5 No Cost Things You Can Do to be Financially Stable

People that teach financial education often talk about lowering your expenses and increasing your income to increase your financial stability. Of course those things are good but today I want to focus on the five free things you can do to increase your financial stability.

For all of my personal finance tips, order my book “10 Things College Students Need to Know About Money“. If you already have a few challenges, order my Amazon Best Seller “Money Matters: The Get It Done in 1 Minute Workbook“.

 

#1 Open an Account at a Credit Union

One of the best financial decisions you can make is to open a checking account at a credit union. It costs nothing to open an account and the benefits are many: better customer service, often lower account fees, usually cheaper car loans, mortgages, and credit cards, and the opportunity to build a relationship with a financial institution with all these great benefits before you need to ask for a loan. Check here to find the credit union closest to you.

 

#2 Check Your Credit Reports

You may know that there are three credit reports and three credit scores for each of us but did you know that you can have free access to your reports? The credit bureaus have the right to control who has access to the scores that they’ve created the mathematical formulas to create, BUT the records …  the information that make up the data those formulas use is your data and is free for you to access. Visit AnnualCreditReport.com to get a free copy of your reports once every 12 months.

 

#3 Collect Your Change

For years I’ve told people that an easy way to find money to build up your Emergency Fund or invest in a no-load mutual fund was to throw your spare change in a jar. I still believe it’s true. On average, you’ll have about $50 per month is quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies. Instead of that spare change ending up under the couch cushions, in your car’s ashtray, and at the bottom of your purse throw it in an empty water jug or an actual piggy bank. Don’t believe me? Check out this blog.

 

 

#4 Open a High Yield Savings Account

Since I’ve been badgering you to create an Emergency Savings Account, I thought I’d help you out by providing you with the latest lists of accounts with the highest interest rates (you’ll earn more money than at your local financial institution) across the US. Check out the highest yielding savings accounts here.

 

#5 Choose You

This is the hardest free thing you might ever have to do: choose yourself over everything. Choose to save some money for an emergency instead of eating out. Choose to invest some money in a mutual fund instead of purchasing an extra excursion on a trip. Choose to think you’re going to create the exact life you’d like to have …   and then do the prep work so when your opportunity comes, you’re ready.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Create a Legal Will Using Willing

Image is from MyMoneyBlog.com

 

I came across a website called Willing. It claims to make a simple, free legal will with a few clicks of your mouse. I read reviews here and here to see if it made sense to use. The site came out of the tech start-up incubator Y-Combinator.

The reviews I read seem to agree that it is really easy to use the website and it doesn’t ask for any social security numbers or credit card numbers. They also agree that it will create a simple will. They are not sure how legal it will be after time passes. Like most legal documents, they have to be updated periodically to adhere to laws that may have changed over time.

Prince just died without a will and the money to worked so hard to earn will be distributed among people as the judge sees fit. Since Prince left no will, the judge has no idea what he would have done. You don’t want this to happen to you.

I encourage people to have a legal will (what will happen to your things), a living trust (you will manage your things when you’re gone), and a living will (what will happen to you if you are incapacitated or die). There are attorneys that can set these things up for you, but sometimes the costs are a bit much. If you have few assets (car, house, checking accounts, personal items) and want to make sure that everyone knows what you want to happen after you pass, this might be a great free solution.

Here’s a bit about why Willing was created and how it works:

Willing is divided into two main products. The first is an online tool that helps users create a will or living will (a document that outlines their wishes for end-of-life care) in minutes. The second, which Medina and Dyson are currently fine-tuning, is a platform that lets users find and compare costs for funeral homes and cemeteries.

At the very least, going through the site will help you think about what your family might need to make decisions about. Take it for whirl and let me know what you think.

 

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Shay Visits Peru

Financial education speaker and author Shay Olivarria just returned from visiting her 10th country on her 4th continent: Peru. People always ask why her company is named Bigger Than Your Block and the answer is this trip.

The goal of Bigger Than Your Block is to show students, of all ages, that the world is massive and you can achieve any goal that you have as long as you work for it. Money has no intrinsic value. The only value money has is the value that we assign to it. Most people want more money, not to have more money but to do the things that we’d like to do. Money equals freedom. The place where some get confused is the idea that one needs more money instead of one needs to use the money that they have more efficiently.

Shay found a $300 round trip, including taxes, airfare on Avianca. The whole trip took 8 days, 7 cities and about $1,500. Not too shabby. She was able to spend a little time in:

Lima – Peru’s capital city.

Ollantaytambo – a beautiful, quiet town with lots of ruins.

Urubamba – a wonderful small town that’s close to the Moray ruins.

Pisac – know for it’s Sunday market and sun dial ruins.

Cusco – the major airport city to reach the Sacred Valley.

Puno – the city on the banks of Lake Titicaca.

Arequipa – the second (or third depending on what Trujillo is up to) major city in Peru.

It was a wonderful trip and Shay learned a lot about the different cultures that live there now and the cultures that lived there before the Inca. What countries have you been to? How did you learn that the world was Bigger Than Your Block?

 

 

Shay Olivarria is the most dynamic financial education speaker working today. She speaks at high schools, colleges, and companies across the country. She has written three books on personal finance, including Amazon Best Seller “Money Matters: The Get It Done in 1 Minute Workbook”. Shay has been quoted on Bankrate.com, FoxBusiness.com, NBC Latino and The Credit Union Times, among others. To schedule Shay to speak at your event visit www.BiggerThanYourBlock.com

 

Invest for Retirement NOW

“Twenty-one percent of those surveyed who have not retired have saved nothing for retirement and 44 percent have saved less than 10 percent of their salary.”

This quote is from Financial Advisor Magazine talking about a survey done by TIAA-CREF. How do people think that they are going to live in retirement? Do they plan on retiring?

Regardless of how old you are, it’s better to have something rather than nothing. Take a look at how much the Social Security Administration will pay you in retirement and you tell me if you can afford NOT to invest an extra $50 per month in your 401k, 403b or IRA.

Let’s take a look at the numbers, shall we?

Start Investing  Per Month  % Return   Value at 67

18                      $50                      9%          $536,841.50

21                     $50                      9%         $408,642.74

30                     $50                      9%         $178,618.62

40                     $50                      9%         $68,888.51

50                      $50                       9%         $24,125.50

It’s pretty simple:

• If you have a 401k or 403b at your job you probably have a match. Investing a few dollars every pay period lowers your tax base (instead of paying Uncle Sam you invest in yourself) and your company will contribute a few coins to every dollar you invest. Start early. Invest often. Check and see how much contributing $50 or $100 each pay period will change your take home pay. There won’t be much change in how your check looks every two weeks, but it could change how your retirement looks.
• If you don’t have access to a 401k or 403b then open an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) at a brokerage house that you trust. You have to fill out a two page application and send over a voided out check. You can open many accounts by promising to contribute at least $50 per month. That $600 per year could grow into 5 or 6 figures using compound interest. Start early. Invest often.

If you are thinking about investing and you’re not sure where to start:

• If you are a member of a credit union: contact Balance for FREE help.
• If you have an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) at your job: contact the EAP for FREE help.
• If you do not have access to these: find a fee-only financial advisor for help.

You can create the life you want.

You are powerful.

Go get it.

PEACE,

Shay

Order Money Matters on Amazon.com

Shay Olivarria is the most dynamic financial education speaker working today. She speaks at high schools, colleges, and companies across the country. She has written three books on personal finance, including Amazon Best Seller “Money Matters: The Get It Done in 1 Minute Workbook”. Shay has been quoted on Bankrate.com, FoxBusiness.com, NBC Latino and The Credit Union Times, among others. To schedule Shay to speak at your event visit www.BiggerThanYourBlock.com

Valentine’s + Money: A Couple’s Guide

Valentine’s Day, the day to “prove” your love by buying things you can’t afford and wasting money in the same old ways that you do every other day. This year, why not switch things up by showing your partner that you really love them while building a solid financial future and making them feel special?

Don’t Follow the Crowd

Every year from January to February 14th I hear tons of ads for chocolates, red roses. flowers and stuffed animals. Demand is ridiculous. According to Visual Economics (see images below) people will end up spending anywhere from $80 to $150, on average. And those Valentine’s Day chocolates? “Valentine’s Days increase the sale of heart-shaped boxes of chocolate to more than 35 million.”Instead of doing what everyone else does, why not do something your partner will really appreciate? Make them dinner. Give them a massage. Create a bath-for-two with mood lighting and soft music. Write them a thank you note for all the amazing things they do for you. My partner still has a note I wrote to them years ago. It reminds them of why they love me.

Many people are in relationships hoping to one day be married. Some are already married. We know that about 50% of marriages end in divorce, but did you know that many of those relationships break up due to money issues? Want to save your romantic situation? Use your money wisely. Imagine what couples could do with that money if they chose to instead invest that money in their relationship instead of giving more money to companies.

Think About the Future

Let’s say that there is a heterosexual couple and each person in the couple spends the national average on gifts this year (see image below).  Visual Economics tells us that the age range that spends the most is between 25 and 34 years old, so let’s assume that the couple we’re talking about is 27 years old. The couple will spend about $254. If that couple instead had a night in, shared how they really feel about each other and enjoyed each other’s company (all free) instead of spending that money, they could choose to put that money in a money market account. Making that one decision not to spend money on Valentine’s Day could end up saving that couple $10,160 in principle alone over 40 years of marriage. Tack on about another $2,500 in interest (free money) and that couple could save about $12k by making one different decision on one day of the year. You know I like to say, “Find small opportunities that make a big difference” but I won’t say it this time! *wink*

Don’t forget, “There’s nothing your partner wants more than to be seen, acknowledged, loved, and appreciated on Valentine’s Day” says Colin Drake on Money Management Tips for Couples. Make the extra effort that will enhance your relationship and invest a few more dollars into your relationship coffer.

A few images from Visual Economics:

For a heterosexual couple, that’s a little more $250!

My hypothosis (are you ready for this?) is that the 25  to 34 category spends more because these are people that are in serious relationships (leading to marriage or married) and want to show their love with big, showy flower arrangements, expensive dinners and lavish gifts.

Allensworth 2012

Allen and Josephine Allensworth, founders of Black California town Allensworth.

 

Yesterday, the Bigger Than Your Block team was very honored to be part of the Juneteenth Celebration at Allensworth State Historic Park. Financial Education Speaker & Author Shay Olivarria gave a wonderful speech on building a solid financial foundation based on learning about personal finance, sharing information about personal finance, and learning to pass on wealth to future generations. During the speech participants laughed and really interacted with Shay. When she came off of the stage people kept coming up to the table to speak with her, congradulate her on a job well done, share why she was a different type of financial education speaker, and find out what the Rule of 72 is! Kids took part in the financial education cross word puzzles and word search puzzles for prizes. Adults took home copies of the referral sheet that could net them $250 for referring an organization to Bigger Than Your Block. It was a wonderful day.

Allensworth is sometimes called The Town That Wouldn’t Die because of the tenacity of the people that settled there. The drummers mentioned that Black history is a living thing. We have to remember our history, and contribute to it for the next generations. I’m Black & I Travel says, the Allensworth family created a Black town in central California

.. Allensworth turned his eyes west. He wanted to create a town where black families could own their own homes, their own land, run their own farms and control their own destinies ..

It’s up to us to keep Allensworth alive. For those of you that haven’t been to Allensworth yet, we thought we’d share a few photos to motivate you to come up and celebrate next year.

There were tons of vendors, BBQ, ice cream, and people! Buses of folks kept coming up. It was good to see kids running around and folks hanging out under the trees.

 

The plaque reads:Elizabeth Dougherty, a wealthy Oakland business woman, purchased the property and financed the construction of the hotel in 1910. The hotel was her investment in Allensworth, but she did not live here….”

 

Mary Jane Bickers arrived in Allensworth in 1909 and opened the town’s first business, a general store.

 

If you’d like to read a bit more about Allensworth visit VirtualTourist.com. See you next year!

 

Baldwin Park Student Wins Scholarship He Didn’t Apply For

Raymond Tinajero just earned a $1,000 scholarship for being financially literate.

Raymond Tinajero just won a $1,000 scholarship that he didn’t apply for. When he scored in the top 10% in the nation on the National Financial Capabilities Challenge he was selected randomly by the Charles Schwab Foundation to get the $1,000 scholarship and a $1,000 grant for his school.

It all started with a financial education workshop from SCE Federal Credit Union in his Virtual Enterprise and Economics classes at his high school in Baldwin Park, CA facilitated by financial education speaker and author Shay Olivarria. According to SCE Federal Credit Union Foundation Manager Abby Ulm, “we facilitate between 40-50 financial education classes at BPHS each year”. SCE Federal Credit Union partners with schools in the community to help students become better acquainted with personal finance. “With an understanding of financial basics, such as budgeting, saving, investing and credit, these young people can avoid common money mistakes and experience financial success in their future”, says Ms. Ulm. Make no mistake about it, helping students helps us all.  Ulm is quick to add, “More financially savvy young people will result in a brighter financial future for all of us”.

 

Baldwin Park Students Score in Top 20% on National Financial Capabilities Challenge

 

After participating in classes on budgeting, credit, investing, insurance, and other personal finance topics Raymond took the National Financial Capabilities Challenge at school. His teacher, Mr. Craig Peacock, made sure that all of the students in his Virtual Enterprise class took the online test during class. Ulm thinks that high school is a great time to teach financial education, “By high school, most students have begun to experience what it’s like to have and spend their own money. Yet they are still sheltered from the aggressive credit solicitations and advertising gimmicks that become financial pitfalls for college students and young adults. In a sense, high school students are “clean slates,” financially speaking. It is the perfect time for them to learn the right way to manage money, how to build and protect their credit, and how to develop smart money habits”.

According to the Charles Schwab Foundation’s website, “ Scholarships of $1,000 each to 20 students selected by lottery from among the top 10 percent highest-scoring students nationally. In addition, five $1,000 scholarships will go to students who score in the top 10 percent among all participating students who attend low-income public schools. The Charles Schwab Foundation also gives grants of $1,000 to the school or organization that contributed to the student’s financial education, in this case Baldwin Park High School.

Raymond will use his $1,000 scholarship to attend Mt. San Antonio College in the fall. He says, “I want to achieve a master’s degree in Kinesiology and I want to be able to give my athletic trainer skills back to the world of sports”.

When asked if he has any tips for next year’s graduating Seniors he says, “All I want to say is that always keep track on all assignments, make sure all deadlines are meet, aim for improvement, and never lose focus of the goal to graduate”.

 

Multicultural Familia

Shay Olivarria will be speaking with Amanda (@MarocMama) and Chantilly (@BiculturalMom) of Multicultural Familia about personal finance.

Guess what? I’m going to be the inaugural guest on the Multicultural Familia Radio Show! I’m thrilled to be invited! In case you haven’t heard of Multicultural Familia (how have you not heard of Multicultural Familia?) there’s more information below. Feel free to check ’em out, subscribe to the blog, and add them on Facebook.

Upcoming Podcast Synopsis

Shay Olivarria is a financial education speaker, former newspaper columnist, former foster youth and author of All My Mistakes: Money lessons for emancipating youth, 10 Things College Students Need to Know About Money and Money Matters: The Get It Done in 1 Minute Workbook.

Learn more about Shay on BiggerThanYourBlock.com

On Wednesday’s show, Amanda (@MarocMama) and Chantilly (@BiculturalMom) will be talking with Shay about financial education for children and young adults, and how parents can empower their kids to take control of their future through financial planning, education and entrepreneurial experiences.

Follow us on Blog Talk Radio.  Bookmark the show!

Read more: www.multiculturalfamilia.com http://www.multiculturalfamilia.com/2012/05/15/new-multicultural-familia-radio-show-may-16th/#ixzz1uwgnTSec

About the radio show

Wednesdays at 9pm EST/6pm PST, Multicultural Familia will be hosting biweekly shows on Blog Talk Radio about a variety of topics relating to multicultural families.  The one hour show will include interviews with with parents and experts, guest appearances from popular multicultural bloggers and commentary about the latest ‘hot topics’ in the news.

Please join us on Wednesday, May 16th at 9pm EST/6pm PST for our first LIVE broadcast and follow us on Twitter at hashtag #MFamRadio or in our online Facebook Forum to join in on the conversation.

About Shay Olivarria

Shay Olivarria is the most dynamic financial education speaker working today. She speaks at high schools, colleges, and companies across the country. She has written three books on personal finance, including Amazon Best Seller “Money Matters: The Get It Done in 1 Minute Workbook”. Shay has been quoted on Bankrate.com, FoxBusiness.com, NBC Latino and The Credit Union Times, among others. To schedule Shay to speak at your event visit www.BiggerThanYourBlock.com

 

3 Reasons to Buy Money Matters

Order Money Matters on Amazon.com

If you are looking to make some changes and get on track financially, Money Matters by Shay Olivarria is the book for you. There is a check-up for where you are with your financial goals. The book addresses savings; short term and long term. It tells you how to set up retirement accounts, investments, and how NOT to get into deep debt. This is great for those beginning their journey into the real world. Also, for those that have already messed up, Olivarria has steps on how to get back on track.

Olivarria creates a great guide for you to create your own individual plan to get out of debt and on the track to financial freedom. She states that you have to be patient and consistent. It is never too late to turn it around. I suggest you gift this book to college graduates. It is straight to the point and interactive.

This book was provided courtesy of the author for review.

DCSquared

 

#1 You want to know more about personal finance, but you’re not sure where or how to begin.

We all want to make better financial decisions. The challenge is that sometimes we’re not sure what to do or we have hard decisions to make where both options seem like bad ideas. We get so caught up in running from day to day that we forget that we can make changes if we take a moment to plan instead of react. Money Matters was written with that in mind. The very first worksheet is one page long and helps you see the bigger picture by asking a few simple questions.

#2 You are intimidated by personal finance jargon.

Have you ever tried to read a personal finance book or spoke with someone in the financial services industry and you didn’t understand what they were saying? Me too! Personal finance is not complicated, but it’s easy to make it seem complicated by using industry jargon. Money Matters is written clearly. I don’t try to confuse the reader by making things sound harder than they are. That’s why media outlets across the country have quoted me and asked me to write for them. I make money management simple.

#3 You want to know what you need to know to make things change.

Take a look at the Table of Contents from Money Matters in the image above. This book covers “just the facts ma’am”. There are tons of books that do into depth about any area of personal finance that you might be interested in. This is not that book. Money Matters is a bare-bones, simple read with worksheets to help you make good decisions about money. The book covers net worth, retirement planning, paying off debt, managing your credit score, payday loans, rapid tax refunds, and even saving money on your groceries.

 

Shay Olivarria is the most dynamic financial education speaker working today. She speaks at high schools, colleges, and companies across the country. She has written three books on personal finance, including Amazon Best Seller “Money Matters: The Get It Done in 1 Minute Workbook”. Shay has been quoted on Bankrate.com, FoxBusiness.com, NBC Latino and The Credit Union Times, among others. To schedule Shay to speak at your event visit www.BiggerThanYourBlock.com

Family Connection Club

Get this great mp3 by signing up for the Family Connection Club now!

Financial Education Speaker & Author Shay Olivarria will be featured in the May issue of The Family Connection Club! In case you don’t know about the work that Linette Daniles, PhD and her daughter Danette Nixon do to help families I’ve posted a bit about them below. Suffice it to say that they are working hard to make sure that parents and children get along, have tools and resources available to them to build skills, and to have fun.

Looking for a great resource to teach your teen about money? Order 10 Things College Students Need to Know About Money now!

When you sign up for the Family Connection Club you’ll get all the great things the Family Club Connection offers PLUS an mp3 from me talking about how to use teachable moments to convey financial literacy concepts like:

• Needs vs. wants
• Cost vs. value
• Net worth (why it’s important/ how to calculate)
• Compound interest (how it works/ how to earn it)
• Pay yourself first
• Work = money (work smarter not harder)
• Critical thinking (what marketing is, how it works, why it works)

If you haven’t signed up yet, I would suggest you do … after all …. McDonalds doesn’t need the money!

About Family Connection  Club

The success of our children blooms from a seed that is planted and nurtured by caring adults . . . and the strongest flowers are the result of deeply rooted communication within the home. The Family Connection Club is designed to make strengthening the parent-child relationship easier. Click here to learn more about the Family Connection Club.

About Shay
Shay Olivarria is the most dynamic financial education speaker working today. She speaks at high schools, colleges, and companies across the country. She has written three books on personal finance, including Amazon Best Seller “Money Matters: The Get It Done in 1 Minute Workbook”. Shay has been quoted on Bankrate.com, FoxBusiness.com, and The Credit Union Times, among others. To schedule Shay to speak at your event visit www.BiggerThanYourBlock.com

Youth Success Show

 

How exciting! Financial Education Speaker & Author Shay Olivarria will be a guest on the Youth Success Show June 7th at 2pm EST. Show hosts Sarah Newton, Linette Daniels and I will chat about how parents can share financial literacy concepts with tweens and teens without lecturing to them. Call in with your questions (347) 324-5003!

Looking for a great resource to teach your teen about money? Order 10 Things College Students Need to Know About Money now!

 

About the Youth Success Show

Join Sarah Newton and Linette Daniels as they answer the fundamental question, what makes youth successful? What empowers them? What makes them want to change? Why do they behave the way they do and most importantly, how can we positively impact and influence them? Together, Sarah and Linette have over 40 years experience in the youth field. Sarah, an ex-police officer in London, started her consulting business 10 years ago and is well known worldwide for her TV and radio work. Linette came from a social work background, has built a successful business helping youth and parent professionals and is the founder of the International Association for Parenting Coaches and Consultants. Join them on The Youth Success Show as these two seasoned experts  share their ideas, thoughts, perspectives and tools to help youth thrive. GET A FREE GIFT FROM US WITH LOVE http://iapcac.com/blog-talk-radio-show-gift/

 

About Shay

Shay Olivarria is the most dynamic financial education speaker working today. She speaks at high schools, colleges, and companies across the country. She has written three books on personal finance, including Amazon Best Seller “Money Matters: The Get It Done in 1 Minute Workbook”. Shay has been quoted on Bankrate.com, FoxBusiness.com, and The Credit Union Times, among others. To schedule Shay to speak at your event visit www.BiggerThanYourBlock.com

100 Free Books

Get 100 copies of this book for free for your students.

 

Get your bonus today!

Sign the contract before June 30th to bring Shay Olivarria

to speak on your college campus & receive 100 copies of her book

10 Things College Students Need to Know About Money as a bonus!

Visit www.BiggerThanYourBlock.com to find out more about

financial education speaker Shay Olivarria. Watch videos.

Read testimonials. Book workshops.

Book with another college

and both colleges save.*

Shay’s been quoted on:

         

 

*Both colleges must have workshop scheduled within 7 days of each other.

Shay Olivarria is the most dynamic financial education speaker working today. She speaks at high schools, colleges, and companies across the country. She has written three books on personal finance, including Amazon Best Seller “Money Matters: The Get It Done in 1 Minute Workbook”. Shay has been quoted on Bankrate.com, FoxBusiness.com, and The Credit Union Times, among others. To schedule Shay to speak at your event visit www.BiggerThanYourBlock.com

Improving Every Year

Abby Ulm, Foundation Manager at SCE Federal Credit Union, and Shay Olivarria at the Los Angeles Federal Reserve during a field trip with local high school students.

More great news! SCE Federal Credit Union Foundation (now the Center for Financial Empowerment) works with several high schools around the San Gabriel Valley and in the 2012 National Financial Capabilities Challenge 24 of the 415 students nationwide (that’s about 6% of ALL the students across the nation) were students that SCE Federal Credit Union Foundation worked with!

In 2012,  35 schools in California took the challenge (that’s about 67% of all schools in California) and the students that SCE FCU Foundation worked with scored really well. In fact, there was an increase of students that scored in the top 20% in year two.

In 2011, the SCE FCU Foundation had 10 students that scored in the top 20%. This year that number increased to 24 students. That’s more than 100% increase!  There were:

12 students from Baldwin Park High School

7 students from Duarte High School

5 students from Colony High School

 

Congrats to all the students and the team at the SCE Federal Credit Union Foundation!

 

Finding Love Magazine

Read about Shay's journey to self-love on page 14.

 

Financial education speaker and author Shay Olivarria is featured in this month’s Finding Love Magazine. She talks about sticking out from her peers and being kind of … odd.

Shay Olivarria is a wonderful, loving person. She’s run her own financial education business, Bigger Than Your Block, for five years. She’s earned an undergraduate degree and studied for a graduate degree. She’s traveled to nine countries on three continents. By every definition she’s accomplished, so why didn’t she love herself?

 

 

 

Turn to page 14 and check out Shay’s article in Finding Love Magazine this month.

I’m working through my issues. They are definitely not over yet, maybe they never will be. I’m better than I was, though and that’s all that matters to me. I’m still considered strange to most people I meet. I still have to give myself pep talks before I step on stage. My jokes still fall flat sometimes, but who cares? We’re all works in progress and right now I’m having a great time settling into myself.

 

 

 

Shay Olivarria is the most dynamic financial education speaker working today. She speaks at high schools, colleges, and companies across the country. She has written three books on personal finance, including Amazon Best Seller “Money Matters: The Get It Done in 1 Minute Workbook”. Shay has been quoted on Bankrate.com, FoxBusiness.com, and The Credit Union Times, among others. To schedule Shay to speak at your event visit www.BiggerThanYourBlock.com

Millennials and Financial Literacy

Just read this article in USA Today about young people that have graduated from college and are flying through life with little knowledge of personal finance. It doesn’t surprise me because this article just came out from Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) that ranks each state in two categories: knowledge of personal finance concepts and application of those concepts in everyday life.

$15 on Amazon

Buy a copy of 10 Things College Students Need to Know About Money for the student in your life.

The parental instinct to provide for your children can actually be detrimental to preparing them to be financially independent. Beacham says it’s an “unintended consequence” that leaves adult children unprepared to handle their own finances. “You feel like a good parent if you’re taking care of your child,” she says. “(But) the reason kids on college campuses don’t know anything about money is because they have no skin in the game because their parents are still paying. Their child is going to pay a much higher price for the lack of experience and knowledge they have on graduation day.”

So what can parents do to help students learn about personal finance? Take advantage of teachable moments, attend events that reinforce financial education principles, and provide resources to help students understand personal finance concepts.

 

Shay Olivarria is the most dynamic financial education speaker working today. She speaks at high schools, colleges, and companies across the country. She has written three books on personal finance, including Amazon Best Seller “Money Matters: The Get It Done in 1 Minute Workbook”. Shay has been quoted on Bankrate.com, FoxBusiness.com, and The Credit Union Times, among others. To schedule Shay to speak at your event visit www.BiggerThanYourBlock.com