August 5, 2024 • 18 mins
Join Michele Enriquez, as she discusses insights from Patelco's latest webinar on membership perks. Special guest Peggy Wyman, a seasoned financial expert at Patelco Credit Union, shares tips on smart auto buying, retirement planning, and estate management. Discover how Patelco's membership benefits can help you navigate your own financial journey and bring some well-deserved financial wellbeing to your life.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Thanks for joining today's episodeof Small Talks for Big Change, where
we help simplify financial topics tohelp with your financial wellness.
My name is Michelle Enriquez, yourhost here at Patelco Credit Union,
and greetings to our listeners outthere, and thanks for tuning in.
We wanted to give you an episodeto bring awareness to Patelco's
webinars, and one of our latest wasa really great one if you missed it.
(00:24):
Did you know that we offer twoeducational webinars per month?
We have a team that are really thoughtfulabout designing topics and curriculum
that are top of mind and relevant forour members, and if you missed the recent
Patelco membership program, Perks webinar.
First of all, you can watch the recordingon our YouTube channel, but we thought
we'd bring it to the podcast studiobecause it was so good and informative.
(00:48):
One of Patelco's financial wellnesspartners, Peggy Wyman, hosted the webinar,
and I'm super excited to have her back onthe show and share her expertise with you.
Peggy, welcome back to the studio.
Congrats on the latest webinar.
Thank you so much.
It was fun giving it, andI hope everyone enjoyed it.
So, Peggy, you were here last.
to talk about our Patelco at Work program.
(01:09):
Tell us a little bit about thatand what you do here at Patelco.
What do I do here?
Patelco at Work is,, a financial wellnessoffering for companies, so we can assist
your employees who are experiencingfinancial stress, , which in this day
and age with inflation is rather huge.
So, we can go in and we can do lunchand learns, we can table, , give
(01:31):
financial education, And, best ofall and most exciting is we get to
coach one on one those that need it.
Yeah.
And you love giving presentationsand doing webinars, right?
And one of the reasons we askedyou to come and deliver the webinar
for our members, you give classeson all types of topics, right?
Everything.
We can do, , debt reduction,budgeting, savings.
(01:54):
Reducing debt.
For those of you that have gotteninto a little bit of a pickle with
debt, we can help with that as well.
Yeah.
And the thing I love about yourwebinars and presentations is you
bring your experience to the education.
So tell us a little bitabout your background.
Whenever I'm out with you, Ialways hear you say that you've
pretty much done it all in banking.
Tell us a little bit more.
That is true.
, I have been in bankingfor about, 40 years.
(02:17):
I always hate to admit thatbecause it's a long time.
We started when you were young, right?
Very young, very young.
, I did start as a teller and Iworked my way up the ladder.
, and I ultimately managedbranches, , for many, many years.
And part of that is business development.
So when you're managing a branch, youhave goals to bring in, new business.
, new deposits and, , new businesses.
(02:38):
So I spent many years doingthat as well, which I did enjoy
because I'm not necessarily asit at the desk office person.
So it was really nice to alwaysbe out networking, , chamber
events, county events.
So that's, that's my history.
Yeah, but even your experience as ateller up to manager level and then
working outside with outside partners,I mean, all of that experience probably
(03:01):
has helped in being able to both help ourmembers, but also help our, , external
partners understand what we offer.
Totally.
And I do have a passion for service.
I've always worked in the serviceindustry, and I think it's the most
important thing., as a customer anywhere,I really appreciate great service,
and I do believe people have choices.
So, we need to, you know, go an extra mileand take care of people, which does get
(03:25):
reflected in the education that we give.
I mean, we're offering, you know, an olivebranch to help you when you're struggling.
Yeah, and I know I love having youout with me because it's all those
questions about well my check, what aremy check holds and what are the fees
for this and how do I navigate that?
So you're an amazingresource to have out there.
Plus you're a great presenter.
So again, super excited to have you here.
(03:45):
Let's talk more about thewebinar that you delivered.
And some of the specific thingsthat you covered in the webinar.
I think we see a lot of times thatwe talk with our partner employees
and our members and they typicallyhave no idea about that there are so
many, many membership benefits and youcome from the banking world, right?
What you see is what you get, a littlebit different at the credit union, right?
(04:07):
We could be here all day if we wereto cover all the benefits, , that
we offer, but let's talk about someof the ones that stood out from your
webinar and then maybe you can comeback and we do a part two, maybe even
a part three to cover everything.
I'm happy to do that.
So we'll cover some, , auto loanperks today and some of the retirement
and planning benefits that we have.
Why don't we start with someof the car buying, benefits?
(04:29):
And I think, , a lot of folks andlisteners out there might not be
thinking about car buying just becausethey're deterred from the rates.
, right now, the last 10 years,we've, we've really enjoyed low
to 0 percent interest rates.
So I think these, membership perksthat we have now are really relevant.
Let's talk about theenterprise,, car sales.
Tell us a little bit more about that.
(04:51):
You know, the, the auto buying world haschanged so much with the internet, you
know, in the day you walked into the lot.
You always brought your childrenbecause you wanted the people to
hurry up, and when your kids startedgetting ornery, it sped up the process.
But, , they, they seemto have all the control.
But now, when you walk onto a lot, youhave, , all the knowledge from online.
And if you go to our website,Enterprise Car Rentals, we partner
(05:13):
with them, and they sell their carsthat have been previously rented.
They've been certified,they have, road assistance.
offering of a year.
And, , you can searchfor any car you want.
So when you go into the site, Idid it today just to play around.
And I put in my car, which is a Mazda.
I put in Mazda CX 5.
It brought up about four options.
(05:35):
I could see the miles,the year, the color.
And the Blue Book and the Carfax.
So we really want to know the historyof the car these days and the fact
that it is accessible is awesome.
Because, again, back in the daywe didn't really know what we were
buying when we were purchasing acar that had been previously used.
Yeah, and you may want to check itout before just going to the lot.
I am definitely not the personthat should be at a lot.
(05:57):
I will leave with something andprobably not make good decisions, so.
That kind of mechanismis good for me, too.
Well, the most important thing I forgot tosay is, since we partner with Enterprise,
if you do purchase a car with them,you get 1 percent off your auto rate.
And as Michelle mentioned, ratesare a little bit higher now than
what we were used to the past years.
So, 1 percent off, that's a huge discount.
(06:18):
Yeah, it makes a big difference, right?
And I always wondered whathappens to those Enterprise
cars, so that's good to know.
Do you find, or did you noticethat the prices are lower because
they've been previously owned?
I think it's such a competitivemarket right now, but because we
have the knowledge from the internet,we, we kind of can look ahead
and know what the car is worth.
And what I did like is itactually said lowest price.
(06:41):
So they've already gone in thereand given you the lowest price.
There's no negotiating, whicha lot of people don't like.
I mean, I'm not great at negotiatingin that aspect for a car.
So it's the lowest price.
You have the blue book.
Most of them wereslightly under blue book.
So, you know that you'regetting a good deal and no, no
haggling, which is really nice.
Okay.
So, the site's easy to navigate?
(07:01):
Yes.
Cool.
Then you get lots of options as well?
Mm hmm.
And you can look for specific carsor just browse every car they have.
They had a category that said, cars thathave over 28 miles per gallon, which,
you know, a lot of people are looking forthe, you know, higher efficiency cars.
So, yeah.
You can look by category.
Really cool.
And the 1 percent discount appliesif you get the loan from Patelco?
(07:21):
Yes.
Okay.
And that process is really easy.
It's one of the simplestthings that we do here.
Okay.
Really cool.
1 percent discounts.
It is a big deal.
It is big.
Especially, especially now.
. , not on our outline, but canwe talk about level up also?
So in addition to 1 percent discountwith a loan from Patelco, let's
say you don't get the, you don'tqualify for the very best rate.
(07:43):
We put all of our members who don'tqualify for the very best rate
into a program called Level Up.
Can you share a little bit about that?
Because I love it.
I feel like that's thebiggest kept secret.
I sure can.
And it's kind of a, a double plusbecause if you get your loan and
you weren't at the highest credittier, your rate might not be as high.
You know, the best rate.
It won't be bad, but it won't be as highas a Tier 0 if you have like 800 credit.
(08:07):
So, after 12 months of on time payments,we're going to lower your rate 0.
5%.
All you have to do is makeyour payments on time.
Just don't be late.
And we will do that for 3 years.
So, 12 months of ontime payments, minus 0.
5.
Another 12 months, minus 0.
5, another 12 months, minus 0.
5, so ultimately you'll have 1.
5 percent off your rate.
(08:29):
And the beauty of it is, it encouragesyou also to pay on time if that happens
to be something you struggle with.
So your credit score isgoing to be going up as well.
Yeah, when we talk about You know,looking out for our members financial
wellness when I first got to Patelco,I was like, okay, that can't be real.
What's in it for us?
And this truly is one of those thingsthat rewards our members, helps them
(08:50):
keep their credit score in a greatposition, and then, you know, helps
them with the lower payment also.
So we've got the 1 percentfrom Enterprise, we've got
this awesome Level Up program.
You can find more informationabout Level Up on our website.
Two really great ways to, you know,save a little on, The auto payment.
Okay.
So thanks for sharing that.
You're welcome.
(09:10):
What's this note here about AutoSmart?
What's all that about?
It's another, auto buying option that ison our website under membership benefits.
And AutoSmart is, an auto search vehicle.
So you go online and you click ontoAutoSmart, it will take you to their site.
It's got a really good rate becausewe partner with them, but again,
you can search for a car andthey search all over the nation.
(09:32):
So you can get the exact car youwant, and again, you're going to
get all the information on the car.
You'll get the Carfax, youcan just do a great search and
find the car that you want.
And if you don't know what you want,you can just scroll through and find
what you think might fit your lifestyle.
So two cool options for like folks likethe both of us who don't want to deal
(09:53):
with the dealerships, and shop at ourluxury, but tons of options that if
you're talking about across the country.
Especially if you're more, manypeople these days love to shop online,
so this is the way to shop online.
You don't have to go to everydealer, you don't have to be
Googling a hundred places.
Super simple, simple way to buy a car.
Okay.
Great.
And then we're entering, , carbuying season, so two great options
(10:16):
to not only save money on the rateand the payment, but a great way and
different kind of modality to shopto depending on your preference.
Correct.
All right.
Good stuff.
Real quick.
If you do want to go out and do theauto buying experience, just based
on, you know, from my coaching pointof view, always get pre approved.
Yep.
You don't want to walk on a lot andnot already have your loan in place.
(10:37):
And you certainly don't want to tellthem what you're approved for, right?
So you want to go in, you already knowyou have your financing, you can drive
off the lot that day with your car, andthen Patelka will send them the money
when you have your pre approval letter.
It's super simple.
That's a great tip.
We talk a lot during our classes thatwe give about empowerment and knowing
what your buying power is before yougo shop is, is everything, right?
(11:01):
You know your budget, youknow, , your capacity and then you
can't, you know, be, , swindled.
Correct.
It's all about, , Financialempowerment, name in the game,
, for our conversation today.
Okay, we're switching gears from auto.
Let's talk about investmentsand planning for retirement.
We just did an episode withVeronica, Dangerfield this week.
(11:22):
We're talking about planningfor retirement and we've got
two really cool, retirement andestate planning perks for members.
Can you, , share a little bitabout our robo advisor program?
I certainly can.
I think robo advisor is fantastic.
It's a great offering.
Thank you.
, that you find on our websiteand the beauty of it is nobody's
comfortable with investing, right?
(11:42):
It's not my favorite topic,even though I've been in the
financial world for 40 years.
, because you worry about fees,you worry about risk and loss.
So what RoboAdvisor does whenyou go in there is it's going
to ask you a questionnaire.
And it's probably going to askyour age, you risk tolerance is.
I mean, if you're afraid of losingmoney, then, you know, They're going to
choose more conservative funds for you.
(12:02):
If you like risk and you're younger,it's going to determine all that.
It's going to take everything you answerin the questionnaire and it's going to
determine the best investments for you.
Okay, so this is another kind ofself serve, go to the website, I
don't have time to sit down with acomplimentary session with one of
our licensed financial advisors.
I just want to do this from the comfortof my home, see what's available.
(12:24):
I might want to talk to somebody after,but this is something you can go in
and you can even take advantage of.
Right from the site?
Definitely.
And the beauty of it is if you havequestions and you don't have time to
meet with one of our advisors, you canhave questions answered on the site.
There's a chat, there's a phonenumber to call for support, so it's
not like you're, you're on your own.
(12:45):
One of the things that caught myeye on it was the 401k rollovers.
I mean, how many times do peoplechange jobs and you're leaving a
401k at each previous employer?
You can roll those over via this,, tool as well, which is really nice.
Yeah.
That's a really great time saver.
Mm hmm.
And again, not everybody's comfortableor even knows where to go to find
a licensed financial advisor.
(13:07):
We do have several financial advisorshere at Patelco, but this is, again,
just another way to get people to thinkabout it in a comfort level of their own.
At least dabble.
I mean, at least get started.
I think you need a minimum of5, 000 and just get started
and, again, you control the risk.
So, by the questanswer the questionnaire,they're going to determine the funds.
(13:27):
that are the best for youand your risk tolerance.
Okay, great.
So that's, you know, if I'm maybe changingjobs, I maybe haven't even got started
talking to any kind of professional,I can go to this website, fill out a
questionnaire, and get started that way.
Yep.
Okay, so that's RoboAdvisor.
The last two years, would you say, howmany requests have we gotten out in the
(13:49):
field for a state planning education?
I mean, that's all I'm, I'm speechless.
Probably the top topicthat we're asked about.
And it's super important.
It's really, I'm nearand dear to my heart.
I've experienced a few instances recentlywhere there was no will or trust.
And I just always tellpeople, do your heirs a favor.
If you want to be able to dictate whereyour assets go, this is how you do it.
(14:13):
You need to tell people what you want.
Your wishes are.
Yeah.
I think like car buying, like gettingstarted, connecting with a financial
advisor, it could be one of those thingsthat might be on the top of your list, but
you just, you have nowhere to go or youdon't know where to go, who to turn to.
Talk to us about this, new trust andwill service that we have for members.
(14:34):
I wanted to mention there isn'ta version of this topic, right?
People don't want to think about whenthey're going to die, but the fact is
anything can happen any given day, right?
So we have a awesome product.
I think they call it theTurboTax of Wills and Trusts.
So you can go online andyou can do it yourself.
And there is a discount forour members of 25 percent.
Nice.
And again, there's questionnaires,and you just go through the process.
(14:57):
One of my co workers did it.
She loved it.
Technically, I mean, she's a homeowner,so it's not like it's a basic trust.
There is, is assets in the trust.
But even if there isn't, you listeverything as you go, and it's going to
be, you know, adding up the, you know,whole picture as you answer the questions.
And again, the beauty of it is,it's created by estate attorneys
(15:18):
who, who know this industry.
They know what's needed.
And there's also, again,support through the website.
When you go through the website,there is estate attorneys that you
can talk with to get assistance.
Yeah.
And this coworker of ours thatyou're talking about, she's
pretty particular, right?
And she really raved about theexperience, the ease of use.
She had a semi complicated situation.
(15:40):
She had several different assets andshe thought this was a, a problem.
Fully encompassing supportfor what she needed.
The questions are really created toanswer all the questions that, or
all the issues that might come upfor you and deal with every aspect
of your assets and your estate.
Yeah.
Let's talk about what the alternativeis if you don't use kind of a
self serve service like this.
(16:01):
You'd be looking for an attorney.
I know I had thought aboutthis about five years ago.
I don't even know what kind ofattorney I should be looking for
when it comes to estate planning.
So there's that.
That's a good point.
This service, I, I'm gonna do, it's onthe top of my list, I'm finally gonna
do it after this episode, but kind ofjust another way to get, resources to
our members, self serve type of optionif you don't know who to talk to, you
(16:24):
don't know where to go to look for it.
Well, and even for a.
a will.
If you don't have time to do a trustor you think it's overwhelming, you can
go online and do the will, , which isa little more basic, but you're still
telling your heirs what your desires are,which is super important because don't
leave them behind to try to figure outwhat you wanted to do with everything.
Also eliminates, , disagreementsthat happen sometimes with those left
(16:46):
behind that they might, you know,think they're entitled to something
and the other person thinks so too.
Just there's been many,many instances of, Yeah.
And if it's not on paper, we'retalking about the state of California
or your state taking control andmaking those decisions for you,
which you probably don't prefer.
(17:08):
And taxes that your heirs might haveto pay that you could avoid as well.
Yeah.
Okay, good stuff.
All right, so we talked about some autobuying and auto shopping, , resources.
We've got some retirement andplanning benefits that we have.
There's so many more.
We could be here all day, Peg,but we're gonna, , stop there.
We'll do a part two and we'll talkabout some checking perks that we
(17:28):
have and a bunch of other thingsbefore you hear that next podcast.
You can find all this informationOn a brand new webpage on
our website, it's patelco.
org slash member benefits.
You can also see Peggy's MembershipPerks webinar on our YouTube channel.
If you haven't checked out ourYouTube channel, it's chock
full of great information.
(17:48):
It's got the podcast also.
So definitely go check out Peggythere and some of her other
webinars that she's delivered.
Peg, thanks for gracing us.
We'll come back for a part two,and it's always good to see you.
Welcome.
Thank you so much for having me.
All right, everyone.
That concludes today's episode ofSmall Talks for Big Change, where
we help simplify financial topics tohelp with your financial wellness.
(18:11):
Good luck planning.
We'll see you next time.
Patoko Credit Union is insured by NCUA.
Thanks for joining today's episodeof Small Talks for Big Change, where
we help simplify financial topics tohelp with your financial wellness.
My name is Michelle Enriquez, yourhost here at Patelco Credit Union,
and greetings to our listeners outthere, and thanks for tuning in.
We wanted to give you an episodeto bring awareness to Patelco's
webinars, and one of our latest wasa really great one if you missed it.
(00:24):
Did you know that we offer twoeducational webinars per month?
We have a team that are really thoughtfulabout designing topics and curriculum
that are top of mind and relevant forour members, and if you missed the recent
Patelco membership program, Perks webinar.
First of all, you can watch the recordingon our YouTube channel, but we thought
we'd bring it to the podcast studiobecause it was so good and informative.
(00:48):
One of Patelco's financial wellnesspartners, Peggy Wyman, hosted the webinar,
and I'm super excited to have her back onthe show and share her expertise with you.
Peggy, welcome back to the studio.
Congrats on the latest webinar.
Thank you so much.
It was fun giving it, andI hope everyone enjoyed it.
So, Peggy, you were here last.
to talk about our Patelco at Work program.
(01:09):
Tell us a little bit about thatand what you do here at Patelco.
What do I do here?
Patelco at Work is,, a financial wellnessoffering for companies, so we can assist
your employees who are experiencingfinancial stress, , which in this day
and age with inflation is rather huge.
So, we can go in and we can do lunchand learns, we can table, , give
(01:31):
financial education, And, best ofall and most exciting is we get to
coach one on one those that need it.
Yeah.
And you love giving presentationsand doing webinars, right?
And one of the reasons we askedyou to come and deliver the webinar
for our members, you give classeson all types of topics, right?
Everything.
We can do, , debt reduction,budgeting, savings.
(01:54):
Reducing debt.
For those of you that have gotteninto a little bit of a pickle with
debt, we can help with that as well.
Yeah.
And the thing I love about yourwebinars and presentations is you
bring your experience to the education.
So tell us a little bitabout your background.
Whenever I'm out with you, Ialways hear you say that you've
pretty much done it all in banking.
Tell us a little bit more.
That is true.
, I have been in bankingfor about, 40 years.
(02:17):
I always hate to admit thatbecause it's a long time.
We started when you were young, right?
Very young, very young.
, I did start as a teller and Iworked my way up the ladder.
, and I ultimately managedbranches, , for many, many years.
And part of that is business development.
So when you're managing a branch, youhave goals to bring in, new business.
, new deposits and, , new businesses.
(02:38):
So I spent many years doingthat as well, which I did enjoy
because I'm not necessarily asit at the desk office person.
So it was really nice to alwaysbe out networking, , chamber
events, county events.
So that's, that's my history.
Yeah, but even your experience as ateller up to manager level and then
working outside with outside partners,I mean, all of that experience probably
(03:01):
has helped in being able to both help ourmembers, but also help our, , external
partners understand what we offer.
Totally.
And I do have a passion for service.
I've always worked in the serviceindustry, and I think it's the most
important thing., as a customer anywhere,I really appreciate great service,
and I do believe people have choices.
So, we need to, you know, go an extra mileand take care of people, which does get
(03:25):
reflected in the education that we give.
I mean, we're offering, you know, an olivebranch to help you when you're struggling.
Yeah, and I know I love having youout with me because it's all those
questions about well my check, what aremy check holds and what are the fees
for this and how do I navigate that?
So you're an amazingresource to have out there.
Plus you're a great presenter.
So again, super excited to have you here.
(03:45):
Let's talk more about thewebinar that you delivered.
And some of the specific thingsthat you covered in the webinar.
I think we see a lot of times thatwe talk with our partner employees
and our members and they typicallyhave no idea about that there are so
many, many membership benefits and youcome from the banking world, right?
What you see is what you get, a littlebit different at the credit union, right?
(04:07):
We could be here all day if we wereto cover all the benefits, , that
we offer, but let's talk about someof the ones that stood out from your
webinar and then maybe you can comeback and we do a part two, maybe even
a part three to cover everything.
I'm happy to do that.
So we'll cover some, , auto loanperks today and some of the retirement
and planning benefits that we have.
Why don't we start with someof the car buying, benefits?
(04:29):
And I think, , a lot of folks andlisteners out there might not be
thinking about car buying just becausethey're deterred from the rates.
, right now, the last 10 years,we've, we've really enjoyed low
to 0 percent interest rates.
So I think these, membership perksthat we have now are really relevant.
Let's talk about theenterprise,, car sales.
Tell us a little bit more about that.
(04:51):
You know, the, the auto buying world haschanged so much with the internet, you
know, in the day you walked into the lot.
You always brought your childrenbecause you wanted the people to
hurry up, and when your kids startedgetting ornery, it sped up the process.
But, , they, they seemto have all the control.
But now, when you walk onto a lot, youhave, , all the knowledge from online.
And if you go to our website,Enterprise Car Rentals, we partner
(05:13):
with them, and they sell their carsthat have been previously rented.
They've been certified,they have, road assistance.
offering of a year.
And, , you can searchfor any car you want.
So when you go into the site, Idid it today just to play around.
And I put in my car, which is a Mazda.
I put in Mazda CX 5.
It brought up about four options.
(05:35):
I could see the miles,the year, the color.
And the Blue Book and the Carfax.
So we really want to know the historyof the car these days and the fact
that it is accessible is awesome.
Because, again, back in the daywe didn't really know what we were
buying when we were purchasing acar that had been previously used.
Yeah, and you may want to check itout before just going to the lot.
I am definitely not the personthat should be at a lot.
(05:57):
I will leave with something andprobably not make good decisions, so.
That kind of mechanismis good for me, too.
Well, the most important thing I forgot tosay is, since we partner with Enterprise,
if you do purchase a car with them,you get 1 percent off your auto rate.
And as Michelle mentioned, ratesare a little bit higher now than
what we were used to the past years.
So, 1 percent off, that's a huge discount.
(06:18):
Yeah, it makes a big difference, right?
And I always wondered whathappens to those Enterprise
cars, so that's good to know.
Do you find, or did you noticethat the prices are lower because
they've been previously owned?
I think it's such a competitivemarket right now, but because we
have the knowledge from the internet,we, we kind of can look ahead
and know what the car is worth.
And what I did like is itactually said lowest price.
(06:41):
So they've already gone in thereand given you the lowest price.
There's no negotiating, whicha lot of people don't like.
I mean, I'm not great at negotiatingin that aspect for a car.
So it's the lowest price.
You have the blue book.
Most of them wereslightly under blue book.
So, you know that you'regetting a good deal and no, no
haggling, which is really nice.
Okay.
So, the site's easy to navigate?
(07:01):
Yes.
Cool.
Then you get lots of options as well?
Mm hmm.
And you can look for specific carsor just browse every car they have.
They had a category that said, cars thathave over 28 miles per gallon, which,
you know, a lot of people are looking forthe, you know, higher efficiency cars.
So, yeah.
You can look by category.
Really cool.
And the 1 percent discount appliesif you get the loan from Patelco?
(07:21):
Yes.
Okay.
And that process is really easy.
It's one of the simplestthings that we do here.
Okay.
Really cool.
1 percent discounts.
It is a big deal.
It is big.
Especially, especially now.
. , not on our outline, but canwe talk about level up also?
So in addition to 1 percent discountwith a loan from Patelco, let's
say you don't get the, you don'tqualify for the very best rate.
(07:43):
We put all of our members who don'tqualify for the very best rate
into a program called Level Up.
Can you share a little bit about that?
Because I love it.
I feel like that's thebiggest kept secret.
I sure can.
And it's kind of a, a double plusbecause if you get your loan and
you weren't at the highest credittier, your rate might not be as high.
You know, the best rate.
It won't be bad, but it won't be as highas a Tier 0 if you have like 800 credit.
(08:07):
So, after 12 months of on time payments,we're going to lower your rate 0.
5%.
All you have to do is makeyour payments on time.
Just don't be late.
And we will do that for 3 years.
So, 12 months of ontime payments, minus 0.
5.
Another 12 months, minus 0.
5, another 12 months, minus 0.
5, so ultimately you'll have 1.
5 percent off your rate.
(08:29):
And the beauty of it is, it encouragesyou also to pay on time if that happens
to be something you struggle with.
So your credit score isgoing to be going up as well.
Yeah, when we talk about You know,looking out for our members financial
wellness when I first got to Patelco,I was like, okay, that can't be real.
What's in it for us?
And this truly is one of those thingsthat rewards our members, helps them
(08:50):
keep their credit score in a greatposition, and then, you know, helps
them with the lower payment also.
So we've got the 1 percentfrom Enterprise, we've got
this awesome Level Up program.
You can find more informationabout Level Up on our website.
Two really great ways to, you know,save a little on, The auto payment.
Okay.
So thanks for sharing that.
You're welcome.
(09:10):
What's this note here about AutoSmart?
What's all that about?
It's another, auto buying option that ison our website under membership benefits.
And AutoSmart is, an auto search vehicle.
So you go online and you click ontoAutoSmart, it will take you to their site.
It's got a really good rate becausewe partner with them, but again,
you can search for a car andthey search all over the nation.
(09:32):
So you can get the exact car youwant, and again, you're going to
get all the information on the car.
You'll get the Carfax, youcan just do a great search and
find the car that you want.
And if you don't know what you want,you can just scroll through and find
what you think might fit your lifestyle.
So two cool options for like folks likethe both of us who don't want to deal
(09:53):
with the dealerships, and shop at ourluxury, but tons of options that if
you're talking about across the country.
Especially if you're more, manypeople these days love to shop online,
so this is the way to shop online.
You don't have to go to everydealer, you don't have to be
Googling a hundred places.
Super simple, simple way to buy a car.
Okay.
Great.
And then we're entering, , carbuying season, so two great options
(10:16):
to not only save money on the rateand the payment, but a great way and
different kind of modality to shopto depending on your preference.
Correct.
All right.
Good stuff.
Real quick.
If you do want to go out and do theauto buying experience, just based
on, you know, from my coaching pointof view, always get pre approved.
Yep.
You don't want to walk on a lot andnot already have your loan in place.
(10:37):
And you certainly don't want to tellthem what you're approved for, right?
So you want to go in, you already knowyou have your financing, you can drive
off the lot that day with your car, andthen Patelka will send them the money
when you have your pre approval letter.
It's super simple.
That's a great tip.
We talk a lot during our classes thatwe give about empowerment and knowing
what your buying power is before yougo shop is, is everything, right?
(11:01):
You know your budget, youknow, , your capacity and then you
can't, you know, be, , swindled.
Correct.
It's all about, , Financialempowerment, name in the game,
, for our conversation today.
Okay, we're switching gears from auto.
Let's talk about investmentsand planning for retirement.
We just did an episode withVeronica, Dangerfield this week.
(11:22):
We're talking about planningfor retirement and we've got
two really cool, retirement andestate planning perks for members.
Can you, , share a little bitabout our robo advisor program?
I certainly can.
I think robo advisor is fantastic.
It's a great offering.
Thank you.
, that you find on our websiteand the beauty of it is nobody's
comfortable with investing, right?
(11:42):
It's not my favorite topic,even though I've been in the
financial world for 40 years.
, because you worry about fees,you worry about risk and loss.
So what RoboAdvisor does whenyou go in there is it's going
to ask you a questionnaire.
And it's probably going to askyour age, you risk tolerance is.
I mean, if you're afraid of losingmoney, then, you know, They're going to
choose more conservative funds for you.
(12:02):
If you like risk and you're younger,it's going to determine all that.
It's going to take everything you answerin the questionnaire and it's going to
determine the best investments for you.
Okay, so this is another kind ofself serve, go to the website, I
don't have time to sit down with acomplimentary session with one of
our licensed financial advisors.
I just want to do this from the comfortof my home, see what's available.
(12:24):
I might want to talk to somebody after,but this is something you can go in
and you can even take advantage of.
Right from the site?
Definitely.
And the beauty of it is if you havequestions and you don't have time to
meet with one of our advisors, you canhave questions answered on the site.
There's a chat, there's a phonenumber to call for support, so it's
not like you're, you're on your own.
(12:45):
One of the things that caught myeye on it was the 401k rollovers.
I mean, how many times do peoplechange jobs and you're leaving a
401k at each previous employer?
You can roll those over via this,, tool as well, which is really nice.
Yeah.
That's a really great time saver.
Mm hmm.
And again, not everybody's comfortableor even knows where to go to find
a licensed financial advisor.
(13:07):
We do have several financial advisorshere at Patelco, but this is, again,
just another way to get people to thinkabout it in a comfort level of their own.
At least dabble.
I mean, at least get started.
I think you need a minimum of5, 000 and just get started
and, again, you control the risk.
So, by the questanswer the questionnaire,they're going to determine the funds.
(13:27):
that are the best for youand your risk tolerance.
Okay, great.
So that's, you know, if I'm maybe changingjobs, I maybe haven't even got started
talking to any kind of professional,I can go to this website, fill out a
questionnaire, and get started that way.
Yep.
Okay, so that's RoboAdvisor.
The last two years, would you say, howmany requests have we gotten out in the
(13:49):
field for a state planning education?
I mean, that's all I'm, I'm speechless.
Probably the top topicthat we're asked about.
And it's super important.
It's really, I'm nearand dear to my heart.
I've experienced a few instances recentlywhere there was no will or trust.
And I just always tellpeople, do your heirs a favor.
If you want to be able to dictate whereyour assets go, this is how you do it.
(14:13):
You need to tell people what you want.
Your wishes are.
Yeah.
I think like car buying, like gettingstarted, connecting with a financial
advisor, it could be one of those thingsthat might be on the top of your list, but
you just, you have nowhere to go or youdon't know where to go, who to turn to.
Talk to us about this, new trust andwill service that we have for members.
(14:34):
I wanted to mention there isn'ta version of this topic, right?
People don't want to think about whenthey're going to die, but the fact is
anything can happen any given day, right?
So we have a awesome product.
I think they call it theTurboTax of Wills and Trusts.
So you can go online andyou can do it yourself.
And there is a discount forour members of 25 percent.
Nice.
And again, there's questionnaires,and you just go through the process.
(14:57):
One of my co workers did it.
She loved it.
Technically, I mean, she's a homeowner,so it's not like it's a basic trust.
There is, is assets in the trust.
But even if there isn't, you listeverything as you go, and it's going to
be, you know, adding up the, you know,whole picture as you answer the questions.
And again, the beauty of it is,it's created by estate attorneys
(15:18):
who, who know this industry.
They know what's needed.
And there's also, again,support through the website.
When you go through the website,there is estate attorneys that you
can talk with to get assistance.
Yeah.
And this coworker of ours thatyou're talking about, she's
pretty particular, right?
And she really raved about theexperience, the ease of use.
She had a semi complicated situation.
(15:40):
She had several different assets andshe thought this was a, a problem.
Fully encompassing supportfor what she needed.
The questions are really created toanswer all the questions that, or
all the issues that might come upfor you and deal with every aspect
of your assets and your estate.
Yeah.
Let's talk about what the alternativeis if you don't use kind of a
self serve service like this.
(16:01):
You'd be looking for an attorney.
I know I had thought aboutthis about five years ago.
I don't even know what kind ofattorney I should be looking for
when it comes to estate planning.
So there's that.
That's a good point.
This service, I, I'm gonna do, it's onthe top of my list, I'm finally gonna
do it after this episode, but kind ofjust another way to get, resources to
our members, self serve type of optionif you don't know who to talk to, you
(16:24):
don't know where to go to look for it.
Well, and even for a.
a will.
If you don't have time to do a trustor you think it's overwhelming, you can
go online and do the will, , which isa little more basic, but you're still
telling your heirs what your desires are,which is super important because don't
leave them behind to try to figure outwhat you wanted to do with everything.
Also eliminates, , disagreementsthat happen sometimes with those left
(16:46):
behind that they might, you know,think they're entitled to something
and the other person thinks so too.
Just there's been many,many instances of, Yeah.
And if it's not on paper, we'retalking about the state of California
or your state taking control andmaking those decisions for you,
which you probably don't prefer.
(17:08):
And taxes that your heirs might haveto pay that you could avoid as well.
Yeah.
Okay, good stuff.
All right, so we talked about some autobuying and auto shopping, , resources.
We've got some retirement andplanning benefits that we have.
There's so many more.
We could be here all day, Peg,but we're gonna, , stop there.
We'll do a part two and we'll talkabout some checking perks that we
(17:28):
have and a bunch of other thingsbefore you hear that next podcast.
You can find all this informationOn a brand new webpage on
our website, it's patelco.
org slash member benefits.
You can also see Peggy's MembershipPerks webinar on our YouTube channel.
If you haven't checked out ourYouTube channel, it's chock
full of great information.
(17:48):
It's got the podcast also.
So definitely go check out Peggythere and some of her other
webinars that she's delivered.
Peg, thanks for gracing us.
We'll come back for a part two,and it's always good to see you.
Welcome.
Thank you so much for having me.
All right, everyone.
That concludes today's episode ofSmall Talks for Big Change, where
we help simplify financial topics tohelp with your financial wellness.
(18:11):
Good luck planning.
We'll see you next time.
Patoko Credit Union is insured by NCUA.
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