Dear Home & Family Finance Resource Center Subscriber:

Answer Your College Savings Questions With New Handbook

To view, click here.

Most parents want their children to start their adult life on the right foot--without debt. Educate your members about where to start with this recently updated "Your College Savings Answers" handbook from CUNA’s Center for Personal Finance. Members will learn how to start planning earlier, what investments are best, and what resources are available to them.

The updated features include:

• New tables and graphs with fresh statistics
• New information about student loan interest rates
• Changes to the 529 savings plan section due to the new pension bill
• New contribution limits for grandparents to 529 savings plan
• Updates to using a Roth IRA to save for college
• Updates to the Perkins loan section
• Revised scholarship section
• Revised Useful Resources section

And be sure to read, "College Savings Shortfalls" featured this month in H&FFRC (see below for details).

Design Your Own Spending Plan With a Budget Blueprint

To view, click here.

Help members establish a budget with this statement stuffer from CUNA’s Center for Personal Finance. An extended table covers categories from shelter to installment payments. Tips and advice motivate your members to start and stick to a budget, assist with budget analysis, and suggest ideas for long-term financial planning.

And, be sure to read "Strategies to Bring Out the Millionaire in Everyone" featured this month in H&FFRC (see below for details).

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New Home & Family Finance Resource Center content featured in September:

Financial Elderly Abuse: Do You Know the Signs?
Phony telemarketers and Internet schemers aren’t the only groups ripping off older Americans’ hard-earned money. The culprit often is closer to home. Family members are the abusers more often than any other group. This article tells what to watch for and how to get help. (fr-1598)

Wealth-Building Strategies That Anyone Can Master
Financial planners have more faith in your ability to accumulate personal wealth than you do. Here are some of the proven wealth-building strategies that have helped create many millionaires and that almost any motivated individual—including you—can master. (mm-1599)

Make Up for College Savings Shortfalls
If your savings failed to keep pace with the cost of your child’s college dreams—or you didn’t save at all—it’s not a reason to tear up those college applications. Read on for some ways to get back on track. (ed-1600)

What’s in Your Garage? 14 Experts Tell What They Drive
Experts are always telling us what to drive; we wondered what they drive and why. (Originally featured at a shorter length in Home & Family Finance print magazine.)

Fast Fact: Watch for Disclosure Signs at Checkout
If you write checks, you’ve probably experienced an electronic check conversion. Now you’ll see new disclosure signs—both at the checkout and on your statement. (ta-1631)

Becoming Creditworthy Video Clip
Catch the newest H&FFRC video clip as the manager of young adult programs for CUNA’s Center for Personal Finance talks about getting started on the right foot financially. Josh Jones explains creditworthiness and how being creditworthy helps members borrow money for the lowest possible cost. He also encourages members to visit your credit union when seeking loans. Look for this new video under the New & Cool section on the Resource Center’s home page in September.

Use these "In the next issue..." messages in your traditional newsletter and online to regularly tell members what's coming in the Home & Family Finance Resource Center as you remind them to visit your Web site. Also remind your members to participate in September’s What’s Your Story about curbing wedding expectations and expenses (featured beginning Sept. 4).

In the October issue (available beginning Oct. 2)

Get the November articles here.

Collaborative Divorce Softens Sting of Split
Wanting to avoid high legal costs and the stress of a courtroom divorce, some splitting couples are looking for alternatives to the traditional divorce. Here are the details about collaborative divorce.

You’ll Learn a Lot From an After-School Job
Find out the tax consequences and trade-offs for working teens and how they can find a happy medium.

Home Sweet "Second" Home
If owning a home is the American Dream, then owning a vacation home may be the American Dream--Part II. But it’s not for the faint of heart. Read on to see if owning a second home is right for you.

Courtesy Pay Abusers Pay the Price
Courtesy pay programs are a value-added benefit to some, but when you use courtesy pay as a substitute for monitoring account balances and spending within your means, courtesy pay use turn into courtesy pay abuse.

If It Looks Too Good to Be True …Recognizing and Preventing Mail Fraud
Prevention is the key to eliminating mail fraud, and protection begins with awareness of the latest scams. This article tells you what they are.

Looking for fresh ways to attract members to your Web site and to the Home & Family Finance Resource Center? Send these "coming soon" announcements to your sponsor/sponsors and suggest that they be posted on the Intranet or published in the sponsor newsletter every month.

What do you like about your Home & Family Finance Resource Center subscription? What would you change? What would you tell colleagues at another credit union about the Resource Center if they were considering a subscription? Have good ideas to share about how you promote it to your members?

Click here to let us know.