Last year, I discovered a cool little web-based PFM app from Zions Bank , the Holiday Gift Planner ( see previous post ). It helps plan and track holiday gift lists and purchases ( see second screenshot below ). I used it to track 2008 holiday purchases for our kids. I credit the app with not only…
By Tim McAlpine As a follow up to last week's recap post on our "T-shirt buy" with Jason Sadler of iwearyourshirt.com , here is the story that appeared on CBS Evening News with Katie Couric ! Watch CBS News Videos Online I guess I'll patiently wait by my telephone. It should…
The financial services regulatory environment is in flux. Major proposals are being debated, marked up, and prepared for implementation even as we speak. Credit unions are rightly concerned about the development of a new regulatory agency and the consequences of regulations that would inhibit their…
By John Redding and Richard Kamm Earlier this year, we wondered how many credit unions would put their strategic plans on shelves, postpone planning sessions, and focus exclusively on surviving the crisis. The answer is in: "Not many." In fact, many CUs have come to recognize that…
Innovation is crucial to the survival of credit unions, but having an idea is not enough. In 2010 credit unions would be better served to follow in the footsteps of little-known Louis Breguet than world-renowned Leonardo Da Vinci. This is the year of putting ideas into action, or risk having our…
Frankly, I haven't got my head completely around the latest acquisition in the alt-payments space ( and I'm not the only one ). I know that it makes my analyst life more interesting, but not sure what it means to the competitive landscape. Scott Loftesness over at Glenbrook Partners has the…
By Tim McAlpine Episode 008 is here! DeAndre' from Texas interviews a credit union CEO, Myles from Alberta interviews a human patient simulator technician and Josh from South Carolina interviews a language arts teacher. You can also download all of the episodes as a podcast from iTunes . …
In preparation for our upcoming report, I re-read our first report on P2P payments published almost 10 years ago to the day ( 29 Nov 1999 ). Although written early in the game, I was very impressed with PayPal , a service launched two weeks earlier ( 15 Nov 1999 ) by Confinity, the original name of…
It's November and Thanksgiving is almost upon us here in the US. It's a great holiday, not only for the food, but also the concept that you should reflect and give thanks. And there are many things we're thankful for -- our families, our health, our country and our OBR / Finovate…
My honey, Lesley Lambert, poses the question what are you thankful for about Western Mass? on her blog. My reply became so lengthy it needed its own space:As a kid growing up in Amherst, I took the Pioneer Valley for granted, and lamented the things it lacked. Namely interesting things to do for…
By Maria Kinney For a quarter of a century, CUES has publicly recognized the valuable contributions of credit union directors, who give their time and talent to ensure that credit unions are serving their members in the best possible way. Next month at Directors Conference in Palm Desert,…
Like everyone else, I only reluctantly joined the twitterverse initially. Nearly universally, people hearing about Twitter for the first time think it’s a dumb idea, one that has zero business use, and only marginal personal use. I think this reaction happens nearly for nearly everyone because you…
The latest Advertising Age profiles the 40 hottest brands in the United States. In the current climate, I wasn't expecting to see a financial brand. But there was a one financial tech company that made the list. Intuit's TurboTax . It even made the cover photo montage ( see inset ),…
I must have been asleep at the wheel, but through the magic of Google’s Webmaster tools (which I hardly look at) I noticed I had been linked to from Alltop’s credit union page! First I said, “Sweet, Alltop has a credit union page!” Then I said, “How’d I pull that off?”For those of you…
By Tim McAlpine As I mentioned yesterday, I rented Jason Sadler's torso (of iwearyourshirt.com fame) to promote Living Young & Free . For $313, we received the use of said torso for the full day of November 17, 2009 (the 313th day of the year). To get the most bang for our buck, we added a…
Bank of America's latest online effort is a personal finance educational site at < learn.bankofamerica.com > that includes consumer polls, money savings tips, videos and articles. Bank products are sprinkled throughout but the marketing is relatively restrained. It's a solid effort.…
Posted by Peggy Merrick-Bakken It's easy to be an expert on Web sites--until it's time to write the copy for your pages. CUES is in the process of revamping its site (launching in 2010), and it's an exciting project. But after months of planning and design, it's time to write.…
If someone told you that you could eliminate $22,000 of debt while saving $12,000 and win $10,000 in eight months from today would you believe it? Well that is exactly what one single mother of two from Walker, LA did. Kristi Smith’s financial outlook did a total 360 with the help of the i 3…
DON ’T DWELL ON IT Our subconscious is 20 times as powerful as our consciousness . To solve a problem, force your conscious attention elsewhere and let it soak into your subconscious. Rather than dwelling on a difficult problem, go to lunch and the answer will often mysteriously emerge – the…
By Tim McAlpine I learned about Jason Stadler and his iwearyourshirt.com website in February 2009 after he'd been up and running for about a month. I love simple brilliant ideas and this is definitely one of the most original concepts I've heard about in a long time. Here's a…
Despite significant investments in financial education in the United States over the past 10 years, young adults lack adequate knowledge of personal finance facts and tools to navigate the financial marketplace. In this special report made possible, in part, by PSCU Financial Services, researchers…
By Tim McAlpine By all accounts, Listerhill Credit Union should be having a harder time than our three other live Young & Free regions. Listerhill is approximately one-third the size of TDECU , South Carolina Federal and Servus in members and assets. The state of Alabama has the lowest Internet…
Are you tired of hearing "there's an app for that" yet? Well, get used to it, we are still at the beginning of the great app rollout . Even as recently as our iPhone Banking Report published in March, I assumed most financial institutions would have a single iPhone app. One bank.…
In Credit Unions as Employers of Choice for the New MBA : A Report on the Filene Summer Fellowships, Filene’s Research Director Ben Rogers tracks the activities, challenges, and successes of Filene’s endeavor to place top MBA candidates at credit unions across the country. This is a primer for…
The biggest surprise of the year in the world of alt-payments is PayPal's newfound reach into banking circles as evidenced by their agreements with S1 , FIS , and FirstData announced at last week's Retail Delivery conference . But a huge question remains: Will banks play ball with PayPal or…