The modern family’s life can be so hectic and hurried just trying to get through day by day, that planning for the future can seem like something that is not in reach. A confusing, time consuming topic, some families may not know where to start when they sit down to think about their investments, their future, and their children’s futures. Another hindrance of many families is the cost of a financial advisor to sit down with and help them understand all the aspects of saving for things like college and weddings, or making a living will.
Add to all of this is figuring out how to pay for it all! Where does the money come from? Clariity can help.
Clariity Group Giving
Ever wonder what to get someone as a gift? You want to get them something that’s truly useful and not just another knick-knack they feel obligated to put out when you visit. Well now you have better options. With Clariity you can help your friends and family with their financial dreams! Pretty powerful gift, huh?
How it works – You pick the amount of the gift card you want to give ($25 and up) and then pick the financial dream you want to help fund.
Here are the goals you can gift towards:
- College Savings
- Home Purchase
- Car Purchase
- Wedding
- Vacation
- Let the receiver decide
You put in the recipient’s email and your gift card is sent off to them with your chosen financial goal and the amount you chose (you can use a credit or PayPal to pay). Your friend can then use the money to start or add to their financial goal. You get an email back when the money has been applied to the goal so you know the money has been used for it’s intended purpose.
The recipient can apply the gift towards a new savings or investment account that they choose or link it to an existing account and transfer the money for it’s purpose.
Why not just give them cash instead?
Cash is great but what happens with cash in hand? That’s right, it gets spent. Not that your friends wouldn’t want to use the money for what you intended it for, it’s just that most of us have complex lives with bills to pay. Sometimes we just don’t “get around to it.” Other times we simply forget. What happens next is financial dreams aren’t met. With Clariity, you are helping ensure that the money goes towards a financial goal.
For example – Instead of giving your sister’s newborn another toy, you can help fund a 529 plan through Clariity. Imagine how much can add up if the whole family chipped in a little bit over 18 birthdays?!? Now that’s an awesome gift!
It’s OK to ask as well as give.
If you have a particular financial dream you want to fund then you can request that your friends and family help fund it. I know for us, there have been birthdays where we just didn’t want a pile of new toys for the kids. Asking to fund college savings would be such a better gift!
Are you getting married? Ask family if they can help fund the wedding rather than giving you a blender. Or ask them to help you save up for a home (and of course you’ll return the favor by inviting over for the holidays, right?).
Making a gift focused towards a goal can be so much rewarding, both for the giver and receiver, than a random gift that may be forgotten about in a year.
OK, I have some financial goals funded. But how do I know what to do with the money?
Great question! Clariity can also help you plan for the different stages of your life. Let Clariity know your financial dreams and they can help guide you.
Family Financial Planning
This is where Clariity.com is trying to help. Their focus is helping families plan for their financial needs in an easy to understand way. They provide all the teaching that is needed to understand each aspect of your financial planning as a family each step of the way, whether you are just married, or you have children in grade school.
Making Financial Planning Fun
They also take something dull and tedious and try to make it fun by encouraging you along the way as you accomplish each step or goal, including recognizing your achievements with badges. If you choose you can even display these badges on your Facebook page for friends and family to see.
Easy to Use and Affordable
Clariity’s goal is to make their website very user friendly to families so that it is a clear and affordable way to plan your investments for your family’s needs. Clariity’s services are even free unless you go with their premium services.
Unbiased Information
It is shown that generally people wonder whether they can trust banks and other financial institutions to have their best goals in mind, since these places all have their own profits in mind as well! This is why Clariity takes out the middlemen and lets you be in control of your financial future. Since they do not make or sell their own products, they claim themselves to be the neutral factor in your investment plans, whereas a financial advisor could be biased since they have their financial gain in mind as well. They lay out all the choices for you and let you choose the ways in which you want to invest for your family, making their website a one stop place to make all your financial planning decisions at.
How it Works: Automate the Entire Process
You can automatically track your finances with Clariity as well, keeping track of expenses, your budget, future goals, and your investments. Clariity will also let you know if you start to veer off track and give you suggestions on how to better your finances.
Valuable and Informative Resources
Another feature on Clariity’s website is their blogs, where you can find answers to questions on taxes, marriage, buying a home and several others. Plus you can post questions of your own when you subscribe to their blog.
Site Security
Clariity also strongly believes in keeping your trust by keeping your personal information secure and private. Your information will not be sold by Clariity and they operate under safety seals like Verisign and have received TRUSTe’s privacy seal.
Take Control of your Family Finances
For people who still like to have the face to face with someone when talking about their financial goals, Clariity may not be for them. But, if this does not bother you (welcome to the 21st century) and the idea of being more in control of your family’s investments while saving money at the same time appeals to you, then Clariity may be the fit for your family that you have been looking for.
Clariity offers up some empowering and fun tools for financial planning as well as the ability to gift towards financial goals. If you are looking for a place to give a great gift or you are looking at how you can better plan for your family’s future, then Clariity may just be a great place for you to look.
Go check out Clariity for yourself.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow! Thanks for telling us about this site. Definitely going to check out the Facebook Badges.
Let us know what you think!
Clariity sounds like a great site! I know what I’m giving for my nieces and nephews for their birthday! I have yet to see anything like this online. Mint is great for budgeting but Clariity takes family finance to a whole to level. I love the interface. So cool!
I’ve other goal gifting sites but not with the financial planning that Clariity also adds.
Now that I think of it, I might just use Clariity for my niece’s b-day in a couple of months!
Hey, thanks for this review. I can’t agree more with how we as a society waste so much money on frivolous stuff that just piles up. Clariity’s motto of kickstarting something worthwhile is really alluring. I’m definitely going to check them out. Thanks!
Think of how much gets wasted every year yet many, at the same time, find it hard to meet their goals? I’m certainly guilty of buying too many trinkets and such at the expense of long-term goals.
Instead of a room full of toys that a child forgets about, a child could have a college account growing (not that they shouldn’t have some toys).
Clarity sounds like a wonderful resource! I’ll definitely have to check it out, thanks for the great post.
We do buy so much crap though! I recently cleared out my closet and adopted the minimalist lifestyle, boo yah!
We buy so much because advertising and marketing is so good!
Glen,
This is an outstanding article. Thank you for your thoroughness and accuracy. You succinctly captured the essence of Clariity and how Clariity can help families everywhere.
Social cause is also an integral part of Clariity’s mission statement. We encourage our members to give towards worthy causes and also invite charities, non-profits and schools to establish fundraising profiles on our next iteration of the Donate section. It’s a great way to engage your membership and the broader public to raise awareness about your organization and to raise much needed funds, especially in this climate when government, corporate, and foundation donations are in jeopardy.
Warmest regards,
Scott Amyx
CEO of Clariity.com
Thanks for stopping by to comment Scott! You’re company is very interesting and I think it has a lot of promise. I’m looking forward to seeing it grow and writing more about Clariity.