Released: July 15, 2004

MoneyWi$e Best Practices

Expert tips and success stories from financial educators nationwide

The new MoneyWi$e Best Practices Online newsletter, a quarterly publication, is designed to bring you news, expert tips and success stories from financial educators nationwide who have used the MoneyWi$e materials in creative and innovative ways.

MoneyWi$e, a national financial literacy partnership of Consumer Action and Capital One, is the first program of its kind to combine free, multilingual financial education materials, curricula and teaching aids with regional meetings and roundtables to train community-based organization staff so that consumers at all income levels and walks of life can be reached.

The MoneyWi$e program provides local training to community-based organizations. Now in its third year, MoneyWi$e has built a corps of devotees who have used the curricula and materials to create successful financial literacy programs.

Contents

Giving Low Wealth Families a Chance to ‘Build a Legacy’

For Lisa Yep Salinas, director of the Family Learning Center in Sacramento, CA, the daily challenge is to help her clients achieve a better life for themselves and their families. MoneyWi$e Best Practices Online talks with Salinas about how she uses the MoneyWi$e materials in her financial literacy efforts.

New MoneyWi$e Topic: Save to Build Wealth

Consumer Action and Capital One have released a new free MoneyWi$e module on Saving to Build Wealth, with savings tips and strategies designed to help consumers from all income levels increase their personal wealth and save for the future.

Federal Trade Commission Training on Identity Theft

At the most recent MoneyWi$e regional training event in Chicago on May 5-6, Rolando Berrelez of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) presented a popular training on the fast-growing crime of identity theft.

The MoneyWi$e Series Publications

Seven topics are now available in the MoneyWi$e series of free multilingual publications. Find out how to order free bulk copies for your nonprofit or community-based organization.

Giving Low Wealth Families a Chance to ‘Build a Legacy’

For Lisa Yep Salinas, director of the Family Learning Center in Sacramento, CA, the daily challenge is to help her clients achieve a better life for themselves and their families. Salinas, who has worked in community outreach for a decade, started her community work while employed by a grassroots community clinic and transitioned to a   large for-profit health maintenance organization. Stepping in to help with community outreach and program design for health education, Salinas found that many clients will participate more actively in programs that provide them with something they need for their families, such as financial assistance, help with energy bills or food to supplement the family diet. She also discovered programs that incorporate fun and humor make students more receptive to new concepts.

Salinas attended a MoneyWi$e regional training in Oakland, CA in the fall of 2002. She credits the training with giving her the tools and inspiration to work basic financial education into her programs at the Family Living Center. Her program has been the recipient of two $5,000 grants from MoneyWi$e to help teach the materials. Attendance for the sessions continues to grow and often exceeds space and childcare accommodations. MoneyWi$e Best Practices Online recently spoke with Salinas about her successful program.

How do you make the most of your program’s financial literacy education budget?

When I became interested in providing financial education, I looked for opportunities to partner with other community-based organizations in the Sacramento area that would allow me to leverage my limited funding to do financial education. I found a local program that helps low-wealth moms and their babies with access to nutritious food, baby supplies and survival skills training. Since my partner organization provides childcare to its clients, I offered to give financial literacy classes to the moms who go there seeking diapers and formula, clothing and counseling. In this way they are not only receiving resources for their families, but also basic financial education that can empower them to break the poverty cycle. My partner provides childcare and gifts for a class raffle, and in turn, I bring the MoneyWi$e materials and snacks that they can eat during class and take home for their kids. I also cross-refer clients from my program to theirs.

Don’t limit your partnerships to just one organization—spread them out. The wider your net, the more individuals you will be able to serve. Local fairs and festivals are some of my favorite venues because you can reach many people in a short time. I also combine the MoneyWi$e funding I receive for financial education with other small educational grants, such as one that helps reduce the cost of the clients’ energy bills.

How do you overcome behavior barriers, such as aversion to change?

I encourage the participants by constantly reinforcing how smart they are to be leveraging their families’ resources by taking advantage of existing incentives and resources to supplement their needs. For instance, we have a program that provides new car seats to low wealth parents—I congratulate my clients on being so smart with their money so maybe they will even have some money to save for a rainy day.

I tailor the MoneyWi$e materials to my clients. It’s key to ask people to come up with a personal financial plan, something for themselves. People are more motivated when they have designed their own plan. Aversion to change is often really just fear. If you give them the respect and solitude to make a personal plan and lend them the support and the ability to explore their options in a confidential class setting, you give them hope and a chance to dream again and some of the barriers to change disappear.

My mom used to “sneak in” messages about how good it was to eat your veggies. I do the same thing in my home by using health education posters as free art for my kids’ rooms. It’s kind of like a subliminal message. That’s one way I like to use the MoneyWi$e materials—I put them on view so that when clients come in to learn about the HEAP program or Women Infants and Children (WIC) subsidies, they see the materials on money management. That’s a link right there.

How do you advertise your programs?

My best technique is to encourage word of mouth. I cross-sell financial literacy every chance I get. And when people come in to ask about MoneyWi$e, I ask them to spread the word. If they come in to ask about nutrition, car seats, energy assistance or weatherization programs, I let them know about our financial literacy classes.

How do you define and quantify success?

The reality is that even as a nonprofit, I have to keep track of my bottom line and justify my numbers and programs to funders. In April and May of this year alone, we reached 6,000 individuals in English, Spanish and Russian through two classes and outreach to farm workers and at fairs and festivals. But everything can’t be quantified so easily. Financial education can help people succeed and make a positive contribution. It has an amazing ability to transform people’s lives in such a short time. One client, in four months, turned her life around by starting her own business and buying a home because of the MoneyWi$e program. And changes like this have a trickle down effect in families. It’s a chance to build a legacy that can be passed along to another generation.

How do you serve multilingual clients?

I speak Spanish as well as English, and just enough Chinese to upset my mother! Seriously, in California today community-based organizations need to find creative ways to serve multilingual clients. I often enlist the help of participants who are bilingual in translating my presentation. We serve clients who speak Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Hmong and Vietnamese, among other languages.

How do you tailor the MoneyWi$e materials to your own needs?

Our folks aren’t always very literate, so we help them by walking them through the materials and doing the exercises together in class. Not all of the MoneyWi$e modules are appropriate for my clients. I use the Money Management module a lot and I have designed trainings around “Good Credit” and “Talking to Teens About Money,” as well. Just giving people “face time” with the materials starts them thinking about ways they can improve their family budgets.

What do you like about the MoneyWi$e program?

It’s very helpful to be able to access the expertise of Consumer Action and the other MoneyWi$e stipend groups. I have worked in the community for more than a decade, working in health access for uninsured children and low wealth families, but I have never seen anything like the ability of financial literacy education to transform people’s lives in such a short time. The MoneyWi$e classes are the push that many people need to get out of the poverty trap and start thinking about ways they can create a financial plan for themselves.

Keys to Lisa Salinas’ Success

Incentives: Food, car seats, diapers, formula, energy assistance, weatherization grants

Childcare: Holding classes where free child care is available

Subliminal messages: Display MoneyWi$e brochures for clients and walk-ins to see

Reflective time: In class, give participants the time to think about their personal financial goals

Leverage limited funds: String small outreach grants together to provide a well rounded program

Partnerships and cross-referrals: Build coalitions with other community-based organizations

Word of mouth: Use every chance to spread the word about your programs and initiatives

Multilingual services: Use free multilingual MoneyWi$e materials. Enlist the help of bilingual participants to translate your presentations

New MoneyWi$e Topic
Save to Build Wealth

Consumer Action and Capital One have released a new free MoneyWi$e module on Saving to Build Wealth, with savings tips and strategies designed to help consumers from all income levels increase their personal wealth and save for the future. According to the Department of Commerce, Americans on average saved 2.4% of their disposable income in April 2004, the highest rate since the 2.7% recorded last August. But while savings rates are improving, we still fall far short of saving 10% of our annual income, as most experts recommend.

"We've all heard the old adage that a penny saved is a penny earned and we know that saving for the future is important," said Consumer Action’s Ken McEldowney. "But many people miss out on opportunities to maximize their investments. We created Saving to Build Wealth to help consumers understand that a few small changes can add up to big savings."

The Saving to Build Wealth brochure, available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean or Vietnamese, includes information on:

• Establishing a savings plan

• Setting financial goals

• Making the most out of your current savings

• Choosing a savings account to best suit your financial goals

"Most Americans are not actively saving or investing for their future," noted Diana Don Colby, director of financial education at Capital One. "Saving to Build Wealth is designed to help consumers take the first step toward making their money work for them by guiding them through the basics of saving, investing and the tools available to help them meet their savings goals."

Saving to Build Wealth is a part of the MoneyWi$e program, a national financial literacy partnership between Capital One and Consumer Action. Like all MoneyWi$e modules, the Savings program includes a consumer brochure in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean or Vietnamese, backgrounder “Leaders Guides” for trainers and community-based organizations, a lesson plan and PowerPoint slides. All materials are free and can be found on the MoneyWi$e web site (www.money-wise.org).

Federal Trade Commission Training on Identity Theft

At the most recent MoneyWi$e regional training event in Chicago on May 5-6, Rolando Berrelez of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) presented a popular training on the fast-growing crime of identity theft. The crime occurs when an impostor uses your personally identifying information without your knowledge or permission to obtain loans, mortgages, credit cards, wireless phones, employment or to commit other frauds.

ID thieves can get information about you by stealing your wallet or purse or taking information from your workplace, school, shop, doctor’s office, bank, home, car or mailbox. You can also be tricked into giving up personal information by telemarketers or deceptive e-mails.

 According to a 2003 report by Synovate for the FTC, 9.9 million people had been victimized in the past year. Berrelez said that in 26% of all cases, victims knew who had misused their personal information, that 9% of all victims reported a family member or relative as the person responsible and that 6% of all victims said the thief had worked at a company that had access to their personal information.

Berrelez has shared the PowerPoint presentation he used at the Chicago training with MoneyWi$e. If you would like to have a copy via e-mail, send your request to Editor@consumer-action.org. Please include your full name, title, organization, daytime phone number, address, city, state and ZIP code.

The MoneyWi$e Series Publications

Free multilingual publications featuring the following topics are available through MoneyWi$e, a financial education project created by Consumer Action and Capital One:

• Banking Basics: You Can Bank On It
• Building and Keeping Good Credit
• Put Bad Credit Behind You: Improve Your Credit
• Tracking Your Money: Manage Your Money Wisely
• Talking to Teens About Money
• Bankruptcy: Your Right to a Financial Fresh Start
• Make Your Money Work for You - Saving to Build Wealth

These publications are available in Chinese, English, Korean, Spanish and Vietnamese. All topics include a Leader’s Guide to provide in-depth background on the subject, step-by-step Lesson Plans and PowerPoint slides. Find them online at www.money-wise.org or e-mail Editor@consumer-action.org for an order form. Nonprofit agencies can get the materials for free or in bulk. You can also call Consumer Action at 800-999-7981 for order forms or additional information about the MoneyWi$e series. Request the PowerPoint slides by sending an e-mail to Editor@consumer-action.org.