We’re past Memorial Day – summer’s here and the time is right for newly-minted high school and college grads across the nation to start spreading their financial wings.
Credit union professionals are dedicated to uplifting the financial well being of their members. You may find yourselves having to pay particular attention to your younger members at this time of year. Or put another way, you have a wonderful opportunity to add new members from this legend of people launching careers and assuming independent financial responsibility for the first time.
Hey, you may even have grads in your own family to counsel! What can we tell them? Well, the issues can be very basic – like how to prepare a budget. I recently found some helpful tips from the non-profit InCharge Education Foundation.
Or how about paying off a student loan? A recent survey by Matthew Greenwald Associates found that because of the burden of student loans, 44 percent said they delayed buying a house, 28 percent postponed having children, 27 percent skipped medical or dental procedures, and 32 percent said their loans forced them to move back into their parents’ home or live there longer than they expected. CBS News.com ran a story on strategies for retiring that debt.
Of course, opportunities to run up debt are only beginning for our young members, who have been waiting their whole lives to be financially independent and get their hands on debit and credit cards. Now there are new payment access technologies like mobile banking, reloadable prepaid cards and contactless cards, as well as traditional debit and credit cards. How can they get started and make sure they don’t get into a mess? Here is some advice from Credit Cards.com.
And that magic cash dispenser known as the ATM can seem like a carefree way to get some fast cash. But as we know, there are safety tips to be observed even during a simple trip to the ATM.
Our friends at Air Force FCU have some advice on avoiding fraud and identity theft, as well as personal security at an ATM.
Naturally, we want to also tell our grads what a great option credit unions are for their primary financial institution. You know the story well – but a story from The Wall Street Journal can help bolster your case.
What has been your experience in providing financial advice to your young members? What did you tell them? Please let me know.