9A
STRICTLY BUSINESS/ The Charlotte Post
Thursday, January 23, 1997
Mortgage is easier to obtain
Continued from 8A
for other related expenses, such
as closing costs (fees involved in
transferring the property title
from seller to buyer) and mort
gage insurance (a required
insurance on some types of
mortgages that protects the
lender if you stop making pay
ments) .
A mortgage account executive
is ready to help you through the
homebuying process. Your
account executive can ans^ver
yom home financing questions
and can help put you in the
home you have been dreaming
about. To find out if you qualify
for an affordable mortgage, call
a financial institution in your
Jesse Cureton Jr. is an account
executive with NationsBanc
Mortgage Corporation in
Charlotte.
Prisons can be
profitable with
Rhode Island plan
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
McColl leads bank’s diversity
Continued from page 8A
banks in the nation was not
NationsBank’s original plan.
Thomas Storrs, McCoU’s pre
decessor, commissioned a
study group to review the
future of NCNB. Based on the
findings of the study group,
Storrs concluded that NCNB
did not have much of a future
in an interstate banking envi
ronment if it did not expand
outside of North Carolina.
Under pending interstate
banking laws, banks could do
business anywhere they want
ed with few restrictions.
Because NCNB had sub
sidiaries nationwide, it was
able to use a grandfather
clause in Florida to purchase
Florida banks. NCNB’s bold
move got other southeastern
banks focused on expanding
regionally to keep Money
Center banks from hostile
takeovers. As a consequence,
the Southeast Bank Compact
was formed, where regional
banks and states designed
laws permitting mergers to
take place with other south
eastern banks provided that
70 percent of the banks’
deposit base was in the region.
This effectively blocked money
center banks from getting into
the southeast while allowing
southeastern banks time to
expand and to become more
competitive in an interstate
climate.
While other southeastern
banks were content holding
non-southeastern banks out,
the success NCNB realized
merging with southeast banks
had whetted its appetite for
more. But the compact was
blocking them in. Moreover, the
fear for NCNB was no longer
the threat from a northern
takeover, but rather from the
southwest.
Big Texas banks were highly
capitalized and presented the
major threat to the southeast.
But the 1986 oil crisis crashed
the Texas market. Once again,
the aggressive nature of NCNB
saw this as an opportunity to
seize the moment. NCNB put
together a plan with the FDIC
to help timn the Texas acquisi
tion arormd. With a 20 percent
stake in Texas, NCNB was able
to ride out the state’s economic
downturn and soon begin to
make money from its holdings.
Under a new name,
NationsBank, the company
made lots of money. It was at
this point McCoU made the hos
tile tender offer for C&S Bank
out of Georgia. He soon realized
that even with his successes,
many still viewed him and his
bank as upstarts. But this bold
move according to McColl was
got the bank world vride atten
tion.
“The Texas deal shook them
up, but the hostile tender offer
really shook them,” McCoU said.
NationsBank eventually had
to withdraw his offer for C&S.
But it was able tg go to finandal
markets and raise huge
amoimts of capital, which was
used to purchase the remaining
80 percent of the Texas banks.
This community vision is a
part of McColls philosophy of
Ufe which has been instilled in
NationsBank’s corporate cul
ture. But even McColl admits
that he was not always a giving
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
“I view diversity as treating everybody like a Marine,” says
NationsBank CEO Hugh McColl.
and caring person.
“I grew up in a racially segre
gated little country town of
Bennettsville, S.C.; bom in ‘35,
went off to college in 53,” he
said. “I was a typical product of
that era. I went off to college
and I was not particularly
thoughtful about other people’s
problems.”
It was in the Marines where
McColl learned everybody put
their pants on exactly the same
way. Survival meant teamwork.
Leaders don’t eat before the
troops. Being able to cany your
load and being able to shoot
straight was what mattered.
Race, religion, where you were
from, where you went to school
were all unimportant. “The
Marine Corps taught me every
thing I needed to know about
management,” McColl said.
On diversity, McColl uses the
biblical quote, “Do unto others
as you would have them do unto
20 ways to save money
Continued from page 8A
check and you can save or
invest the extra ca.sh so that you
— and not Uncle Sam — earns
interest on your money.
9) Save your raise. Resolve to
save the extra money you get in
your paycheck after you’ve got
ten a raise. Do the same with
any bonuses you receive and
you’ll really come out ahead.
10) Make it painless. If your
adjustable rate mortgage
adjusts downward, plan to save
- not spend - your monthly
windfall.
11) Reach for higher yields. To
compete with money market
mutual funds, some banks offer
penalty free Certificates of
Deposit - but watch out for hid
den charges.
12) Put found money away. If
you’re earning more than the
Social Security withholding cap
on payroll taxes, your Social
Security deduction will stop
before year-end. Take the por
tion of your salary that you pre
viously turned over to the gov
ernment and put it toward your
personal retirement savings.
13) Switch credit cards. With a
credit card that charges less
interest, you can pay off your
balance faster and free up
money for saving.
14) Open a “think twice”
accoimt. Every time you decide
not to buy something, write a
check for the amount you would
have paid for the item and
deposit it into a separate
account. Before long, you'll for
get what you gave up and have
a tidy sum to invest.
15) Pay down your mortgage.
Send an extra $50 or more with
your monthly mortgage pay
ment and you'll pay off your
mortgage earlier and save thou
sands on interest.
16) Make the most of emer
gency funds. Don’t keep all your
emergency funds - typically
three to six months worth of liv
ing expenses — in a low-yielding
savings account. Put a portion
of it in higher yielding, yet liq
uid investments, such as short
term CDs or money market
mutual funds.
17) Use a discount broker or
buy direct. Unless you need pro
Funds should be monitored closely
Continued from page 8A
tempted to diversify by investing
in some hot new mutual fund.
But resist that temptation.
Mutual ftmds, by definition, pro
vide diversity, so a better strate
gy may be to buy more of a suc
cessful fund you already own.
There are advantages to buy
ing a fund you know rather than
adding a hot fund you may not
know anything about. You
already know how your fund is
run and what kind of risk it
entails. All too often, a new,
heavily advertised fund comes
with surprises. The same
extreme approach that made it
such a hot mmiber can turn it
cold quickly if market conditions
turn. Consider using the pro
ceeds from eliminating a weak
fund to invest more in a proven
winner.
Sell funds that have
changed strategies
When you bought your mutual
fund, you probably chose one
with an investment strategy
that matched your own. If that
fund’s strategy has changed, it
may be time for you to look for a
new mutual fund.
Funds can change managers,
names, strategies, and often aU
three. Do a little homework.
What is the background of the
new manager? Does he or she
have a strong track record? Is he
or she looking to change the
you.
“I view diversity as treating
everybody like a Marine,”
McColl said. “I don’t see any
thing terribly comphcated about
this.”
McColl admitted that individ
uals within NationsBank have
biases, because they are human.
But he said that the company
will not tolerate it where it mat
ters. In other words, prejudice
better not show its ugly head.
After spending an hour with
McColl and tracking all of his
accomplishments, you realize
that if this man says a mosquito
can pull a plow, don’t ask him
how.
Just hitch him up.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - A strategic business plan, some new
equipment and a pledge by state purchasing agents to buy prod
ucts could boosts profits in the sagging Corrections Department
prison industry, the state auditor has said.
With a 3,000-plus inmate work force making license plates and
furniture, fixing cars and doing laundry, among other jobs, the
program could be a mone3miaker if improvements are made, state
Auditor Ernest Almonte said in a report last week.
The industry brought in $4.7 million in sales last year, of which
$42,000 remained after expenses. It was the program’s first profit
in years, but the surge was mainly due to one contract to relocate
and furnish the University of Rhode Island’s College of
Continuing Education.
“Administrators of the program have not comprehensively iden
tified feasible products and services, determined appropriate
pricing levels ... considered the skill of its work force, and mea
sured customer demand for current and potential products and
services,” the report said.
The report criticizes state purchasing agents for failing to place
orders despite a law that requires state agencies to use the goods
and services when prices are comparable to those in private
industry. f
The state’s chief purchasing agent, Peter Corr, has denied any
reluctance to buy the products. He argued the industry has failed
to follow the process required to be included on “approved brand”
lists.
Auditors too say the industry shares some of the blame for hav
ing no plan to provide goods and offer services the state and com
munities need.
Both male and female inmates are paid $3 a day to work in the
industry. The program aims to train them in marketable skills,
provide quality goods and services at low prices, and keep prison
ers in touch with the work world.
Auditors found no adequate means to measure the program’s
achievements, since it does not track employment after the
inmates’ release.
To improve the program, auditors recommended offering goods
and services such as data processing, telemarketing, asbestos
removal, and mailing services available in comparable industries
in other states.
State agencies could donate equipment they no longer use to
help the industry provide such services, auditors said.
Jeffrey Laurie, Corrections Department assistant director for
rehabilitative services, said he agreed with the findings. The pro
gram has been hampered by a reluctance to compete with Rhode
Island businesses, he said.
“In years ahead, we want to look at it as an enterprise that
makes money, and the audit, has, for us, set a direction,” Laurie
said.
Stm/nctR
fessional advice, consider buy
ing and selling stocks and bonds
through a discount broker. You
can also cut your costs by buy
ing stock directly from a compa
ny.
18) Consider investing in
municipal bonds. Any interest
earned on these bonds is free of
federal income tax. That feature
can boost the yield on your
investment significantly. 19)
Refinance your mortgage.
Consider looking into refinanc
ing if the interest rate on your
existing mortgage is two or
more points higher than today’s
rates. Then invest the money
you save on yoim monthly pay
ment.
20) Commit to planning. Keep
more of your money when you
take advantage of opportunities
available to those who make tax
planning a year-round event.
Money Management is a week
ly column on personal finance
prepared and distributed by the
North Carolina Association of
Certified Public Accountants.
Nominate Your Favorite Teacher/Professor/Administrator!
Who Qualifies: An individual who has touched your life, made an
impact on the direction your career has taken, or someone who has
enhanced the destiny of your life.
Think of someone who has gone above and beyond the obligation of
the classroom time and assisted you academically or socially.
Then, simply complete the form below, and return to:
Cliarlotte ^osft
P.O. Box 30144, Charlotte, NC 28230
Attention: Fran Farrer or Fax (704)342-2160
By January 31st 1997
strategy of the fund? You may
find that the new manager pass
es muster. If not, a wait and-see
approach may still make sense.
Has the name of the fund
changed? Does the new name
reflect a new strategy? If you
hked the old strategy, this is not
good news. Other things to con
sider are a change in the fund's
size, or new ownership. It may
be time for you to move on.
Charles Ross is host of the
nationally syndicated radio pro
gram, “Your Personal Finance,"
and author of Your
CommonSense Guide to
Personal Financial Planning.
Name of Nominee
Street Address
/
/
City
/
State
/
Zip
Phone Day
Evening
School University
Nominated by.
Phone Day,
-Evening.