2 minutes
From the Editor
It’s time to celebrate National Financial Literacy Month!
A bit of history about this month: It was started 20 years ago by the National Endowment for Financial Education in 2004. This year has a theme of “Inform, Inspire, Ignite.”
We hope to inform you with two features about financial wellness this month. In “Don’t Focus on Members’ Past Mistakes,” writer and credit union advocate Keith Kasmire shows how credit unions can help members improve their financial literacy with a formula that combines techy tools and education.
Equally important is coming from a place of empathy and understanding. People at all income levels make financial mistakes. According to the annual Financial Health Pulse survey from the Financial Health Network, more than one in five households in the U.S. spent more than their income in 2023.
“Nobody wants to go to their CU and have an hour-long conversation about how crappy they are at saving money,” says Parker Graham, founder/CEO of Finotta, a personalized financial guidance platform provider. “We are humanizing finances and making it a whole lot more about the emotions … and why people make decisions versus a slap on the wrist because you spent $300 at Starbucks last month.”
Offering tools to help members budget and manage finances not only serves a need but can also help turn unengaged members into engaged ones. In 2019, consumer research platform Attest surveyed adults in the United Kingdom and found that the majority of people under age 30 used some sort of app to help them budget. For those who did, 59% used them once a month or more, with 18% saying they used a budgeting app a few times a week and 14% used one every day.
Find a second article by Kasmire online at cumanagement.com/0424genzwellness. In this article, he writes about Gen Z’s preferences for financial education and digital tools.
“The explosion of ecommerce, explosion of digital banking technologies, explosion of things like buy now, pay later, taps and swipes, and subscription payments is causing disaggregation, leaving consumers to feel less and less secure in their financial wellness,” says Carrie Stapp, SVP/marketing at PSCU/Co-op Solutions, a CUESolutions provider based in St. Petersburg, Florida. “Where the opportunity is for credit unions is to bring that aggregation back and focus on financial wellness tools that help members get to those long-term goals.”
You can find financial literacy and education resources from NCUA to share with members at ncua.gov/consumers/financial-literacy-resources. Also check out the Financial Health Network’s guide about building financial management budgeting products and tools. In addition, several CUES Supplier members offer programs and resources to improve financial literacy, including:
- Currency’s It’s a Money Thing
- iGrad’s resources for schools and lenders and employers
- Inclusiv’s Pathways to Financial Empowerment program
- Stukent’s Personal Finance Simulation
What resources would you add to this list? Let me know!
