The prospect of saving for the future can be an intimidating one, which is why some people avoid it altogether. The idea of taking money out of a weekly paycheck and setting it aside, the inconceivability of the dollar figures needed at the finish line, the span of time involved—indeed, when viewed in total, it all seems overwhelming. Which is why the best plan to prepare for the future starts small and receives a little help along the way.
“A lot of people live paycheck-to-paycheck and don't think about their future expenses,” says Brittany Cluver, Chief Deposit Officer for Prospect Bank, which has been serving residents of Central Illinois since 1873. “I’ve seen students who have come out of high school, and two years later, they come in trying to buy a car and say, ‘I wish they would have taught me this.’ So, it's just helping people understand that there is a need and that they should consider the future as opposed to what they just need to do today to get by.”
Thankfully, Prospect Bank has a suite of tools and products under its InvestWise banner all designed to do just that—get people thinking more about the future and eliminating the intimidation factor in the process. From simple and secure methods of investing money to repurchase accounts for consumer and corporate clients, Prospect Bank offers several ways to think not just about what you need now, but what you also may need years down the road.
From $250 a month to $440,000
“It can be so basic,” Cluver adds. “It can even be $10 a week. People think about investments and think, ‘Oh, I have to go put a whole lot of money in the stock market and try to win big time.’ But that’s not the case. It can be as simple as saving up money so you can have a nice Christmas or a vacation. It starts small, and it builds up.”
The investment options available through Prospect Bank can be tailored to the customer’s age, liquidity needs, and ability to tolerate risk. There’s a money market account, which earns users a higher rate of return than a typical savings account and offers security as well as the ability to withdraw funds if needed. For those looking more longer-term, certificates of deposit (or CDs) grow funds over a specified length of time and at a specific rate.
An individual retirement account (or IRA) can be invested in several options from savings accounts to stock markets, depending on the client’s risk tolerance and the length of time they must see the funds mature. Some types of IRAs also offer tax advantages, and there’s typically a maximum amount that can be contributed each year. And again, the numbers don’t have to be huge—a 30-year-old contributing $250 a month and seeing a 7% rate of return can build a nest egg of over $440,000 by age 65.
The repurchase accounts take it all a step further, offering both businesses and individual customers protection beyond the FDIC insured limit of $250,000. But thanks to the magic of compound interest, Prospect Bank clients can begin ensuring their futures with much smaller dollar amounts. “We just want people thinking about the future and understanding their options,” Cluver says. “You don’t have to go big into the stock market. There are all kinds of products that people can step into slowly but surely to plan for the future.”
Aiming for the $1 million mark
The InvestWise webpage also offers consumers a collection of calculators and other tools they can use to gauge which investment products are right for them. Users can input their age, expected age of retirement, and annual contribution amount to see what type of nest eggs different IRAs can build at different rates of return. Another calculator lets users see how much they can build by holding CDs over different lengths of time.
Parents can use the Prospect Bank college savings calculator to get a feel for how much they’ll need to save for tuition, depending on the child’s age. And the “cool million” calculator lets users find out what it will take to hit that magical $1 million mark in savings, based on their age, how much they have invested, and how much they contribute per month. Here’s a hint: as is often the case in investing for the future, a little can go a very long way.
In her role at Prospect Bank, Cluver has seen countless InvestWise success stories—grandparents who have put money aside for their grandkids, parents saving for children going to college, young adults buying their first car. “That happens all the time,” she adds. “It’s just getting people to think about the future, and not living day-to-day.”
Interested in exploring more about what Prospect Bank’s InvestWise products can do for you? Visit one of its ten locations across Central Illinois and Indiana, including Terre Haute, call (877) 465-4154, or visit BankProspect.com for further information.
