Free Money News February 2014

Happy Valentines Month! If you’re in a frigid part of the country we wish you an early spring — and out west we wish you rain. To everyone we hope you made use of the money tips in our January Newsletter. Our February Free Money Highlights below have more financial tips to share this month, especially regarding the new IRA-type savings vehicle President Obama announced in his State of the Union Address January 29th.

First, why not give yourself a Valentine’s gift with a simple way of freeing up your time? Reduce your clutter! Especially after the holidays we all have more than the usual amount of “stuff” lying around and making it hard to find things. You don’t need this stress! Overwhelmed at the thought of cleaning up and getting organized? That happens because we picture the whole job and can’t make ourselves tackle it. Try: start by tossing anything that obviously needs to be thrown out. Then set aside just 15 minutes every day to spend putting things away or throwing them away or giving them away. Use your extra time to read on and improve your financial future!

In this issue our Free Money Highlights include information about a new job fair for the disabled, information about a new rise in the incidence of phone call scams and how to avoid them, and a discussion of Obama's “MyRA” retirement plan and how it might - or might not - change your future:

A Job Fair For The Disabled

The ACLU is conducting a “Virtual Career Fair” aimed at professionals with disabilities – or, as some prefer, for those who are “differently abled.” The deadline for submitting an application is coming up fast so you’ll want to take a look at current job openings and see if you are qualified to apply. The site is a little confusing and changes regularly but you can find all the necessary details (along with a lot of other good information!) in our “Domain Discuss” article about the government site disability.gov.

Phone Call Scammers

We love our Free Grants Community and get discouraged by the phone call scammers who reach you. They seem to have gotten especially busy lately since we have are getting more frequent questions about whether or not you should trust a recent caller. Typically they tell you that you have won a grant and all you have to do is send them some money and you will receive much more. Please – do not believe this! You do not have to pay for a genuine grant and these people will take your money and run. Go right now and read Free Money Phone Call Scams — it lays it all out for you including:

• How these callers operate;
• Typical topics they call about;
• Claims they make to gain your trust;
• Information they want from you; and
• What you should do about it (fight back!)

Read more about avoiding phone call scams now.

Obama’s MyRA: Will It Change Your Financial Future?

We wish we could give this question an easy yes! In his State of the Union Address on January 30th, President Obama announced a retirement savings plan he has wanted to introduce for some time. It is aimed at people who don’t have access to a retirement plan like a 401k from their employer (much less employer matching!).

We are in favor of helping people to make saving a consistent habit. While the goal is definitely a good one this plan will face some resistance both because implementation will require passage of a new bill and because the actual benefits may be negligible.

Take a look at our article about the MyRA and what it means to you so you understand the details currently available about the plan. We also give you a summary of the good and not so good aspects of the plan. Our goal is to keep you informed and also to explain other options that might be available to you to try to save some money (and get more…). Stay tuned for more as progress develops.