Expert Panel: Managing Money through a Recession

Moderator: Troy Rucker

Panelists:

  • Ali Criss, President & CEO, Financial Insights 
  • Don Clark, Jr, CEO, Sound Credit Union

Light refreshments

[ This document is a recap of topics discussed at the meeting on Friday, Dec 16th. Please feel free to add to or edit this working document. Everyone has editing capabilities on this doc. I suggest we use a different color per editor. ]

Who is the Audience

  • Limit to Students, Faculty, Staff (Invite CCs)
  • Record for later viewing

What is the Goal of this Talk?

  • Managing money is challenging during a good economy, but harder during a bad economy. The news is filled with stories about the impending recession. Everyday consumer goods and services cost more, borrowing costs are higher, and there is fear of job losses. This can affect people financially and psychologically, leading to a feeling of helplessness. 
  • Many factors in the economy are out of our control, but financially, there are things everyone can do to prepare and weather through these uncertain times by focusing on the things we can control.

     

Topics of Interest

Building up cash reserve

  • Budgeting 
    • Prioritize what’s important
    • “Tightening the belt”
  • Emergency fund
  • Have extra cash - look for opportunities

Managing consumer and mortgage debt

  • Techniques to avoid delinquencies
    • Talk to financial institutions about payment restructure
    • Don’t run and hide.  Avoiding fees to resolve credit issues
    • Stay away from collections - make tiny payments 
    • Don’t overestimate or over-promise.  Be realistic in what you can afford to pay each month.  

Credit Score Management

  • Why it is important to maintain a good score
  • How to repair credit scores - available resources

Short-term investment alternatives to traditional savings accounts

  • High yield savings accounts
  • Certificates of deposits
  • Traditional vs. Online banks

Investing

  • Have a long-term focus
  • Don’t make any emotional moves
  • Continue to contribute to tax savings accounts
  • Life-cycle investing
    • Early career
    • Mid career
    • Near retirement



TLR (moderator) thoughts:

Structure or Flow - 

  • Quick introductions
  • Define a term or two = Recession, and Inflation?
  • Then pivot to more conversational...
    • 'enough of the definitional terms... that's boring'
    • 'let's talk to the experts!'
  • 3 buckets I use to position this
    • if you don't measure it, you can't manage it
    • start early
    • make tough decisions
  • by bucketing in 3 broad categories, that we can tie all the great points that Ali and Don have into them...?

TLR Talk Track - 

  • Intro:
    • Welcome... interesting times indeed!
      • Recession? Inflation?  What does this all mean?  More so, I'm feeling the impact when I go to the gas pump and to the store, so what should I be doing?!

         
  • It can be confusing… Our goal today is to cut through the confusion, and provide you information to help make decisions about how to navigate this challenging time
    • Provide Quick definition of Recession and Inflation?.  
    • But who cares about the definition... More so.

       
  • What can you control? What can you do?

     
  • I come from an institutional asset management background, and now am a Small business owner.
    • I'm thinking through the same things you are all in the audience..

       
  • Introductions:  these are the experts, and ones we'll all learn from today!
    • Ali Criss, Ali Criss, President & CEO, Financial Insights
    • Don Clark, CEO, Sound Credit Union

       
  • Initial thoughts
    • 1. If you don't measure it, you can't manage it!....
      • Meaning, you have to look at metrics and measure what you're doing. Specifically, plan ahead with a Budget, to track your income and expenses...
        • in challenging times, you can look to pull levers on your budget, to help you through a tough time
    • 2. Start early
      • Financial wellness is about thinking ahead, and planning
      • Rainy Day fund goal, to have 6+ months of living expenses set aside in a savings account
        • not easy, so start just a little bit at a time
    • 3. Make tough decisions
      • Allocate $'s for your goals, over time, and risk tolerance is time dependent
      • May need to bucket between "need to haves" and "nice to haves"
        • alter your spending behavior, and what you're spending your money on
        • i.e... no SBUX expensive coffees for a week, use that on gas money instead…
  • Now, let’s dive into specifics with our experts - 
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    • ….
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