Are you ready for some football?!

It's crunch time for the professional football season. The play-off picture is shaping up, although our hometown Rams have had better seasons (understatement of the year!).

What does football have to do with your credit union? Personal finances, of course! While most of us can’t begin to imagine life with the salary of professional athletes, we can see that they have many of the same financial problems we do, just on a much grander financial scale. It’s true. Just take a look at a few NFL players and former players who’ve had a tough time with finances for various reasons.

So your checking account is at a bank—like the U.S. MegaBank of Wealthy Stockholders… That’s okay, we won’t hold it against you. But your bank keeps adding more drama (and cost) to your relationship with more fees. Again? Well, keeping their stockholders happy is job one. Unfortunately, keeping YOU happy is job two … maybe even three or four. Don’t keep playing second fiddle to those huge entities out there in financial space. Break up with your bank! That’s right, cut the ties. Ditch the deviance. Move on to someone who will appreciate you and treat you with respect. And hey, we know just the credit union!

With all the recent talk of federal deficits and the government trying to cut costs comes an effort by Uncle Sam to save $70 million over five years. The Bureau of the Public Debt (a scary name itself) has announced that beginning January 1, 2012, paper savings bonds will no longer be sold at financial institutions, including Vantage Credit Union.

You might have guessed something like this was bound to happen. Present technology is really pushing for a paperless environment, which saves both trees and money. And that’s what’s happening here. Bonds will now be available only through TreasuryDirect^®, a secure, web-based system operated by The Bureau of Public Debt. This site has been available to investors since 2002, and being web-based, it’s open 24 hours a day, seven days a week for your bond-buying convenience. Another upside, you’ll no longer have to worry about storing or losing paper savings bonds.

Taxes. There, we said. Right in the middle of the dog days of summer, we had to go and mention the tax days of April. When you think of Uncle Sam and the bite he takes out of you each year, does August create any real kind of urgency? Doubtful. August is just another hot, summer month with taxes a holiday season and spring thaw away. But when it comes to efficient tax preparation, it’s never too early to do some pre-emptive tax planning.

Why wait until the last minute to tackle such an important financial task? If you get started now, the challenge won’t be so daunting when the real hysteria sets in. So what can you do to get a head start? Let’s take a look...

The calendar points to vacation time. Kids are on summer break. Many of us will be heading to our favorite vacation destinations. But the reality of the situation is, most of us will have to return. We’ll go back to work. We’ll go back to school. But there are those of us who will not return to the tedious day-to-day schedule of real life—retirees. They’ve set their alarm clocks for the last time. Their vacations are permanent.

Retirement. It’s a time we all dream about and take the necessary steps to help provide for. But is retirement everything we think it will be? Truth is, much of who we are is related to our jobs. We make many of our friends through work. Our jobs give us a sense of purpose and pride. Once that big part of our life is gone, how do we fill the important void it leaves? We concern ourselves with retirement planning, but how about retirement living?

Graduates, welcome to the real world, the place with full-time careers and bills and timeclocks. But don’t worry, it’s not all as ominous as it may sound. Chances are good you’ll have some money in your pockets now. And every once in awhile, you’ll have that glow from a job well done. It’s the usual yin and yang of life.

Now as we all know, some jobs are better than others. Heck, some jobs are way better than others. Maybe it pays more. Maybe you get to travel. Maybe your boss is Will Ferrell. What we’re going to list for you here are careers that have been rated very highly for 2011 by U.S. News in relation to job-growth projections via the Labor Department. Below are the top three careers for each career category.

Do you ever sit at your desk, paying all the bills, dreaming of a life without mortgage payments? It’s kind of like dreaming about winning the lottery. Wouldn’t it be nice to rid yourself of the most significant monthly bill you have?

Have you thought about paying off your mortgage early? If so, have you asked yourself the following questions?