Customary But No Ordinary Seasons Greeting
As is customary, with the approach of each New Year there is a timeout to reflect on things of the past. In doing so this year the exercise has been most eye opening. It has left me prayerfully and strategically outlining my future steps as we brace ourselves to enter into 2012. So much so, that I have made a conscious decision to share my personal insights with the Focus on Finance readership.
Many may have either seen or heard about the movie “2012”, wherein the world abruptly comes to an end or at least it seemed abrupt. Initially, people globally were still carrying on in day-to-day mundane activities oblivious to impending doom, even with supernatural earthquakes, floods, temperature changes and other destructive hints all around them. Nevertheless, once global destruction began the expected mass panic, fear, and acts of desperation for survival commenced. Futilely, only a privileged few that were informed and financially positioned to take advantage of a planned escape stood to survive.
While I do not expect 2012 to necessarily be the end of the world. It may nonetheless be pushing us closer to the end of the way of life as we now know it. Now I’m no doom and gloom type of person. In fact, I’m extremely optimistic even in the worst of situations and it has served me well. On the other hand the fact that I am troubled by my personal reflection of the current global economy has me disturbed. As well, so should it you.
During 2011 we have seen the continued deflation of the U.S. dollar as the National Debt increased astronomically, the failing of the European currency, increased inflation, rising unemployment, continued dissatisfaction with the banking industry, Wall Street protests and global political unrest. There are too many events in the daily news to even account for in this column. The proverbial ‘cute’ story shown at the close of any news broadcast is doing less and less to comfort the masses, as they offer no solution from the onslaught of the previous bad news.
During this year I have invested time and resources in search of what the Rich are now doing to hedge themselves in this new financial climate. So let us focus on the global financial state we find ourselves in at the close of this year. It is less about just making a new financial resolution and more of how you will survive as we approach what a growing number of experts and ordinary citizens believe will be an inevitable global financial collapse. One positioned to be of greater magnitude than the depression of the 1920s.
Hopelessness in this hour is not the option for any of us. What you do starting today will determine how your children, family, loved ones make it through the impending financial challenges ahead. Be assured this is not if a crisis is coming, but when will it fully arrive.
Since I’m unaware of this readership’s individual financial status you may wish to seek consultation to evaluate your current financial situation. Remember, I am not a certified financial planner or advisor nor am I providing financial advice here. Still, I am a financial coach with 25 years of experience that is offering insight for use in making independent financial choices for success. Below is an overview of my personal reflections that I felt led to share, even if just to enlighten one other person.
ü A Deeper Financial Awakening: you cannot continue to think in the same manner and get different results. Understand and acknowledge first that we are in a global financial crisis. As such, it impacts every area of life and a new thought pattern is needed to develop a successful strategy.
ü Education on Global Financial Issues: the responsibility to educate yourself on global financial issues is 100% up to you. Also, include your children as they are part of the solution. Here is a hint; neither the government nor mainstream media is providing us with a complete accurate picture.
ü Assess Your Financial Status: this basic financial principal is foundational. This includes calculating what is or could be quickly turned into liquid assets. This also requires that you begin to align assets to get needed items of value. What are these items? Keep reading for an opportunity to learn more about them.
ü Acquire the Right Assets: do you know what it will take to survive a global financial crisis? I can tell you the Rich may be on to something and things that you think are important will probably not be as much.
ü Form Strategic Alliances: after considering the previous steps it may be apparent that you are starting with a deficit. Evaluate your strengths and then look to connect with others like-minded with whom you can find leverage. Believe me you will need to find strength from others.
ü Pray for our Nation: the U.S. was founded and forged as a nation with prayer by our Founding Fathers. When a full financial crisis occurs prayer will no longer be a moral distraction, but highly welcomed by most in this nation. Just think, many of our politicians were negatively impacted by the removal of prayer from the schools and we are now faced with the sad results. So start now!
This is only an initial overview which is meant to be frank enough to raise awareness, spark new actions, and create a new accountability mentality. For instance, stop spending all of your time on Facebook and go produce a financial survival plan.
Just as in the movie “2012” there will be a privileged few who take advantage of this information. If you are one of them then you will want to join me on a free call January 11, 2012. There you can get more specific financial survival steps and learn how I am hedging my family against an impending financial disaster. You can find out more and register now by going to www.WealthContender.com.
© 2011 Ask Yvon is a written by S. Yvon Harper for Focus on Finance, LLC – (513)341-5912. All rights reserved. Contact us at www.FocusOnFinanceOnline.com. Join us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/FocusOnFinance. Readers are strongly urged to consult with a qualified legal or tax advisor to analyze your specific financial situation before application of any advice from this column.
How Much Are You Paying Your Bank?
Let me begin by telling you a story. Linda Joy wanted to go shopping so she planned her list carefully, which included a trip to the bank. She had a new debit card and needed to activate it for use in the store that day. Linda stopped at the nearest ATM outside of her bank’s network, because one store was close by and about to close. After wrongfully entering her PIN several times she finally remembered it. She proceeded to get some cash with a $3 out-of-network ATM fee. Linda then went shopping and caught some great unexpected sales, but was happy she had her new debit card to use. It was a great day. At the end of the month Linda’s bank statement came as expected, but she didn’t expect to see several additional fees from her day of shopping:
$5 Use of Debit Card for the month
$3 Additional Out of Network ATM Fee
$1.50 Multiple Entries of PIN at the ATM and
$6 Increase of Checking Account Fee
Linda discovered the hard way that her big of day shopping had turned into a fees payday for her bank. What Linda experienced is what consumers must be on the alert for. Since before October 1, 2011, when the Dodd-Frank Act took effect to curb excessive banking fees, many larger banks have been quietly unbundling there included services to charge new fees to their customers all in the name of raising profit.
Most recently rescinded were the Monthly Debit Card Usage fees that were to take effect at the beginning of the year. Bank of America, Chase, US Bank and Wells Fargo, to name a few, were set to require the $3 to $5 fee just for using your debit card to pay for purchases. After a major uproar by not only Consumers, but Lawmakers the fee was scrapped…for now at least. One of the most notorious, Bank of America, CEO Brian Moynihan initially defended it, saying that his company "has a right to make a profit."
This brings to the forefront the need to know what fees your bank charges for their services. Unfortunately, these fees are not always posted upfront and many are only discovered after they have been incurred by the customer. The U.S. Public Interest Research Group published a report Big Banks, Bigger Fees, earlier this year to provide insight into these fees. You can read it on their website at www.PublicInterestNetwork.org it suggests that there are upwards of around 49 fees at time of the report printing.
Bank customers should ask for a full listing of your banks fees, if even available. If you find that there are too many you may want to do what 650,000 other customers did when the Debit Card Usage fee was announced and join your local credit union. Credit unions are a staple in the financial industries and often times avoid the fees for services that traditional banks charge, because they are member owned. To find a credit union in your area search online at www.CreditUnionsOnline.com the service is free.
© 2011 Ask Yvon is a written by S. Yvon Harper for Focus on Finance, LLC – (513)341-5912. All rights reserved. Contact for questions at FocusOnFinanceOnline.com/Contact. Join us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/FocusOnFinance. Readers are strongly urged to consult with a qualified legal or tax advisor to analyze your specific financial situation before application of any advice from this column.
Beware of Paypal’s Instant Transfer Option
In this day and age it is important that we look at protecting our financial information no doubt. Nonetheless, with so many national merchants and others creditable vendors opening online stores many will find great advantages to shopping online. Personally, I prefer the convenience of online shopping and look forward to it during the holiday shopping season.
However, I want to share a recent experience that ended up not being so much about the merchant as much as it was my choice in payment options. You see, I brought a gift for someone and upon receiving it discovered that it was defective. So I did what most consumers would do, which is contact the retailer. No response. So, I sent a second contact with request for refund and again no response.
At first I didn’t panic, because I had purchased the item through Paypal and felt confident that their ‘consumer protection’ policy could resolve the problem. Unfortunately, I’m sorry to say… NOT! You see, Paypal limits what claim disputes they will fight for you, like if you did not receive an item. However, if the item is defective they won’t pursue that for you. In fact, they refer you to your own credit card company to pursue a refund. This would be okay, I guess, if the name reported on the consumer’s statement was that of the actual merchant, but in this case I had used the ‘Instant Transfer’ option, because of this the transaction only reports it’s a Paypal Instant Transfer transaction without reference to the merchant. The credit card company also said no go to pursing a refund because of this.
What does all this mean for the consumer? Basically, that if you purchase an item using Paypal AND you use the Instant Transfer option AND you have a dispute for something other than item was not received…you’re out of luck. Paypal will only provide you with the standard company line of “We’re sorry you have a defective item, but we only offer protection of the consumer credit card information being provided to the seller and can’t help that the merchant was negligent in providing a defective product”. Although they do offer to keep a record on the complaint for future use…whatever that means.
After my experience I had to ask myself what good is it to use Paypal at the checkout, if they don’t FULLY protect the consumer by giving them recourse when receiving defective merchandise or fraudulent sellers?” My answer ‘not much ‘and I will most likely think long and hard before I even consider using Paypal’s Instant Transfer feature in the future.
Don’t be confused and please understand that there are MANY honest and creditable merchants using Paypal for their shopping cart…I use them myself and using Paypal in and of itself is NOT a problem per se. Nonetheless, as a purchaser we must be aware of the risk, if you choose the Paypal Instant Transfer option.
My other suggestion? Use a seller’s direct merchant account for your purchases, which can provide greater protection in the event of a product dispute through your card issuer. Below are several suggestions to keep in mind whether you use Paypal or a merchant’s shopping cart at checkout:
- Make sure you take time to know something about the retailer – like how long they have they been in business and trade associations, if any.
- Read customer reviews, if available – these can give valuable clues about the merchant and could have helped me prior to my purchase.
- Understand the merchant’s return policy before you purchase and contact customer service with any questions.
- Ensure that the payment connection is secure – such as SSL security.
- Use a credit or debit card with a Visa or Master Card logo AND ensure that the charge will show the merchant’s name for maximum consumer protection, if you need to file a dispute.
Doing these things will help to ensure that you have the greatest shopping experience. Don’t forget the golden rule of shopping either, which is, if the deal looks to good to be true than it probably is. Happy shopping.