At dinner the othernight, I asked my five-year-old daughter MacKenzie to tell me abouther day at school. Her face lit up and she said, “Mommy, Ms.Melissa gave me the coolest lesson ever. She was showing meaddition and did you know that one plus two is three?” Her beamingface, tone of voice and the true bliss she found in learning blewme away. It wasn't work. It was joyful and fun.

As credit unions forge a path to attracting and retaining thenext generation of members, we have to make learning fun. Accordingto the Millennial Disruption Index, 71% of millennials would rathergo to the dentist than listen to what banks are saying. This isparticularly troubling, when juxtaposed with Filene ResearchInstitute's recent research on the millennial generation'sfinancial capabilities titled, “Gen Y Personal Finances: A Crisis of Confidence andCapability”

The findings highlight that Gen Y is overconfident and underinformed as it relates to their finances. When asked about theirfinancial knowledge, almost 70% of millennials surveyed ratedthemselves as having high financial knowledge. When given afinancial literacy quiz, 8% answered all five questionscorrectly.