- RT @ScottATaylor: The Guys on "Pickers" should just follow the "Hoarders" teams around- perfect mashup #
- PI/PNK test: http://su.pr/2umNRQ #
- RT @punchdebt: When I get married this will be my marital slogan "Unity through Nudity" #
- http://su.pr/79idLn #
- RT @jeffrosecfp: Wow! RT @DanielLiterary:Stats show 80% of Americns want to write a book yet only 57% have read at least 1 bk in the last yr #
- @jeffrosecfp That's because everyone thinks their lives are unique and interesting. in reply to jeffrosecfp #
- @CarrieCheap Congrats! #CPA in reply to CarrieCheap #
- @prosperousfool I subscribe to my own feed in google reader. Auto backup for in between routine backups. Saved me when I got hacked. in reply to prosperousfool #
- @SuzeOrmanShow No more benefits? I bet the real unemployment rate goes down shortly thereafter. in reply to SuzeOrmanShow #
- Losing power really make me appreciate living in the future. #
Financial Pet Peeve: Fees To Receive Paper Bank Statements
Today’s post is written by Tim of Faith and Finance. It was written for a blog swap run by the Yakezie personal finance blog network to answer the question “What is your biggest financial pet peeve?“
Chances are, you’ve probably received a few notices from your bank or investment company about receiving e-statements. I’m all for getting less mail, and having online access to my statements is a really nice feature. In fact, most of my statements are online now.
So why is it a pet peeve if I LIKE viewing statements online? Here’s why: If you don’t get the online version of your statements, many places will charge you for the paper statement. My bank (which will go unnamed) pulled this very move. If you want to receive paper statements you had to pay a few dollars each year for the ‘service.’ Now I understand that printing statements costs money, but what bothers me the most is that the bank continues to send junk mail even though I opted in to the e-statements.
It seems a little impolite to say “You have to stop using paper…but we’ll keep sending you stuff you don’t want in the mail.” Each time they send me something in the mail promoting a new product or those goofy cash advance checks, I think about how much money they’re NOT saving.
***Ok ok, I’ll stop ranting. That’s what happens when you’re challenged to write about a pet peeve…you get a little excited. 🙂
Solutions to the problem
I’m a firm believer that if you’re going to complain about something, you should be willing to suggest alternatives, so here’s what I’d do differently if I were the banks.
- 1. Don’t punish for paper statements, incentivize for online statements
If you want to connect with people online and save money in the long run, provide an incentive to make the shift to online statements. Money and interest rates talk, so maybe provide $5 plus access to a higher paying certificate only available for our online banking members.
- 2. Consolidate the message.
If people want to get paper statements still, don’t charge them – instead, use the statement envelope to promote your products. The envelope is already paid for, so why not use it for marketing purposes. Now I know they’ll say, “people don’t read statement stuffers.” To that I’d say, “what makes you think they’d read a dedicated mailer then?”
Those are my two cents. Has anyone thought the same thing? How do you feel about paper statements vs. online statements?
[Jason’s note: There is a fee that irritates me a lot more than paying to get a paper statement. I hate “online access” fees. Those are the fee where you get charged for other people doing less. They are usually called convenience fees or, in the case of government, technology fees.]
Appearances Matter
As my wife ramps up her job search, I’m reminded of this post and decided to bring it to the forefront.
A few weeks ago, I took my son out to my favorite Chinese buffet. There were two women there with names tattooed on their eyelids.
When you have someone’s name tattooed on your eyelids, you are limiting your job prospects to tattoo-shop employee or drug mule. You have disqualified yourself from a burger-flipping career.
When I turned 21, I had 13 piercings in my face and dyed-black hair past my ribs. Everybody is the factory I worked in got used to my bullring in time.
When my son was born, I decided I’d had enough of 12 hour graveyard shifts and not seeing my family, so I pulled out my piercings, put on a nice shirt, and got a corporate-style job in a call center.
Within a week or two, I put most of my piercings back in, and let everyone get used to it.
Six years later, I got laid off, and again, took out my piercings to look for work.
Appearances matter.
I know, for certain, that I wouldn’t have the job I have right now if I still had long hair and enough metal in my face to get me “special” attention at the airport.
A ring of steel through your nose kills the first impression in a business environment.
When you are walking into a situation for the first time, it’s important to pay attention to the persona you are projecting. Ladies, if the gentleman in the picture showed up for a blind date, would you be inclined to go anywhere with him? Men, would you expect anyone to go anywhere with you, if this was you?
Visible tattoos are called job-stoppers for a reason. If you can’t cover them with normal office attire, you won’t get hired in a professional setting. If that fact is a surprise to you, your lack of judgement means you wouldn’t be a good hire, anyway.
Like it or not, people make most of their decisions about others in the first few minutes of meeting them. Some studies show that it’s done in the first 30 seconds. If that time is spent on your facial art, the expletives on your t-shirt, or the briefness of your skirt, don’t expect to have anything else matter. You may be a genius, but your potential boss will never know that because you’ll be out on your butt before they have a chance to look at your resume.
Posting rate
For the new year, I am setting a new posting schedule.
I’ve been posting for a month, and started with half a dozen articles. There is a decent base of reading material. Now, I need to be posting at a sustainable level that will allow me time with my family and allow me to pursue some opportunities.
From now on, I will be posting 3 times each week. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. There will still be other miscellaneous updates, especially regarding my year of 30-Day Projects. The twitter summary on Saturday is automated.
Happy New Year!
Financial Blogger Conference
Three days, 800 miles, and 18 sessions later, I am back from the Financial Blogger Conference.
Here’s the breakdown of my spending:
The conference itself: $67
Breakfast on Friday: $8
Lunch on Friday: $19
Lunch on Sunday: $10
Gas: About $160
Hotel: $182
Tips to the bartender: About $10
That brings the total to $456. The hotel cost is really an opportunity cost, because my rewards card will be reimbursing from my accrued miles. Actual out-of-pocket cost: $274.
What did that money get me?
First, I got to meet a lot of the bloggers I read every day, including a lot of my fellow Yakezie members. That’s invaluable.
I got to spend three days meeting other bloggers, and learning how they operate. I got to hear how they manage Twitter, how often they post, what they do, and how they do it. Phenomenally valuable.
I got to spend 2 days learning better ways to do this whole blogging thing, by listening to some of the biggest names in the personal finance blogging world. That’s a value that you’ll have to judge for yourselves over the next few months as Live Real, Now evolves.
From a purely financial perspective, was this a good spend? Probably not. I spent $274 to get intangibles that won’t pay my bills or put food on the table. There is certainly an argument to be made that this was a waste of money. However, I strongly believe that those intangibles will prove far more valuable than any other way I could have spent that money. Using simple math, I may have wasted that money. Looking at the long-term value, it was definitely worth the time and money.
I will be going back next year.
What is the financial prize for winning the Super Bowl?
When you win the Super Bowl, you get a big ring and your team takes home a giant trophy. But for most guys out on the field, there’s a bigger prize waiting elsewhere. There are financial incentives associated with winning the big game. Some of them are direct, while others come later, in ways that most people will never see. The financial incentives are even different for coaches, players, and the owners who already have billions of dollars anyway. So how do the finances of the Super Bowl shake out?
A Direct Bonus
When Seahawks coach Pete Carroll threw away the Super Bowl, he cost his players and coaches a significant amount of money. Each player from the winning team receives $97,000 as a bonus. The losers are not left empty-handed, of course. They make off with a cool $49,000 each. Still Carroll’s mistake cost his players $48,000, as they had to settle for the consolation prize.
Endorsements Galore
Where things really get interesting is when one considers the marketing gains that players make when they become Super Bowl champions. The calculations are necessarily very indirect when talking about things like sponsorship value, but there is definitely some benefit to winning the big game. In the wake of winning the Super Bowl in 2014, Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman signed endorsement deals with Campbell’s, Nike, and Microsoft. Running back Marshawn Lynch used his Super Bowl win to propel him to a deal with Skittles.
It’s difficult to know just how value the Super Bowl win was to these players and their financial futures, but it’s clear that winning the big game elevates players in the marketing sense.
Ownership Rewards
Super Bowl wins work out well for owners, too. The New England Patriots have won four big games over the last 15 years. In doing so, Tom Brady and company have turned the franchise into one worth over $2 billion. In addition, the Patriots “brand value” alone is worth $350 million. Some of these gains would have happened without wins in the big game, but it’s clear that taking home trophies helped the franchise grow in value.
What’s in it for coaches?
Winning a Super Bowl is the brass ring for coaches, and they are often defined by their ability or inability to take home a ring. When Pete Carroll led the Seahawks to last year’s Super Bowl victory, he was signed to a five-year extension that made him the NFL’s highest paid head coach at around seven million bucks per year. While he might be the goat in this year’s Super Bowl for his horrific goal line call, he’s living proof that if you can win the Super Bowl at least once, you can cash in on financial rewards in a big way.
There’s something to be had for nearly everyone when a Super Bowl win is in the offing. This year, the Patriots will get to enjoy those rewards. Next year, it’s bound to be some other team, some other coach, and some other owner.
