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AUTHORS: Jennifer Climo Jean Fullerton Jonathan Harrington Nick Prigitano Jenna-Rose Finnie Kyle Labelle

Resolutions for the New Year – Why Habits are More Powerful Than Goals

For many, the new year is a time for fresh starts and new beginnings. It’s quite common for people to set new goals and resolutions at the start of a year. Behind exercising more and losing weight are almost always goals around money. Often these goals include saving more and spending less this coming year. As we all know, the problem with most New Year’s resolutions is that the vast majority fail. While we all know the statistics, there are certain things you can do to improve your odds of sticking to your resolutions in 2023.

Electric Rates May Skyrocket AGAIN: Action you can take now

November 23, 2022 Cash Management Jean Fullerton

New Hampshire residents recently saw a huge increase in their electric bill, for example, a 50% increase in electric rates for Eversource customers. Unfortunately, things may get worse with the next scheduled rate change (December 6 decision). For example, Eversource has said it is “worried there might not be enough bidders to fulfill all of the power it needs to supply. And even if there are enough bidders, the prices those bidders offer could be extraordinarily high.”

Building a Solid Financial Foundation: A Pyramid for Resource Allocation

September 16, 2022 Cash Management Nick Prigitano

One of the most challenging parts of personal finance is figuring out what to do with our limited resources. If you're working, you're earning a certain amount each paycheck and need to decide how to allocate that money. How much goes toward necessities? How much to discretionary expenses? How much should you save for short-term goals? How much for longer-term goals and retirement? The list goes on and on. When managing your limited resources, it's important that you set up a solid foundation. When thinking of foundations, what often comes to mind is the shape of a pyramid. The long, wide base needs to be started first before moving upward to the peak. If you start building out of order—if you flip the pyramid on its head—instead of having a strong, steady structure, you're building a top that may spin precariously out of control. In the example of the food pyramid, if the foundational building block of your diet is processed foods instead of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, you're setting yourself up for health problems down the road.

Lions and Tigers and Electric Rates -- Oh My!

September 2, 2022 Cash Management Jean Fullerton

Increases in electricity rates today are as scary as dangerous beasts. In past years, increases in the cost of electricity have tended to match the US’s modest inflation rates of 2% to 3%, but this year, electricity rates are seeing dramatic increases. California residents are looking at a potential increase of 27%, and on the other side of the US, New Hampshire rates are increasing by as much as 50%.

Gargantuan Gas Prices — Working from Home Gets Even More Appealing

April 22, 2022 Cash Management Nick Prigitano

Everywhere we go we see inflation. At the grocery store. When shopping on Amazon. At the gas pump. The insidious increase of inflation is sneakily eating away at people’s paychecks, putting a strain on us when purchasing the things we need to get by. Most companies review pay annually, and with a steep jump in prices continuing early this year, the pay raise you received in January may be eaten away by inflation before it’s reviewed again at the end of the year. Because of this, more companies are at least considering reviewing pay more often, although this is still uncommon.

Interest Rates Going Up? Should You Be Worried?

February 9, 2022 Cash Management Nick Prigitano

Inflation has remained persistently high longer than the Federal Reserve anticipated. This is due to a confluence of factors, including labor shortages, supply disruptions, insatiable consumer demand, and low interest rates, among other things. One of the weapons in the Federal Reserve’s arsenal to combat inflation is the power to raise interest rates. Although interest rates have not increased yet, analysts are expecting multiple rate increases in 2022. If interest rates do go up, what does that mean for you?

Getting Ahold of Your Finances – Creating a Spending Plan for the New Year

January 14, 2022 Cash Management Nick Prigitano

There is a question that people in the fitness community frequently ask: What is the best diet and exercise program? The answer . . . the one you can stick to. I could tell you that you should eat broccoli because it’s one of the most nutritious foods on the planet, but if you gag the second it touches your tongue, or worse, if you’re allergic, that’s going to be terrible diet advice. In the finance realm, much the same can be said about budgeting, or as we like to call it, a spending plan. The best spending plan is going to be the one you can stick to. Each person’s goals and values will differ, and because of that, their spending and savings will be unique as well.

Time to Reflect on the Upcoming Year - Our Top 5 Financial New Year’s Resolutions

December 31, 2021 Retirement Insurance Estate Planning Cash Management Nick Prigitano

Setting New Year’s resolutions is a common practice for millions of Americans. Although we all know the stats about how frequently we fail to live up to them, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. If we don’t set goals, then there is a 100% chance we won’t meet them. With that in mind, we have some typical, and not so typical, financial New Year’s resolutions to consider adding to your list for 2022.

Honey, They Shrunk the Package Size – What Shrinkflation Is and How It’s Plaguing Grocery Store Shelves

August 20, 2021 Families Cash Management Nick Prigitano

Does it feel like what you are getting at the grocery store isn’t going as far as it used to? When you buy a bag of chips, do you have the sneaking suspicion that it’s filled more and more with air, and less and less with the crunchy goodness we desire? If you’ve had the hunch that your money isn’t going as far as it used to, you wouldn’t be wrong. If you’re someone with kids, you may wish that you could reduce the size of your children like they did in the ’80s cult classic Honey I Shrunk the Kids, if only to reduce the amount of your food bill.

Creating a Savings Habit for your Kids with a Roth IRA

August 17, 2021 Families Cash Management Kyle Labelle

Arguably, one of the greatest financial lessons a parent can teach their child is how to delay gratification today for a more important goal in the future. This may be something that goes against evolution itself. That is why it is even more critical to instill this habit as early as possible. One way of doing so is encouraging your child to save in a Roth IRA. By starting your child on the path to saving at an early age, it may be possible to create the foundation to a successful retirement and overall financial wellbeing. The key to doing so lies with three key concepts: the Roth IRA, compound interest, and consistent contributions over time.

The Inflation of Everything

June 25, 2021 Retirement Cash Management

If you need to buy a house or a car in this market of rapidly rising prices, what do you do? Interest rates are low, inflation is high, every month that goes by the cost of what you want to buy increases. The amount home prices, and car prices, have grown over the past year is not the point (it’s a lot), but understanding the reason behind it can help you decide what the best path is for you.

Lumber, Gasoline, Inflation? Oh My! - What's The Deal with Inflation and What to Do About It

June 4, 2021 Cash Management Investments

The silent killer of many financial plans is the gradual increase of the price of goods and services over time, otherwise known as inflation. This mysterious villain is often neglected because these price increases are so gradual, they are hardly noticed day by day, until you reflect on what things used to cost 10, 20, or 30+ years ago. This has been especially true over the past decade when inflation has been so much less than in the past.