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263 area folks willing to take hard look at their finances commit to $814,342
By Betty Lin-Fisher
Beacon Journal business writer
Published on Sunday, Jan 04, 2009
The articles covered the tools to do that, with a weeklong series on how to stretch your dollar and my weekly column throughout the summer, which explored related subjects to help people toward their financial goals.
We also followed five area middle-class families as they went through financial makeovers and shared their experiences in hopes that you might find some tips to change your habits.
When we launched that project, we knew that things were worrisome on the financial horizon. But no one knew the chaos that would happen on Wall Street and the financial woes we'd see six months later.
As we discussed the project during its inception, Jay Seaton was consulted as area president of the Consumer Credit Counseling Service, which provided counselors for the makeovers and helped us define our public challenge. He said he thought we could get to a goal of $1 million in pledges by the end of the year.
Seaton told us it would take a while to get there — in slow, steady steps as the pledges would pick up momentum. We never made it an ''official'' goal, but as we
assess where we've come in six months, we came pretty darn close.
Collectively, we have 263 pledges totaling about $814,342 in savings and debt reduction. Pledges have been made to save about $464,448 and reduce debt by $349,894. Some of you made that commitment for six months, starting in June. Others made it a longer-term commitment of a year or two, or indefinitely.
Still others of you might not have turned in a pledge, but you've been following the series and making changes in your financial lifestyle.
Time to take stock
Now at the start of a new year, and working through a tough economic time for us all, it's a good opportunity to either take stock of your pledge, if you made one, or make a pledge if you didn't before. Today on Page D1 in Business, Seaton provides some New Year's financial resolutions and tips to get us started or keep us going.
''It's no question that given the tough economic times, going forward [a financial pledge is] even more important now . . . 2009 is going to be challenging, but it could be less so if this is a pledge they take seriously,'' Seaton said.
Also in the Business section, you'll find a pledge form that can be filled out. Or you can go to http://www.ohio.com/news/reclaim_the_dream to make the pledge online and read the series. There's no need to pledge a second time, unless you want to save more money or reduce debt that you hadn't included in your previous pledge.
If you did make a pledge six months ago, I'd love to hear from you. How is it going? Have you been able to make progress toward your goals? Are there tips we haven't provided in the last six months that you want to share?
Our project has also turned into a communitywide initiative. In August, Akron was chosen as a ''Savings Community'' in an initiative by the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the nonprofit group America Saves, which encourages consumer savings.
The city was chosen as a result of the Reclaim the Dream project and Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic's leadership of the mayors group. The city initiative also has a goal of $1 million, and our pledges will be incorporated into that goal.
Companies participate
Several area businesses and organizations have also taken on the financial goal initiative.
One company, InfoCision, hosted a financial fair in November at its headquarters in Bath Township. The telemarketing company hosted representatives from local banks and businesses who helped employees with their financial health.
The company offers financial tips in its monthly corporate newsletter, but decided to try a specific financial fair, believing that financial health is an important topic, said Kim Murphy, InfoCision vice president of employee benefits.
''People's lives are busy now. We know a healthier employee is a happier employee. That health does include your financial health,'' Murphy said.
Murphy said health benefits include medical benefits, wellness benefits, employee assistance programs and financial education.
If someone is stressed financially, ''people might physically be at work, but they're not really here. My job and goal is to take down all of those barriers. There's no excuse why you can't be more financially active with your family. That reduces your stress as well,'' Murphy said.
InfoCision was pleased with the turnout — more than 150 employees went through the fair, even though it was a snowy day and many employees had to walk outside to the headquarters from nearby office buildings.
''There was a big buzz all day long,'' Murphy said.
At the fair, 115 InfoCision employees took the Beacon Journal's pledge. Collectively, they pledged to save or reduce their debt by $122,570 — saving $91,900 and reducing debt by $30,670. (Their numbers are included in our totals.)
Coming later this month, the Akron Saves project will have a ''Roll Your Change'' week, when people can take loose coins from around their house, roll them and deposit them at participating banks and credit unions. Some institutions will have special promotions at the same time to encourage savings. I'll report on more details about that in an upcoming column.
So start gathering your loose change and stand by. You'll be surprised at how it adds up.
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at
330-996-3724 or blinfisher@
thebeaconjournal.com.
Get the full article here.
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