Today’s post is a part of Blog Action Day, a world-wide initiative of all bloggers to discuss global issues and encourage positive dialogue. For 2008, the Blog Action Day theme is Poverty.
Let’s face the truth. Financial advisers are some of the best-equipped individuals to help with the financial aspects of poverty. But as a profession and as a whole, advisers are not unified in their efforts to help those affected by poverty.
Poverty Statistics
The U.S. Census Bureau provides many reports on poverty in the United States. Below is part of the Poverty Thresholds table for 2007. The table shows the weighted average poverty threshold in dollars for varying household sizes.
Helping Others
One thing that I do each year is volunteer with AARP Tax-Aide, a free tax return preparation service open to any low- and middle-income taxpayers, with a preference to those age 60 and over. In late December and early January of each year, I instruct classes to teach my students about tax law and how to use TaxWise, our return prep software. I teach about 20 students each year to become Tax-Aide volunteers. In addition, I also volunteer during tax season to prepare returns for free at local Tax-Aide sites.
In our tri-county region, our Tax-Aide district prepared 16,172 tax returns for the 2007 filing season, a 37.9% increase over 2006. The total Federal refund amount for all returns was $12,368,333. This is money that may never have been refunded to those in our community for a variety of reasons.
Much of the refund amount is made up of refundable Earned Income Tax Credit dollars that assist taxpayers in low income tax brackets. Not surprisingly, many of those that qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit also fall within the poverty thresholds identified above.
Get Active In Your Community
So I want to call on advisers out there to encourage action. Get involved in your community. You have unique skills where you can easily do any of the following things:
- Help low-income taxpayers complete their tax returns
- Counsel families that do not use banks about the merits and safety of depositing money into a bank
- Support a family separated due to domestic violence and assist in financially troubled times
Professional Outreach
The Financial Planning Associationalso provides Pro Bono outreach programs for members. Contact your local chapter to see how you can get involved or click the link below to visit the Pro Bono opportunity site.
FPA Pro Bono: http://www.fpanet.org/Connect/VolunteerOpportunities/ProBono
Also, the National Endowment for Financial Education has an abundant amount of resources to help others increase their financial education and combat financial illiteracy across the nation.
Visit http://www.nefe.org for more information.
Remember, you can make a positive impact to fight poverty. Make it a goal each month to use your knowledge and skills in the community and make a difference.
