Emily Abbas on Giving - dsmWealth July 15, 2021

Emily Abbas: Giving Sometimes 'Just Takes That Little Push'

BY STEVE DINNEN

Emily Abbas got her first taste of the theater at age 3, watching her dad, Ted Reis, perform at Des Moines Community Playhouse. By age 4 she was before the limelights herself, playing Tiny Tim’s older sister in "A Christmas Carol."

Just last month Abbas was again onstage, talking at the Playhouse Pavilion Party of her family’s multi-generational ties to the Playhouse and helping to raise more than $50,000 to help sustain it. The Playhouse (she formerly was president of its board) is just one of the many charitable and nonprofit organizations that Abbas and her husband, Cory, support.

Abbas, 46, first dipped into the charitable giving pool while working in media relations at West Des Moines insurer GuideOne. She was tasked with managing the company’s United Way campaign and saw how co-workers were contributing to the organization.

Abbas gave more to United Way as her jobs changed and her earnings grew. Eventually she landed at Bankers Trust Co.--she’s its chief consumer banking and marketing officer--where she one day got a call from then-CEO Suku Radia, who was an avid supporter of United Way.

“Suku called me and said I could step up” to a higher level of giving, Abbas recalled of the conversation. “Sometimes it just takes that little push. ... Sometimes it takes the right person asking.”

Radia’s ask ushered Emily and Cory into the Tocqueville Society, a United Way membership organization for people who commit to $10,000 or more annually. There are 400 such societies, which have raised half a billion dollars for various United Way chapters. At United Way of Central Iowa, Tocqueville Society members have contributed more than $50 million since its inception in 1984, $15 million total during the 2019 and 2020 campaigns. Currently, about 430 households in Central Iowa give at the Tocqueville level.

Abbas not only joined the Tocqueville Society, she also got involved with its management and just finished a stint as chair of its campaign to encourage others to donate. That came alongside other volunteer work, including at Drake University, MercyOne, the Better Business Bureau and the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council.

At the end of each year, the Abbases map out their charitable giving plan for the coming 12 months. They look for something they care about--“the things you’re passionate about and have contributed to your success,” she said. United Way plays an outsized role here, and a double one since Bankers Trust is a major supporter and Abbas leads its charitable giving efforts. This even lets her indulge her theater talents a bit; where else could you don a Wonder Woman cape as you talk to a bunch of bankers about the importance of charitable giving?

Interest Rates on College Loans Are Going Up

BY STEVE DINNEN

Welcome back to a (mostly) post-pandemic campus, kids. And oh, by the way, we should note that interest rates on all those loans you’re taking out to finance your college education are rising.

One program cited in "Kiplinger’s Personal Finance" showed a loan climbing from 2.75% to 3.73%. Loan rates are all over the board, with fixed rate loans running anywhere from 3.27% to 12.16%, depending on the lender. This is no laughing matter, considering that more Iowa college students carry debt loads than the national average, and at a slightly higher rate. And high net worth families take note: The highest-earning 40% of households carry 60% of the nearly $2 trillion student debt load.

The best way to beat these long-term financial burdens (repayment periods often top 10 years) is, obviously, to try to keep debt to a minimum. Maybe an after-class job will help–employers are begging for workers. Financial aid from your school tamps down debt as well. Educators seem more open to this, with schools like Drake University granting some sort of scholarship, averaging $26,992, to 100% of its students. Drake’s 2021-22 tuition is $45,734, and it guarantees it will lock in that rate for your next four years.

What to Expect if Markets Feel the Force of Gravity Again

BY JOY WILTERMUTH FOR MARKETWATCH

NASA ranks the lack of gravity as a top 5 risk of human space travel.

But gravity also has emerged as a concern for soaring U.S. stocks, bond prices and other financial assets as the force of extreme fiscal stimulus, meant to get the U.S. economy to the other side of the pandemic, begins to ease up.

After a stunning first half, the rest of 2021 could be poised for a slower pace of U.S. economic expansion and for the rate of inflation to come back down to earth.

A bit more grounding wouldn’t entirely be a bad thing for financial markets either, according to investors and analysts who spoke with MarketWatch about what to expect in the year’s second half, as the dust settles with the American economy recovering and trillions of dollars worth of Washington fiscal stimulus fading into the background. READ MORE.

Your Car Could be Worth More Than You Paid for It

BY PETER VALDES-DAPENA FOR CNN BUSINESS

Typically, a new car is considered a bad investment because it loses a big chunk of its value the minute you drive it off the dealer lot. That's unless you bought that new car during the pandemic.

In that case, you likely made an amazing investment because you could now possibly sell your 1-year-old car at a profit or, at least, get back nearly what you paid for it, according to an analysis Edmunds.com conducted for CNN Business.

Normally, a dealer selling a 1-year-old used car will get about 80% to 85% of its original price, according to Edmunds.com. But, according to the site's most recent figures, car dealers can now sell 1-year-old used cars for about 95% of the original price. That's the average. And some used cars and trucks are worth even more than they cost when they were new.

What makes your Jeep Wrangler, Subaru Ascent or Honda Civic worth more than it was when it was brand new a year ago is the simple fact that it exists. It is a car that has already been built, at a time when there is enormous demand for cars and SUVs and not enough inventory to meet that demand. Due to disruptions in supplies of crucial computer chips, automakers are having trouble making new cars. READ MORE