Author Archives: vcnbfamily

The Sixties And Beyond: Settling Into Retirement

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Welcome to the final day of our series on Saving for Retirement at Any Age. Today our friends at NerdWallet have provided a great post on the decade of your Sixties. Read about the other decades – Twenties, Thirties, Forties and Fifties by clicking on each one.

 There’s one truism about retirement that has stood the test of time: It’s never too late, or too early, to start saving. Whether fresh out of school or winding down in a career, there are things you can do to successfully prepare your nest egg, as well as places where it’s easy to stumble. Financial institutions such as Vinton County National Bank can help you set up a retirement account and personalized plan. But it’s up to you to do the heavy lifting throughout the decades.

Retirement won't be a walk on the beach if you haven't prepared financially. The decade of your sixties is an important time for last minute readiness.

Retirement won’t be a walk on the beach if you haven’t prepared financially. The decade of your sixties is an important time for last minute readiness.

By Cait Klein, NerdWallet

As your working career draws to a close, it’s time to consider when to start drawing on retirement, Social Security or pension benefits. You’ve been working for the majority of your life, and you may have put off those big vacations or life dreams until you retired. But be wary. The biggest mistake people in this age group make is blowing through funds too quickly or all at once. Just because you have a million-dollar retirement fund doesn’t mean you can afford a yacht. Don’t spend the first two or three years of retirement in luxury only to spend the remaining decade or two in poverty. Be realistic about what the years ahead are going to look like and consider revamping the image if it’s not feasible. One way to curb this financial blunder is to retire later or to continue working at least part-time.

Working longer can help keep your mind active and add funds to cushion a nest egg. It also leads to additional government benefits. Whether you retire early or later, the total amount of Social Security benefits that you receive remain the same if you live as long as the expected average. However, delaying when you start receiving Social Security until after your full retirement age could  increase your monthly benefit.

Don’t let short-term thinking get in the way of your future retirement. No matter how old you are, take the initiative now so you can be financially set to embrace the final quarter of life. Growing older is a luxury not afforded to everyone. Make sure that as your hair grays and your smile lines deepen, you’re able to make the most of this new phase of life by being financially prepared.

NerdWallet
When it comes to credit cards, insurance, loans or expenses like hospital costs, consumers make almost all their decisions in the dark. NerdWallet is changing that by building accessible online tools and providing research and experts that can’t be found anywhere else, all to help consumers take back control of their choices in a marketing-driven, trillion-dollar industry. Find out more at www.nerdwallet.com.

The Fifties: Playing Catch-Up

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We are nearing the end of Retirement Week by talking about what you should be doing to prepare for retirement when you are in the Fifties age group. Thanks to NerdWallet for providing us such great advice for you today! Check out other decades from earlier this week – Twenties, Thirties and Forties.

There’s one truism about retirement that has stood the test of time: It’s never too late, or too early, to start saving. Whether fresh out of school or winding down in a career, there are things you can do to successfully prepare your nest egg, as well as places where it’s easy to stumble. Financial institutions such as Vinton County National Bank can help you set up a retirement account and personalized plan. But it’s up to you to do the heavy lifting throughout the decades.

Is retirement in your future?

By Cait Klein, NerdWallet

As you straddle the equator of youth and older age, if you haven’t been funding a retirement account, it’s time to play some serious catch-up. Individuals over the age of 50 can make catch up contributions to a Roth IRA before the end of the year of up to $1,000 in 2015. With a 401(k) and other retirement accounts, you can make additional contributions up to $6,000.

The biggest mistake people make as they round the corner toward retirement is getting fixated on a certain image of what life ought to look like. If you envisioned traveling the world or parking on a beach, you may be sorely disappointed if your savings fall short. Remember the adage, you can’t take it with you. Consider downgrading your lifestyle now — moving to a smaller house, selling off additional cars or assets and limiting vacations. Start adopting the lifestyle of a fixed income, if that’s where you’re heading.

NerdWallet
When it comes to credit cards, insurance, loans or expenses like hospital costs, consumers make almost all their decisions in the dark. NerdWallet is changing that by building accessible online tools and providing research and experts that can’t be found anywhere else, all to help consumers take back control of their choices in a marketing-driven, trillion-dollar industry. Find out more at www.nerdwallet.com.

The Forties: Staying Focused

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Retirement Week continues! Every day we are posting retirement advice from NerdWallet. Read about preparing in your Twenties and Thirties. Today’s focus is on the Forties.

There’s one truism about retirement that has stood the test of time: It’s never too late, or too early, to start saving. Whether fresh out of school or winding down in a career, there are things you can do to successfully prepare your nest egg, as well as places where it’s easy to stumble. Financial institutions such as Vinton County National Bank can help you set up a retirement account  and personalized plan. But it’s up to you to do the heavy lifting throughout the decades.

 

By Cait Klein, NerdWallet

Despite having another twenty years until retirement, it’s time to get more serious. If you’ve been heavy on the investments and stock portfolio, you may want to start pulling back a bit and shifting to more conservative strategies, such as government bonds. One rule of thumb is to subtract your age from 110 and to have the result be the percentage of your savings that’s invested in the stock market. For example, 45-year-olds may want 65 percent of their savings in stocks as opposed to the 80 percent or more that 30-year-olds might want. Consider refinancing your home if there are better rates available. It’s also time to start paying down credit card and other high-interest debts and allocating that money back into your future.

Don’t let your current life get in the way of a future one — particularly in your forties. People often take a detour from saving to fund higher education for their children. But doing so could put both generations in financial danger. If you aren’t prepared for retirement, you could be a major burden to your own children, preventing them from establishing savings. It’s important to have three to six months’ living expenses saved in an emergency account to prevent the need to draw on retirement funds in the event of a medical crisis, roof leak or for higher education.

NerdWallet
When it comes to credit cards, insurance, loans or expenses like hospital costs, consumers make almost all their decisions in the dark. NerdWallet is changing that by building accessible online tools and providing research and experts that can’t be found anywhere else, all to help consumers take back control of their choices in a marketing-driven, trillion-dollar industry. Find out more at www.nerdwallet.com.

 

 

The Thirties: Time To Get Serious

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We have retirement on the brain this week. Every day this week we will post retirement advice from NerdWallet on the various stages of life. Today, we are focusing on the thirties. These folks have been working a while and are more stable in their careers but do they know how to prepare for retirement? Read about your twenties here (w/Link) 

There’s one truism about retirement that has stood the test of time: It’s never too late, or too early, to start saving. Whether fresh out of school or winding down in a career, there are things you can do to successfully prepare your nest egg, as well as places where it’s easy to stumble. Financial institutions such as Vinton County National Bank can help you set up a retirement account and personalized plan. But it’s up to you to do the heavy lifting throughout the decades.

If you are in your thirties, now is the time to get serious about your retirement savings.

By Cait Klein, NerdWallet

If you hit your thirtieth birthday and you haven’t started thinking about retirement, you’re not in the danger zone yet, but you are starting from behind. Consider meeting with a financial planner to see where you’re spending more than you need to and discuss how to redirect some of that money toward retirement. Create a budget and consider trying to divert 20 percent of your income into savings. If the company you work for provides a 401(k) account and matches a percentage of employee contributions, make sure to participate with an eye toward contributing at least enough to get the full match.

Before making big purchases, look into a crystal ball and envision the future. Don’t saddle yourself with a level of debt that could distract from your retirement down the line. If you’re about to buy your first home, and you made good strides in building your retirement fund in your twenties, you might be tempted to draw on that money for a down payment. Although the Internal Revenue Service allows first-time homebuyers to draw on a portion of their retirement savings to pay for a home, doing so results in a double hit. Not only are you reducing your plan by the amount you withdraw, you’re also causing the dividends that that money would have accrued to evaporate. As a result, though you might have a beautiful house, you might also find that you have to delay your retirement because you have to work longer to make up for the withdrawal and those unrealized dividends — or, you might find that your later years end up being less golden than you’d anticipated.

NerdWallet

“When it comes to credit cards, insurance, loans or expenses like hospital costs, consumers make almost all their decisions in the dark. NerdWallet is changing that by building accessible online tools and providing research and experts that can’t be found anywhere else, all to help consumers take back control of their choices in a marketing-driven, trillion-dollar industry. Find out more at www.nerdwallet.com.”

 

Saving for Retirement at Every Age: Your Twenties

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Retirement piggy

This week we are talking retirement. Every day we will post retirement advice from NerdWallet on the various stages of life. Today, we are starting off with the younger set. If you are in your twenties or have a child in this age group, listen up! Retirement may seem far away but this is the ideal time to start preparing.

There’s one truism about retirement that has stood the test of time: It’s never too late, or too early, to start saving. Whether fresh out of school or winding down in a career, there are things you can do to successfully prepare your nest egg, as well as places where it’s easy to stumble. Financial institutions such as Vinton County National Bank can help you set up a retirement account and personalized plan. But it’s up to you to do the heavy lifting throughout the decades.

By Cait Klein, NerdWallet

Albert Einstein once declared, “The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest.” But you can capitalize on the magic only if you start early and stay consistent. The earlier you begin, the more time there is to maximize returns, giving the account time to grow into a significant sum. Here’s an example. Assuming a four percent return, if you were to fund $5,000 a year in a Roth individual retirement account starting at the age of 20, by 65 you’d have a nest egg of approximately $660,000 from an investment of $230,000. But if you put it off until age 30, it would require annual savings of $8,400 to get the same end amount. And you can usually withdraw the earnings tax-free when retirement rolls around.

Habits are hard to break for better or for worse, so make sure the financial ones you develop early on are good. After having a great decade of fun and splurging, it can be hard to change your behavior and start saving. Get used to putting away a steady stream of funds in your youthful years, so that doing so for the rest of your life won’t be so hard.

NerdWallet
“When it comes to credit cards, insurance, loans or expenses like hospital costs, consumers make almost all their decisions in the dark. NerdWallet is changing that by building accessible online tools and providing research and experts that can’t be found anywhere else, all to help consumers take back control of their choices in a marketing-driven, trillion-dollar industry. Find out more at www.nerdwallet.com.”

 

Local Business Spotlight: Unlimited Diesel Performance

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We understand that being a small business owner is tough. That’s why we plan to spotlight a different business each month to help you learn about unique businesses in your own back yard.  

Tucked away down a quiet wooded lane just outside the Village of Bremen is one of the most unique businesses imaginable. But odds are you don’t even know they exist unless you’re from the Bremen area or you have a thing for diesel engines.

If you are among their legions of enthusiasts, you know that Unlimited Diesel Performance, Inc. is one of the best in the nation at what they do.

The business was born from a friendship between two former classmates who had a passion for working on diesel equipment and trucks. That was eleven years ago and the result has been phenomenal. Now Unlimited Diesel not only works on vehicles, they operate a booming mail order business for parts and have a successful injection shop.

Partners Nate Bailor and Ben Burnworth said they started out as just a couple of guys tinkering on their own vehicles – a hobby really. Then other people started bringing vehicles by their garage.

One thing led to another and before they knew it, both had quit their jobs and were self employed full time. Ben had previously worked for his father’s construction company and had cut his teeth working on his dad’s diesel equipment. Nate, with a vocational school background in automotive, had worked for other automotive shops.

Today they work on all kinds of trucks, specializing in Ford diesel engines, and filling to capacity their large garage on Logan-Thornville Road.

They are known for quality repair work, routine maintenance and performance work in their garage. The mail order part business is also hugely successful as they ship parts all over the nation and the world. “We have shipped parts all over – as far away as Hawaii, Alaska, Canada, even to Australia,” Nate explained.

Unlimited Diesel is currently among just a handful of businesses that they say do their line of work, extremely well, especially in the injectors field.

What sets them apart from the competition? They say it’s a combination of things, beginning with a lifetime warranty on injectors that is good for as long as the customer owns the vehicle. That squashes the one, two and five year warranties typically offered by the competition.

Ben also pointed out that their return rate on this warranty is so minimal they are confident their work is solid. “We take a different approach to it that may cost us a little more but we believe the product is worth it,” Ben said.

The pair were also quick to point out that some trade secrets result in superior work.

For fun, they are building a truck of their own they expect to take to truck pulls this summer. They will compete in the 3.0 class of a Central Ohio circuit, believing their unique build of chassis will give them a leg up on the competition.

But the two are interested in more than just chassis and injectors and diesels. They are good hearted , small town boys who seem to truly care about the community. In fact, they support the Cordle Cares Foundation, which raised $30,000 in 2014 to assist other non-profit organizations in Fairfield County and to provide scholarships to local students. Nate serves on the board and the business supports the organization through events like Bowling With Buckeyes which is coming up on July 11.

Career experts recommend doing something you love so that you never have to work a day in your life. When asked if it is still fun for them, the two agreed that it is. “We try to have as much fun as we can and we are still enjoying it,” Nate said.

Ben added, “It’s a dream come true. Not too many people can go to work every day and be happy.”

They try to make their employees happy as well, working to keep morale high and even taking the group to lunch in Lancaster every Friday.

Much has happened in eleven years and they say business has been good. However, Ben and Nate agree that they could benefit from a larger facility and more employees. “ We would love to expand someday. More space, more people would allow us to take on more work,” Nate explained.

Unlimited Diesel is located at 408 Logan-Thornville Rd NE, Bremen. Call them at 740.569.1319 or find them online at www.unlimiteddiesel.com or on Facebook.

What Do You Really Want?

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We all have something we wish we could do – if only there were enough money. Maybe you dream of someday owning a home. Maybe you want to take a European vacation or renovate your bathroom or buy your dream car or retire at 55. Maybe you only want a new tv.

There’s always something that’s just out of reach because you can’t save enough money. Most Americans will tell you there’s never enough money. Many people make enough money to live on and still save a little back. They just don’t do it because they dwindle away these extra funds on things that aren’t that important to them.

Handle Your Money
When you have a major savings goal, it is a good idea to set up a separate savings account where you know all funds are earmarked for that goal. At VCNB you can automate transfers from one account to another. This is a free service that you can take advantage of to ensure you actually save the money you say you’re going to save. Another simple trick that many people find helpful is the good old fashioned change jar. Get a jar, a piggy bank or some other container to stash your change in. At the end of the day, just dump whatever change you have in your pockets into your jar. When you have some saved, drop by one of our VCNB locations that has a coin counter. The coin counter is free to use if you are a VCNB customer. We can either give you the cash to take home or deposit the money into your account.

Visualize
It is much easier to stay on track with a savings goal when you can visualize that goal. Create an inspiration board electronically or with pictures cut out of magazines. Refer back to it and consider how great it will be to own that home or to be on that big vacation. If you are planning a vacation, picture yourself in a deck chair or sightseeing your destination. If it’s a new kitchen, imagine how great it will be to have your family gathered around for your next holiday. Visual reminders can be very powerful and can carry you through even the worst moments of weakness.

Cut Back
This is simple. Look for ways to save money and then put that money you saved toward your goal. That means shopping sales for necessities and avoiding the purchase of things you don’t really need. Do you remember the difference between a need and a want? A refresher on this lesson will serve you well.

Mae West said “I generally avoid temptation unless I can’t resist it.” Avoid temptations by staying out of stores, removing your credit card information from online accounts and by shopping with a list. If it isn’t on the list you don’t really need it. If you really want to buy something, force yourself to wait thirty days to make the decision. Chances are you will have changed your mind after a month.

Here’s one last tip on cutting back. Try cutting out something you know is bad for you. Whether your vice is cigarettes or too much chocolate, cutting out a bad habit will help you save a few bucks.

Adjust your attitude
Sometimes all we really need is an attitude adjustment. Before you buy something, ask yourself a simple question. “Is this worth more than my savings goal?” Instead of buying more, focus on taking care of the possessions you already own and be happy with what you have.

And remember to never give up what you really want for what you want right now.