Graduating? A few financial tips.

Shay Olivarria, financial education speaker and the author of 10 Things College Students Need to Know About Money 2nd edition, was included in the an article geared towards sharing a few tips for students that graduating this year. Nine women were included. Shay’s tips:

“Keep your credit scores high by taking a look at your credit reports for free at AnnualCreditReport.com (the only place you can get them for free). [Also] learn about the five parts of a credit score and leverage your scores to save money (and deposit fees on utilities) on car loans and home loans in the upcoming years.”

“You created a plan to graduate from college and you worked that plan to bring graduation to fruition. You can do the exact same thing with personal finances. Make a plan and execute that plan. Welcome to adulthood.”

Read the rest of the advice by visiting Student Loan Hero.

 

Shay Olivarria is the most dynamic financial education speaker working today. She speaks at high schools, colleges, and companies across the country. She has written three books on personal finance, including Amazon Best Seller “Money Matters: The Get It Done in 1 Minute Workbook”. Shay has been quoted on Bankrate.com, FoxBusiness.com, NBC Latino and The Credit Union Times, among others. To schedule Shay to speak at your event visit www.BiggerThanYourBlock.com. 

 

 

NBC Latino

Shay Olivarria was interviewed by NBC Latino! Whoo hoo!

 

We’re so proud that Shay Olivarria was interviewed by Kristina Puga of NBC Latino for this article with tips about dealing with the possible doubling of the student loan interest rate that’s coming July 1. Read it and share it!

 

Shay Olivarria is the most dynamic financial education speaker working today. She speaks at high schools, colleges, and companies across the country. She has written three books on personal finance, including Amazon Best Seller “Money Matters: The Get It Done in 1 Minute Workbook”. Shay has been quoted on Bankrate.com, FoxBusiness.com, and The Credit Union Times, among others. To schedule Shay to speak at your event visit www.BiggerThanYourBlock.com

Invest in Yourself

Read Shay's new weekly personal finance column on Black Voice News.

Starting this week the most dynamic financial education speaker working today has a weekly column on personal finance at Black Voice News! You can read her pithy insights and personal views on all things money in the physical paper and online. Check out this excerpt from her first article “Invest in Yourself” and leave a comment on BlackVoiceNews.com:

Every day we make decisions about how we will spend our money. Most of the time we spend our money investing in things that will not increase the value of ourselves, our families, and our communities. In 2010 African-American buying power was valued at $836 Billion by the U.S. Census. How much of that money went into purchasing things that increases the net worth of African-American households?

There is an idea that you’ve had for a while now about generating more income. It could be starting a business. It could be furthering your education. It could be cutting unnecessary costs to create, or add to, your emergency account or retirement account.

What’s stopping you from investing in yourself? I bet you invest ….

Read the entire article here.

Open a Money Market Account. Now.

Work smarter, not harder.

Raise your hand if you save money in your savings account and then transfer it to your checking account so often that you don’t actually end up saving any money. Put your hand down! Your co-workers are looking at you!

What’s a money market account?
A money market account is an uber-savings account. You put money in and take money out using a debit card and/or checks just like a savings account. You can only make a specific number of deposits and withdrawals per month. Due to that restriction, you earn a better interest rate than a savings account.

Why should I use one?
You should open a money market account because you have little-to-no willpower. Do you know how I know this? It’s because I have little-to-no will power as well. Life is not about beating yourself up about your shortcomings, but about finding work-arounds for the shortcomings that we all have.

I know that if I have thousands, heck, if I have hundreds of dollars lying around in a savings account that links to my ATM card I’m going to be really tempted to buy things that I don’t need. Having a money market account, with restrictions, makes me think a bit harder before I spend my money because I have to consider fees and penalties for taking money out.

Where to find a money market account
Money market accounts are offered at credit unions and banks around the country. Before you choose one, check Bankrate.com to make sure that you’re getting a competitive rate.

Extra tip:
– Don’t sign up for a debit card for your money market account. It’s too tempting.
– Keep your money that you’re saving for a short-term or intermediate-term savings goal in a money market account.

Read more simple money management tips in Money Matters: The Get It Done in 1 Minute Workbook.

The Case for Fee Only Advisors

Do you know how your financial advisor gets paid? Money is a huge motivation for most people that hold jobs. There are generally three types of financial advisors in the US: percentage based, transaction based, and fee only. If you don’t you may want to find out, it may be costing you thousands of dollars a year.

Percentage based means that the advisor works on maintaining, and hopefully growing, your wealth. They get paid by taking a cut of your overall wealth every year. The idea is that if you’re worth more they make more. If you’re worth less, they make less. This encourages them to grow your wealth because their commission is tied to your financial health. The issue here is that in an effort to increase your wealth, there may be a motivation to make moves that are more risky that you’re comfortable with. After all, if they lose some of your money they have other clients they earn commissions from. Where will you make up the difference?

I’m using the term transaction based as a catch-all term that includes advisors that get paid as brokers (when you make transactions) and as advisors (suggesting funds to you). Basically, these people get paid when you buy something. It benefits them to encourage you to make many different transactions because the more you buy, the more they make. Let’s say that Mutual Fund A is a good fit for you, but only offers the transaction based advisor $100 worth of potential commission while Mutual Fund B is more risk than you want to take on, but offers the transaction based advisor $200 worth of potential commission. I’m sure that we can all see the temptation there.

Fee-only advisors require a set amount of money for a specific action, say creating a wealth strategy, a debt management strategy, an investment portfolio, etc. Since the fee-only advisor is already getting paid for her knowledge, there is little -to-know motivation to suggest funds that will give them a commission but may not be right for you, encourage you to trade more than is necessary, or make risky trades on your behalf to try and increase your wealth.

Finding out how your financial advisor gets paid may end up saving you thousands of dollars. It’s important that you have a solid relationship with your financial advisor. If you don’t know, ask. If you feel worried about asking… you may need to find a different financial advisor, but make sure she’s a fee-only advisor.

Be well.