The holidays are a season of charity and generosity. With this spirit of giving, it is easy to overindulge and buy a gift for everyone in our lives. Though we never want to discourage kindness, overextending your finances for the sake of the holidays isn’t a wise financial decision. We've compiled some resources and tips to help navigate this potentially challenging holiday season:
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A credit card balance transfer makes a high-interest credit card balance (or balances) more manageable by transferring that balance to a new credit card with a lower interest rate. For added savings, some balance transfer offers include a lower introductory rate for a limited amount of time or sometimes even the life of the balance. Balance transfers can help you get out of debt faster and make multiple payments easier to manage.
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Just in time for October, the CDC has put forth a list of ways to join in the autumn activities while keeping your friends and family safe. We’ve taken the highlights and expanded upon them to inspire this year’s fun:
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School transitioning to online-only or a hybrid environment last semester may have caught you and your students off guard. Going from a dedicated classroom environment to staying home, distractions and all, can affect a student’s morale, grades, and mental health. Add in parents and siblings who may also be working or learning at home, the school year and summer vacation blending together, the absence of a teacher’s watchful eye, and you have a recipe for a poor learning experience. With many local school districts planning to utilize online classrooms – at least through the first marking period – students can anticipate learning from home this fall. Use this extra time to prepare for the upcoming school year to achieve bigger successes and stay more on track with the following ideas:
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When selling your home, you want the process to go as smoothly as possible with the help of a trusted team to guide you. Naturally, you’ll want to get the most value for your property, too, for future investments or home purchases. Like purchasing a home, selling your home will include various fees. Most sales are completed with the assistance of a real estate agent or broker. These agents make their money by earning commission on each sale and only get paid once a home has sold. This commission is paid by the seller during closing. Also known as the broker fee, the commission covers the work that the agent does during the selling process, such as marketing the home, negotiating with potential buyers, attending inspections and appraisals, closing the sale, and more. In recent years, the average commission has remained between 5-6% and is typically split between the buyer’s agent and the seller’s agent for their various services. In order to maximize your profits when selling, then, avoid paying too much for these fees. For an idea of how much you can save, check out the following chart:
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So, this summer isn’t going exactly the way you could have expected. Maybe your plans have changed, trips and events have been canceled, and now the point of the season seems lost. Still, there are ways to spend the warmer months making memories and having fun, even if things feel a little unconventional! Here are 5 ideas for how to stay busy this summer:
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Notebooks, graph paper, and saved receipts have played their part, but now digital budgeting tools have taken center stage. With the ability to track and sort your purchases in real time or pay bills automatically on your behalf, these handy tools are a necessity for getting your budget back on track. You can't argue that there's nothing more frustrating than trying to find a missing receipt or important document. Overwhelmed by your options or don’t know what’s out there? We’ve compiled a list of some popular recommendations – including a few tools of our own!
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We know that times are different and you may not be seeing your favorite tellers in the lobby as often. Our routines have been shifted as we're presented with alternative ways to handle our finances. There are options for how you would like to perform your transaction, and whether you visit in person, online, or in the drive-thru, there are a variety of ways to accomplish your goal. Plus, even your options have options! Our PAT (Personal Automated Teller) machines are available in branches and in the drive-thru and provide a quick alternative to waiting in line. PAT machines are devices that resemble an ATM but have a live Teller connected to it. Even if you have used a PAT machine before, you may have lingering questions about the machines and wonder why we’ve added them into our branches. We sat down with the experts here at American Heritage on all things PAT, Meg Kenny (PAT Supervisor) and Alicia Jordan (Assistant Branch Manager), to get answers directly from the team behind the machines. When you use a PAT machine at one of our branches, you will have the pleasure of speaking directly with Meg, Alicia or one of their local team members!
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Life as we were used to it has changed drastically all across the world over the last several months. For some, these changes may feel sudden, as the public opinion and government reaction to it seem to have shifted overnight. Just over two weeks ago, on March 11, 2020, COVID-19 was officially characterized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization.
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