In Las Vegas, the house wins all ties. But that's often not the case for credit unions. As one analyst observed last week, "For years we talked about credit unions as not for profit, not for charity, but for service. And it has worked-we have no profit."
In this issue The Credit Union Journal examines a range of issues where analysts say credit unions are taking a gamble, even when the odds are stacked well against them. A chief theme in many of the analysts' observations is ignorance-not that management isn't intelligent, but rather that it is often acting on bad information, such as in the area of member and product profitability; bad advice, such as in the area of investments, and bad habits, such as sticking with what has worked in the past even as conditions change around the credit union.
Beginning on page 21 with contrasting viewpoints on interest-rate risk, readers will find more than a half-dozen others offering advice on how your credit union can improve the odds for itself and its members.