Anne Frank once wrote, "No one has ever become poor by giving." Not only was she correct, but the data reveals that people that give get richer. Studies have shown time and time again that when people give money often, they tend to experience financial growth and abundance. It may seem hard to believe, it may even seem counterintuitive. How can giving money away get you more money?

Psychologist from the University of Oregon found that charity stimulates parts of the brain which are associated with meeting basic needs like food and shelter, suggesting that our brains know that giving is good for us. Not only that, in the 1980’s a study looked at how people’s brains reacted to the endorphins their brains released when being charitable. The psychologist showed that when people volunteer or help others, the giver got what they called, “the helper’s high.” In other words, charitable acts can give you a mild sense of euphoria and happy people are more productive. Productive people, generally, are more successful, which translates into more earning power.

That’s all good and well, but how does that make you richer? One way is when others see an individual behaving in a charitable way, they elevate those people in their minds to positions of leadership. A study from University of Kent showed that 82% of the leaders elected from the experiment group were the biggest givers. In real life this translates to those that are charitable are often more likely to receive promotions because they have already been viewed as worthy leaders.

Our nation is a generous nation. In 2022 Americans gave $499.33 billion to charity, and the largest source of giving (64% of that total) came from regular people like you and me. The amazing multiplicity of charity can be seen at a national level. Giving effects our countries GDP! What’s remarkable is U.S. government data show that GDP per person in American has risen about 150% over the last 50 years, but the donated dollar amount per person has risen by about 190%. Donating, then, may not be just an act of charity, but also one of patriotism.

Whether neurochemistry or something greater, years of studies and experiments, myriad analysts’ data, and the day-to-day evidence we see with our own eyes proves: when we give we prosper. Many successful people in the world attribute their success to investing their time and money in the people around them.

"We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give."- Winston Churchill

Photo by Markus Winkler

While it might not be the kind of awareness month that gets decorations, a parade, or its own special greeting card, September is Life Insurance Awareness Month, and it is definitely something our country needs more awareness of considering only 52% of Americans report having any life insurance. Of those 52% of Americans, 41% of them say they don’t think they have enough. That’s a lot of families, that will have a hard time covering, not just the cost of a funeral, but any debts or on-going expenses. Life insurance is one of the most basic financial tools available, it’s like having a hammer in your toolbox.

In the spirit of Life Insurance Awareness month, I’d like to bring to light some of the consequences of not having, or not having enough life insurance. It’s easy to push these sorts of things to the side, but I truly believe planning for and taking care of one’s family is of the utmost importance.

This may come as a shock, but when you die your paycheck stops! That means if your spouse wasn’t working, he or she will have to find work, and in the meantime, they could be incurring debts as the bills pile up.

Now, just because your income disappears doesn’t mean your debts do too. Unfortunately, debts sticks around until they are paid off. If you have any debts at the time of your passing, without life insurance it may be very difficult for your family to cover them. For example, if you were still paying on your mortgage when you passed away, and there was no life insurance to provide money for your family’s needs, it may force your family to sell and relocate during an already difficult time.

Aside from providing future income for your family there are end of life costs to consider. The average funeral costs between $7,000 and $12,000 (this excludes the cost of a burial plot). If you don’t have life insurance, that amount could sink a struggling family. Years ago when I started in this business, a friend/church leader and I had a conversation, he was a mortician by profession. He said, “Wendell the thing I hate most about my job is putting a family in debt to bury a loved one, especially a child.”

Life insurance, creates an instant estate or pot of money. According to the Lending Club, 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, which means there’s little chance of a substantial savings or nest egg being left to those families. Even with retirement savings, there is most likely not enough money when the bread winner passes away. It would be better to cut back on retirement savings and have some extra life insurance, at least while children are in the home. Life insurance gives your family the ability to plan for their future; without it they may end up in a desperate situation.

So how much life insurance do you need? That will be different for each family. However, there are some guidelines that can help you establish your own family’s needs. Most experts recommend having at least ten times your annual income as a starting point. At the very minimum, your coverage should allow for funeral costs and other end of life expenses, as well as any debts you currently have. As you age the reasons for life insurance often change.

Purchasing a life insurance policy is a proactive strategy, a way to protect your loved ones. It allows your survivors freedom from debt and a solid foundation to build their finances on. It certainly blessed my mother when my father passed away when I was a sophomore in college. It’s a light to your family during one of their darkest moments.

“The protection of a man’s person is more sacred than the protection of property.”

– Thomas Paine

The idea of instant payments isn’t new; in 2017 The Clearing House’s system, RTP (Real Time Payments), went live. Since then, it has steadily grown in demand. In response, the Federal Reserve Bank (the Fed) recently announced their new instant payment infrastructure, FedNow, is live.

The FedNow initial release will include optional features like fraud prevention tools, the ability to join initially as a receive-only participant, request for payment capability, and tools to support participants in their handling of payment inquiries. Additional features and service enhancements will be introduced over the coming years. The Federal Reserve plans to make FedNow available to all Americans as it continues to expand and develop more features and services.

In addition to functioning like and offering the same benefits as The Clearing House’s RTP, FedNow will also allow banks to connect to their master account at the Federal Reserve. There are a few other differences, mostly coming down the default transaction limit for FedNow being $100,000 with the participating financial institution having the option to request up to $500,000. With RTP, on the other hand, the transaction limit is $1 million. Right now, it is unknown if the Federal Reserve will adjust the limit to match that of RTP.

The FedNow service enables individuals and businesses to send immediate payments through their participating depository institution. FedNow is designed as a neutral platform that can support a variety of instant payments and allows the service providers something they can build on in order to offer other value-added services.

The Fed is hoping this will direct more of these instant payments back through their processing systems. Perhaps leading them to develop other forms of instant payment – like a crypto currency.

So what does this mean for you? If your bank is participating in the FedNow program you or your business will be able to send and receive money in real-time. The current cost for this service is a fee of $.045 per transaction, to be paid by it’s sender, and a fee of $.01 for a request for payment message, to be paid by the requester. The Fed has published a list of banks and credit unions that are currently using the FedNow system, which you can find on our website here: www.yieldfa.com/FedNowBanks.

Did you know there are 2 solar eclipses every year? Often they occur over oceans or other continents. A solar eclipse occurs when the sun, moon, and earth are in alignment. This can create either a full or partial eclipse, depending on how they line up.

On October 14, 2023 an annular eclipse will pass over North America. This particular eclipse is called such because there will be a ring of the sun visible behind the moon. This occurs when the moon is at or near its farthest point from the earth, making the moon smaller to our perspective and not fully covering the sun.

The really exciting eclipse, the total solar eclipse, will occur April 8, 2024. This type of eclipse happens about every 18 months, however, what makes this one so special is here in the U.S. will actually have a chance to see it! When the eclipse happens (where visible) the sky will darken like just before down or at dusk. During this time the sun’s corona, which is normally concealed by the brightness of the sun, will be visible.

During an eclipse you may notice some unusual things happen during the moments of semi darkness. The temperatures can drop almost 20 degrees. Nature and animals tend to act a little differently; the breeze will usually stop and shadows may look different. Birds may stop chirping, and other animals may act startled or uneasy. It’s as if the earth recognizes the uniqueness of what is taking place.

The next time a total eclipse will make its way over the U.S. will be in 20 years. So make your plans now and cross your fingers for clear skies, because you won’t want to miss this rare event!

There’s a good chance you or someone you know has experienced identity theft. Everyday people’s names, social security numbers, credit card numbers, passwords, and even medical information is stolen and used to commit fraud and other crimes. According to the FBI, over 100,000 identity theft and personal data breaches occur every year. However, identity theft goes beyond online security. In fact, many people have their identity stolen by someone they personally know. Once someone’s identity has been stolen the damage can be far reaching. It’s estimated to take up to six months and 600 hours to set things right and restore order to your name and credit. So how can you prevent this?

Many companies offer identity theft protection, sending you alerts if anything looks fishy, but that’s about where it ends. Sometimes that’s enough to nip a problem in the bud and stop it. Another option is to sign up for identity theft insurance. These types of programs are in place to help you after a problem occurs. Usually this means that an agent is assigned to handle all the issues and sorting through the fallout, meaning all those hours it takes to fix the problem, can be shared with a professional to help.

Your identity can be stolen even if you don’t use a computer. Identity criminals are getting more and more clever, always seeking for ways to scam people. Just remember, this is your personal information. In the hands of someone else, it could crumble the foundation of the life you have built for yourself. Something that important is worth protecting. Whether you choose to keep it simple and use a monitoring service or include insurance protection, protecting your information is protecting your future.

For more information you can go to:

FTC.gov/IDtheft and identitytheft.gov/

Photo by: Towfiqu barbhuiya