• Welcome!

    Hi, I'm Phillip Crocker and I'm your "One Resource" for financial education and questions.

    This site is your site and is dedicated to serving you, our current or potential member/owners!

    Contact me anytime at
    (214) 565-5338 or click on the "Suggestion" tab for questions or suggestions for articles, resources or blog topics. Enjoy!

    Phillip Crocker
    Financial Educator
    Resource One Credit Union
  • Topical Links

A Word About Debt Consolidation Loans

Research Reveals Ads Don’t Disclose Total Costs, Lead to Risky Behaviors… 

DENVER—Seventy-five percent of Americans have debt, and 51 percent are worried about the balance they owe, finds a new poll from the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE).  The online poll, commissioned by NEFE and conducted by Harris Interactive in December 2011 among 2,525 adults ages 18 and older, demonstrates the overall debt burden people across the country are carrying(1).  And although some debt-laden Americans might continue with their current strategies to pay down debt in 2012, others may be feeling the crush of holiday credit card statements and multiple debts or struggling to keep up with their current monthly loan payments.

For cash-strapped consumers, debt consolidation loans might seem like a quick fix to solve their money woes.  But they will want to tread carefully, as new NEFE-supported research reveals ads for these loans do not give consumers a full picture of the total costs, and furthermore, these loans may cause consumers to make their financial situations even worse.

“The advertising for debt consolidation loans often fails to mention the downsides of these types of loans,” says Ted Beck, president and CEO of NEFE.  “In presenting debt consolidation as an option, much of the focus is placed on the ‘lower’ amount of monthly payments, without regard to impacts like total interest paid.  We encourage consumers to enter any financial decision with their eyes wide open.”

Tips for Understanding Debt Consolidation Loans

  1. Weigh the downsides. Longer loan terms may decrease your monthly payments, but they increase the total amount of interest you will pay over the life of the loan.  In addition, you might incur hidden fees and penalties.
  2. Know the seller.  Lenders are not obligated to give you the best rate for which you qualify, so shop around and look carefully at the terms.  Also, just because he or she is willing to sell you a loan doesn’t mean you can afford it.
  3. Avoid the slippery slope.  Don’t fall into the trap of increasing the amount of a debt consolidation loan to finance additional purchases.  You will unnecessarily increase your monthly payment and boost your overall debt.
  4. Establish a plan.  The best way to get out of debt is to create a financial plan and stick with it and to live within your means.

Questions to Ask a Debt Consolidation Loan Lender

  • Is there a fee to apply for this loan?
  • What are the interest rate, term, monthly payments and total amount of interest paid?
  • What collateral is required for this loan? What fees or paperwork is required for the collateral?
  • Is there a pre-payment penalty?
  • How does your firm make money on this loan?

- Brought to You by The National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE)

- Phillip

Next Seminar – Coming to New Carrollton Branch

Our next educational seminar is coming to our newest Resource One location.  We are excited to offer our first Financial Education seminar at our Carrollton Branch location.  Many of our members, out in that area, have waited and here is your chance.  A great seminar too, I might add.  You will not want to miss it…make sure to sign-up today under the classes tab.

Topic:            New Year – New Financial You

Date:              Saturday – February 25, 2012

Time:              1:30PM – 2:30PM

Location: 2501 E Hebron Parkway #300
Carrollton, TX 75010

Who should attend this seminar???

Anyone who is thinking about – or wants to:

  • Learn How to Keep a New Year’s Resolution – It’s Not Too Late
  • Plan for the Future
  • Get Out of Debt
  • Reduce the Amount of Stress in Your Life
  • Address Financial Concerns
  • Take Control of Your Finances
  • Have more to save, more to spend, or less to worry about.
  • Achieve Financial Maturity
  • Challenge The Way You Think About Money Management

I am sure it will be a full house…

- Phillip

 

 

 

 

2012 – What’s New This Year For You???

Ah, the beginning of a new year.  It’s the time when so many of us have such “HOPE” for the new year.  It’s a time where we can start a new.  It’s a time when we can learn from our past and make changes.  Just look around,  seen any weight loss commercials lately?  Have you seen all the workout gear and supplements in between all the Valentine’s Day chocolates.  Kind of a contradiction in shelf space – right?  Yes, it is indeed the time for change. 

So what are you planning on changing this year – financially?  

I believe that I can speak for myself and for my family; in that we too have aspirations to make a change this year.  However, if my memory is working correctly; I believe my family and I went through this very same exercise last year.  Somehow, we did not end up financially where we were wanting to go at the end of 2011.  We thought we had a great plan of attack, and the knowhow to implement change.  Heck, I even went to the extent of creating a brand new Financial Seminar in 2011 speaking to this subject matter.  So I had all the correct plans and answers staring us in the face.  I even taught three seminars on the subject matter in early 2011.  So, why is it that at the end of 2011 my family and I felt “let down” on our financial performance in 2011.  Why did many of you out there feel this same way?  

In the end, you either have success, or failure.  Some of you may be saying, “Hey, is there not somewhere in between that you can be satisfied?”  My answer to that would be, “NO!!!”  You either accomplished your financial goals or you did not.  Seems a little harsh, but I am just being honest with myself and with you.  Ask yourself this question, “Do you simply want to be satisfied with your financial livelihood?”  If your answer is “yes” then I can’t argue with you.  Your mind is made up to just settle.  However, I just don’t want to “settle” for things in this life.  I imagine many of you feel the same.  If your answer was “no”, then you left things on the table so to speak.  It didn’t feel good - did it?

So now it’s down to the million dollar question, how do I change this year?  How is this year going to be any different from the year’s past? 

You got to take a long hard look at last year – financially.  You have to identify what lead you to failure.  Yes, you failed if you did not reach your goals.  Sounds harsh, but again it is what it is…if that was even a sentence.  Hopefully, you get what I am trying to say.  We are destined to repeat the past if we simply keep doing the same thing we have always done  or insane for thinking things will change.  (I think there are two quotes in there somewhere from very smart and famous people…sounds good though so I will leave it.)      

Here is what my family and I did last year.  I can only share with you of our account, but I imagine our story is the same as many of yours.  We tried to fool ourselves and lived in denial.  That being said, we did not have a terrible year financially, we just did not accomplish our goals.  We had a wonderful time spending money on all sorts of stuff.  We spent money on things we needed, things we wanted, things we didn’t need or want.  Somehow the stuff just followed us home or came in the mail – mysteriously.  We did manage to pay down our debt load – some.  Heck, we even gave some of our money away.  Which is an important thing to my family.  Because of all of those reasons and not “living” our plan; my family did not achieve our financial goals for 2011.  In the end, it wasn’t a bad year.  However, financially we had a bad taste in our mouth.  We could have done so much better.  We decided as a family to make a change and hold each other accountable.  We are “all” involved in the process now.

So what is different and how is it going?

We already had a good plan in place.  All it needed was to be ”tweaked” for 2012.  We redefined some goals and made them more realistic and attainable for our lifestyle.  We also put into place simple ways to account for our money and to keep track of what’s going on with our money – cash flow.  Our main change this year as opposed to last year is that we are all on the same page, committed to reach our goals, and we are all accountable to one another.  Even though mommy and daddy make the money, our daughter (age 10) has some say-so on things.  (It’s amazing how kids can help keep you “honest”. )  We got together as a family - made our goals and made some hard decisions – as a family.  We are already communicating better than we have ever done before.  We are all excited and engaged in the process.  It is not a chore any longer “talking” about our finances.  It is working for us, not to say we don’t have our challenges, we are just a regular family trying to make it happen.  

I believe the most important element from this experience is that we have actually executed our plan.  Our plan has several financial goals, but we have already taken the most basic step.  One that I have taught, spoke, and preached for some time now – about six years.  We can look at ourselves in the mirror and say that we are paying ourselves – first.   There is no more,”if we got some extra cash left over let’s stick it in savings”.  We have already made the first deposit this year.  And that’s a great feeling…my family values that “feeling”.

Everyone out there is at a different stage in their financial journey.  Figure out where you are at, where you have been, and where you want to go in the future.  Then make a plan and start to “live it”.  Will it always be easy – heck no.  There will be ups and downs in your financial life.  Just stay committed, hold yourself or each other accountable, and start thriving.  Don’t settle for just surviving another year, make 2012 your best financial year yet!!! 

- Phillip

No One Is Perfect – Holiday Shopping

I came across this wonderful piece on Holiday shopping and thought I would share.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I did…now I don’t feel so bad.  

Experts Make the Same Holiday Shopping Mistakes that You Do

Holiday shopping is full of “coulda, shoulda, woulda’s”
Published on December 16, 2011 by Kit Yarrow, Ph.D. in The Why Behind the Buy

Holiday shopping is full of “coulda, shoulda, woulda’s.” As in, “I could have gotten if for less if I’d waited,” “I should have bought it last week, now it’s sold out,” or “I would have just gotten her a gift card if I’d known it was going to cost this much to mail it.” It seems like you have to be a retail expert to get through the holiday shopping season without a few slip-ups and regrets.

It turns out that even the experts get tripped up by the same shopping mistakes as everyone else: overbuying, procrastination, impulsive purchasing and falling prey to promotions. It might be a comfort to know that even though retail pros know better – and all the in’s-and-out’s – the rush of the season can get the best of anyone.

Retail analyst Jennifer Black, President of Jennifer Black and Associates, spends a lot of time in malls – after all it’s her job to get a fix on who’s buying what. You might think she’d be immune to the excitement of big promotions, but instead she says, “I get caught up in the fever like everyone else.” On Black Friday she found herself at Victoria’s Secret, “buying things I didn’t need just to get the gift with purchase.”

Jayne O’Donnell, USA Today’s retail reporter, knows all the tricks of the trade and she’s a top-notch bargain shopper. Like over ⅓ of Americans she purchases holiday gifts months before Christmas. And like many others, she sometimes forgets what she’s purchased. O’Donnell confessed that this year was no exception, “I did not keep good track of what we’d bought (daughter) Cate and so over-purchased.”

Retail consultant, Doug Stephens, otherwise known as The Retail Prophet, says that he shops, “irrationally like everyone else.” He also laments that although he knows all about new digital shopping tools, “I don’t leverage technology to its full potential when I’m making holiday gift decisions. I feel in too much of a hurry.”

Just as you’d expect from the author of “Generation Earn” and the AlphaConsumer blog for U.S.News & World Report, Senior Editor Kimberly Palmer attacks holiday shopping by planning ahead, making a list and starting her shopping early. But she confesses, “I usually end up splurging on a few last minute in-store purchases that are entirely unnecessary.” Palmer finds in-store demonstrations and tasty samples particularly alluring and recently left Williams Sonoma with a pricey bottle of olive oil that she described as, “not exactly a necessary purchase.”

Like many, David Rogers, author of “The Network is Your Customer: 5 Strategies to Thrive in the Digital Age,” is a holiday shopping procrastinator. Rogers says his holiday shopping takes place in three stages, “1) Denial, 2) Avoidance, 3) Amazon.”

A lot of people will get to the end of the holiday shopping season wondering if they could have done better: spent less, gotten better deals, found better gifts or shopped more efficiently. Keep in mind that even top retail experts aren’t perfect either.

Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays – Phillip

Secret Santas

I am sure that most of you have heard about Secret Santas…either from encounters at work or with friends.   The concept has been around for a while, folks giving gifts to someone and remaining anonymous.   If you listen to the news or read your news, you may have heard about a popular growing trend of Secret Santas.   This new trend really takes the secret santa concept to a whole new level.   Checkout this article from Time to see what’s going on at some popular retailers.

I hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas and wonderful start to the New Year!!!

- Phillip

 

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.