WASHINGTON -- NCUA Chairman JoAnn Johnson encouraged participants in CUNA's National Financial Literacy Summit to make someone they care about their personal financial literacy project.
With savings in the red among consumers nationally, it sends a "very, very strong signal," Johnson said. She explained how her husband, Brian, has offered his young nieces and nephews small amounts of money in exchange for yard work. He makes them sign a contract to save a portion and permits them to spend some of it.
"The sooner you can get to someone...the higher the success rate," Johnson, a former teacher, stated. But adults can take a financial lesson too, she said, explaining that NCUA was looking into offering retirement savings education programs for its employees.
Johnson also told a story of how her daughter came home to visit from grad school. She asked if Brooke had been paying all her credit cards down every month and while she replied yes, she also mentioned that a number of her friends were only making minimum payments. "Credit card debt is one of our really big looming problems," Johnson said, pointing out that more young adults file for bankruptcy than graduate college. It is in credit unions' own best interests to educate their members so that their loans are paid back.
"Sometimes I think we're going to have to knock this off almost one person at a time," Chairman Johnson said. --scooke@cutimes.com
