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You are here: Home / Newsroom / Newsletters / Family Economics News - July/August 2006

Family Economics News - July/August 2006

The Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) works with land-grant university partners and others to advance knowledge for agriculture, the environment, human health and well-being, and communities through national program leadership and Federal assistance. Among the Agency’s goals is to support increased economic opportunities and quality of life in rural areas. Family economics aligns with this goal by focusing on how individuals and families obtain and use resources such as money, time, human capital, material resources, and community services; by exploring the relationship between individuals and families and the larger economy; and by studying the impact of public issues, policies, and programs on family economic well-being.

Research/Program Evaluation

  • Inheritances and Retirement Security
  • Farm Family Income Tops U.S. Median

Education/Extension

  • Save Tax Refunds
  • Financial Preparation for a Natural Disaster
  • America Saves Week 2007

Resources

  • Identity Theft
  • Pew Internet & American Life Project
  • AARP Bulletin: Viatical Settlement Scams
  • Treasure Hunt: Unclaimed Savings Bonds
  • Consumer Action
  • NEFE White Papers Now Online

Opportunities

  • Call for Papers:
    • Journal of Personal Finance
    • Journal of Youth Development
    • Financial Counseling and Planning
    • Journal of Family and Economic Issues/Consumer Finances
    • Community Affairs Conference (Federal Reserve)
    • 21st Century Families Conference
    • The Future Urban Agenda Conference
  • Funding:
    • NASD Investor Education Foundation
    • Learn and Serve America
    • National Endowment for Financial Education

Calendar

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The AARP Public Policy Institute reports inheritances are unlikely to have much impact on overall “boomer” retirement security. The study examines the occurrence and expectation of inheritances by the baby boomer cohort, as well as those born before 1946 and after 1974. About one-fifth of boomer households in the study got inheritances, and about 15 percent still expect to receive them. The median value of inheritances received was $64,000. Only the most affluent are likely to get large enough inheritances to affect the timing of their retirement.

Median income for farm households is 10 percent greater than the median for all U.S. households, according to an USDA Economic Research Service report on the "Structure and Finances of U.S. Farms." American farms vary widely in size and other characteristics, but farming is still an industry of family businesses. Ninety-eight percent of farms, including those considered very large, are family farms, and they account for 86 percent of farm production. Very small farms are growing in number, and small family farms continue to own most farmland but produce a modest share of farm output. Small-farm households receive most of their income from off-farm work. The writers conclude general economic policies—such as tax policy or economic development policy—can be as important to farm families as traditional farm policy.

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Extension program participants have a new tool to save for their future. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has launched a program that allows taxpayers who use direct deposit to divide their refunds in up to three financial accounts. The IRS says that split refunds should encourage saving for the more than three-quarters of the nation’s taxpayers who receive refunds each year. Last year, the average refund was $2,171. This new IRS program can be a savings option to promote via the America Saves campaign. Since 2002, Cooperative Extension has partnered with America Saves, a nationwaide social marketing campaign to encourage all Americans, especially those of low to moderate means, to save and build wealth and reduce debt.

The spring 2006 issue of Today's Consumer from University of California Extension contains information regarding financial preparation in case of a natural disaster.

Another valuable tool to help cope with a natural disaster is the Department of Homeland Security’s Emergency Financial First Aid Kit (EFFAK). Financial issues affect more people after a disaster than do personal injury or direct property damage. The EFFAK is a simple tool designed to assist you and your family in maintaining financial stability in the event of an emergency.

February 25-March 4, 2007 is the first AMERICA SAVES WEEK. A team of extension educators will release an America Saves Week Extension Educator’s Guide. Watch for the guide in late summer and training opportunities in early fall. The June 2007 National Savings Forum, the steering group meeting for America Saves in Washington, DC, featured a 50,000th Saver Celebration. Much of the success of America Saves, a social marketing campaign designed to help low- and moderate-income families build wealth, not debt, is attributed to extension’s leadership in localities across America. Stephen Brobeck, CFA executive director, on May 24, 2006, referenced extension’s work with America Saves in testimony to Congress. America Saves Week 2007 is an opportunity to continue and expand our involvement for a week or all year long. More information about America Saves is available (go to the program toolkit in the educator section).

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There's no surefire way to protect yourself from identity theft, but there are steps you can take to minimize the risk of becoming a victim. That is the message of a nationwide education program launched by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC): "AvoID Theft: Deter, Detect, Defend." The FTC's ID Theft Consumer Education Kit includes everything you need to deter, detect, and defend against identity theft. The kit includes a how-to guide to encourage talking about identity theft, a pamphlet that's easy to reproduce, a PowerPoint presentation, and a 10-minute video with tips from the FTC.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project produces reports that explore the impact of the Internet on families, communities, work and home, daily life, education, health care, and civic and political life. The project’s goal is to be an authoritative source on the evolution of the Internet through collection of data and analysis of real-world developments as they affect the virtual world. The reports are based on nationwide random digit dial telephone surveys and online surveys. This data collection is supplemented by research from government agencies, academia, and other expert venues; observations of what people do and how they behave when they are online; in-depth interviews with Internet users and Internet experts alike; and other efforts that try to examine individual and group behavior. The project releases 15-20 pieces of research per year, varying in size, scope, and ambition.

Viatical fraud remains one of the country's top investment scams, swindling thousands of victims every year, according to the North American Securities Administrators Association. Viatical settlements were introduced in the early 1990s to help, in part, dying AIDS patients get cash to pay their bills. The idea is that an ill policyholder sells his life insurance policy at a discounted rate to investors. When the policyholder dies, the investors get the full face value of the policy. However, the longer the person lives, the longer the investors may have to pay monthly premiums and the smaller the return on the policy. Investors in viaticals are often victims of deceptive marketing. They are given phony death estimates and false promises of "guaranteed" payoffs, or they are sold the same policy shares as other investors. The entire article is available on the AARP Web site.

Uncle Sam is looking for the owners of about $13.5 billion in mature savings bonds issued since 1941, and thanks to an expanded database, it's easier to make your claim. The U.S. Treasury has increased its searchable database to include some four million bonds that were never cashed by bondholders. If the program detects a possible match, based on the holder's Social Security number, information will be provided on how to claim the bond.

Consumer Action is a non-profit, membership-based organization founded in San Francisco in 1971. Consumer Action serves consumers nationwide by advancing consumer rights, referring consumers to complaint-handling agencies through their free hotline, publishing educational materials in Chinese, English, Korean, Spanish, Vietnamese and other languages, advocating for consumers in the media and before lawmakers, and comparing prices on credit cards, bank accounts and long distance services.

White papers summarizing two events recently sponsored by the National Endowment for Financial Education® (NEFE) are available on NEFE's Web site. The first white paper, Closing the Gap Between Knowledge and Behavior: Turning Education into Action, identifies what research, resources, educational materials, partnerships, and networks are needed to improve financial education approaches, so they have an increased potential to move learners from knowledge to action. The second white paper, Exploring Personal Finance Challenges and Opportunities Facing Latino Immigrants, discusses what kinds of challenges confront financial literacy professionals working within the Latino population across America.

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  • NASD Investor Education Foundation - The NASD Investor Education Foundation has released its 2006 grants application process for Applying Financial Theory to Improve Life-Cycle Investing. Proposal deadline is July 14, 2006.

  • 2006 Learn & Serve America - A Community-Based Grant Program - Non-profits, tribal governments and organizations, and higher education institutions can apply for 16 anticipated awards in the range of $350,000 to $500,000 for community development, jobs and training, and other activities that promote the development and sustainability of community-based service-learning programs in youth-serving organizations.

  • National Endowment for Financial Education(NEFE®) - Inquiries of particular interest to the foundation will be directly relevant to outcomes of a national symposium NEFE® conducted last fall titled “Closing the Gap between Knowledge and Behavior: Turning Education into Action.” Learn more about the grants program and symposium outcomes at the NEFE® Web site. Click on the “NEFE Grants Program tab of the “Grantmaking” section. Download the symposium white paper by clicking on the “Research & Strategy” tab of the Innovative Thinking action area.

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  • CSREES Contact: Jane Schuchardt, National Program Leader, CSREES-USDA
  • National Initiative “Financial Security in Later Life” Contact: Nancy M. Porter, Family Resource Management Specialist, Clemson University
  • Financial Literacy for Youth Contact: Erica Tobe, Program Leader for Financial Literacy & Housing, Michigan State University
  • Financial Security for All eXtension Contact: Debra Pankow, Family Economics Specialist, North Dakota State University

Back issues of Family Economics News are available.

To summit items for consideration for this newsletter, contact Jim Terry, Program Analyst, CSREES-USDA.

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Last Updated: 07/25/2007