We welcomed Donna & Russell from Carroll Community Bank. To reposition the bank and offer more benefits to customers, or potential customers, Carroll Community Bank is offering a great stock option program, as well as an increase in lending options. Holding stock in local businesses is a great way to stimulate local economy. Everyone’s situation is different and you should also review any stock options with a professional.

It is very important to understand the importance of a community bank. Donna believes that the best part of a community bank, is having customers or investors who live in Carroll County. Their projects and businesses are all local and it is easier to assess and help the situation. Different from a nationwide bank, Carroll Community Bank knows the details of the area and how to grow THIS community. They can also decide what fees they want to inflict on their local consumers. Large companies contemplate fees such as debit card fees and other new fees, branches of nationwide bank have no control over what they must charge. Community banks have more control over decisions that impact customers.

Next week, we welcome our 100^th guest to the Buzz! We are excited to hit this milestone and we will be talking about all of our wonderful past guests.  And we will welcome Commissioner Rothschild as our 100^th guest on the show.

October 16-October 22 is National Saving for Retirement Week! You have got to prepare yourself for the future and there are so many changing uncertain ways, making it more important to be able to retire independently. Its amazing the amount of money that you can accumulate if you plan ahead. Even saving $10 a week, over 40 years, can give you the means to cushion your retirement. There are different stages in retirement to keep in mind and plan for. Having a game plan is always key, know when you are planning on retiring, what do you want to do, where do you want to live, etc. Circumstances always change, but having a plan will put you ahead. Factors like social security, health care coverage and medical needs are something you have to always keep in mind.

Above all else, you want to strive towards financial independence.

 Marlene Titus of the Miller Center for Small Business at Carroll Community College and Matt Day of the Business Training Group at Carroll Community College explained some exciting programs that can help business owners and entrepreneurs. First, Marlene explains the services provided by the Miller Center for Small Business. Basically, they provide courses, resource center, marketing data base, etc. for new business owners and those trying to grow their own business. Most of the courses are taught by other business owners or retired business owners. They offer advice and guidance on how to successfully run a business. They hold events for networking and creating opportunities within the business communities.

 Guidance on funding is also a great resource that Miller Center for Small Business can provide. There IS funding available, its limited, but its out there. There are also tips on how to apply correctly for a business loan, despite the difficulties right now, there are correct and incorrect ways to approach the loan process.

 Mall explains the Pathways to Cyber Security Careers program, a grant funded by the U.S. Department of Labor that provides cyber security training to local businesses. There are also marketing training classes to guide users to properly guide social media and technology.

We also wanted to touch on all of new technology for the technologically challenged out there. There are a lot of great tools to use to stay connected to friends, family & your community: cell phones, social media, email, etc. But, there are many rules that you should follow to stay safe. Also, to avoid being a public nuisance.

 Technology Tips 101

1. When your on the cell phone or texting, the world does not go away. Pay attention to your surroundings and when using a phone is appropriate.
2. On Facebook, don’t advertise where you ARE.
3. When you are talking on a cell phone, you don’t have to talk 10 times louder
4. If an email thread or texting conversation is getting fiery, pick-up the phone and speaks to the person. This can avoid misinterpretation.
5. You don’t have to tweet about everything. Great sign to remember: “In case of a fire, exit building BEFORE tweeting about it”
6. If it has to do with computers, when in doubt, ask a 12 year old.

 We welcomed Tom Canon to the show to discuss all the details about the upcoming Westminster Fall Fest.  The annual Fall Fest runs from Thursday – Sunday over the last weekend in September each year. It’s a great way to stimulate downtown Westminster’s economy for local businesses, each year, over 40,000 people visit Westminster to attend or be a part of the Fall Fest.

Thursday always features the parade which kicks off the fest. Main Street is lined with spectators and volunteers for the event. Friday is always Midnight Madness for downtown shops, they have huge sales and stay open until 12am for excited shoppers to visit. It’s a great way to draw traffic to locally owned businesses and shops. Saturday and Sunday are the biggest days for the vendors, carnival rides, games and food suppliers/restaurants. Fall Fest is the largest event of the year in Westminster.

This month is life insurance awareness month. It is so important to have sufficient life insurance for you and your family. It is something that many people put off and wait until it is too late. If you do have life insurance, it is also important to annually review your current policy.

Examples of Why It is Important to Get a Policy Review:

1. Make sure you have enough – you can never leave your loved ones with “too much” but you can leave behind a shortage to cover expenses.
2. 1035 exchanges
3. Kill two birds with one stone
4. Update/review health insurance coverage in the process
5. Avoid waiting too long
6. Estate taxes are important to have and understand now

For our last show before the summer break, we were joined by Joe DiMaggio, Senior Vice President at Kelly & Associates and group health care consultant. Health care right now is having a major impact on the economy, which is what we wanted to discuss with Joe. At Kelly & Associates, they work with companies to set up group coverage and other services. One important task is to keep clients aware of the current state. With the Obama-care, Joe and his team has had to help customers navigate and understand the changes. It has made the insurance world much more difficult to follow and there are many uncertainties. The Obama-care changes have NOT made insurance more affordable. It increases costs and decrease the level of care. Mandates are going to be outrageous and include many unnecessary requirements.

Insurance companies pay the majority of medical costs in the US. People don’t know the actual cost of screenings, tests, exams, etc. because most just pay a small dollar amount co-pay. But when government starts to mandate health care coverage and requiring “one size fits all” products will waste money and increase costs. Someone in their 20’s doesn’t need extensive cancer testing or other screenings needed by someone in their 50’s or older. It will cause insurance companies to increase because of costs of unneeded procedures.

Group billing was created for individuals to be put together to qualify for the group rates. Age and health conditions are huge factors, so keeping a leveled, fair “pool” can be an issue. Another change was the movement to allow adults to stay on their parents’ health care coverage until the age of 26, regardless of marital status or career status.

Question from a caller: what is going to happen when someone new takes office and doesn’t agree with the ObamaCare system and the health care reform? It would take time to unwind it if someone takes office that doesn’t agree with it, but it will take time to change and will need the funding to do so. For the sake of the nation, changes need to happen sooner to stop the uncertainties before they are in place.

For information about health care options, you can call Kelly & Associates at 410-527-3400.

Biggest Mistakes Made Regarding Financial Planning:

1. Deferring saving for retirement to pay for other things
2.  Failing to plan for the impact of aging – physical restrictions and medical costs
3.  Not updating beneficiaries
4.  Fail to communicate within your family about money
5.  Avoiding to create/sticking to a budget
6. Making investment decisions based upon emotions
7. Neglecting to periodically conducting a risk management review