure they can be trusted).

First Atlanta digital building-top signage coming to Georgia’s Own

Georgia’s Own Credit Union moved its headquarters to 100 Peachtree last year – a historic move for the Atlanta-based company. As part of the move, Georgia’s Own Credit Union and Zeller Realty Group are working with Skanska USA to bring the first digital building-top signage to Atlanta in early 2019. The innovative, 174-foot-long digital sign will display Georgia’s Own Credit Union’s logo, as well as community-oriented messages promoting local and charitable events.

The Equitable Building was constructed in 1968 and served as the Southeast headquarters for AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company until 1997 when it was sold to Chicago-based LaSalle Advisors. And while Equitable hasn’t been in Atlanta for more than 20 years, the Equitable Building has remained a landmark within the Atlanta community and the city’s skyline.

Georgia’s Own, which got its start in Downtown Atlanta in 1934, recognizes the impact the Equitable sign and building have made over the years. The new sign, which will be placed over the existing Equitable signage, will pay homage to Equitable and its legacy, as well as support other local organizations and initiatives.

The sign, while larger than the current ‘Equitable’ sign, is more energy efficient and ahead of current building and signage codes. With both of the new LED screens running 24/7, there will be an estimated 43 percent reduction in energy consumption versus the estimated nine hours the Equitable sign is in operation.

“As we move towards achieving our vision of creating a diverse and active marketplace for commerce and entertainment in the heart of Downtown Atlanta, digital signage and media will play a key role in supporting this growth and defining Atlanta’s culture and brand,” said AJ Robinson, president of Central Atlanta Progress. “This cutting-edge, digital building-top sign is the first of its kind in Downtown Atlanta, and while not part of the Atlanta Arts and Entertainment District, the sign aligns perfectly with our vision for the neighborhood. I look forward to seeing how community organizations and Georgia’s Own Credit Union use this digital experience to connect with the community and welcome visitors to our wonderful city.”

Want to learn more? Click here to view Key Facts.

April is Youth Savings Month. Here’s how to celebrate!

April is Youth Savings Month, and what better time to remind you about the importance of teaching your kids to save money. Today, financial literacy is one of America’s biggest issues, so the sooner your children understand the how and why behind saving their hard earned pennies, the brighter their financial future.

Effectively communicating the importance of saving for a rainy day can be quite the challenge for parents, especially because stashing your cash isn’t especially fun. That’s the secret, though. Saving CAN be fun if you make it that way, and once your kids realize it was all a lesson, they’ll already understand its importance. Mission accomplished!

Here are some creative and practical ways to tap into savings fun and prepare your kids for a smart and responsible financial future:

Start early

Use games to incorporate financial learning. Play “store” and use Monopoly money to show how goods are exchanged for cash. Head to Publix or Kroger with your elementary school-aged children and have them match items and coupons that save money. Love going to garage sales? Give your child $5 to spend on whatever they wish. In time, you’ll see them contemplate their purchases instead of buying everything they see. Sometimes they might even choose to save their money instead of spending it.

Have a gamer? Visit Game Stop and encourage them to purchase pre-owned games instead of brand new video games. Help them find an item they’re looking for on eBay or Amazon where it might be less expensive. Consider giving your child the difference in cost to put in their piggy bank so they can actually see the savings.

Teach the value of hard work

The idea of working to earn money can also be taught early. Assign age-appropriate chores around the house. Help your children at first and gradually they’ll be able to take over the responsibility by themselves. Create a list of chores that earn a specific dollar amount so when your kids need extra money, they learn how to earn it. See, financial learning can be incorporated into almost any situation.

Schedule a field trip

Piggy banks may be the traditional symbol of saving money, but as kids get older, try using a digital coin counting bank. It automatically keeps track of each coin and displays a tally of their savings. Kids love it because they can actually see their money and watch it grow.

Soon they’ll be ready for their very own savings account. Head to your local credit union with your child and ask for a quick tour. Each time they make a deposit, your child can learn a little bit more about the banking system and ultimately the services available to them in the future.

In time, it’ll also open the doors to introduce the concepts of paying yourself first, discipline and patience in spending, needs versus wants, and how credit works.

Don’t let up in the teen years

In the middle school and high school years, teaching your child about earning and saving money gets a little more complex, but it can still be fun.

Take investing, for instance. Purchase a blue-chip stock with fictitious dollars and have them track the daily market fluctuations. How much money would they have lost or gained in three months, six months, and a year? Do the same with a penny stock and you can introduce the idea of risk and return.

Tap into their entrepreneurial skills

Your teen is likely babysitting, mowing lawns, dog sitting, or some other entrepreneurial activity to earn a few bucks. Encourage them to keep track of their earnings and brainstorm with them about how they can improve and expand their business.

What kind of babysitting services do they offer? Do they bring games to play, color with the kids, play outdoors, work on homework together, and make sure the house is picked up before parents arrive home? The combination of all these value-added services will lead to more customers.

Help them market their services. Whether through social media or simply creating a flyer to put in your neighborhood’s mailboxes, show them how to get the word out.

When they talk about their services, they need to communicate in detail. If they’re a pet sitter, they not only walk pups but also spend 30 minutes playing with them. They make sure there’s enough food and water, and that the animals get their daily exercise. People appreciate and will pay for their extra attention. 

You can follow your entrepreneurial lessons with the need to assign a certain percentage of earnings to savings versus spending, and creating a budget. With a checking account and debit card, your high school kids will know how much money is in their account and will quickly learn to live within their means, especially if you stay strong and avoid rescuing them with an extra twenty too often. We know it’s hard, but it’s worth it in the end.

Anytime is a good time

Whether it’s across the kitchen table, on the way to a baseball game, shopping for school supplies, or tucking them in at night, there are an unlimited number of ways to work financial responsibility and savings into the conversation. Let’s get going. It’s never too early or too late to start teaching your kids about how they can create a more financially stable future.26