November/December 2011
• Help your kids select an “Angel” from the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree or participate in the Marines’ Toys for Tots drive. Kids enjoy picking out toys for other kids. • Send a greeting card to a local soldier serving overseas. • Offer to rake the yard, hang (and take down) decorations or perform other useful chores for a neighbor or relative whose mobility is limited. Ask if you can pick up items at the grocery store, pick up medication or deliver bill payments. • Those in their senior years appreciate the gift of time spent with family members and friends. Take a sweet treat and enjoy a leisurely visit with
the seniors in your family. • This may be our best holiday tip yet: Turn off the TV at the family gathering. Play outside with the kids, take photos and share funny stories. Treasure the time you are spending together.
Happy holidays!
Expert’s tips for holiday spending Don’t let holiday overspending ruin your New Year! Resolve to make better financial decisions for 2012, starting now. For practical advice in holiday money matters, we consulted Nancy Lottridge Anderson, assistant professor of finance at Mississippi College and the author of “Tough Talk for Tough Times: Real Conversations for Real People About Money and Finance.”
How can consumers avoid the burden of post-holiday debt? Budget for Christmas. It comes one time a year, so it shouldn't be a surprise. If you prepare limits beforehand and stick with them, you'll avoid the painful aftershocks! If you happen to get in over your head and end up with a Christmas credit card hangover, set up a payment schedule to clear out the balance in three to four months. You don't want to still be paying for Christmas 2011 in 2012.
What’s an idea for a financial gift for children? Start school-age children in a DRIP (Dividend Reinvestment Program). This is where you buy a dividend-paying stock. Each time there is a dividend, the money will automatically be reinvested in more shares. Choose a company that the child knows—like Disney, Coca-Cola or McDonald’s.
What about budgeting for the holiday feast? I don't think this is the place to scrimp. As long as you're cooking and eating together, you're making memories. Cut back on toys, but don't cut back on family time in the kitchen or dining room.
How can parents get the kids involved in charitable giving? Have children help pick out gifts for charity. Encourage them to use some of their allowance to donate to good causes. Give "charity" as a gift— e.g., "A gift to Make a Wish has been made in your honor."
How can parents use the holidays to teach kids about money management? Set limits. Explain the limits of your family income in a good way. Show gratitude for what you have. Anderson is a regular panelist on the Mississippi Public Broadcasting radio call-in show “Money Talks,” which airs each Tuesday at 9 a.m. on local MPB stations.
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Electric power association employees who assisted in Guatemala are, kneeling from left, Jonathan Sanders, Singing River EPA; Stan Rucker, EPAs of Mississippi; Barry McCool, Southern Pine EPA; Jeremy White, Southern Pine EPA; Buck Williams, Singing River EPA; Pat Linton, Pearl River Valley EPA; standing, from left, Gerald Williamson, Pearl River Valley EPA; Marce Goforth, East Mississippi EPA; Nathan Sanders, Yazoo Valley EPA; Lee Hedegaard, Singing River EPA; Kenneth Kitchens, East Mississippi EPA; and Eric Woods, Yazoo Valley EPA.
Cooperative effort means safer electric service for Guatemalans Operating and maintaining a safe, reliable electric distribution system is challenging under the best of circumstances. For an impoverished city in Guatemala, with its untrained work force and little to no materials and equipment, providing electricity safely takes a near-miracle. In October, electric power associations in Mississippi sent a team of 12 volunteers on a two-week mission to help the city of Jalapa take steps to modernize its primitive electric distribution system. The trip marked the third consecutive year electric power associations have assisted Jalapa in line upgrades. Improving electrical safety topped the volunteers’to-do list. Team members worked alongside the local linemen to move a major power line built dangerously close to homes and businesses. In one instance, the line hung within inches of a resident’s roof-top clothesline. “Their service truck is a The volunteers also extended electric service to two nearby vilmotorcycle, with a guy lages in the scenic mountain valley. One resident told the men she riding on the back carrying had been waiting 13 years for electric service. a ladder.” East Mississippi EPA, Pearl River Valley EPA, Singing River EPA, - Stan Rucker Southern Pine EPA and Yazoo Valley EPA each sent two volunteers, mostly linemen. They were joined by Lee Hedegaard, general manager and CEO of Singing River EPA, who provided engineering expertise, and Stan Rucker, vice president of Safety and Loss Control for the Electric Power Associations of Mississippi, who conducted safety training for the Jalapa linemen. Jalapa’s electrical system was built without the benefit of professional safety and reliability standards. Line workers have no protective gear, few tools and no experience in outage-prevention measures. They clear rights of way with a machete and set utility poles by hand in the rock-hard earth. “Their service truck is a motorcycle, with a guy riding on the back carrying a ladder,” Rucker said.“But their biggest problem is the lack of knowledge. They have not had any training—none.” The Guatemalan line workers welcomed the volunteers’efforts with cooperation and appreciation. Rucker said they were eager to learn new construction methods and safety procedures from their Mississippi counterparts. For the volunteers, the experience was gratifying. “I was honored to have participated. It’s one of the most rewarding things I’ve done in my career,” said Buck Williams, manager of Risk Management and Right of Way at Singing River EPA. In addition to hands-on assistance, electric power associations in Mississippi and electric supply vendors donated some 38,000 pounds of line construction materials, including a hydraulic auger for mounting on a previously donated truck. The mission was funded by NRECA International, a subsidiary of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, whose rural electrification programs have provided over 100 million people in over 40 developing countries with electric service. Electric power associations are grateful to the following vendors for their donations in support of this project: Cooper Power Systems, 4-Way Electric, Garner Lumley Electric Supply, Gresco Utility Supply, J.S. Iupe’s, Southwire, Stuart C. Irby, T & C Specialty Distributors and Terex Utilities.