WHY SHOULD YOU MOVE YOUR MONEY?

Moving your money out of the big Wall Street banks to small community banks and credit unions is a great idea for a number of reasons: you will get better rates and fewer fees, your community banker will learn your name and provide you with more personal service, and you will be keeping money in your local community which increases economic development and eventually, creates more jobs. Yet the most important reason to move your money is to make your voice heard, to stand strong and no longer help a banking system that has run amok

INVEST IN MAIN STREET, NOT WALL STREET

When you keep your money in a local financial institution, that money in turn is reinvested in local businesses, which is important for building a stable economy and encouraging local growth. Put your money in the big Wall Street banks however, and they will use your deposits to make risky investments, gambling at the expense of the economy as a whole.

END TOO BIG TO FAIL

The big banks on Wall Street gambled with our money, then demanded a bailout of $700 billion. The size of these Wall Street “Banksters” threatens our economic system, yet their size has only increased since we bailed them out. According to FDIC data, the largest 5 banks held 13% of US deposits in 1994, today they hold 38%. If the government wont step in and break them up, then we must move our money ourselves and end ”Too Big To Fail” once and for all.

FEWER FEES, MORE SAVINGS

Worried about ATM fees? You shouldn’t be. More and more community banks and credit unions offer ATM surcharge-free networks, providing you with even more access to ATMs nationwide. Community banks and credit unions also charge on average less in fees, and often pay you higher interest on your accounts than big banks. The numbers are clear: the bigger the bank, the higher the fees.

GET MORE PERSONAL SERVICE

According to JD Power and Associates, small banks have consistently rated higher in overall customer satisfaction than their Wall Street counterparts and the gap has only widened in the last few years. Customers of community banks and credit unions talk to actual people when they call, instead of robotic phone-trees. Tellers often know them by name and treat their customers like family.

LEND A HAND TO LOCAL BUSINESSES

Smaller banks do disproportionately more small business lending than the big banks. Small businesses, in turn, are the main engine of job growth, accounting for 65% of new jobs. Banking locally is a great way to support independent businesses and create more jobs in your home town.

via Why You Should Move Your Money | Move Your Money Project.

Here’s another great article from The Rosenbaum Law Firm! There’s a PDF download as well.

Any retirement plan sponsor who has a participant who is not an owner or a relative needs to hire a financial advisor to assist the plan fiduciaries in the selection of investments, the drafting of an investment policy statement, and investment education. A good financial advisor will be less about return and more about helping the plan fiduciaries manage the investment process. This article lets plan sponsors know why they need a financial advisor for their plan and how to spot a good financial advisor to work with.

via The Value Of A Good Retirement Plan Financial Advisor | The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C. – JDSupra.

I found this great article by the The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C., revealing important understandings about the real costs of 401(k) plan administration. Check it out!

An urban legend is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories usually believed by the teller of them to be true. Whether it’s Proctor and Gamble being Satan worshippers because of an old logo or Kentucky Fried Chicken changing its name to KFC because of some Kentucky state tax, there are stories that are propagated as true that are clearly not. We see these urban legends circulated by chain e-mails and sometimes even passed off as true by the media and we are amazed as to how intelligent people can be conned into believing such fabricated stories. When it comes to the retirement plan industry, the biggest urban legend out there, the Loch Ness monster, the abominable snowman, or drugged travelers harvested for their kidneys legend, is the myth of free 401(k) administration.

The myth of free 401(k) administration is the idea that since the plan provider such as a third party administrator (TPA) charges a nominal up front charge or nothing at all, that is all the cost that a plan is being charged for the administration of their plan. Financial advisors and competing, unbundled TPAs are amazed when potential clients insist that they are being charged nothing or close to nothing for their plan when these plan providers know full well that these plan sponsors are taken to the cleaners. While fee disclosure regulations will be implemented in April 2012, that is still quite some time before these plan sponsors are going to be in for the shock of their life. So hopefully this article will try to lessen that sticker shock when plan sponsors get disclosure from their plan providers.

There’s a PDF download on the original article here: Debunking the Myth of Free 401(k) Administration | The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C. – JDSupra.