Staff: Liz Scharf and Maureen Dougherty Phone: 479-1053 or 800-639-1053 Email: cedinfo@capstonevt.org

Address: 20 Gable Pl. Barre, VT 05641 Website: www.capstonevt.org Fax: 802-479-5353

Savings and Credit Program VT Matched Savings August 2019

Aug. 8 & Sept. 12—How to Start Your Own Business, 9-10:30am Aug. 15—Planting Seeds, Marketing to Grow your Sales, 9-10:30am Aug. 17—Back-to-School Backpack Bash, 10-2 at Granite Museum Aug. 30—Quickbooks, 8:45am-4:30pm Sept. 2—Labor Day, office closed Sept. 3 & 17—Savvy Speakers workshop, 6-7:30pm Sept. 4 thru Oct. 2—Personal Money Management, 6-7:30pm

Barre: 316 North Main St., 05641; PH: 476-6565 Hours: M-F, 8:00-5:00; Sat, 9:00-12:00

Montpelier: 95 State St. (POB 1437), 05602; PH: 223-0598 Hours: M-F, 8:00-5:00; Closed Saturday

Morrisville: 116 VT Route 15 W (POB 309), 05661; PH: 888-4633 Hours: M-F, 8:00-5:00; Closed Saturday

Community National Bank Information Calendar of Events

Personal Money Management Classes

For all new and ongoing IDA savers as well as the general public, we are offering a series of classes next month on managing your money effectively. Theses classes will be Wednesday evenings from 6-7:30pm at Capstone in Barre. Here’s the schedule—mark your calendars and plan to join us!

September 4—Budgeting and Building a Spending Plan: Think 50-30-20.

September 11—Avoid the Debt Trap: If you are considering a major purchase, or you already have debt, this class is for you.

September 18—Build and Maintain Great Credit for a Lifetime: Having good credit will save you thousands of dollars over your lifetime. Learn how!

September 25—Future Planning: Do you have your financial ducks in a row? We’ll talk about having a will, tax planning, how much you need to retire and when to start taking Social Security.

October 2—Your Wheels: There’s a lot to consider when buying or repairing your vehicle.

How to Start Your Own Business

Get an overview of the business start-up process—workshop offered once a month for the remainder of the year on the sec-ond Thursday from 9:00-10:30 at Capstone. The next two are August 8 and Sept. 12. Or get tips for increasing your busi-ness sales on Thursday, August 15 with Planting Seeds - Mar-

keting to Grow your Sales from 9-10:30am at Capstone.

FREE and open to all! Contact Margaret 477-5214.

Back-to-School Bash

All students in Washington and Orange counties entering grades K-12 are invited to Connecting Hope’s FREE give-away event on Saturday, August 17 at the Vermont Granite Muse-

um in Barre from 10am-2pm.

Connecting Hope is offering free backpacks, school supplies and more – while supplies last - to help students return to school prepared. For more information, call 622-4244 or email connectinghopecvt@gmail.com.

Connecting Hope is also seeking help of financial gifts, volun-teer support, and buying or collecting goods. Call 622-4244 or visit www.connectinghopecvt.org.

Special QuickBooks Training!

Here is your opportunity to get an in-depth training on QuickBooks for Windows Desktop business owners at

Capstone in Barre with instructors from Community Capital of Vermont

The morning session is 8:45-12:30 in which we will cover all the basics. The afternoon session is 1:30-4:30 covering taxes,

reconciling, and running reports. It’s intended for those who come in the morning or already have hands-on ex-

perience using QuickBooks.

No cost to attend. Lunch is on your own. Limited to 10 people. Contact Margaret Ferguson, 477-5214.

Funding made possible in part with a RBDG from US Rural Development

News headlines might lead you to believe that millennials are striking out on a grow-ing list of financial accomplishments: homeownership, paying off student loans — not to mention summoning the will to resist high-end coffee or avocado toast.

When it comes to investing, they might have a point. Investment firm TD Ameritrade surveyed 1,519 people ages 21-37 in 2018 and found that only 50% said they invest — including in their re-tirement accounts.

But, surprisingly, investing is likely one of the easi-er financial goals to meet. In just a few steps, mil-lennials can set the stage for investing, get their first investing accounts going, then look to bigger investing goals.

Set the foundation

Before you think about jumping into the stock mar-ket or other forms of investing, make sure your fi-nancial foundation is sound.

“Investing is great, but if you have something else that money could be doing to get your overall fi-nancial picture in shape, do that first,” says Katrina Welker, a New York-based certified financial plan-ner. “Get your budget under control and a regular savings habit established.”

Get a handle on these three factors before you start investing:

High-interest debt payments: Pay down high-interest debts, like credit cards or a payday loan. Consolidating debt at a lower interest rate can speed up payoff.

You want the power of compounding interest to work for you, not against you. When you invest, you’re earning interest on the money you put in, which raises the amount you have. Then you earn more interest on that amount. With high-interest debts, it’s just the opposite.

Savings: Build up an emergency fund to cover unexpected expenses so you don’t have to with-draw money from investments.

Education: Research different approaches to investing and how to best succeed at them. Also understand your timeline; any amount you’d need within five years may be better off in a high-yield savings account or CD. The rate of return won’t be as high, but you’re protected from locking in a big loss if you need to pull out of your investment to get your money when the market’s in a slump.

Start with the essential investment

“Probably the easiest place to start investing is

through your employer retirement plan,” Welker says.

Take advantage of the decades you have before retirement. By investing 10% to 15% of your in-come into your retirement account over many

years, compounding interest and market returns will likely generate a sizable nest egg.

Here are two common retirement account options:

401(k): Offered by many employers, money is taken directly from your pay and put into an ac-count. Employers often offer to match a portion of what you contribute, which is free money.

Traditional or Roth IRA: An individual retire-ment account lets you contribute on your terms. The difference between the two is how and when you get a tax break. Contributions to a traditional IRA may be tax-deductible in the year they’re made. With a Roth IRA, withdrawals in retirement are tax-free.

Next-level investments

Whether you want to start investing spare change or want to dive into researching and trading stocks, know your goal — and how you want to get there.

“Being ready to invest is a mindset, and it depends on what you want out of it,” says Heather Town-send, a certified financial planner in Scottsdale, Arizona. “Understand that if you do want to invest, you have to know that the market can have big up-swings and downswings. Are you willing to take that risk for the upside?”

There are two main paths: DIY or with the help of a portfolio management service.

DIY: Do-it-yourself investing can take many shapes. Two common options are online brokers and apps. Online brokers require a more hands-on approach to managing a portfolio online, while apps do most of the work for you.

While there are a variety of apps that invest spare change, like Acorns, don’t expect them to yield big earnings, Welker says. “Especially early on, if you want to set up an account and dabble and play, the apps are fine. But if you’re more serious about it, find a portfolio you can invest it,” she says.

Automated portfolio management: Often in the form of robo-advisors, automated portfolio man-agement uses algorithms to build and manage your investment portfolio. You set your parameters, including timeline and risk tolerance, and the robo-advisor generally takes care of the rest. These tools can be a quick way to start investing without doing all the legwork yourself.

Take Heart, Millennials — Investing Is Within Your Reach By Sean Pyles for Nerdwallet