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About Harris County journal. (Hamilton, Harris County, Ga.) 1920-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 31, 2015)
West Central Georgia BUSINESS 3-B Harris County Journal Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015 Personal Finance By Nathaniel Sillin New Year Resolutions For Finances When was the last time you made a financial resolution on New Year's Eve? If you can't remember, you're in good company. The Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America's annual New Year's resolutions survey for 2014 reported that 49 percent of respondents said that health and wellness were their first pri orities for the coming year, up from 43 percent in 2013. Only 30 percent ranked financial stability as their top goal for the year. In 2016, maybe it's time to push financial fitness to the top of your list by creating an annual financial calendar that helps you save, spend and invest a little smarter. Here are some sugges tions to build your calendar: SET THREE important money goals for the year. Three money goals may not sound like a lot, but if you've never thought about money goals before, establishing these targets can make a major difference in your financial life. Set goals that address key money con cerns or serve as a springboard for a solid financial future. Choose what makes sense for you, but here are three basic goals to start with: Create or reset your budget. If you've never made a budget before, spend a month or two tracking every thing you spend. Review your findings closely and see whether you're spending less than you earn. If not, determine if you can cut spending to direct more funds to meet key goals. If you already have a budget, consider reevaluating your finances to see where you could cut costs. Build an emergency fund. An emer gency fund contains between three to six months of living expenses you can draw upon only in a real financial emer gency such as unemployment, illness or a major unplanned expense. Save for something special. Make one of your three goals a fun goal - a vacation, a new bike, a wardrobe upgrade - something that feels like a reward. Here are calendar items that might help you reach those goals. Make sure you note staggered receipt dates for each of your three free credit reports from Experian, TransUnion and Equifax so you can keep a steady eye on your credit and spot irregularities if they happen. PREVENT severe money surprises by marking key repair or replacement dates on home, appliance and other per sonal expenses that might be coming up in the future. Retirement readiness is another key calendar item. At least once a year, consider reviewing your holdings in retirement or investment accounts to make sure they're still performing as you've planned or if not, whether you need to restructure the investments in your portfolio. Put the open enrollment dates for employer- or self-employment benefits on your calendar and then mark a date several weeks before to allow you to start thinking through necessary changes, self and your family. Insurance renewal dates are impor tant to mark as well. If you're not com parison-shopping for the auto, homeown ers or health insurance coverage you buy on your own, there's a good possibil ity you're losing out on money, service or coverage. Set two dates each year to review your overall finances. You might consid er dates in June and November to see how you're doing with budget, savings, spending, investment and tax issues. The June date is for corrective actions; the November date is to determine the last-minute spending, savings or tax moves you want to make before December 31 and to set financial goals for the New Year. Bottom line: If you use a calendar or datebook to keep on schedule, add important money dates and activities so you can meet your life time financial goals. Nathaniel Sillin directs Visa's finan cial education programs. arm was UBS q s oss ISBB New Year Gas Cheapest Since 2009 West central Georgia motorists are finding the low est average gas prices for the year-end holidays since 2008-09. The national average price for a gallon of gasoline is $2.00 nationally, $2.01 in Florida, $1.91 in Georgia, and $1.76 in Tennessee. "Gasoline could get even cheaper in the coming weeks, as some of the lowest prices of the year typically arrive in January," said Mark Jenkins, spokesman, AAA - The Auto Club Group. "Once the holiday season wraps up, fewer people take long distance road trips, leading to a downturn in demand at a time when supplies are high." Motorists will ring in the new year with prices well below last year's holiday. The average price for a gal lon of gas on January 1, 2015 was $2.24 nationally, $2.35 in Florida, $2.22 in Georgia, and $2.08 in Tennessee. This year, gas prices are aver aging $2 and below, saving motorists $5-$10 every time they fill their tanks. Gas prices on New Year's Day 2016 will be the lowest since 2009. Americans already enjoyed the lowest gas prices on Christmas Day since 2008. Average prices during this year's holiday were $2.00 nationwide, $2.01 in Florida, $1.92 in Georgia, $1.77 in Tennessee. The national average tem porarily fell below $2 a gallon last week, but inched back up due to ongoing and unplanned refin ery maintenance causing higher prices in California. The national average is once again pushing lower, officially coming in at $1.9998 Sunday, but was rounded up to $2 for this report. The average price in Florida is also poised to fall below $2 a gallon this week. If that happens, it would be the first time since March 22, 2009. Car Tuning Kia, Greenville Students Tackle the Future of Automobiles By Samantha F. Gooch ON YOUR MARKS, GET SET, GO! - (L-R)Tyhira Davison, and Tyveion Lockheart, Sth graders, are racing the cars they helped build STEM project sponsored by Kia and the Society of Automotive Engineers. By SAMANTHA F. GOOCH T he Greenville Middle/High School is participating in a new STEM proj ect sponsored by Kia and the Society of Automotive Engineers. STEM stands for science, technolo gy, engineering, and mathematics, used for the push in careers that involve these subjects. Kia donated materials to the Sth grade to make cars which use a little of each one of these subjects as well as others covered in the school. THE STUDENTS compete against each other in races and rework their cars each time to try to make them faster. The gears cover science, gear ratio covers math, writing project proposals cover English, advertising covers social studies, and the technology and engi-sdO neering is covered by the construction of the car. It is an eight week project and is done during the Sth grade’s Increased Learning Time (ILT). The project is led by Mr. Perry, Mrs. Kendrick, and Mrs. Martin of the Sth grade teaching staff. “THE KIDS are really excited about it and are having fun with the project,” said Principal Thaddeus Jackson. “They are learning team work, and critical thinking with motivation and a balance between hands-on work and book work.” In addition to providing the materi als, Kia provided training for the teach ers to construct the car and help engage the students. “It is hard work, but it really is work it when it works,” said Tyhira Davison, Sth grade. “It is very challenging.” THERE has been a push for female students to become interested in STEM based careers, but recently the push has become more gender neutral. With today’s society and technology there are more jobs based on STEM than ever before and seemingly less interest in them. Projects like this are designed to interest students in these careers before they get to a stage in life where they believe it is too much trouble. Utility Donates Office Supplies Georgia Power supports educa tion across the state, including part nering with local schools as part of the Learning Power program, offer ing tours of power generation facili ties and making donations. As the company decertified and retired units at Plant Yates near Newnan and transitioned employees to other parts of the company and facilities, it had an excess of used and new office supplies that were no longer needed at the plant. In addition to schools around the plant, a company spokesman said. “We also support schools and local organizations where our employees live.” The donation of school supplies to Greenville Middle-High School in Meriwether County was actually at the specific request of one of the util ity’s employees, who lives near the school. The donation included notebooks, pens and similar office supplies. Bill Would Add 1% Social Security COLA The Association of Mature American Citizens said today that a new bill it has been promoting in Congress to provide a 1% Cost of Living increase in 2016 Social Security and Veterans benefits has been introduced in the House of Representatives. "It's a bi-partisan initiative spon ¬ sored by Representatives Frank Guinta (R-NH) and Kyrsten Sinema, (D-AZ) and it provides for a 1% COLA increase in checks for seniors and veterans start ing in January," according to AMAC president Dan Weber. Weber issued an urgent appeal to its 1.3 million members. By the Numbers Most Energy-Efficient States 1 New York 2 Vermont 3 Minnesota 4 Wisconsin 5 Utah 6 Rhode Island 7 Colorado 8 California 9 Connecticut 10 Nevada Least Energy-Efficient States 39 Virginia 40 Georgia 41 West Virginia 42 North Dakota 43 Tennessee 44 Arkansas 45 Kentucky 46 Texas 47 Louisiana 48 South Carolina Additional Findings Utah’s weather-adjusted home-energy consump tion is twice as efficient as Louisiana s. Florida’s car-energy consumption is twice as effi cient as North Dakota’s.
