Financial literacy is an important lesson for children to learn as early as possible. If your child understands the importance of budgeting, saving, giving and eventually investing money, they will be set up for a lifetime of success.

Your child may not be able to earn their own money by working just yet, but to begin getting them comfortable with managing their own money, it may be a good idea to give them an allowance. The allowance money can be in exchange for chores they do around the house, or just a set amount of money that they receive regularly and can manage on their own.

If you choose to require chores in exchange for an allowance, make sure to explain what they have to do (like care for a pet, pick up their toys, etc.), how often they will be paid, and how much money they will receive. This exercise will help them start to learn the value of a dollar.

Once your child begins earning money, you can begin talking with them about the following money management topics:

Spending money on wants vs. needs

Having a conversation with your child about necessary items like food, clothing, shelter, etc. and items that are unnecessary, but nice to have items like toys and vacations. Explain how money should be divided between wants and needs, but there are times when needs have to be put before wants.

Discuss a savings goal

Maybe they have been asking for a new skateboard, or the latest toy. Help them understand how much the item costs and how much money they will need to save to be able to afford the item. Then, talk about how long it will take for them to earn enough money to afford the item.

Teach them to shop around

Help them learn to compare prices at different retailers and discuss discounts and coupons. Explain how to research different features on a product and to determine if those features are worth the extra cost. Learning to put in a little research can save them a lot in the long run.

Show them how money grows over time

If they have a piggy bank, they’ll be able to see their money grow. Once they’re old enough, they can open a savings account and manage their money through Online or Mobile Banking. Seeing progress with their money may help encourage them to save more.

Talk about saving

Share the importance of saving and encourage them not to spend all of their money at once. Ideally, they would consistently save a certain percentage of all of their income, including gifts. Discuss how saved money can be put toward a long-term goal, like purchasing a car when they get their license, or paying for college.

Offer saving incentives

To further encourage your child to save money, you can offer a savings incentive, like matching. For example, if they commit to putting $20 a month into their savings account, you can match the amount dollar for dollar, and then they would have $40 per month. Or you could offer to give them a “bonus” when they reach certain milestones. For example, if they’re aiming to save $300, you could offer to give them $50 when they reach the halfway point.

Talk about giving back

Discuss the importance of giving money to those in need. Maybe your child would be interested in donating a portion of their money to a cause that matters to them, like an animal shelter or other local charity.

Let them make mistakes

This part may be challenging to watch as a protective parent, but it’s important for kids to learn from their errors early on when the stakes are low, so they can avoid making bigger money mistakes later in life. For example, if they express remorse after spending all of their money on one item, discuss how in the future, it would be better to use the money in multiple ways like buying two cheaper items, saving, giving, etc.

Talk about money

Share your personal money information like your salary, your debit, your savings, how much you give, etc. Discuss your money habits and goals, like saving for their college education and your retirement. Explain how you manage money every day by making certain purchases, shopping around, etc. Be transparent and allow your child to ask questions. Over time, they will be able to learn a lot from you.

Starting to discuss money early can be very beneficial to your child. The more they understand about earning, spending, giving and saving money, the better prepared they will be to manage their money once they’re old enough to begin working and living on their own.

Small Business Checking Account Basics

There is a lot that is involved when establishing a business. The seemingly endless to-do list of things that need to be done can tempt you to rush through the early stages so that you can start operations as soon as possible. However, if you want to avoid headaches and save money in the long run, having the right set-up for your business is crucial. A significant part of that set-up is figuring out how you will manage your business finances. And, one of the key questions regarding finances is whether you should open a small business checking account.

While you have a choice to either open a business checking account or to use your personal checking account for your business transactions, every small business or professional venture needs a business checking account. Professionalism requires that you separate your business transactions from your personal banking. One of the first things that you need to do when starting a business is to open a small business checking account.

Basically, a business checking account is vital to your business’s financial operations. You will use this account to receive deposits from clients, pay your employees and vendors, prepare for taxes, and establish the business’s financial presence. A business bank account is essential, no matter how small you are starting out.

What Is a Business Checking Account?

While both personal and business checking accounts offer things such as debit cards and check-writing, small business checking accounts have several features which are not associated with personal checking accounts. For instance, when you open a business checking account, you can expect the following business features:

• Merchant services that allow you to process card payments
• Employee debit cards
• Payroll processing services
• Financial advisory services
• Bookkeeping integrations

A business checking account is also different from a personal checking account when it comes to aspects such as account opening, fees, minimum deposit required and minimum balance requirements.

A business checking account is used for day-to-day financial transactions of the business, such as receiving or transferring funds electronically, depositing or withdrawing money using a business debit card, paying vendors using checks and depositing customers’ checks.

What Do You Need to Open a Business Checking Account?

It’s quite easy to open a personal checking account. Usually, the bank asks for your identity document (ID) and Social Security number. With a small business checking account, you are required to furnish the bank with more requirements, making the account opening process more tedious. Banks commonly ask for the following documents when opening a business checking account:

• Employer Identification Number (EIN), or your Social Security number (if you are a sale proprietor)
• Business license
• Government-issued ID
• Business formation documents
• Ownership agreements

The Benefits of Having a Small Business Checking Account

Although you can use your personal bank account to manage the financial operations of your business, it is more beneficial to open a small business checking account instead.

Here are some of the benefits of having a small business checking account:

Organized and Clean Bookkeeping

One of the major benefits of having a business checking account is that it allows you to separate your business transactions from your personal transactions. If you use your personal account for your business transactions, it will be difficult to keep bank statements organized. Determining essential business financials like profit margin will also be difficult. Having a separate business account will help to keep your books organized, clean, and streamlined.

Simplified Tax-Paying Process

Having a business checking account also helps to simplify paying your taxes. If you mix business and personal transactions, it makes it harder to file your taxes accurately. Not filing taxes correctly can attract Internal Revenue Service (IRS) penalties. Having a business checking account also allows you to deduct certain business expenses on your taxes, and you can easily identify such expenses if your accounts are separate. Before expenses are deducted, the IRS requires proof that such expenses are for the business. And, to prove the business expenses you a business account statement is necessary.

Professionalism and Reliability

No matter how small you start, if you want people to take you seriously, it is necessary to have a business checking account. A business checking account helps to add professionalism and reliability to your small business. One of the best ways to prove that your business is legitimate is by having a business checking account. Prospective clients or customers will take you seriously if they know they are making payments or deposits into a business account.

It is important to note that the issue of reliability and professionalism can affect your taxes during an audit. If you do not record profits for three out of five years, your business will be classified as a hobby by the IRS. In that case, you cannot deduct expenses.

Liability Protection

Small businesses are just as vulnerable to legal trouble as large corporations. For instance, an unpaid vendor or a disgruntled customer can sue you. And, if you experience a liability issue as a business, the court will require your business banking records in order to determine if business funds were mixed with personal funds. If the court concludes that your business is not being run as a separate entity, it may hold you personally liable if someone tries to sue your business or if something goes wrong in your business. But if you have a business checking account, it is proof that your company is a separate legal entity capable of suing and being sued, meaning the court cannot hold you liable if your business is sued.

The Bottom Line

If you are serious about establishing a legitimate business with the goal of experiencing steady growth, it is important for you to handle your business finances well. And, one of the best ways to ensure that you effectively manage the financial operations of your business is to have a small business checking account from the onset. If you have been running your small business for a while without a business checking account, it is probably high time you opened one.

Guaranty Bank Branch President, Sammy Slaughter, takes you on a tour of our Starkville branch and talks about what it means to part of the Starkville business community.

Has your daily life been disrupted by the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus, or are you taking the necessary precautions to slow the spread?

Either way, we can help make this chaotic time a little less stressful…

Guaranty Bank has a full menu of electronic self-service options that allow you to make deposits, transfer money, pay bills, check balances and much more from your phone or computer.

If you would like to talk to a Guaranty Bank team member at your branch, we are available from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM Monday – Friday.  Our phone number is 800-847-7454.  You can also find additional phone numbers at gbtonline.com/locations

Our automated Telephone Banking is also available 24/7 by calling 800-859-9825. With this service, you can do things such as check balances, transfer funds and verify deposits.

Don’t forget about Online and Mobile Banking.  If you have not taken advantage of this convenient service yet, you can enroll today.

We are also aware of the financial challenges to individuals and the local economy from shutdowns and cancellations. If you are a business customer and need to discuss issues regarding your business loan or checking account, we are here to help. Please call us at 800-847-7454.

As always, the health, safety and well-being of our staff, customers and communities are of top concern for us. If you have flu-like symptoms, please consider using our e-Banking services listed above.   Even if you feel healthy, we encourage you to use our ATMs, ITMs and Drive-Thru for banking transactions. We continue to monitor this quickly evolving situation and will adapt to safely serve you, the customer.

In every crisis, there lies opportunity.  Use this time to plan for the future as life returns to normal.  It always does!  Stay safe, help those in need or who are struggling with the effects of the crisis and wash your hands.

Thank you,

 

 

 

 

Hue Townsend
Guaranty Bank

 

BELZONI – Hue Townsend, President & CEO of Guaranty Bank & Trust Company, today announced that the bank has donated $150,000 to eligible and qualifying non-profit schools as part of the Children’s Promise Act of Mississippi. The donation comes on the heels of a $200,000 donation to the Mississippi First Pre-K initiative made just weeks ago by the Belzoni-based bank.

The Children’s Promise Act was passed in 2019 by the Mississippi Legislature to provide much-needed financial support to the state’s foster care systems and to provide educational opportunities to disadvantaged children. According to documents provided by the program, most non-profit schools “should qualify as beneficiaries” under the program.

The Act was designed to provide educational services to children suffering from significant risk of entering foster care as well as children who have chronic illnesses or disabilities, along with children who are entitled to reduced-charge meals programs.

“Our Legislature has been proactive in creating the Children’s Promise Act,” Townsend said. “We are privileged to participate as a significant donor to this program, with the sole intent of assisting children in need in our communities and across the region.”

Press Contact:

Diédre Barret
SVP – Marketing
662.247.5134 Office
210 N. Hayden Street
Belzoni, MS 39038

BELZONI – Huey Townsend, Chairman of the Board of Guaranty Bank & Trust Company, today announced that Hunt Campbell and Tyrone Burroughs have both been elected Directors at the Belzoni-based bank. Campbell was Chairman, President and CEO of First Alliance Bank of Memphis, Tennessee, which Guaranty Bank acquired in 2019, while Burroughs served with Campbell on the First Alliance Bank Board.

Campbell served as the senior officer of First Alliance Bank for more than 20 years. He began his banking career in 1976 at Citizens and Southern National Bank, Atlanta, after having completed his Bachelor of Business Administration at Emory University in Atlanta. He is a graduate of the Tennessee School of Banking and earned a Professional Master of Banking diploma through the Executive Banking Institute sponsored by Sheshunoff Management Services and Louisiana State University.

Campbell has been active in many civic, economic development and church-related endeavors. A 2002 graduate of Leadership Memphis, he is a member of the Memphis Rotary Club and serves on the executive board and is a past president of the Chickasaw Council Boy Scouts of America. Campbell also serves on the Board of Directors of Trezevant Manor, Emmanuel Center, Inc., and is an active member of St. John’s Episcopal Church.  Campbell is a former Board member of the Tennessee Banker’s Association, and currently serves as a member of the Tennessee Banker’s Association Governmental Affairs Committee.

Burroughs is a 1975 graduate of Benedict College with graduate work in Education Administration from the University of South Carolina. Since 2010, he has served as Chairman of MG Capital, LLC. In addition, he is the founder, President and CEO of First Choice Sales & Marketing Group, Inc., Memphis, which is the largest minority-owned consumer products agency in the nation.

Throughout his distinguished career, Burroughs has enjoyed honors, awards and numerous affiliations. He served as Chairman of The Burroughs Foundation and is a Life Member of the Memphis NAACP, where he serves on the Board of Directors. He also serves as Chairman of the Trustee Board at Metropolitan Baptist Church and sits on the Board of the Ronald McDonald House, Memphis, and he formerly served on the West Broad Street YMCA Board in Savannah, Georgia. In addition, he serves as a Board member of the Benedict College Board of Trustees, where he is Chairman of the Finance and Audit Committee. Burroughs holds an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Benedict College, where in 2017, the School of Business and Economics was renamed to the Tyrone Adams Burroughs School of Business and Entrepreneurship.

Among Burroughs’ many honors is the 2012 Tri State Defender Men of Excellence Award and Associate four-time Member of the Year for AHBAI. He was also the 2005 African American Male Image Award for Business winner, presented by the Memphis chapter of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity, and a 1985 recipient of the Outstanding Young Men of America recognition.

“The accomplishments of both Mr. Campbell and Mr. Burroughs speak for themselves,” Townsend said. “We are fortunate to have them on our Board of Directors and their leadership will be significant in the years ahead.”

Press Release – Contact

Diedre Barret
SVP – Marketing
662.247.5134 Office
210 N. Harden Street
Belzoni, MS 39028
dbarret@gbtonline.com

You might have seen a post on social media or read a news article after the first of the year stating that you should avoid abbreviating the year 2020 on all legal documents. At Guaranty Bank, your financial safety is our priority, and we want to give you any information we have on the topic so that you can protect yourself in this new decade.

Be Careful Abbreviating 2020 to 20

When dating any legal documentation, simply writing out the date as you normally would (example 8/31/19), could leave you vulnerable to risk. If you happen to sign and date a document 1/10/20, it becomes very easy for someone with the same color of pen to add a few numbers to it (example: 1/10/2017). So, you see how abbreviating the date this year could leave you open to potential fraud.

What About Dating Checks? Does This Still Apply?

Yes. Even though a bank has a specific time period in which they can stop honoring checks written (normally six months after the written date), it could be easy for additional numbers to be added onto the end of the date. For example, if you write a check to someone and date it 4/5/20 they could deposit it into their account immediately using mobile deposit. A year later, maybe they run across the check, add a 21 to the end of it making the date read 4/5/2021 and take it to a bank branch where they can deposit it again!

Writing 2020 When You Date Anything You Sign is Good Practice

In the best-case scenario, you want to write 2020 in its entirety whenever you are signing anything. It’s hard to get into the practice of doing this since we’ve abbreviated the dates for so long, but it’s very necessary. We are working diligently to remind our customers daily to implement this practice.

If you have any questions about this, or other matters related to financial security, please contact your local bank and we’d be happy to assist.

BELZONI – Hue Townsend, CEO and President of Guaranty Bank & Trust Company, today announced that the Belzoni-based bank has donated $200,000 to participate in the Mississippi First Pre-K initiative. Townsend said the funds would be divided equally to four different Pre-K institutions in Mississippi.

According to documents provided by the program, the costs for providing pre-Kindergarten services to four-year-old children is $4,300 per child enrolled in full-day programs. The State of Mississippi provides funding for half of this cost but requires that the other half be “provided by local matching funds including tax dollars, federal dollars, parent tuition, philanthropic contributions or in-kind donations of facilities, equipment and services.”

“When helping young children gain important skills prior to kindergarten, it becomes easier for them to reach their potential,” Townsend explained. “When they lack pre-school education, problems tend to multiply as a result, including discipline issues, failing grades, and failure to finish high school. It is our goal to invest in Mississippi families to help children properly prepare for school.”

In 2013, the state passed the Early Learning Collaborative Act, establishing a state-funded pre-K program for both private and parochial schools as well as private childcare centers and Head Start centers, allowing each to compete for state funds in their specific community. In its first implementation, 11 collaboratives were funded, marking the first time the state of Mississippi had ever invested in pre-K. State regulations are set to which collaboratives must adhere, as well as requirements to meet nationally recognized quality standards.

Clifton Williams, Guaranty Bank Community Development Officer, presented the checks to representatives of Cleveland, Indianola and Greenwood collaboratives while Lee Murphy, SVP of Special Projects, presented a check to the Grenada collaborative.

“We firmly believe that an investment in young minds is an investment in the future of the communities we serve,” Townsend said. “If we can help propel young children into their formal education with a solid foundation and learning skills, I believe we will find that the years ahead are producing more complete and talented students. Any way you look at it, that’s a very positive thing for our region, state and nation.”

Press Contact:

Diédre Barret
SVP – Marketing
662.247.5134 Office
210 N. Hayden Street
Belzoni, MS 39028
dbarret@gbtonline.com

Here at Guaranty Bank we’ve become aware of some phone scams occurring lately where the caller will impersonate a Guaranty Bank employee and try to collect your personal information. Sometimes they even go as far as mimicking a local phone number so that it will show up on your caller ID and look like it’s coming from your area. As your local bank, we want to inform you of ways you can remain protected if anyone calls you pretending to be someone that they are not and tries to collect information from you.

• Guaranty Bank will never call you at random and ask for your account information.
• We will not send any emails or text messages containing a link that you click and answer questions about your account.

If someone should call you and tell you that they are from your local bank and begin asking you questions about your account, do not give them any information. Please simply disconnect the call and dial your local bank branch to report it.

Do not ever give anyone who calls you your social security number or account information over the phone unless you trust that they are who they say they are.

If you have accidentally given out your information to someone you suspect as being a part of a phone, text, or email scam, please contact your bank immediately and they will help you to change your pin, passwords, and important information. Consumer fraud can also be reported to the Federal Trade Commission at 1-877-FTC-HELP or visiting their website.

BELZONI, MS: Guaranty Capital Corporation, the holding company for Guaranty Bank & Trust Company, announced today the completion of its agreement to acquire First Alliance Bancshares, Inc. and its banking subsidiary, First Alliance Bank.

Hue Townsend, President and CEO of Guaranty Bank, commented, “We are extremely pleased to partner with First Alliance Bank as they share our strong commitment to both the community and to our customers. This union will allow us to provide more robust products and services to the greater Memphis community.”

Guaranty Bank was advised in the transaction by The Bank Advisory Group, L.L.C. and the law firm of Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP. Olsen Palmer LLC served as First Alliance’s financial advisor while the firm of Daniel W. Small & Company served as First Alliance’s legal advisor.

About Guaranty Bank & Trust Company

Guaranty Bank’s mission is to set the standard in our communities for excellence in financial service products and their delivery, to strengthen the communities we serve, and to help improve the quality of life in those areas while realizing the greatest benefit for our shareholders, employees, and customers. Guaranty Bank was named “Best Place to Work” in 2018 and 2019 by the Mississippi Business Journal. Locally owned and operated since 1943, Guaranty Bank delivers top-notch services and products to Mississippi and the surrounding areas.

Website: https://gbtonline.com

About First Alliance Bank

Founded in 1999, First Alliance Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of First Alliance Bancshares, Inc., is a locally-owned community bank that provides a premier level of banking services to the greater Memphis community through 4 full-service locations including in Uptown, Clark Tower, Cordova, and Oakland. First Alliance was named “Best Bank” by The Commercial Appeal’s “Memphis Most” in 2019, the third year in a row, and was listed among The Commercial Appeal’s Top Workplaces in 2016 and 2017 as well as Memphis Business Journal’s Best Places to work in 2016, 2017, and 2018.