THE Cambridge Connection - Episode 3

It actually may end up putting you in a worse position than you are right now dealing with some debt problems. Some are scams. The next thing you know, your money will be gone. And then there’s a conversation around how credit counseling works versus debt settlement and credit repair. And Cambridge Credit Counseling, in partnership with this show, is going to be bringing you this information each and every week.

Segment previews and sponsor message

So if you’re just joining us, you’re listening to The Cambridge Connection, and we’re going to answer your questions on financial wellness and hear true life success stories. We’re going to meet with real experts, we’re going to have guests every week, and we’re going to be offering answers and suggestions to empower your financial wellness path. So don’t go away. I’ll be diving in with Arianne, with real people, real problems. It’s an amazing segment we’re going to have every week, and you’ll be hearing from Tina Marie and her Cambridge Credit Success Moment.

And my special guest this week will be Catherine Freeman from Mutual of America. This is Gordon Oliver, and you’re listening to The Cambridge Connection, right here on WHMP. If you’re having trouble paying down debt or dealing with high interest rates on your credit cards, you need to call Cambridge Credit Counseling. Cambridge Credit Counseling is a non-profit debt relief agency located right here in the Pioneer Valley. They’ve been helping consumers pay down debt safely for over 25 years and have helped over two million people.

com, A-plus with the Better Business Bureau, and they’ve won the Non-Profit of the Year Award. So if you’re struggling to pay down your credit card debt, call Cambridge. The call is free and confidential. 1-800-CAMBRIDGE. If you’re just joining us, this is Gordon Oliver, host of The Cambridge Connection, and now it’s time to talk to Arianne, who is Cambridge Credit Counseling’s resident digital maven.

She’s an education enthusiast and Cambridge Credit hype woman. Arianne has been at Cambridge since 2016, and she’s quickly cemented herself as not only the digital brand specialist, but the financial education coordinator as well. And if you’re wondering if she’s qualified, she is a licensed educator with her master’s in education from Boston University. Welcome, Arianne. Hey, hey, Gordy.

Financial crisis and spending trends discussion

What’s going on? Oh, man. We’re already off to a fired-up start here. We’ve got some real big-time information to talk about this pandemic and the financial crisis that may be coming down the line. I heard.

So what does Cambridge think about the financial crisis? I mean, a lot of people are saying it’s coming. Some people are saying it’s not coming. Where do you stand on that? I think it’s more the industry.

I think the industry is recognizing that. I found an article that said that credit card debt is up about 21% since last year, and I’m going to tell you why I think that makes sense. If you look at the timeline of things, come the end of the spring, beginning of the summer, that was pretty much when a lot of the big-time lockdowns had started to have been released so that people could actually really start going out to dinner. There weren’t plastic barriers between you and the server. You know, there’s all kinds of different ways that people would rather experience dining out as an example.

More importantly, couple that with travel was shut down last year. Now we have the summertime, which is typically where everyone spends on vacationing. Now you think about a year after being locked down, people are probably going hog-wild about traveling and getting out of the house. Absolutely. Yeah.

There’s already the new variant that is threatening people feeling like they’re going to get locked down again. So I’m very clear that every year the choke points of when people really start to realize they have debt problems are right after Labor Day because that’s coming out of the summertime. Everybody’s getting back to school. It’s kind of a lockdown just by your lifestyle, right? So that’s always a time when people will start to realize they may have overspent on vacationing.

And then secondarily, you have the holiday season coming in where last year people weren’t able to gather as family, as companies, et cetera. Which is super interesting because I would have assumed about the holidays, you know, that I get. And I never would have thought about after Labor Day, you know, but then you start to think about kids going back to school. And it’s not as simple as pencils and erasers anymore. You know, now it’s laptops, it’s iPads, it’s buying software.

You know, so not only is it back to school season, but now it’s back to school season and it’s so expensive. You know, it’s not like it was when we were kids. It’s so much different now. In case you’re just joining us, this is Gordon Oliver, host of The Cambridge Connection here with Arianne from Cambridge Credit Counseling. And that’s another reason why we hope you, the consumer, will spread the show.

Real people real problems retirement question

Because we’re going to keep an eye on these statistics, we’re going to keep an eye on where things are going, and we’re going to come every week reporting the best information that we can to keep you abreast of what’s going on. Now it’s time for our Real People, Real Problems segment. What do we have off our social media, Arianne? So we get questions sent in from all over the country on every financial topic you can think of. And some of the questions we can answer, and some we can’t.

So this brings me to Margie B. from Boston, Massachusetts. So she asks, I was lucky enough to get a job in my field right after I graduated from college, but I’m having a hard time understanding some of the benefits that my job offers their employees. I could ask someone at work, but everyone’s older than I am, and I’m afraid of sounding ignorant. I don’t want to lose the respect of my coworkers by not understanding basic finance.

It’s important for me to start saving for retirement as soon as I can. My employer offers what sounds like a great matching plan. They say they’ll match 100% on the first 3% that I put in, and 50% on the next 3%. And unfortunately, I have no idea what that means. But it sounds good.

Can you please explain this to me? I’m at a point in my life where I’m able to put money towards retirement, but I want to know what the hell I’m doing. Well, that is a great question, because I know a lot of people face this. In today’s time where employment is going up, it is all about retaining employees. And in questions like this, Cambridge Credit Counseling is not a financial advisory company, so it’s important that you know questions about investing in retirement are typically best spent with people that have licenses and are specialized in doing so.

What I can tell you is in your question, the question about matching, I’ll explain it to you and then I’ll let you decide. What 100% match would be is of your gross income, if you invested 3% of your salary and your company has a 3%, 100% match, that means if you put $100 in your retirement, your company is going to match that $100. Whether you should do that or not, it’s recommended, but that’s something you should talk to a financial counselor about or advisor about. And the first step would be talking to your HR director or your HR manager about who that person is that’s handling your company benefits and speak with them. So, you know, from her perspective, what does the company stand to gain for this?

You know, is there some sort of ulterior motive happening here? Why would they even offer this? The member benefits sphere is huge. So there are companies out there that if you look in your employee benefits packages, there are all different kinds of services. And Cambridge Credit Counseling, I know, is working very hard to get their counseling into those benefit services because they have insurance and investing and sometimes even discounted platforms where they get savings from shopping and all kinds of different things.

The more benefits a company has, the more they can retain their employees because it is a great add-on to the employee package of what their pay is, etc. Interesting. So it sounds like the company’s just really trying to help people out, keep their employees, and even though, you know, it might sound shady to someone who doesn’t understand it, it’s actually a huge benefit which they should pursue. Let’s remember, HR stands for human resources, right? So that’s why you would go to the human resources manager and just start to find out who to talk to about whatever it is that you’re looking into.

All right, great. So that’s what we have this week from real people with real problems. And we’ve all got questions and stories to share about our battles with personal finance. So please do not hesitate to start that conversation. You might as well get it over with, right?

org. Or you can find me on all of Cambridge Credit’s social media outlets, you know, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. So your question could be featured on our next show with your permission. And I look forward to hearing from you, you know, good, bad, happy, sad. We’re listening.

Sponsor break and success story intro

So thanks again, Gordy, and I’ll see everyone next week. Thank you, Arianne. And coming up on the show, we have Tina Marie and her Cambridge Credit Success Month, which will help us talk about why it’s important to go to Cambridge Credit Counseling when you are struggling. This is Gordon Oliver, and you’re listening to The Cambridge Connection right here on WHMP. Did you know financially distracted employees are less productive?

Hi, I’m Christopher Viale, President of Cambridge Credit Counseling. As a Western Mass non-profit, we can help your employees manage their debts safely and responsibly, and the partnership is free. We already proudly partner with companies like AAA and the Mass Teachers Association. So call me, Christopher, at 1-800-CAMBRIDGE, and let’s talk about bringing financial peace of mind to your employees. Welcome back.

This is The Cambridge Connection, and I’m your host, Gordon Oliver, and time is a-flying on this show. So in creating the weekly show, I thought it would be important to share the various success stories of consumers who have worked with our partnered company, Cambridge Credit Counseling. And it’s important that you hear that there is an opportunity to get better no matter where you’re at. There is always an answer. So who better to bring those stories to life is none other than Tina Marie, an NFCC Certified Credit Counselor at Cambridge Credit who, for more than 20 years, has helped thousands of people find their way out of debt and back, and on the road to financial wellness.

Welcome, Tina Marie. Hi, Gordon. It’s so great to be here with another success story of the week. It’s nice to hear good news every now and then. So this week, I want to talk about Amanda.

Amanda’s debt management success story

Amanda’s in Arizona. She’s a single mom with three children. Unfortunately, her husband had passed away a few years ago, and he was the one that actually controlled all the finances in the home. So she kind of felt lost. As the years went on, Amanda decided to purchase her own home in November of 2020.

Lo and behold, lost her job April 2021 due to COVID. Guess what? During the home purchase, she had major flood damage. Her insurance refused to cover the claim. So she went to credit cards.

$5,000 in credit card debt, didn’t know what to do, fell behind, but actually just got a job about a month ago. So she called me up. Again, we went through her budget. We decided the debt management plan was the right thing. Okay, if you’re just joining us, this is Gordon Oliver, host of The Cambridge Connection here with Tina Marie and the Cambridge Success Story of the Week.

So, again, process. That’s when helping a consumer, right? You worked on a budget, but the most important thing for a consumer to hear, number one, is that this was a life event. This was losing a partner. Several.

Several. Several life events. So you’ve got that. And what’s another thing I’m hearing that’s not a good idea is to be disconnected from your partner when it comes to the finances. Exactly.

There was no communication. She was lost. She was lost. And then to have to actually handle a household on her own. It’s devastating.

It’s overwhelming, devastating, all of the above. Yep. But we helped her. We went into it. I talked with her in depth.

She decided that the debt management program was the right solution. However, she did not want to close all of her credit cards. In a debt management plan, the accounts you include are closed. So she was a little nervous about that because she needed that Home Depot credit card. So we were able to consolidate all the six other accounts.

I was able to reduce her monthly payment from $258 down to $166. Able to pay off her debts within 39 payments. Wow. I’m telling you. 5.

But get the lowest, 0% on actually two of her accounts. Bam, another relieved consumer on the rise. Wow. So in the counseling process, it’s important for you, the listener, to understand that there are situations where that debt management plan is going to work. Absolutely.

And when we talk about making sure that people don’t get themselves into trouble with things that may not be real or will make it worse off for them than where they are right then, it’s important to understand that if the debt management program is not the answer, what then happens for a consumer? Oh, well, we’ll go over everything. You mentioned earlier talking about possibly borrowing from a 401k, which is obviously an option. But again, we’re not financial advisors. If the debt management does not prove to be the best solution, we may advise you, if you can’t borrow from friends or family, you might want to speak with a bankruptcy attorney.

There are plenty out there that will give you legal advice, a free consultation. But at least we can guide you on the way and give you some sort of pathway to go down so we’re not leaving you alone. You’re not calling and feeling left in the dust. You’re going to have something by the time you end that call. And of course, we don’t give legal advice.

But let’s just say that as a counselor, you see that it’s just way past the point of no return recommending a person getting a consultation from a bankruptcy attorney. People have to realize that bankruptcy was designed for a reason. And sometimes that is the solution and is where you can work and see if a fresh start is possible so you can start on that road to recovery. And that’s exactly what we say. Bankruptcy laws were written with the knowledge that people do reach a point that is impossible.

And if that’s the case, let the attorney figure that out for you. So this was Amanda from Arizona? Yes. And Cambridge Credit Counseling is available in all 50 states licensed and registered? Absolutely.

So anyone listening, obviously, this is a story where it was a life event. And this poor person was left with a situation that she had to pick up all the pieces and really didn’t know what was going on. That’s why counseling at Cambridge Credit Counseling is important. Because if one in four or one in five need the debt management program, those other people are going to walk away with some advice and a game plan to try to prevent them from making mistakes. Absolutely.

They will have information and resources to help them in their individual situation, regardless. Awesome. Between you and Arianne, I’m looking forward to every week having these conversations, because this is exactly what people need to hear. You are truly a rock star, always inspiring to hear about a financial wellness story. And we’re going to take another short one-minute break.

Interview with Mutual of America guest

And then we’ll be back with our special guest this week, Catherine Freeman, Account Executive with Mutual of America. This is Gordon Oliver. And you’re listening to The Cambridge Connection, right here on WHMP. Hi, everyone. I’m Christopher Vialli, President of Cambridge Credit Counseling.

If you’re a small business owner or nonprofit and you haven’t reached out to Mutual of America, you need to. Their team can help you provide first-rate retirement, pensions, and other benefits to your staff. A great benefit plan can make all the difference when you’re trying to attract and retain the most valuable asset, your employees. com. Welcome back.

This is Gordon Oliver with The Cambridge Connection, here along with my special guest, Catherine Freeman. Catherine is an executive at Mutual of America. And Catherine, thanks for joining us today. Thanks for having me. We’re really excited to chat.

As a matter of fact, we had some questions that are kind of right up your alley. Can you first tell us a little bit about Mutual of America? Well, we are a full-service retirement provider. And we believe in a consultative approach in making sure that the employer offers the best possible benefits within their budget. And then they educate their employees on how to best save within their own household budget for retirement, because it is so important.

Well, it’s been a value. I know your partnership with Cambridge Credit Counseling that you’re working together, and even Allison Ebner from EANE, to get to HR members, because you want a full benefits package that helps people, regardless of what financial stage they’re in in life. Yeah, absolutely. So how has that partnership gone so far? It’s great.

I think that these things marry very well. If they need help with credit counseling, they are going to need that help prior to being able to invest properly. And we make sure that within their budget, if they have some money that they’re saving on the debt end of it, that they then put some of that towards retirement. And with the HR professionals that EANE works with, they have a direct line to be able to offer those services confidentially and from a consultative approach to those employees. Consultative approach, that’s important, because many, many people wonder where to start here.

It depends. Some people will be in their 20s, some in their 30s, some in their 40s. As you are helping people, what do you think is the best single advice you could give to an employee? To an employee, it would be do as much as you possibly can, even if it’s $10 right now, and slowly, incrementally, increase how much you are putting away towards retirement. Take advantage of your employer’s benefit package as best you can.

Find the money. Try it for a quarter. If your budget really can’t adapt, then that’s fine. You can go back to zero, but at least try it and see if you can make those accommodations within your budget. That’s awesome.

If you are just joining us, this is Gordon Oliver with The Cambridge Connection, here with Catherine Freeman from Mutual of America. Important you brought up the budget, because we’ve had conversations that you have information to provide people that if they just start, you mentioned $10, $5, sometimes it’s a percentage that we’re talking about. At Cambridge, one of the first stages they do if people are not financially well, if there’s debt problems, they look at the budget to see if there’s areas to find for putting it more towards debt or restructuring what they’re spending. How do you see that with the retirement situation? Can you give a good example of some conversations that you have in an age group as an example?

Absolutely. So when people are first starting out and they get their compensation, they don’t really know how that’s going to shake out in their budget. After taxes, after their health insurance, and things like that. And retirement is usually the last thing they think about because they’re young. They think that they can put it off.

And what they don’t realize is if you make that adjustment with your first net paycheck, that becomes your budget. Then what we also find is later in life when people start having children, especially mothers, that is the first thing to go because they figure they will catch up with it later. But right now, kids need things. Daycare is expensive. All of the things that the children need are really expensive.

So retirement’s the first thing to go. But what we want them to understand is that once you get to a point, it’s never too late to start, but you take such advantage of starting early. And once it becomes part of your fixed budget, it’s a lot harder to take it away. This is Gordon Oliver with The Cambridge Connection here with Catherine Freeman from Mutual of America having an amazing conversation. We could be talking forever.

So let’s talk, first of all, as an HR situation and you’re going in to get help, you should be able to talk to somebody about your situation, right? So I hear people sometimes frustrated there’s a disconnect. And that’s why they ask these questions outside because they don’t know there’s someone to turn to. Right. And there should be.

So you should speak to your HR professional about who that is. But it shouldn’t be your HR director. They’re not a financial advisor. They don’t want to be put in that position. And sometimes to try to be helpful, they’ll lend a little perspective, but it’s really not their job.

So what you want to find out is, who do I talk to? If all you can get is an 800 number, well, that’s all you can get. But hopefully, you can find a live person that you can identify with and they can identify with your needs and what you’re able to do. And have an ongoing conversation because from when you’re 20 to when you’re 45, your lifestyle will change dramatically, even though you feel like no time has gone by, an enormous amount of time has gone by. You need to make adjustments as to what you’re investing in and how much you’re able to contribute to your retirement.

Yeah, that’s so important. The whole structure of this show is bringing awareness, right? Trying to get people financially well. And it doesn’t matter if you start when you’re 20, if you’re 30, if you’re 40, if you’re 50. It’s starting somewhere.

So I know I’m going to ask a question. I’m pretty sure I know the answer, but I’d like the listeners to hear it. So if you talk to HR and you find out that there is an employer match when you put your contribution in, let’s say it’s 3% that they’ll match, can you explain that to the audience what that means? Yes, absolutely. And that’s a very common thing is that a lot of people feel that they did not, they missed a step and they don’t quite understand, but they feel like they should.

So to put it very plainly, it is of your gross pay. If you are putting in 3% of your gross pay and your employer says, I match 100% of that, every dollar you put in of your first 3%, they will contribute that equal amount. So that means I’m doubling my money in my retirement portfolio right away when I contribute it. Every single paycheck, you are doubling the amount. So you put in 100, they put in 100, you net $200 into your retirement, that paycheck.

Now, if they say that they’re going to do 100% and then 50% to the next 3%, well, that means if you’re putting in 100, they’ll do 100. Then you put in another $100, they’ll do 50. It’s still free money. Just because it’s less, I mean, it’s still free money. 50, I will take it.

Yes. Well, we’re starting to run out of time a little bit, so let’s cover that part. So that’s the budgeting part, right? 5%, take it. It’s starting somewhere.

And then working through the budget and your debts and where you’re at financially, it’s starting to forecast some different ways that you can start to get more money going towards that retirement. Because in counseling many, many people in my lifetime, when you get to retirement, that’s when you realize there should have been some different steps that were taken, because then it’s getting late. The older you get, the later. But it’s never really too late if you’re still working. And if your employer is matching, you might as well get involved, because you’re getting a return on your money immediately.

Absolutely. So the thing is, you have to understand your retirement plan as well. Someone should be educating you at least once a year on what does this plan do for me. And if you don’t understand it, I promise you there’s other people out there that feel exactly the same. And you don’t have to feel quite so timid.

I know people aren’t eager to put their hand up and say, I probably should know this by now, but I don’t. But be that one. Put your hand up. Whether it’s in a group setting, go directly to HR and say, can someone explain this to me? Just one time.

Explain it to me fully. So it’s set it and forget it, but that doesn’t mean you don’t revisit it to see what else can be done or what kind of shape you’re in. Absolutely. You should be revisiting this at least once a year. And any time there’s a lifestyle change, any time a kid goes off to college, you unfortunately get divorced or you get married.

And you have the ability to change or the necessity to change your circumstances. Every dollar you can put away. We don’t know what retirement is going to look like when I retire, when my kids retire, anybody. We don’t know what it’s going to look like five years from now. So you really need to take responsibility because there’s no loan for retirement.

You need a loan to buy a house or buy a car. No one will give you a loan to retire. Right. You are unemployed in that situation. So Catherine, for people that need help, how can they get in contact with you and Mutual of America?

Absolutely. So Mutual of America has offices across the country. Our local one happens to be in Glastonbury, Connecticut. They can reach directly out to me, whether it’s an individual or an HR professional who needs some help reviewing their plan and deciding what works best for them. Freeman at Mutual of America.

C-A-T-H-E-R-I-N-E. org. Catherine, thank you so much for joining us today. I know that Cambridge values the partnership that you’re working on together. And it really does nothing but help people.

Show closing and contact information

So thank you for all that you do. So that’s a wrap. This week, thank you to Arianne, the digital maven, Tina Marie with the Cambridge Success Story, and my special guest, Catherine Freeman from Mutual America. 5 FM and 1400 AM at 930. org.

Follow me on Twitter at Gordon, all cares. That’s G-O-R-D-O-N-O-C-A-R-E-S. Same on Facebook. And if you’d like a free consultation with a counselor from Cambridge Credit Counseling, just call 1-800-CAMBRIDGE. These counselors are always standing by to answer your credit and debt questions.

And seriously, people, it is a free call to 1-800-CAMBRIDGE. Attention employers, if you have not reviewed your retirement plan, now is the time. It’s a competitive job market, and that requires a competitive retirement plan to recruit, retain, and reward the best employees. Mutual of America is a full-service retirement plan provider, helping not-for-profit and smaller organizations offer employee retirement plans within their budget, so the employees can meet their retirement goals no matter what budget they have to work with. Mutual of America, power of partnership.

com. Hey, everyone. Gordon Oliver here, and I’m the host of the brand new Saturday morning show, The Cambridge Connection. , we’ll spend 28 minutes together that will change your relationship with money for the better. I’ve been a financial counselor for 20 years, and I’m here to get you excited about being in financial control.

Join me next Saturday right here on The Cambridge Connection. m. here on WHMP.