The Statement – Insights from your Litchfield Bancorp Team

Savings and Retirement Tips: Pay off your Mortgage Early or Invest?

When it comes to saving money, especially for your future, it can be hard to decide where to put that money to get the best bang for your buck. If you have loans, like a mortgage, you might consider an early pay-off. What feels better than being debt free, right? But building wealth can be tricky.

When it comes to saving money, interest rates rule the world. You want your money to earn more than it would cost you elsewhere. So, if your rate of return on investing is more than you would save in paying down interest, then investing would earn you more money and be a smarter option. However, if your mortgage interest rate is higher than your rate of return on investing, then you would save more money by paying down aggressively on your mortgage instead.

How to Boost Workplace Positivity

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Have you noticed that smiling (and yawning) are contagious and not just when passing someone in the grocery store or holding the door open at your local coffee shop, but at the workplace too. We spend so many hours of our lives at work and with our coworkers, often more than we do with our families and friends. In general, people tend to gravitate towards positive and happy people and avoid the grumpy and negative people. If you’ve made a resolution this year to rid yourself of negativity and be more positive, here are some awesome phrases you can start using in the workplace to help show your appreciation, encouragement, and even trust in others. Management role not required to use these!

How to Recruit More Volunteers for Your Non-Profit

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The backbone of most non-profits is their Volunteer Force. Be it behind the scenes or client/front facing, this group of non-paid team members are giving their time, their skills and often their dollars to help make their chosen non-profit successful. They are invaluable to carrying out the mission and objectives of the non-profit and can also help build a connection with your community.

Recruiting and retaining top volunteer talent is no different than acquiring top paid talent – here are some tips to help you get the best of the best:

College Savings or Retirement – Which Should you Save for First?

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Which should you save for first – your child’s future college tuition or your personal retirement? As a parent, this is a very emotional question – saving for your children’s continuing education to help them incur less debt and get a good education or financially preparing yourself and securing your future.

Many parents have decided that college savings should come first and are not only forgoing putting money in a retirement account, but they are dipping into their retirement savings to cover the costs of tuition. Yes, saving for college is important, but it is actually a luxury. How much you save for your child’s tuition is not a direct correlation to how likely it is that they will graduate. And don’t worry, your child can find other ways to pay for school: scholarships, grants, financial aid, part time jobs, or even finding a more affordable school.

What is a Home Warranty and How Does it Work?

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When it comes to buying a home, most people understand the importance of having homeowner’s insurance, but few people are actually familiar with a home warranty and how it works.

The simple answer is: A home warranty is a yearly service contract that protects specific home systems and appliances.

Your home’s systems and appliances will inevitably break down over time. A home warranty provides you with some protection when those systems and appliances eventually stop working. Many first-time homebuyers find a home warranty to be an extra layer of protection when extra funds are in short supply during those first few years of homeownership.

How does a home warranty work?

Best Practices for Selling your Medical Practice

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With all the upheaval in the insurance market, many smaller private physician groups are either selling or consolidating. Albeit a big decision, it doesn’t have to be a painful one – the goal is to maximize the dollars and ease the transition for your staff and patients.

Before you consider the sale, you’ll need to determine what you want your role to be – will you retire, stay on as a staff physician, take on management and/or leadership roles – or a combination there of? Of course this is just some high-level personal things to consider, there are others such as business real property, equipment and other tangible items and employee benefits and everything in between.

Surprising Expenses You Don’t Expect When Planning for Retirement

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When it comes to planning for retirement, the process seems pretty simple: contribute to your IRA or 401(k), put extra savings aside each month, and reduce your spending as much as possible as you get closer to retirement. Once you are ready to retire, you should be able to rely on a combination of your investments, Social Security, your savings and Medicare to cover your needs.

Telemarketers: How to spot them and how they get your number

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With the invent of email, instant messaging, texting and video chat it’s become the social norm to ASK permission to call someone – especially in business. So why does it seem like our phones are ringing more and more? Well, odds are it’s a telemarketer and their getting sneakier and sneakier – calling from “local” phone numbers to get you to answer. Telemarketing isn’t necessarily illegal, but it’s certainly annoying.

Why is it happening and what can you do about it?

Financial goals to Strive for by the Time You’re 30

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When you are in your 20’s you experience a lot of exciting changes in your life – graduating from college, starting your first job, buying your first car, getting your first apartment, etc. And of course not everyone moves at the same pace or takes the same path in life, but it is important to plan ahead and set some financial goals.

When you set financial goals, especially at a young age, it can set you up for financial freedom later on in life. It might not seem super important right now to plan 20, 30, or 40 years ahead, but doing so can give you more choices in the future. It is a great feeling knowing you are on track with your money, and now is the perfect time to start working towards financial security.

Are you tracking your Net Promoter Score?

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If you are looking at the title of this blog and wondering what your Net Promoter Score is then chances are you probably aren’t tracking it, but that’s OK, because it’s really never too late to start.

First, let’s begin with the basics:

What is a Net Promoter Score? A Net Promoter Score – NPS – measures customer experience and predicts business growth. You can calculate your NPS very simply by asking customers one simple question that they answer based on a scale of 0-10: How likely is it that you would recommend [brand] to a friend or colleague?