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  december 11, 2006
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campus newS

Stretching that dollar: FACS students give financial tips for UGA employees
By Matt Weeks
mweeks@uga.edu
For eight weeks, the College of Family and Consumer Sciences has held weekly “lunch and learn sessions” focused on financial education for UGA employees.

Taught by students and covering topics from taxes to identity theft, the sessions have attracted more than 100 people.

The one-hour sessions are now available online at www.fcs.uga.edu/hace/ffp/#webcast, thanks to video production from the Center for Teaching and Learning.

For those who missed the sessions, Columns has assembled a list of financial tips from the sessions. This list is sorted by topic, but by no means a summary of any session.

Taxes
• Electronic filing or e-filing is preferred by the IRS. It’s inexpensive and reduces your time spent waiting on returns. For details and price, visit www.irs.gov.
• Check for deductions and credits. Money from child support payments, some capital gains and life insurance proceeds are tax-free.
• Don’t fall for loan sharks who will forward a rebate before you receive money from the IRS. It’s usually a bad deal, and some places charge up to 400 percent interest.

Identity theft
• Seventy percent of all identity thieves know the people they steal from. Keep important documents away from the wandering eyes of houseguests.
• Raising the flag on your mailbox signals to a thief that you’re leaving personal information for the mail carrier. It’s best to drop off outgoing mail in letter boxes operated by the U.S. Post Office.
• If your identity is stolen, contact all three credit bureaus and the police. Get things straightened out or you could wind up with bad credit or in jail.

Credit
• Check your credit report often. Georgia residents are allowed two free credit reports per year from each credit bureau. Keeping regular tabs lets you know if something’s wrong and positions you to stop mishaps before they get out of hand.
• Avoid credit repair agencies. You can write a letter to wipe erroneous information from your report for less money. Any institution that tells you they can erase factual information is lying.
• Bad credit fades over time. If your score is on the low end of the 300-850 range, stabilize your situation to prevent further debt and slowly begin to build new credit once you’re certain you can.

Medical spending account
• You don’t have to pay taxes on money deposited in your MedFlex account, so it’s a good deal, just be sure not to over budget. You lose money in the account that you don’t spend by the end of the year.
• To avoid that loss, you can purchase certain items like massages or prescription sunglasses at the end of the year with your MedFlex.

TRS accounts and vesting
• If at all possible, try to become vested in the Teachers’ Retirement System plan that’s mandatory for all UGA staff. It takes 10 years of working at UGA, and the rewards are impressive.
• If you have to leave before vesting, make sure to roll over the money you’ve invested into accounts like an IRA or 401(k). But be careful, you can’t roll that money into some retirement accounts.
 


Columns is produced by the UGA News Service, a unit of UGA Public Affairs.
286 Oconee St., Ste. 200N, Athens, GA 30602-1999
Juliett Dinkins (jdinkins@uga.edu): editor (706) 542-8017,
Janet Beckley (jbeckley@uga.edu): art director (706) 542-8170, Peter Frey (pfrey@uga.edu): photo editor (706) 542-8086,
Matthew Weeks (mweeks@uga.edu): senior reporter (706) 542-8024, Sara Freeland (freeland@uga.edu): reporter (706) 542-8077
Questions or comments should be directed to columns@uga.edu

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