Infinitely Possible Financial

Hey, take a look at at this blog post by my friend Heather Logas where she compares issues with money with things that come up in games. Working in alignment with our values is a critical component of my work with and it’s exciting to watch others translate that into their own work!

“The top 1% took in 23.5% of all of the country’s income in 2007. In 1979 they only took in 8.9%.”

It’s an interesting thing, the concentration of wealth. More money in the hands of less people.

But my question today: What’s your reaction to that idea? How does it effect you?

There’s a lot of concern and information about identity theft out there. So how do you protect yourself?
The following useful article comes from one of the professional orgnizations that I belong to the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers. Here’s a great way to support your employees and protect yourself and your information!

Tell employees that if they use their lunch hour to open e-mails with personal bills or online bank or brokerage statements, then step away to get a cup of coffee, their personal information can be seen by anyone passing their PC. Thieves also can obtain SSNs or account numbers from credit card, bank or other statements, bills and correspondence by sifting business or residential trash.

For you and your employees

• Shred or tear into three and throw in three different trash containers documents that show your SSNs, bank, credit-card, or other personal data.

• Beware of “junk” credit-card offers. Completing the application will give the sender sufficient personal information to steal from you.

• Shred or tear up (don’t just throw out) cash advance convenience checks that are not from your established credit cards and that you don’t want. Whoever finds these checks can use them to steal from your account and, if you have a high credit limit, you can suffer real damage.

• Check your bank and credit card account activity as soon as you receive your monthly statements. If you bank online, check activity and balances frequently, to spot suspicious transactions early.

• Do not respond to e-mails that ask you to “verify” account information, passwords or your SSN. Instead, call your financial institution to see if they need information on your account.

• Beware of anyone “taking a survey” who asks for personal financial information, such as your SSN, or who poses as the employee of a firm you do business with, and anyone who announces that you have won a contest (“if we can just verify your SSN, I can send you the check”).

• Avoid using public wireless Internet for banking or other communications that include personal data.

For your company or client

• Provide drawers or cabinets where employees can lock up their purses and other valuables.

• Advise employees not to leave personal bills or statements on their desks. Warn employees that even if they trust co-workers, salespeople, repairpeople and other visitors may see the information.

• Make sure that payroll records and HR payroll systems are in a secured area where only authorized employees can see PC screens and personal documents laying on desks.

Loans to employees happen. People fall short, they move, have an emergency, or a baby, crash their car, etc. Everyone falls short sometimes, no matter how much they plan. It’s just part of life.

In researching interest rates for employee loans I came across some helpful (to me) information. I started out on >a href=”http://tax.wustl.edu/GENERAL/Pages/LoanstoEmployees.aspx”>this site</a> which helped me start my search. Sometimes just knowing the right search term makes all the difference.

Then I went about finding information about whehter or not this loan is a “below market rate” loan. So I found <a href=”http://www.irs.gov/publications/p550/ch01.html#en_US_publink10009882″> this section of the IRS website</a>. One of the things I learned was the if the loan is under $10,000 you’re probably ok. Unless you’re trying to avoid taxes – that’s never a good idea.

Once you know that, you can go to the <a href=”http://www.irs.gov/app/picklist/list/federalRates.html”>”Index of Applicable Federal Rates”</a> to find your number.

You should also know that you must document this kind of thing (like everything in accounting) with why the loan with taken and how and when the loan is to be re-paid.

My work with finances come directly out of my own personal work and struggle with money, relationships, and self-care.

When my son was small, his dad left us and never looked back. We received not a cent of childcare or support and eventually cut off all contact. So I attempted to raise my then 5 year old on my own.

As any single mom will tell you, it’s a lot of work.  But there’s more than that. It’s really expensive and exhausting.  We had to do many, many things in order to get by from going to food banks to being on welfare for a time. We asked for lots of help and worked really hard to create the changes we’ve needed to overcome total and complete poverty.

The other thing that happened is that I went into debt. Credit card debt, debt with friends and family (I don’t know if I’ll ever pay my parents all that they contributed), and student loans.

Last week I started paying on my last credit card and yesterday I finally got my last student loan on a payment schedule. I started out with about $15k in debt and I’m down to about $6k in about 5 years.

There are two reasons to mention this: one, this principles that I’m using, work. I don’t recommend things that I don’t use myself. The other is to dig deeper into releasing the taboo about money. In the US at least, we don’t talk about money – how much we make, how much debt we have, how we feel about money or what we do with – except with a partner or sometimes under duress. I think that’s a mistake.  It’s hard to celebrate successes or have support of community without speaking your truth.

This is my truth. Thank you for listening.

In the recent financial crisis, there’s not been a lot of analysis that I’ve been hearing outside of, “Punish those people for doing something bad!” That sometimes looks like increasing regulation and it some times looks like pouring hate on individuals. Possibly deservedly so. But if we leave the debate to one or two voices, we miss the point.

In this RSA animate video, David Harvey does what is essentially a Marxist critique of capitalism. His basic idea is about how capitalism moves the problem around rather than deals with it directly.  He explores the functions and dysfunctions of capitalism.  He talks about home ownership and how that relates to supple and demand as well as debt in general and trends in the economy that related to why you get paid what you get paid.

If you think global markets don’t effect your paycheck, watch this video.

<a href=”http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/business/08consume.html?_r=1″>This article about happiness and money</a> has a great point. What you spend money on, how you spend it and even when you spend money makes a difference in your happiness, they say.

Of nine major categories of spending, only leisure spending has an effect on happiness. In addition, those same activities are likely to increase the closeness of social ties making us feel more warm and fuzzy whether it’s with family, friends or a larger community.  Basically, spending disposable dollars on making yourself actually feel good, makes you feel better long-term. In a way it seems strange to even talk about. But watching people in malls or on teevee, that doesn’t seem to be the accepted social norm.

There are a couple of things that I’ve realized in my own spending that have made a big difference in my happiness. Spending money on experiences is where it’s at for me. I feel a lot more fulfilled going on trips to see friends, workshops, and lessons, etc than buying things. I always thought it odd that people liked to spend money on things – they break, take up space and go away, but my experiences and pictures are things I have forever. But the thing about buying things is that it reacts in your brain very quickly and hence you get a dose of chemical happiness. But that chemical is more like a reaction to drugs, than happiness.