Are You a Renter Looking to Become a Homeowner?

By Paul Mulligan, SVP, Retail Lending Last year, while many businesses and industries suffered, the real estate market in Connecticut had a phenomenal year, with a 17% increase in home purchases.  The 38,641 single-family homes bought was the highest in the state in 15 years.  One factor certainly was the fact that the number of […]

Business Customers – Learn about Clover on October 22nd

Come meet us on Oct. 22 Get up to $750 back when you open a new merchant services account* Power your business possibilities. Explore our wide range of solutions designed to meet the needs of your business so you may finish the year strong. We’re bringing Clover merchant services solutions and expertise to you! Hands-on demos […]

What the Federal Student Loan Payment Freeze Extension Means For You

By Jorge Santiago If you have federal student loans, you probably already know that emergency payment suspension has been extended to January 31, 2022. Between recent student loan servicer shakeups, the Covid-19 surge, and 90 percent of affected borrowers saying they’re not prepared to resume payments, the decision to extend the payment freeze beyond September […]

Do You Plinqit?

By Celeste Lohrenz We all know we should be saving money.  From the time we got our first summer jobs during high school, our parent’s almost certainly tried to convince us to put most of it in the bank.  Even though we know we should be saving, most of us probably didn’t do it as […]

Student Loans 101

by Jorge Santiago College is expensive. In the 2020-2021 academic year, the average private college’s tuition and fees was $35,087; public colleges averaged $21,184 for out-of-state students and $9,687 for in-state students. Multiply that by at least four years, and the total cost of a degree is one very few students — or their families […]

Estimating Your Retirement Income Needs

You know how important it is to plan for your retirement, but where do you begin? One of your first steps should be to estimate how much income you’ll need to fund your retirement. That’s not as easy as it sounds, because retirement planning is not an exact science. Your specific needs depend on your […]

10 Years and Counting: Points to Consider as You Approach Retirement

1 2020 Retirement Confidence Survey, EBRI 2Note that if you work while receiving Social Security benefits and are under full retirement age, your benefits may be reduced until you reach full retirement age. 3Working with a tax or financial professional cannot guarantee financial success. 4EBRI Issue Brief, May 28, 2020 5A complete statement of coverage, including […]

Retirement Planning: The Basics

You may have a very idealistic vision of retirement — doing all of the things that you never seem to have time to do now. But how do you pursue that vision? Social Security may be around when you retire, but the benefit that you get from Uncle Sam may not provide enough income for […]

How to Recognize Scam Calls and Keep Your Money Safe

By Tina Mason On any given day, you probably get phone calls from numbers you don’t know.  Those dreaded spam calls continue to become more frequent and the total number grew by 18% globally last year.  In the U.S. that growth was even more significant, with Americans receiving an average of 28 spam calls a […]

Celebrating Home Owners: Are You Ready to Buy?

June is National Homeownership Month, celebrating a key part of what many people see as part of their life dreams.  And why not?  Home ownership can be a great investment with many benefits. Long term cost savings – By paying your monthly mortgage, you are creating your own nest egg, instead of paying off someone […]