Ideas for a Personal Finance EDAP

[Judith Culver]

An energy descent action plan is the vision of a community.  What is our vision for the future and what will the journey be like?  How can our community move forward with joy and compassion? 

 

That said, below I am posing some ideas for the Personal Finance portion of the Transition Whatcom EDAP.  First, there are many steps that need to be taken by individuals.  Infrastructure from businesses, community, and all levels of government will be needed.  If this was easy, we would have already done it.  It is time to start the journey.

 

 

Our team agreed that each family that is financially stable and has a plan for the future will be better able to make the transition.  Also the more households with financial health, the better the community will be able to make the transition.

 

We will support local families and local businesses at the same time.  We will focus on improving local opportunities to bring our money back to Whatcom County: to bring back money to local banking, businesses, and investment opportunities.  We will support efforts in debt elimination and personal finance education.

 

This will require commitment from individuals, businesses, community organizations and all levels of government.

 

Recommendations

1.    Individuals

1A.  Prepare for economic instability and a resilient low-energy

future.

                       

Pay off debts and credit cards.

          Save money, reduce consumption.

          Spend money on healthy, local, organic food.

          Spend money to get fit and healthy.

          Evaluate your living situation (location, expenses, energy consumption).

Evaluate your energy needs.                                                  

Evaluate your transportation needs.

          Prepare for a career or skills that will be in demand in a low-energy future.

          Position investments to protect against inflation (maybe hyperinflation)  or collapse of US currency.

 

     1B.  Relocalize money and strengthen our community.

          Move your money to local bank/credit union now!

          Identify local investment opportunities.

          Invest in a CSA.

          Loan $ to small business (microloans)

          Loan $ to individuals to pay off debt or finance education.

          Invest local farms and community utilities.

          Consider alternative currencies.

 

   1C.  Each person become educated about:

          Personal finance strategies for the future.

          Low energy and financial instability issues

 

2. Businesses

 

2A.  Provide mechanisms to make debt elimination loans (borrowing collectives?)

2B.  Make it easy to invest IRA funds locally.

2C.  Provide local investment options in employee retirement funds.

 

3. Government (fed, state and local)

          3A.  Catalog/inventory what we import from out of state and abroad; plan to produce those products or services locally. (from Report to the county,ERSPO 7.4 #6) 

          3B.  Modify regulations/legal costs to allow offering local investments.

 

Please add your comments and suggestions.

[Laura J Sellens]

I like this, Judith! I can see you have thought about this quite a lot. I suppose having created your own personal EDAP helps the thought process. So over time, shall we accomplish some of these things, and lay out ideas for how to accomplish what we can't do just yet? One thing that intrigues me about the concept of an action plan is, we don't just want to create a plan, do we? We want to DO the plan. I think think in my mind it reads Energy Descent Action Process. I still like the idea of talking to high school seniors about debt and credit cards.

[Judith Culver]

I'm actively working on implementing the ideas in my own life. I'm still in the research phase, searching for ways to do local investment. There is no clear path to follow but I am in contact with a local financial advisor who is well informed about Slow Money and national Socially Responsible Investing. I will post some resources she suggested on our Resources discussion.

[Shirley Jacobson]

The Teach-In sponsored by A New Way Forward (website) in Bellingham this week included author Kristi Laguza-Bozeman (from Twisp, WA). She has her own consulting firm (klbcommunityconsulting.com) which addresses complicated issues. She has a book coming out soon, Push Back: Recalibrating an Economy in Decline: Building an Economy in Balance. Her talk was very effective in presenting actions we can take now and you can read the complete script at this link -

http://www.klbcommunityconsulting.com/HowWethePeopleCanBeatWallStre...

Three things that stood out for me were 1) that Canadian banks rank #1 in safety (no bank failures) and the US banks rate 40th, 2) Pay cash because every time you charge item(s) the retail outlet is forced to pay a fee to the credit card company, which is what enriches the big banks and increases the cost, and 3) avoid doing business with companies that trade on Wall Street when possible.

One reason Canadian banks are more sound is that they don't sell off their mortgages. By holding them they are taking on the risk and so are more cautious in their lending. She said it is easy to open an account: make an appointment with a bank officer, take your identification papers, fill out paper work and write a check for deposit. I'm not recommending doing this - as she said it is an individual, personal choice.

Kristi expressed doubt that Congress is going to take effective action and that we, the people, are the ones who can effect the change.

Most of the other ideas Judith has already listed.

[David MacLeod]

This looks like a great group that's already setting out some very important ideas! This is encouraging!

Laura J Sellens said:

...One thing that intrigues me about the concept of an action plan is, we don't just want to create a plan, do we? We want to DO the plan. I think think in my mind it reads Energy Descent Action Process. I still like the idea of talking to high school seniors about debt and credit cards.

Rob Hopkins said at the recent launch of the Transition Town Totnes launch of their EDAP: "Although it is called a Plan, I see it more and more as a story. After all, who are we to write a step-by-step plan? What we have created here is one story of how we could do this. It is rich with research and data, the facts and figures that we will need. More importantly, it tells a story that starts in the 1950s, the last time this community had less food, less energy, and was more localised. The stories we have drawn together from oral history interviews tell of a more resilient, local world, from which we can learn a great deal. The future may or may not turn out as we have described it, but this is an invitation to make this part of your story.

This must not be a plan that gathers dust on a shelf. TTT is committed to driving this forward and to making it happen. Already Dartington Hall Trust have started a Land Review process into which TTT is inputting, to see if the Estate‟s land can be refocused to meeting the diversity of local needs, and Sharpham Estate is also engaging enthusiastically with this process. The ATMOS project is seeking to bring the Dairy Crest site into community ownership. TRESOC is nearly ready to go. The EDAP is not a fantasy, it captures what is already underway. We have new eco-school at Dartington, and KEVICC is moving forward with great enthusiasm. In our survey, 66% of people stated they felt confident in growing food. We have the School for Social Entrepreneurs here now, teaching people the skills they need to turn these ideas into livelihoods. We can do this. This EDAP sets out our vision for Totnes and shows that it is possible."
http://www.energybulletin.net/node/52762

[Judith Culver]

I'm so glad the Totnes EDAP is available now. I've been looking at it this week, especially the pathway called "Resourcing Localization" which includes Economics and Livelihoods. I am pleased to see that they divided the pathways into Individuals, Community and Policy Makers & Service Providers. That was the idea I was suggesting above when I divided my thoughts above into Individuals, Businesses, and Government. We will need some guidance on how Transition Whatcom will be organizing the county EDAP.

When we called our group Personal Finance we were recognizing that we had a narrower interest than all the economics and livelihood issues for the county. We'd need a lot more people to develop a comprehensive plan (or story). Or at least a lot more community connections.

[Laura J Sellens]

That's very exciting to hear about, I shall have to look into that document. Thanks for the link! I don't know what all those things are, that he's writing about, but I can't wait to see what Whatcom County comes up with for its solutions and I'm so glad that Totnes has dug in and gone for it. I have been mulling the concept that the post-peak-oil future can look so enticing that we are compelled toward it--it's been a long while since I've felt that way but I have since the Unleashing.

In case the Kinsale Community and/or permaculture class was following up on their EDAP, I sent them the Sustainable Connections Food and Farm Finder map, and told them about the Center for Local Self Reliance as well, in case they wanted to look at what we're doing here and use it as a model. I haven't heard back from them but I put it out there.

Oh, and Judith, I have followed your lead and begun working on my own personal EDAP. Very interesting work. Thank you! I'm also working on a Whole-life Energy Audit, where I'm listing everything I buy, use, produce, emit, waste, etc to get an idea of how grand a consumer I really am. Details to follow as I work out how to do this (difficult to quantify especially with externalities!!). But I digress far now from the topic of personal finance...

David MacLeod said:

This looks like a great group that's already setting out some very important ideas! This is encouraging!

Laura J Sellens said:

...One thing that intrigues me about the concept of an action plan is, we don't just want to create a plan, do we? We want to DO the plan. I think think in my mind it reads Energy Descent Action Process. I still like the idea of talking to high school seniors about debt and credit cards.

Rob Hopkins said at the recent launch of the Transition Town Totnes launch of their EDAP: "Although it is called a Plan, I see it more and more as a story. After all, who are we to write a step-by-step plan? What we have created here is one story of how we could do this. It is rich with research and data, the facts and figures that we will need. More importantly, it tells a story that starts in the 1950s, the last time this community had less food, less energy, and was more localised. The stories we have drawn together from oral history interviews tell of a more resilient, local world, from which we can learn a great deal. The future may or may not turn out as we have described it, but this is an invitation to make this part of your story.

This must not be a plan that gathers dust on a shelf. TTT is committed to driving this forward and to making it happen. Already Dartington Hall Trust have started a Land Review process into which TTT is inputting, to see if the Estate‟s land can be refocused to meeting the diversity of local needs, and Sharpham Estate is also engaging enthusiastically with this process. The ATMOS project is seeking to bring the Dairy Crest site into community ownership. TRESOC is nearly ready to go. The EDAP is not a fantasy, it captures what is already underway. We have new eco-school at Dartington, and KEVICC is moving forward with great enthusiasm. In our survey, 66% of people stated they felt confident in growing food. We have the School for Social Entrepreneurs here now, teaching people the skills they need to turn these ideas into livelihoods. We can do this. This EDAP sets out our vision for Totnes and shows that it is possible."
http://www.energybulletin.net/node/52762

[Laura J Sellens]

Yeah, you know I really only have a few years experience in personal finance, and I was very glad you made that the topic of this group, because business and investing and corporate and taxes--all those larger scales are out of my league at this time. By the way, that's the reason I haven't said much about your interest in local investing in farms and such-NOT because I don't think it's genius, but because I don't understand it. Maybe in time I'll be able to go there.

Judith Culver said:

I'm so glad the Totnes EDAP is available now. I've been looking at it this week, especially the pathway called "Resourcing Localization" which includes Economics and Livelihoods. I am pleased to see that they divided the pathways into Individuals, Community and Policy Makers & Service Providers. That was the idea I was suggesting above when I divided my thoughts above into Individuals, Businesses, and Government. We will need some guidance on how Transition Whatcom will be organizing the county EDAP.

When we called our group Personal Finance we were recognizing that we had a narrower interest than all the economics and livelihood issues for the county. We'd need a lot more people to develop a comprehensive plan (or story). Or at least a lot more community connections.