BUSINESS & AG LIFE
2B — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2020
Millennial Money: Six empowering money moves
expenses, says Colin Walsh, CEO of
Varo, an online bank.
“By keeping track of each and ev-
ery purchase you make … you can
more easily start to see how small
purchases here and there add up,”
Walsh said.
Once you know where your mon-
ey is going, you can make informed
decisions about where you want it
to go, giving you a sense of purpose
with your spending. You might
even decide to keep on tracking.
By Kelsey Sheehy
NerdWallet
Raise your hand if you feel
confi dent about your fi nances. Not
feeling it? That’s OK.
Perhaps you’re among the 60%
of Americans living paycheck to
paycheck, or one of the 81.6 million
paying off student loan debt.
It’s hard to feel confi dent when
your loan balance doesn’t seem to
budge and you’re fi shing through
the couch cushions for spare
change to put gas in your car.
But you can gain some control
over your fi nances, bit by bit, until
that confi dence comes. These six
empowering money moves will
help you build momentum with
small gains.
2. SWITCH TO A HIGH-YIELD
SAVINGS ACCOUNT
If you’re already doing the hard
work of saving, why not make
money on your money?
Most savings accounts earn
minimal interest — the average
annual percentage yield is just
0.09% — but several offer close to
2% interest.
Here’s the difference that can
make: If you have $1,000 in a savings
account with an APY of 0.09%, you’ll
earn a measly $4.51 over fi ve years.
In a 2% APY account, that same
1. TRACK YOUR SPENDING FOR
ONE MONTH
Knowledge is power when it
comes to fi nances. Still, most
people don’t know exactly where
their money goes. Tracking your
spending for one month will help
you identify habits and spot excess
WHEAT
Continued from Page 1B
Soft red winter wheat is $5.49 to
$5.50 per bushel on the Chicago mar-
ket, while hard red wheat is $4.70 per
bushel on the Kansas City market,
he said.
“It’s looking a little overbought,”
Newsom said. “Could it add another
20, 25 cents? Sure. I wouldn’t be sur-
prised if we do add that over time.”
Newsom said he would be more en-
thusiastic if Kansas City added 25 to
30 cents, signifi cantly above the $4.70
mark in the next week or so.
Newsom pointed to a weak car-
ryover of stocks for soft red winter
wheat on the Chicago market and
a lot of new commercial buying. He
also sees the potential for the value
of the dollar to come down, mak-
ing U.S. wheat more competitive
overseas.
Drought across the Southern Plains
— a major wheat-growing region — is
not critical, but will bear watching if
$1,000 would earn about $105.
3. INCREASE YOUR CREDIT
SCORE
First things fi rst: If you don’t
know your credit score, start there.
Several credit card issuers and
personal fi nance websites offer free
credit scores, so you can monitor
it regularly and keep tabs on your
progress. You can get your full cred-
it report for free every year from
each of the three credit bureaus
using AnnualCreditReport.com.
(Note: Checking your credit report
does not hurt your credit score.)
Now, look for ways to increase
your score. A few ideas:
— Check for errors on your re-
port and dispute any you fi nd with
the credit bureau.
— Lower your credit utilization
(the percentage of your credit card
limit that you use) by paying down
cards or increasing your credit
limits.
— Become an authorized user on
a partner’s or parent’s credit card.
You can use a credit score simu-
conditions don’t improve heading into
spring, he said.
As domestic matters gain strength,
worldwide issues also affect prices, he
said.
“We’ve got Australia basically on
fi re — they’re supposed to continue
to have hot temperatures,” he said.
“Their crop could get hurt, which
brings more attention back to the
United States.”
A “groundswell of interest” has
been showing up in U.S. winter and
spring wheat futures and cash mar-
kets, Newsom said.
The Black Sea and Europe had a
better wheat crop, which will limit
some of the price upside, Behne said.
“I think right now the trend is on
the upswing...,” he said. “I think it’s
just general positivity in the ag sector
because of the Phase One China deal,
although it doesn’t really all have that
much to do with wheat, or shouldn’t,
unless the government just makes
them buy wheat from us for some
reason.”
lator to learn ways to boost your
credit score, as well as see the nega-
tive impact certain moves could
have, like missing payments or
increasing your credit utilization.
4. PAY OFF ONE LOAN OR
CREDIT CARD
Ever feel like you’re throw-
ing money at your debt, but the
balances never seem to go down?
Instead of trying to pay them all
off at once, direct your energy (and
extra money) at one debt, while
making the minimum payments on
the rest.
You can tackle your debt in
order from the smallest to largest
balance to net some quick wins, or
get rid of your most expensive debt
fi rst by focusing on the account
with the highest interest rate.
Tackling debt in a disciplined
way will put you back in the
driver’s seat with your money.
5. PLAN FOR EXPECTED
EXPENSES
You can’t plan for every expense,
but there are some you can see
“We have no idea if trade is pro-
gressing or not, because we’ve been
told 6,001 times that trade deals are
progressing, but nothing has actually
been done,” Newsom said.
Newsom expects some sort of trade
movement before the next elections.
But all the recent price activity
may be happening even without trade
movement, he said.
“There’s just this idea that the
wheat complex as a whole is getting
more bullish, the U.S. dollar is looking
more bearish and all of this could lead
to some increased demand for U.S.
wheat,” he said.
A USDA report Jan. 10 may signal
a signifi cant decrease in corn produc-
tion, Behne said.
If the corn crop is smaller, it lends
more support to wheat prices, he said.
“I think they can go up from
where we’re at currently,” he said.
“But $6.50, without a weather
problem in the spring somewhere to
add extra juice, seems like a longer
shot now.”
coming. Homeowners, for example,
can anticipate things like property
taxes and certain repairs.
“If you have an old roof, you’re
going to eventually need to replace
it, so start setting money aside for
that,” said David Carlson, founder
of Young Adult Money, a personal
fi nance blog.
The fi nancial hit won’t sting so
much if you’ve set a little aside
each month, and you’ll feel more
confi dent knowing you can cover
the cost without rearranging your
budget or going into debt.
6. NEGOTIATE YOUR SALARY
Few things are more empower-
ing — or intimidating — than
advocating for your own worth. If
you’re on the job hunt, start practic-
ing your negotiation skills now so
you can use them when an offer
comes in. Arm yourself with salary
data for your role and experience
level and list the various qualifi ca-
tions you bring to the table. The
same tactics help when asking for a
raise from your current employer.
SEAWEED
Continued from Page 1B
weeds have yielded results in
cutting methane. Researchers
from the University of Cali-
fornia, Davis, found last year
that methane emissions were
reduced by 24-58% in a dozen
cows that ate one variety of
the Asparagopsis genus of
seaweed.
There’s no guarantee other
kinds of seaweed would have
the same effect, said Ermias
Kebreab, a professor of animal
science at UC Davis who is not
involved in the New England
work. However, new kinds of
seaweed feeds still could help
improve cattle’s diet on farms,
he said.
“I think there is indeed
good potential to use seaweed
as cattle feed if it can replace
high protein/energy sources
such as corn, alfalfa and other
ingredients commonly used in
the industry,” Kebreab said in
an email.
One potential problem could
lie in producing enough sea-
weed to feed to cows. But Dorn
Cox, research director of Wolfe’s
Neck Center for Agriculture
and the Environment in Free-
port, Maine, said the growth
of seaweed as cattle feed could
potentially benefi t dairy farm-
ers, as well as aquaculturists.
Wolfe’s Neck will host some of
the feeding trials.
Maine has a growing sea-
weed farming industry, and
evidence that seaweed is good
for cows’ health would aid that
growth, Cox said.
“That’s why the research is
so important,” Cox said. “We
have to make sure it’s going
to work and it’s something
we can grow regeneratively
as part of the Maine coastal
ecosystem.”
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