Author Archives: PBTC Blogger

Best Ways to Create a Money Goal for 2020

With just a little work, you can map out your financial goals for the upcoming year. With money, it can seem overwhelming or tricky to know where to begin. Luckily, Peoples Bank & Trust is here to help! We’ve come up with some of our favorite ways you can create your money goal for 2020.

Figure Out Your Finances

The first step you should take is to calculate how much income you take in each month after expenses. You may feel that you have a good estimate, but once you start racking up all the costs, you’ll be surprised how much you are left with. Once you’ve subtracted all expenses (gas, groceries, eating out, rent, utilities, mortgage, etc.) from your income, decide where you can drop off some of those expenses.

Track Your Expenses

Use an app or a pen and paper to keep track of your spending to be sure you account for all expenses. If you want to reduce your spending in order to put even more money toward savings, identify your needs and wants and try to indulge in the wants less. This will help you create a specific way to spend less in order to meet your money goal.

Evolve Your Emergency Fund

Another great goal for 2020 would be to create a bigger and better emergency fund. Start the year off right knowing you’re covered if the unexpected happens. This will help you live with confidence, instead of worrying paycheck to paycheck if something could pop up that you aren’t ready for. This will make you feel more secure when reaching towards whatever goal you set.

Create Accountability

If you stop saving towards your goal and start spending a little extra here and there, who’s going to care? That is the mindset you need to get past in order to stay on track toward your money goal. You need to create accountability in order to feel like you are responsible for making this goal actually happen. Find someone like a parent, friend or spouse you can talk to, so they can encourage you to keep on the right path.

Follow An Actual Plan

Having a real plan put into place on how you’ll accomplish your money goal is vital to your success. Knowing what you bring in, what you spend, what you’ll cut, how you’ll cut those expenses and so on will allow you to keep on keeping on. If you don’t know where to start, follow Dave Ramsey’s 7 Baby Steps:

Baby Step 1: Save $1,000 for Your Starter Emergency Fund
Baby Step 2: Pay Off All Debt (Except the House) Using the Debt Snowball
Baby Step 3: Save 3–6 Months of Expenses in a Fully Funded Emergency Fund
Baby Step 4: Invest 15% of Your Household Income in Retirement
Baby Step 5: Save for Your Children’s College Fund
Baby Step 6: Pay Off Your Home Early
Baby Step 7: Build Wealth and Give

With these helpful hacks, you’ll be able to start your money goal of 2020 off right. We offer plenty of places to put your savings or build for retirement if one of those are your goals. Check out our site to see how we can help you!

Peoples Bank & Trust Co.

Member FDIC

Equal Housing Lender

Tips to Keep Your Cash Safe Online & In Stores

The holidays have hit, which means criminals are out and about looking to steal whatever information they can. Retail fraud attempts increased by 30% during the holidays in 2017. Being extra aware this season will help you keep your money safe, online and in stores, by using some of these simple tips!

Use Your Chip Card

Cards have upgraded to now have an EMV chip included in them. This offers an extra layer of security, as the card generates a one-time code for the transaction. If your card information is stolen, a thief can’t use that specific code to buy anything else so it prevents further losses.

Watch Your Surroundings

It’s very important during the holidays to think about protecting yourself, and not just your finances. Be alert when walking to your vehicle and don’t let strangers help you hold your bags, purse, phone or wallet. Make sure when you shop that you put your bags in your trunk and lock the car. This helps you lessen the chance of someone breaking in to steal your items if they can’t see them.

Update Your Computer

You will be doing plenty of online shopping, which means you’re entering your information over and over on different sites. It’s important to make sure you’re installing all updates, so your computer has less of a chance at getting a virus or malware. Keep your system operating smoothly by adding anti-virus software and setting all updates to be automatic.

Turn On Alerts

Many cards and accounts have alerts that will text and email you if a certain spending cap is hit. Set this up, so you can be notified of any purchases you didn’t make. Then you can cancel your card before it’s too late!

Check Your Statements

You can easily check your statements to make sure there is no unwanted activity, as well as look at your online account to see if any strange purchases have been made. You can also check your credit report, so you can report anything suspicious right away.

Avoid Pop-Ups

There will be plenty of crazy deals around this time popping up on blogs and sites. Don’t respond, click on the links or call the phone numbers. It’s better to be safe than sorry during these times. You can, however, click the links on trusted sources that garner the ‘s’ in ‘https://’ on a URL.

Lighten Your Wallet

Take out extra cash and cards – anything that you truly don’t need. This will keep your funds safer while you shop. Thieves are very good at taking anything they see as an opportunity, especially when shoppers are distracted trying to find the best prices in the store.

With these great tips, you’ll be able to keep your money safe in stores and online this holiday season. We also offer safe and secure online and mobile banking – here you’ll be able to check your finances to be sure everything is as it should be!

Peoples Bank & Trust Co.

Member FDIC

Equal Housing Lender

Have You Thought About These Holiday Saving Hacks?

It’s the holidays! As they come closer, you’ll want to be preparing your budget for the food and presents you’re buying. But, be careful not to overspend! Here are our top sanity-saving holiday hacks to follow.

Be Frugal Online

Use cashback apps like Ibotta and Ebates when you shop online for the holidays to save money and earn bonuses. There are also ways to earn free gift cards online when you take surveys, such as using a program like Swagbucks.

Simplify Your Giving

Don’t go all out and buy new clothes for everyone. Think of simple and sweet gifts, like a dessert platter full of your family member’s favorite sweet treats. You can also decide to do no gifts and just play a family giving game like White Elephant.

Use An App

You can use apps like ShopSavvy to do your comparison shopping. Just scan the item’s barcode with your phone, and the app will tell you if you can find that item for less at another store. You can also use your phone to download a budget app, as this will help you keep your spending for the holiday meals and gifts in check.

Save On Shipping

Chris Hogan, a personal finance expert, states, “The U.S. Postal Service offers flat-rate boxes in different sizes, so pack as much as you can into a box (within weight limits) and save on shipping. Or take advantage of free shipping offers when you buy online.”

Re-gift

We all have items piling up around the house that have never been worn or are collecting dust. They are perfectly good candidates to become gifts to those who would actually use them! Do some investigating and find those secret treasures you can re-gift this holiday season to save big.

Invest in Experiences

Instead of spending money on gifts and family get-togethers, talk about doing a trip or finding something fun close to home to experience. There are plenty of great adventures you can find for you and your family to do – without spending extra money on presents and meals.

Survive this holiday season with these tips and tricks! Staying within your budget means you need to keep a handle on your expenses, even during these times. Our savings account would be a great place to store some of that cash, so you don’t go spending it all at once!

Peoples Bank & Trust Co.

Member FDIC

Equal Housing Lender

Cybersecurity Tips for College Students

There’s quite a learning curve in just about every way possible for college students out on their own for the first time. While a characteristic of college students is being tech-savvy, it doesn’t always mean that they know how to stay safe from cyber threats that advance and evolve every day. When they enter college, they become a part of the #2 targeted industry for cybersecurity threats. College students should take these tips with them throughout their college career.

Know that you have value.

While we mean this in a feel-good way, what we’re really talking about here is the incorrect notion that college students think they have no monetary value worth stealing. This could not be further from the truth. Your social security number alone is incredibly valuable on the black market. When you realize that you have something valuable worth stealing, you may be more likely to use caution when online.

Old school personal theft is a cybercrime risk.

Of course you don’t want to get your laptop stolen because of its expensive cost. Unfortunately, many thieves don’t just want the item, but want your data and personal information off of the laptop or phone. Never leave your items unattended or expect that you are ever completely in a “theft free” zone.

Everything needs a passcode.

It may be somewhat of a hassle, but be sure all of your electronic devices have a passcode in addition to a physical lock.

Reconsider public workstations.

Your university may offer some public workstations for your use. They are convenient but don’t always have the best cyber protection installed. If you must use a public computer, be sure you don’t save your passwords on it and log out of everything before leaving the station. Never treat it as your own computer, so be sure to remove all files of yours before leaving the device.

To Torrent or Not to Torrent? Don’t!

For those who don’t know, torrent websites are a way for users to share files and distribute data over the internet. We can say with some confidence that it’s better to stay completely away from these. 1 in 3 users are exposed to malware by utilizing torrent websites. It’s tempting to get free textbooks and movies off of these sites, but it’s not worth the risk.

Give us a call if you have questions about cybersecurity when it comes to online banking!

Peoples Bank & Trust Co.

Member FDIC

Equal Housing Lender

How To Set Up Your Holiday Budget

The holidays set back many Americans into debt every year. Last year, the average incurred per person was around $1,000. It’s never too early to start deciding what your holiday budget will be so that you aren’t fretting over overwhelming debt in the new year. If you haven’t set up a budget before, the holidays are a perfect place to start.

1. Start with what you have.

Every budget should begin by calculating what you have. This means having an exact tally on what income you and your household bring in each month. If your income is irregular, take the average of what you have brought in the last few months. You can’t know how much to budget for if you don’t have an idea of what you have coming in each month.

2. Take note of every current expense.

What are you really spending each month? Some people like to play the “ignorance is bliss” game, but it makes having a budget and comfortable savings nearly impossible. Review your bank transactions from the last few months and write down every bill you can expect to come in. What are you spending your money on? Are there areas where you can cut back? Some people don’t even realize how many subscription services they are signed up for and these monthly dues add up. Organize all of your bills either in an online spreadsheet or a piece of paper.

3. Calculate the surplus.

Now, take that income and subtract your monthly expenses. Do the numbers surprise you? Whatever is left over doesn’t mean you can spend it all on the holidays. You need to now categorize the additional money.

4. Allot an item to each dollar.

Every dollar in your bank account should be accounted for – whether that be emergency savings, bills or holiday shopping. It’s up to personal preference, but you should consider what your goals are beyond the holiday season before you contribute a large amount of your savings towards the season.

5. Plan!

Now that you know how much you are willing to save and spend on the upcoming holidays, it’s time to get specific on those purchases. If you’re buying gifts for people and this is a top priority for you, set a dollar limit on each person. If food or traveling this season is more important to you, set a limit. Being over-prepared can take the stress away from this fun time of year. Knowing your limits will help to challenge you in creativity and self-control.

If you need help setting up a savings account, give us a call so you can be ready for this holiday season!

Peoples Bank & Trust Co.

Member FDIC

Equal Housing Lender

Be Giving This Season Without Giving All Your Cash Away

You don’t have to have extravagant wealth in order to take part in the season of giving. Being charitable means “relating to the assistance of those in need”. While a charitable gift of money can definitely be helpful, there are many other meaningful ways to give that leave a lasting impact on a family. These are some of our favorites.

Donate Your Time

Time is a hot commodity and few give freely. There are many organizations in the area that would love an extra set of hands to help them with their community outreach. If you’re not quite sure where to start, look into hospitals, homeless shelters, soup kitchens, animal rescues and nursing homes. Many of these facilities are understaffed and could use all hands on deck.

Part With Quality Clothing

Sure you can clean out your closet to donate clothing items that have a stain or even a small hole. What’s more of a helpful gift of charity is to part with quality items to people who cannot afford it. Maybe it’s business attire so that others can have a nice outfit for an interview or another one of your favorite clothing items that will put a smile on someone’s face.

Plan an Event

Do you have a talent for event planning? Why not plan a charity or fundraising event? There are nonprofit organizations that would love your help with planning the next event.

Learn a Craft

Have you always wanted to try your hand at knitting or woodworking? Whatever your interest or passion, it can be turned into charity by selling the items and donating the proceeds to someone you know personally that is in need or to your favorite charitable organization. If you don’t want to learn a new craft, think about your current skills or talents. You may be able to donate your services to someone, whether it be photography or doing someone’s taxes.

The great thing about giving is that there are so many ways to make a difference in someone’s life. Giving isn’t an activity solely for the rich, but for the fellow neighbor who wants to leave a positive mark on the world around them. We can help you learn how to save money in other ways, give us a call today!

Peoples Bank & Trust Co.

Member FDIC

Equal Housing Lender

6 Ways to Ditch Your Bad Money Habits

Too many Americans have poor money habits. Do you resonate with this in the way you spend and think about money? Perhaps you were never taught financial literacy in school like many others. However, there’s no time better than the present to start learning and why not learn it from the experts at Peoples Bank & Trust? These are tried and true ways to say goodbye to bad money habits.

Track Your Spending

It’s easy to overspend if we don’t really know that we are overspending. If you don’t take a close look at what’s coming out of your bank account on a recurring basis, you may be even more hesitant to purchase unnecessarily. Set a day of the week to review your purchases. A good day might be a Sunday so that you can review what you spent the week prior and take note of how you can improve. Ignorance does not equal bliss when it comes to finances.

Choose Growth Over Convenience

So many of us love the convenience of fast food or the ability to have nearly anything you want delivered to your front door in a matter of days. This has the potential to create some negative financial consequences. We challenge you to choose to grow your finances over convenience. Too often, we rationalize that the convenience is worth paying a higher dollar amount. We can promise you it’s not.

Stock Up On Essentials

Your house is likely always in need of toilet paper, dish soap, laundry detergent and perhaps a few other items. You know these are items that your household needs to function, so why is it that so many of us wait until we are completely out to buy more? If you keep an eye out for sales, you can stock up on these items and not be at the mercy of whatever the prices are when you need to purchase the items again.

Become an Expert in the Kitchen

Not knowing how to cook is too much of a poor excuse when it comes to saving money. You can learn how to be a decent cook in the kitchen by watching online videos like Rachel Ray.

Be a Problem Solver

While some household fixes are too serious to try on your own, the next time something breaks, try to fix it yourself after doing your research. You’d be surprised at how much this can save you.

Think Critically

Ditch those money habits by thinking smarter, not harder. Keep an eye out for coupons. Realize that just because something is advertised as a sale doesn’t necessarily mean that it is. Ask why something is a certain price before buying and if there are other alternatives.

You can be on your way to better habits by taking even one of these steps into your life. We’d be happy to help you set up an online banking account, so you can have even more control of your spending habits.

Peoples Bank & Trust Co.

Member FDIC

Equal Housing Lender

Identity Theft Tips For This Holiday Season

Online shopping and in-store deals will bring everyone out this holiday season. This also means that with the shoppers come criminals. Identity theft is on the rise with all the different ways information can be stolen. Peoples Bank & Trust wanted to offer these top tips this season to help you keep your identity safe and secure.

Use Secure Sites

When you see an ‘s’ at the end of ‘http’ in the URL, that means the site has an SSL which means it’s secure. LifeLock states, “You should also be sure that emails sent to you with promotional links don’t point back toward an altered link, often with one or two letters missing or changed. This could signal a phishing scam, designed to fool you into entering personal information, like your credit card number or your email and password, which may later be used in an attempt to compromise your identity.”

Set Spending Alerts

For debit and credit cards, you can usually set a limit on the card for when it needs to alert you to ‘spending past your set limit.’ If you get an email or text alerting you to extra purchases, that can be a quick way to find out your identity was stolen.

Check Your Statements

A lot of banks now offer e-statements, so you don’t even have to wait until the next month to see your expenses. Find out ways to check your statements this holiday season more frequently to be on the lookout for strange purchases.

Watch For Scams

There are so many scams during the holiday season – we can’t even name them all! Be very wary of fake charities, emails, links and so forth. Only give to trusted sources if you want to spread the holiday cheer and be extra cautious when reading emails and clicking links.

Keep Away From Skimmers

It’s easy to forget that even when you’re the one using the card, it’s still in danger. Skimmers tend to pop up more around the holidays, which are invisible to the untrained eye and download your credit card information to the computers of criminals. Then, criminals can steal your identity. Here’s an article on how to avoid skimmers.

Hopefully, these simple tips help you stay a little more cautious when doing your holiday shopping. Be on the lookout and extra aware this season, so you can keep your identity safe!

Peoples Bank & Trust Co.

Member FDIC

Equal Housing Lender

6 Tips to Budget for a Home Remodel

Sticking to a budget is always a challenge, especially if it comes to a remodel within your home. That’s why we’re here to give you the structure you need for your newest renovation. Pull out the hammer and get ready for your home remodel the right way with these 6 budgeting tips.

Prioritize

What needs to get done first or what has been bugging you the most? Start there. That will be your first update and then go from here. You’ll need to know how much is too much, which means if you want new kitchen cabinets, are you getting a new countertop and floors too? Know where you will decide to end the project. You’ll also want to prioritize your materials. Think about cheaper alternatives and what items you must have. Do you want granite countertops, or is laminate okay?

Create a Detailed Plan

Know exactly where you’re going to start, what items you need for each update and how you will get it accomplished. Will you buy the materials yourself or do you need a contractor for certain areas? This will lead you to creating a detailed plan with cost estimates. You’ll want to know a ballpark of what everything will cost, as going into it with no estimate in mind could leave you with a bigger hole in your wallet than expected.

Talk to Multiple Contractors

Don’t talk to one and be done. Speak with multiple contractors to see what their prices are and what they can do. Be sure to check them out to know if they offer quality work and are trustworthy. This person will be building a piece of your home, so you want to make sure you pick the right one and get a decent price.

Set A Budget

Do not allow yourself to go over budget. Do your research and know an approximate estimate from your detailed plan, so you aren’t surprised by anything. Calculate your income, expenses, loans and so on to know what you can truly afford. It’s easy to get carried away with the renovation once you start, so your budget will help you remain practical.

Stick To The Plan

As mentioned above, do not stray from your well-calculated plan and budget. You’ve done all the research, so it’d be sad to let it all go down the drain. New appliances or lighting can wait – so know your plan and be honest with yourself about what you mapped out you could afford.

Account For Hidden Costs

You will run into things that will end up costing more than expected – don’t worry! This is why you made your plan. Within your plan, you should have picked a few things you could wait on if something more urgent came up. Know what you can trim from your original plan and budget in order to account for these hidden costs.

Congratulations on creating your plan and budget! Your home will look beautiful once the renovations are made, so be sure to get started the right way with these top tips.

Peoples Bank & Trust Co.

Member FDIC

Equal Housing Lender

Energy Saving Tips For The Cooler Weather

Now that the heat is finally getting less intense, it’s time to switch up your energy-saving strategy. Peoples Bank & Trust offers plenty of fantastic solutions for you to increase your savings this season when the air begins to get cooler and cooler.

Buy A Humidifier

Humidifiers offer health benefits as well as bigger savings! Humidity keeps your warm, forced air trapped in the living area in the house longer, thus satisfying your thermostat longer.

Switch Out The Air Filters

Even though it’s a little thing, changing out your filters can increase your savings exponentially. A blocked return from a filter can cause your system to work much harder than usual as well as not provide the temperature that you desire inside the home. Do the math, save more by spending a little to change your filter more often.

Lower The Water Temperature

By lowering your water temperature, you’re saving money on trying to heat the cooler water. Using your sink, dishwasher, washing machine and shower on such a regular basis means your home is working hard to continuously re-heat that water to a high temperature.

Cover Drafty Windows

The Department of Energy states, “Use a heavy-duty, clear plastic sheet on a frame or tape clear plastic film to the inside of your window frames during the cold months. Make sure the plastic is sealed tightly to the frame to help reduce infiltration. Install tight-fitting, insulating drapes or shades on windows that feel drafty after weatherizing.” By covering these big holes in your house that let cooler air in, you’ll be keeping the heat in and costs down.

Change The Temperature

When you’re not at home or asleep, lower the temperature as much as you can without being uncomfortable. Turning your thermostat back 10° to 15° for eight hours can save you around 10% a year on your heating and cooling bills!

Invest In Different Holiday Lighting

Now that the holidays are upon us, it’s important to make sure your decorations and Christmas lights aren’t draining your holiday cheer. Use light-emitting diode — or “LED” — holiday light strings to reduce the cost of decorating your home for the winter holidays.

Start saving during these cooler months by implementing a few of these strategies. You can thank us later by opening a savings account with us to put in your newly saved funds.

Peoples Bank & Trust Co.

Member FDIC

Equal Housing Lender

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