Money Talks

Have you gotten your Economic Impact Payment? Will you be traveling during the "Summer of Coronavirus"?

irs.gov/coronavirus/economic-impact-payments

• People who have lost or destroyed their Visa prepaid debit cards now can request a free replacement through MetaBank’s customer service department. You can call 800-240-8100 (select option 2 from the main menu).
• If your address changed, you may need to go through the process of changing it on file with the IRS. One way to do so is by filing Form 8822, Change of Address.
• To trace your payment, call the IRS at 800-919-9835 or you may submit Form 3911. 

Can you say Stay-Cation?

What are some examples of some free things to do near your home?  

• Catch a magnificent sunset or sunrise
• Take a walk or bike ride.
• Play in the park.
• Swim at the beach or lake.
• Visit a state park and walk their trails
• Visit a market.

Are you driving somewhere?

Improve the Efficiency of Your Car: When taking road trips make sure your car is operating efficiently and is fully serviced. Some tips:

• Check the pressure of your car tires.
• Drive slower.
• Use the right oil to increase mile usage.
• Watch your luggage – the heavier the car the more fuel you’ll use.
• Pack inside your car not on top.

What about the availability of rest stops for each state, their welcome center and any COVID-19 information you may need to know?

https://htv-prod-media.s3.amazonaws.com/files/state-rest-stop-travel-information-new-1591885986.pdf

Staying in a hotel?

• Consider staying more than 1 night for a discount
• Call the hotel directly to get a cheap room or obtain special information.
• Could you save by staying over a Sunday night?

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Our guest is Dr. Charles Beady, the Executive Director of Mississippi Food Network, which began in 1983 as a warehouse facility that would accumulate, store, and distribute food for charities who would then make the final distributions to needy people in their community. MFN is a member of Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization. https://www.msfoodnet.org/

There are 430 agencies that distribute the food that MS Food Network accumulates.

No.1 requested food donation: canned meat

When NOT during a pandemic, volunteers who have registered help at the warehouse each month https://www.msfoodnetvolunteers.org/

If your organization would like to host a food drive, please contact Stacey Cain at 601-973-7089 or [email protected].

If you are interested in making a corporate donation, please call Mack Matthews at [email protected] or 601-353-7215.

There are other ways to give:

Monetary donations

Shop at Kroger. When shopping at Kroger Stores, make a donation to MFN by registering your Kroger card with the Community Rewards Program (www.kroger.com/account/enrollCommunityRewardsNow/) or through the scan card program found at all registers.

Shop Amazon Smile. It’s just like “regular” shopping at Amazon.com, but .05 percent of your purchase can be designated for MFN. Sign up to support Mississippi Food Network today (smile.amazon.com).

To contact MS Food Network:

Mississippi Food Network

P.O. Box 411

Jackson MS 39205-0411

[email protected]

U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics – Unemployment data https://www.bls.gov/

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Our experts check in and update us with the financial news in Mississippi and USA.

Topics covered:

• financial markets
• future Economic Impact Payments
• HEROES Act
• EIP debit cards
• Safe Return
• Emergency Funds
• start small in your savings account
• maybe move larger amounts to a money market
• automatically save
• beware of securities
• Credit Reports
• get your free WEEKLY reports
• check them carefully
• https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action

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No sooner do we come out of the Safer at home executive order but it’s almost hurricane season. Today’s show is an encore broadcast from May 8th 2018. Our hosts, Dr Nancy Lottridge Anderson, President of New Perspectives and Ryder Taff, Portfolio Manager at New Perspectives give advice on how to prepare your financial first aid kit. 

http://moneytalks.mpbonline.org/episodes/5cd31f1533f6c1be55607d84

2020 Information:

https://www.msema.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/39779_MEMA-Hurrican-Preparedness.pdf

https://www.msema.org/preparedness-2/hurricanes/

https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/1582162058237-59774592ecfffe4e9962d0e1ec3e4780/EFFAKToolkit_FormsOnly_20190906.pdf

https://www.ready.gov/financial-preparedness

The Emergency Financial First Aid Kit (EFFAK), a joint publication from Operation Hope and FEMA, can help you prepare financially and provides tips to reduce the financial impact of disasters on you and your family.

For Organizations 

Encourage people throughout your organization or workplace to prepare financially. Here are some ideas to promote financial preparedness in your organization:

• Hold a brown bag meeting.
• Make a presentation at an existing staff meeting using Safeguard Critical Documents and Valuables to support your discussion.
• Include financial preparedness information in the staff monthly newsletter.

At Home

Store important documents either in a safety deposit box, an external drive or on the cloud to make it easy to access during a disaster. 

Take time now to safeguard these critical documents.

Household Identification

• Photo ID (to prove identity of household members)
• Birth certificate (to maintain or re-establish contact with family members)
• Social Security card (to apply for FEMA disaster assistance)
• Military service
• Pet ID tags

Financial and Legal Documentation

• Housing payments (to identify financial records and obligations)
• Insurance policies (to re-establish financial accounts)
• Sources of income (to maintain payments and credit)
• Tax statements (to provide contact information for financial and legal providers and to apply for FEMA disaster assistance)

Medical Information

• Physician information (in case medical care is needed)
• Copies of health insurance information (to make sure existing care continues uninterrupted)
• Immunization records
• Medications

Insurance Information

Having insurance for your home or business property is the best way to make sure you will have the necessary financial resources to help you repair, rebuild or replace whatever is damaged. Document and insure your property now.

Household Contact Information

• Banking institutions
• Insurance agents
• Health professionals
• Service providers       
• Place of worship

Get Your Benefits Electronically

A disaster can disrupt mail service for days or weeks. If you depend on Social Security or other regular benefits, switching to electronic payments is a simple, significant way to protect yourself financially before disaster strikes. It also eliminates the risk of stolen checks. The U.S. Department of the Treasury recommends two safer ways to get federal benefits:

• Direct deposit to a checking or savings account. If you get federal benefits you can sign up by calling 800-333-1795 or sign up online.
• The Direct Express® prepaid debit card is designed as a safe and easy alternative to paper.

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What's going on in Mississippi this week?

We are still under the Safer-at-home Executive Order number 1477 that was extended and remains in effect until Monday, May 25th. Governor Tate Reeves is encouraging all of us to stay at home unless engaged in Essential Activities or Essential Travel.

Gov. Tate Reeves has expanded social distancing guidelines for Attala, Leake, Scott, Jasper, Neshoba, Newton, and Lauderdale counties. Businesses in these counties must screen employees for the coronavirus. People have to wear masks if they cannot social distance at their jobs and masks must be worn during retail, live auction and flea market shopping.

https://www.sos.ms.gov/content/executiveorders/ExecutiveOrders/1477.pdf

https://www.sos.ms.gov/content/executiveorders/ExecutiveOrders/1480.pdf

The governor added some benefits for the unemployed. https://www.coronavirus.ms.gov/2020-04/governor-reeves-extends-unemployment-workers-impacted-covid-19

Calls concerned:

• credit card rates
• a 2nd EIP check?
• wife lost work
• do dependents get checks?
• where's my check?
• unemployment
• you need your AGI for "Get My Payment" at the IRS
• checks to deceased individuals

Looking for a way to make more money?

• consider online tutoring sites like Chegg or VIPKid
• selling handmade products such as jewelry or greeting cards on ETSY
• delivering food for DoorDash or GrubHub
• Delivering groceries for companies such as Shipt or Instacart
• selling books on Amazon Marketplace or other items locally on Facebook Marketplace
• offering to your services to neighbors
• yards maintenance
• dog walking
• supervising children outside or in a park – if you already have a relationship with the family. 

https://www.inhersight.com/blog/how-to/make-money-during-coronavirus-pandemic?_n=92545989#

Also consider taking a class in contact tracing so you'll be ready for the job market when Mississippi starts hiring

https://www.coursera.org/learn/covid-19-contact-tracing?edocomorp=covid-19-contact-tracing

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Guest: Bruce McClary from the National Foundation for Credit Counseling https://www.nfcc.org/

DATES TO KNOW: Submit your banking information to receive direct deposits of Economic Impact Payments by 11am Wednesday, May 13th, 2020.Mississippi Income Tax Returns and Payments are now due July 15th, 2020.

Topics on the NFCC's website include - 10 Smart Ways to Reduce Expenses and Tighten Your Budget to Make Your Stimulus Check Last, Tips for Making and Managing an Emergency Budget; Should You Access Your Retirement Funds Early Due to COVID-19

You can hear Bruce McClary give additional information on NFCC's Fin Bit Podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/6I2jbwF7mg9BxU3ywhdEUQ

Discussions covered

• Eviction and Foreclosure Suspension for Homeowners Facing Difficulties Making Mortgage Payments https://www.nfcc.org/resources/blog/eviction-and-foreclosure-suspension-for-homeowners-facing-difficulties-making-mortgage-payments/
• Mortgage Forbearance
• Refinancing https://www.nfcc.org/resources/blog/5-ways-to-still-refinance-your-mortgage-with-a-less-than-perfect-credit-score/
• Warning about " housing relief" scams https://www.nfcc.org/what-we-offer/foreclosure-prevention-counseling/foreclosure-rescue-scams/
• Credit card debt https://www.nfcc.org/what-we-offer/emergency-credit-card-help/
• Free weekly credit report https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action

Bruce was a guest on the July 3rd 2018 Money Talks broadcast http://moneytalks.mpbonline.org/episodes/5cd31f1533f6c1be55607d7c

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Money Talks expert host, Dr. Nancy Lottridge Anderson was inspired by a recent phone call on the show to talk about the history of money. Listen here to the audio from the creative you tube video she and her husband created or find a link to the video on this site.

Thank you for listening and supporting Money Talks on Mississippi Public Broadcasting.

Money Talks can be heard live on MPB Think Radio Tuesdays at 9am. Or listen to the podcast. Moneytalks.mpbonline.org

How can the stock market bounce back when the economic news is so dire? Much of the answer lies with our central bank, The Federal Reserve. The Fed has been pumping money into the system to under-gird the economy.

Last week, on the radio, I was asked, "How does the Fed create money?" There was only a minute left before we went to break, so my answer was brief. I decided I needed to craft a better answer. With the help of my producer/director husband, we made a movie!

Magic Money

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From our experts at New Perspectives:

We've been presented with questions and concerns surrounding stimulus payments for residents of Medicaid-funded skilled nursing facilities (a.k.a “nursing homes”). Will they get a check? Will they actually get to KEEP the money? Will a stimulus payment affect their Medicaid eligibility status? Hopefully we can offer a bit of clarity.

While these residents are normally required to surrender most all their income, the stimulus payment will be an exception. Below is a link to an article that addresses this succinctly, with the key takeaways being:

• Residents of these facilities should receive a stimulus payment.
• The facility cannot take the funds to offset a bill or for any other reason.
• The funds will NOT be treated as income for purposes of Medicaid eligibility and will not force anyone out of their current eligibility status.
• The funds need to be spent within 12 months, so they are not counted as an asset which could impact eligibility for next year.

Now may be the time for residents to purchase new clothes or a new TV for their room. The American Council on Aging also suggests using the funds for an irrevocable funeral trust to help prepay burial expenses. Residents may use the money at their discretion but should avoid buying anything that would count as an asset under Medicaid regulations, e.g.- U.S. Savings Bonds or collectors coins.

Read the full article here:

https://www.nbc-2.com/story/42029916/fact-check-will-nursing-home-residents-not-get-their-stimulus-checks

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Are you waiting for an Economic Impact Payment? Will you have to wait until June? September? April of 2021?

Expert Dr. Nancy Lottridge-Anderson answers your questions (and learns a thing or 2 from our listeners who share their knowledge).

From Social Security:

Please note that we will not consider economic impact payments as income for SSI recipients, and the payments are excluded from resources for 12 months. https://blog.ssa.gov/commissioner-of-social-security-shares-update-about-covid-19-economic-impact-payments-for-beneficiaries/

Supplemental Security Income recipients and low-income veterans who receive pensions from the Department of Veterans Affairs -- and who don't file returns -- can expect to see the money in May. If they have children, they're due an actual $500 per dependent. But they won't get this money until next year unless they give dependent information to the IRS today, May 5th, 2020 at the website https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/non-filers-enter-payment-info-here

For Social Security recipients, who have children under the age of 17, the date has already passed for getting the additional money for dependents. They'll have to file a full return in 2021 to get the additional money.

If you want your check direct deposited and you have had to PAY income tax in 2018 and 2019, you need to go to the Get Your Payment part of the IRS website to put in your Direct Deposit information. Even if the IRS has your bank account information to withdraw your taxes owed it needs you to give it to them again to have your check direct deposited. https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment

The IRS started by sending money to the people it could reach the fastest. This was anyone who had direct deposit information already on file with the agency because they were due a refund on either their 2018 or 2019 federal tax returns.

Now, payments are being delivered to millions of Social Security recipients who don't file tax returns. They can expect the money to automatically arrive however they normally receive their benefits, whether by a check in the mail or direct deposit to their bank account or debit card.

The IRS began sending paper checks out the last week of April.

The IRS has inadvertently sent checks to dead people. Families are expected to send back those checks.

If the Economic Impact Payment was sent to closed bank account -- the bank will transferred the money back to the IRS. In that case, the payment will likely come later by a check in the mail.

The IRS online tool allows users to input new bank account information -- but only if the agency doesn't already have an account on file from a 2018 or 2019 tax return and hasn't yet processed a stimulus payment. https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment

Eligibility is largely based on income, and it excludes individuals earning more than $99,000, head of household filers with one child who earn more than $136,500, and married couples without children earning more than $198,000.

Families earning a little more may still be eligible if they have children. The phase-out limit depends on how many children they have. For a typical family of four, the amount is completely phased out for those with incomes exceeding $218,000.

Those who can be claimed as a dependent for tax purposes, like many college students, are also ineligible for the payments, as well as undocumented immigrants who don't have Social Security numbers.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/04/29/politics/stimulus-payment-checks-waiting/index.html

https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/economic-impact-payments

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/04/29/steve-mnuchin-wants-stimulus-given-dead-people-returned/3046434001/

https://www.fool.com/personal-finance/2020/04/26/6-reasons-your-coronavirus-stimulus-check-may-neve.aspx

Calls:

• economy
• Medicaid
• qualifying for stimulus
• get my payment
• info on stimulus
• SSI
• Medicaid
• money

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Guest was: Ivan Drury, a Senior Manager in the Insights Division at Edmunds.com, where he examines trends in the automotive industry and provides insights for Edmunds’ monthly sales forecasts. 

https://www.edmunds.com/car-news/coronavirus-faqs-for-car-shoppers-and-owners.html

Questions were asked about stimulus checks, car leasing, Prius vehicles.

Discussions covered: showrooms, internet sales, manufacturer incentives, forbearance, length of car notes, leasing, certified pre-owned cars, and the Edmunds website.

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