4th Quarter 2006

 

 Ninety Years Down and It Keeps on Going

Readers of our most recent newsletters are probably well aware that 2006 is Adams Bank’s 90th year; we certainly haven’t been shy about mentioning it. But in addition to celebrating the bank’s long history, our management team has been investing a considerable amount of time and energy over the past few months into looking at the future. We’ve been creating the corporate vision that will guide the bank as it approaches the centennial celebration in 2016.

Because Adams Bank is more than just a family enterprise — as a major lender it is a community resource in all the regions we serve — it seems appropriate to share with you, our customers, neighbors and friends, the broad strokes of our vision. Our operations affect many of you directly or indirectly, so we want to give you an idea of where we are heading and what you might expect from us in the coming years.

Independence

We like being a family-owned bank. We like the direct management-to-customer relationships that a family banking structure allows; we like being an integral part of the communities we serve; we like the feeling that our personal, caring approach to financial situations can make a difference. Accordingly, our shareholders are committed to keeping Adams Bank & Trust operating as an independent family-owned bank. The caveat here, however, is that we want it to be a thriving bank, not just a surviving bank. The banking world has become a world of rapid change. It didn’t used to be that way; decades ago one year could look pretty much like the next year, or the previous year. But no more. Technology, the Internet and interstate competition is bringing an ever-increasing rate of change to the industry.

Growth

We have said before in these pages that we are not interested in growth simply for the sake of growth, and that remains true. But we are interested in growth opportunities that both fit with our style of operation and make good economic sense.

Our size has been comfortable for what we’ve accomplished and how we have operated in the past. But the anticipated changes in technology and infrastructure will need a larger asset base to be affordable. Our plans, therefore, call for a doubling of our asset size, from nearly half a billion dollars today to over a billion dollars in the next nine years.

We are looking to achieve this growth through a combination of normal business growth, greater penetration in our existing market areas and, very likely, through one or more acquisitions, provided the acquisitions fit our overall model of a thriving family-owned bank.

Service to Small Businesses

Decades ago Adams Bank set the goal of becoming a preeminent agricultural bank. We achieved that status long ago and proudly maintain it today. And now we are setting for ourselves the challenge of also becoming the preeminent bank for small business in our service regions. We’ve got some learning to do, some adapting to do, some new services to develop and introduce, and we fully intend to get it done. Just as we did in agricultural lending, we plan to set the new standard for excellent service in small business banking.

Thank You

Speaking for the bank’s management team and shareholders, I can tell you that we are very excited about the future. Change is coming and we plan to be in the thick of it. We thank you for your support and friendship and look forward to being an important part of your future financial lives.

Todd Adams
Chief Executive Officer

What to Do When There's More Month than Money

Most of us live on a monthly money routine. Even if we get paid weekly, our major bills — for housing, utilities, car, credit cards, etc. — are monthly. And a great many of us have experienced, at one time or another, the horrible, stressful situation of running out of money before we reach the end of the month.

If it happens only occasionally — just once or twice a year — it’s probably a manageable inconvenience; we can get by by “borrowing” from our savings or using our credit cards. But if it’s a chronic condition, happening more months than not, then it’s more than a stressful inconvenience; it’s a financial problem that needs to be fixed.

It affects all income levels

A surprising aspect of our American culture is that the problem of “more month than money” is not confined to the lower incomes; it affects families at almost all income levels, including some families with annual incomes upwards of a quarter million dollars.

How can this be? How can someone with an income of more than $20,000 a month have trouble making ends meet? To someone earning $20,000 a year it sounds impossible. But it happens. And the reason it happens lies in the human tendency to never be satisfied. The more we get, the more we want.

It seems to be built in to our nature — either human nature itself or our American version of it. It seems that we have become accustomed to living at the very limits of our incomes. Saving money is not part of our national psyche. The United States historically has had one of the lowest savings rates of all industrialized nations, and it’s getting worse, not better.

Personal savings is negative

In March of 2005, the personal savings rate in the U.S. actually went into negative numbers, and it hasn’t surfaced since. At present, America’s personal savings rate is estimated at a negative six-tenths of one per cent (-0.6%). That means, on average throughout the nation, we are spending more than we are earning, with the difference made up by increasing credit card debt, home equity loans, and withdrawal of accumulated savings.

The effect of a negative savings rate on our country is the subject of much discussion and some debate. While I have concerns about that larger, nationwide issue, that’s not my focus with this article. Here I am concerned about the effects of “more month than money” on individual wage earners and families.

It’s discouraging to never get financial breathing room. We’re always living in hope that things will improve when we get the next raise. But when the raise comes, there’s still no money left over — no cushion, nothing left to save. The reason, for many of us, is that every time our incomes go up, we naturally want to spend more. We want that nicer car, or a larger home, or a better wardrobe or fancier vacations. It doesn’t really matter what it is; if suddenly we start finding extra money in the checking account at the end of the month, we start thinking about things we’ve been doing without. A big screen TV for the football games, perhaps, or an ATV to use at the lake. Or something. After all, what fun is it to get an increase in pay if we don’t get to increase our standard of living?

Less spending

Clearly, the answer to a chronic problem of more month than money is not simply a higher income. The answer is lies in controlling spending. The answer is to develop a new savings mentality to replace the old spending mentality.

A big part of developing a savings mentality is to change the way we try to save. And here, there are two steps which, if taken together, will work wonders for both our spending and our saving.

Out of sight, out of mind

The first step is to open a separate savings account. Using the family checking account to try to accumulate savings is like going on a diet but keeping the cupboards filled with candy and cookies. The constant temptation of extra money in the checking will doom any efforts we make at long-term savings.

Do your saving first

Step two is to develop the habit of making a deposit to the savings account at the beginning of each month. Waiting until the end of the month to see if there is any money left won’t work because there rarely is any money left. Remember the problem: more month than money. So, to be successful, we have to treat our savings like a bill that has to be paid, every month, right off the top.

Adams Bank can help

Our personal bankers can set you up with a savings account AND an automatic transfer that will take money out of your checking account and deposit it directly into the savings account every month. You can set it up for the first of each month or any other day you choose. You’ll be paying yourself (and your future) first, and you’ll be keeping your savings out of sight and out of mind. If you would like to wind up with more money than month, for a change, I hope you will give automatic savings a try.

Chad Adams
President

~  We'd Like You to Meet  ~

Michelle Bucholz
Drive-up Teller, North Platte

Michelle Bucholz, drive-up teller in our North Platte branch, is not an average teller. Nowhere close to average. According to the North Platte Telegraph newspaper’s annual “Best of 2006” survey where consumers write in their favorite this and favorite that, Michelle has been named North Platte’s best teller, for the third year in a row.

How has she managed to get that honor year after year? By passing out extra candy? By giving back too much change? No, she doesn’t do that. “I don’t know what it is,” Michelle says. “I like people, and I like this job where I get to deal with people all day. Working the drive-up is fun for me. I just enjoy it.”

Michelle joined Adams Bank four years ago but she’s had people-type jobs most of her working life, including teller at another bank, cashier at a store and cook at a nursing home. “I started at the nursing home as a Certified Nurse’s Aid, but found that I was too much of a people person for that job; I got too attached to the residents, and that makes the work more difficult. So I switched to the kitchen and still got the people contact while serving the food.”

While working at the nursing home during the day, Michelle took computer classes at night at Mid-Plains Community College in North Platte. “I was computer illiterate before those classes,” Michelle notes, “so the classes opened up new possibilities for me. I always wanted to be a bank teller but I couldn’t have done it without the computer classes.”

Michelle grew up on a farm near the small town of Stapleton, Nebraska, north of North Platte. She attended high school at the Stapleton Public School where she was involved in choir, cheerleading and Future Homemakers of America..

Michelle and her husband of 17 years, Steve, who is a car supervisor for Union Pacific, have three children: Steven, age 16 and into football, Clarissa, age 11 and a state champion in gymnastics, and Samantha, age 7 and a noncompetitive gymnast.

Most of Michelle’s non-work time is taken up with a lot of kid stuff and a lot of involvement at the Berean Church. She loves Nebraska football, though she’s only seen one game in person, and she and her husband like to go to stock car races. “He’s the one who loves the races,” she observes; “I go along for moral support.”

The Bucholz house seems to be a kid magnet, especially for Steven’s friends. “Seems like the house is always full of extra boys and noise,” Michelle says. Though she’s happy to have her house serve as “action central,” Michelle sometimes finds herself looking forward a few years to a day when “I can have some regular quiet time, just for me. But,” she adds thoughtfully, “as a people person, I’m afraid I might not like the quiet once I have it.”