SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2010
A DAY OF FREE FINANCIAL PLANNING

10:00AM TO 4:00PM
OAKLAND CITY HALL | 1 FRANK H. OGAWA PLAZA | OAKLAND, CA 94612

In these tough economic times, our local communities are facing tremendous financial challenges. Middle to low-income families have been disproportionately devastated by the unprecedented financial crisis facing our state.

To help you and your family better understand and better plan for your financial futures, we are offering our Third Annual Financial Planning Day, which will include free and private financial consultations with certified financial planning professionals. Whether you need guidance with basic financial planning or more specialized advice on retirement planning, investment strategies, estate planning, tax issues, insurance, employee benefits or other special circumstances, highly competent financial planners and experts will be available to assist you.

Participants can receive as many private consultations or attend as many of the free educational workshops as they like.

Planning for your financial future is more important than ever and by bringing together local communities and certified financial planners, we are offering individuals the opportunity to take control of their finances. The valuable services provided at this highly anticipated event are free, confidential, and unlimited! Please come and attend all of the workshops and receive several private consultations on your financial issues.

Do not miss this important day!!

THE FINANCIAL PLANNING DAY IS SPONSORED BY THE FINANCIAL PLANNERS ASSOCIATION-EAST BAY CHAPTER IN COLLABORATION WITH

ASSEMBLYMEMBER SANDRÉ R. SWANSON, SENATOR LONI HANCOCK, ASSEMBLYMEMBER NANCY SKINNER,
OAKLAND MAYOR RONALD V. DELLUMS AND THE CITY OF OAKLAND

MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND LOOK OUT FOR THE FLYER WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION SOON!!
THERE WILL BE SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKERS

For more information, please contact the District Office at (510) 286-1670.

The Consumer Credit Counseling Services of San Francisco host a number of free financial education workshops every month that cover a multitude of financial-related topics.  From better money management to information for first time home buyers, there is a lot of useful and relevant information presented in these workshops and worth checking out.  Workshops are free, but you do have to RSVP to save a spot in the workshop.  For more information, check out the CCCS website.

As the holiday season approaches, we all want to show how much we love our family and friends by impressing them with gifts on the top their wish list. Yet, I urge you to resist the temptation of spending outside your means. The easiest way to spend only what you can afford- make a budget and STICK TO IT!

Before you hit the stores plan out what type of gift you would like to get each person on your list. Then comparison shop online for the cheapest options. There are many small businesses in the Bay Area that have amazing deals on locally made products. To view over 160 local stores click here. The more planning you do BEFORE you set out to shop, the more likely you will follow your budget.

Here are a couple tips from nonprofit financial literacy site, www.feedthepig.org:

• Many stores offer one-day or weekend money-saving sales during the month. Plan to shop your favorite stores on these days.
• Don’t be tempted to overspend on last minute purchases. Planning ahead could prevent night-before emergency shopping trips.
• Exchange favors as gifts or make handmade gifts such as baked goods and ornaments. A great online gift-exchange site is www.elfster.com.
• Send e-cards. Savings could be significant depending on the length of your mailing list.
• Pay with cash whenever possible. Interest charges accrued by not paying off your credit bill in January may offset any savings you received.

OneCalifornia Bank’s ATM network, Allpoint ATMs, has had an application for both iPhone and Andriod for awhile now.  But now BlackBerry users can join in the fun–Allpoint has just developed an app for BlackBerry users, too!

In addition, Allpoint has created an easy-to-use download page for cardholders to add the Allpoint moblie application specific to your device and carrier.  For more information, check out Allpoint’s website.

Juice for a just cause?  Yes, please!  OneCalifornia Foundation partner organization, the Wall Street Wizards, is having a tasty Jamba Juice fundraiser this week until Sunday, November 8th.  Purchase any item(s)  from any of the four participating Jamba Juices (Oakland City Center, Hegenberger, Emeryville, and Bayfair), bring the fundraiser flyer or mention the Wall Street Wizards, and 20% of your purchase will benefit this organization!  You can download the flyer here.  Please spread the word to all of your friends and family!

The Wall Street Wizards is a financial and capital markets literacy program designed to teach urban youth money management skills and expose them to jobs in the financial sector.  The Wall Street Wizards program core focus in on the areas of money management, investing, math, economics, and the preparation for youth to make adult level financial decisions.  For more information on this innovative program, check out their website.  “If there was ever a time for our youth to begin learning about finances, it’s now!”

Today everyone is more conscious of what environmental impact our actions have on our world and knows what goals we should keep in mind when thinking about the environment.  For example, in April 2008 the California Air Resource Board (ARB) passed a resolution for the Emission Reduction Plan for Ports and Good Movement.  This resolution requires that California return to 2001 emission levels or below by 2010.  In Oakland, this affects all truck drivers going in and out of the Port of Oakland and West Oakland residents. 

Achieving these environmental goals, however, require innovative approaches which have not been utilized before.  While this resolution has numerous health and environmental benefits for the residents of West Oakland-a part of Oakland often overlooked by many-this also places financial burdens on truck drivers.  For 2,000 independent truck drivers, this means they will have to buy new, cleaner big rigs or install modified “scrubbers” into their older truck models to produce fewer emissions and comply with the California ARB.  Currently, 500 to 1,000 truck drivers will need grants or loans to purchase these new trucks or scrubbers.

But the new approaches-the nuts and bolts of meeting these emission goals-are out there.  Recently, the Port of Oakland selected OneCalifornia Bank to be the bank to provide loans to these truck drivers.  This SBA Clean Truck Loan Program come with free checking and savings accounts, online banking, and financial education provided by OneCalifornia Foundation.  The OneCal Family, therefore, is positively impacting both the environment in which it operates as well as furthering its mission of providing economic opportunities and increasing financial literacy awareness of its clients.

OneCalifornia Bank is honored to be the bank backing the Port of Oakland Loan Program and to continue to play a role in improving the Oakland community.

Barack Obama’s Presidential campaign made many promises about change. Now, he is attempting to deliver on some of these campaign promises by proposing legislation that will create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA). In early July, Obama introduced legislation to create the CFPA in the hopes of regulating the financial services industry to protect consumers from predatory and sneaky practices. The CFPA would be in charge of “writing and enforcing consumer protection rules, continuously monitoring the market for risks to consumers and publishing significant findings at least once a year, and streamlining regulatory requirements and making sure financial product disclosures are understandable and helpful.” This organization is being created not only to increase consumer protection in the financial industry, but also to centralize the responsibility in the wake of many regulatory lapses. Obama hopes that the CFPA “will have the power to set standards so that companies compete by offering innovative products that consumers actually want — and actually understand. Those ridiculous contracts with pages of fine print that no one can figure out — those things will be a thing of the past. And enforcement will be the rule, not the exception.” To read more about Obama’s CFPA proposal, click here.

Despite the good intentions of Obama’s CFPA, many claim that it would only make the regulatory process more difficult and thus hurt consumers in the long run. The CFPA could end up harming consumers by suppressing innovation, increasing operating costs, and damaging the integrity of various institutions. In order to ease the concerns of critics, House Financial Services Representative Barney Frank has delayed action on the agency until September to give consumer advocates and the financial industry more time to offer input and respond. To read more about opposition to the CFPA, click here.

The Financial Planning Association of the East Bay (FPA East Bay) is offering a free financial planning clinic in recognition of financial planning week. The clinic will be held at the Elihu Harris State Building in Oakland on October 3, 2009 from 10:00AM until 4:00PM. California State Controller John Chiang will be the keynote speaker. Other speakers include State Senator Loni Hancock, Assemblymember Sandre Swanson, Mayor Ron Dellums, and even our very own OneCalifornia Bank President and CEO Jeffrey Cheung! If you are interested in attending this event and taking control of your financial future, pre-register by emailing clinicregistration@yahoo.com. For more information on FPA East Bay and its events, click here.

The Just, Alternative, Sustainable Economy Festival will be held from 10:00AM until 4:00PM on September 26 in Humanist Hall in Oakland on 27th Street. This festival will feature a broad array of nonprofits, cooperatives, collectives, volunteers, community-based financial institutions, and more that will be getting together to discuss the new economy. “We are living in scary times. The dominant economy has never served our interests, but now it literally threatens our lives. The creativity that exists within our communities to meet our real, daily needs in very practical ways must be stepped-up. The times call for solidarity, for innovation and for expansion of all our efforts to build a better way of organizing our lives. We must do this ourselves. And with the JASeconomy Festival we believe we can demonstrate what’s possible by showing what has already been accomplished.” Admission is free, so come out and participate in groundbreaking discussions about the new economy! For more informaiton, click here.

Social Capital Conference 2009 will feature 100 speakers addressing the problems that solely profit driven companies have created for our economy. This conference will focus on how having a double or triple bottom line can change America—for the better. “SoCap09 will bring together a unique mix of the world’s top social innovators–investors, donors, entrepreneurs, and thought-leaders, today’s leading catalysts of change from across the globe.” This three day conference will feature “two days of overview plenaries and deep-dive sessions and workshops, followed by a third day of participant-led sessions.” This year’s SoCap Conference will be held at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. To learn more about SoCap 09 and how you can be a part of it, click here.