Financial literacy programs take on greater importance in tough economy
| Friday, Nov 13 2009 08:31 PM
Last Updated Friday, Nov 13 2009 08:31 PM
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Financial Literacy resources:
* Consumer Credit Counseling of Kern and Tulare Counties: one-hour counseling session with a certified counselor costs $20. (800) 272-2482, www.californiacccs.org.
* Junior Achievement: Presentations at schools are offered free of charge, as resources permit. (661) 328-9373, www.jasocal.org/s/1019/start.aspx?sid=1019&gid=1&pgid=322.
* Money Start Here: Four-hour family presentation is $99. Group "lunch and learns" are $20 per person. (661) 333-5247, www.moneystarthere.com.
* New York Life insurance agent John Border does free presentations for community groups, by appointment. (661) 325-8113, www.johnborder.com.
* United Way of Kern County: Free 10-week financial literacy classes for adults every quarter through Financial Independence Starts Here, or FISH, program. (661) 834-1820, www.uwkern.org.
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Henry A. Barrios / The Californian Former banker Denise Winston holds a financial education program on spending money during the holidays at a noontime meeting at Total Woman. She uses a gift she made for her daughter as an example of thinking out of the box when giving gifts.
Kathleen McNeil, who oversees financial literacy training for school children as district manager of Junior Achievement of Bakersfield, says students can hardly be blamed if they don't understand personal finance.
"If you look at what's happening in the economy -- the amount of debt people carry and so many people living beyond their means -- there's a lot to be done.
"If adults don't have a basic understanding of how to manage a budget, there's very little for them to pass on to the children."
Fortunately, Bakersfield has all sorts of financial literacy programs for children and adults, alike.
The need for such programming is more important than ever at a time when many families struggle to make ends meet, instructors say.
More than half of mortgages in Bakersfield are upside down, and Kern County's unemployment rate was 13.9 percent in September.
Spending patterns aren't helping matters.
Nationally, the average outstanding credit card debt was $10,679 at the end of last year, according to The Nilson Report.
The personal saving rate in the United States, or saving as a percentage of disposable personal income, was 3.3 percent in the third quarter of this year, compared with 4.9 percent in the second, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis.
But there is a hunger for learning how to turn that around.
Former banker Denise Winston has found enough demand for financial literacy training that she's able to do it full-time.
Winston runs Money Start Here, which offers classes and one-on-one training in and around Bakersfield. She also sells educational DVDs online at www.moneystarthere.com.
Companies hire her to educate their employees, and parents hire her to teach their children.
People can quickly find themselves spiraling into debt, no matter how much they think they know about money, Winston said.
"The majority is the consumer's own fault," she said. "But banks definitely want you to get addicted to credit, and once you're bogged down in debt, there are no quick fixes."
A credit score is used not only to determine whether you'll get a loan, but also how much you'll pay for it. It also is sometimes used to determine insurance costs and as a screener for prospective hires.
Dentist Jerry Woolf recently booked Winston to lead a class for his entire staff after enduring a bruising loan process to purchase a small airplane.
"I had no idea how much one little tiny thing on your credit report could cause a problem with a bank," he said.
Woolf said he wanted to spare his employees that trouble.
"Checking your credit report is kind of like doing a blood pressure check," he said. "You just want to stay on top of what's happening."
And that's especially true for his peers, said Woolf, 61.
"I was raised by the generation that came up in the Great Depression and World War II, which doesn't like debt," he said. "I'm a (Baby) Boomer, and we put everything on a credit card."
Kelly Clanton hired Winston to give a presentation to her teenagers, who were in or headed to college.
"At first I thought, 'I know this stuff. I can teach them, myself,'" Clanton said. "But it's one thing to hear it from your parents.
"Sometimes children pay attention more if it's coming from someone else."
Clanton said she knew she had done the right thing when her daughter mentioned needing to establish a college budget.
Winston charges for her services, but training is available for free or for a nominal fee.
Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Kern and Tulare Counties offers individual one-hour sessions for $20.
Often, banks and finance industry professionals will offer free seminars to drum up business.
Junior Achievement does presentations at schools at no charge to students. The training is paid for with grants, donations and corporate sponsorships.
A coalition led by United Way of Kern County offers free 10-week financial literacy classes for adults every quarter through its Financial Independence Starts Here, or FISH, program.
In addition to the class, the program offers graduates a $2 match for every $1 saved toward buying a home, getting an education or starting a business.
"We really wanted to get away from going to our donors again and again as the need for assistance escalates in favor of giving people the tools to really achieve some financial stability," said United Way president Della Hodson. "It's one thing to help someone out of a bad situation, but it's something else to prevent them from getting there in the first place."
Tynisa Stone, 33, lost a house to foreclosure after a divorce earlier this year, and briefly lived in a homeless shelter.
But now the FISH program graduate is studying child development at Bakersfield College and building a child care business.
"The class was really, really worth it," she said. "I thought I knew everything about money, and a lot of the material I did know already, but I learned something new, too, like the structure of a bank or credit union and how the FDIC works.
"We went over the importance of saving and paying cash instead of financing something with interest. All that kind of stuff adds up."
Insurance agent John Border does financial literacy training periodically for community organizations. He held one at a local church Thursday called "Raising Financially Responsible Children."
Border told parents there that it's never too early to start teaching children about money.
"You teach your 3-year-old to brush his teeth, right?" he said. "He may not be old enough to understand oral hygiene, but he's old enough to start forming good habits."
Mother of two Nora Dedios said she's glad she attended Border's program, and wants to learn as much as she can about personal finance so she can be a good role model, as her parents were for her.
"As a teen if I wanted something I had to pay for it, myself, save up for it," she said. "I didn't like it at the time, but now I'm proud of them for that. Too many kids today want that instant gratification, or are lazy and don't want to work.
"Nowadays, you can't live like that."
