Find out why in just 2 months over 300 people have used the CCOA Financial Skills Center to build their money smarts.
We get it. Today we’re all really pressed for time It’s hard to prioritize getting the task lists tackled, emails sent and people cared for, let alone building in time to take care of your financial health. But spending time on your financial wellness is critical. Even before all the challenges caused by the pandemic, the average household in America was in need of some financial attention. In a study from The Ohio State University, 2 in 3 households didn’t operate on a monthly budget. And a study from the George Washington School of Business found the following:
- 61% of U.S. households had not planned an amount needed for retirement;
- 1 in 3 families were financially fragile (low access to credit, little savings, higher debt compared to income); and
- The average head of household spent 6 hours or more each week dealing with financial problems.
Ouch! COVID-19 hasn’t made this much better for many households. Many organizations tracking economic development are projecting household income to remain below pre-COVID levels until the 4th quarter of 2021. With less in their pockets people are looking for ways to spend less. At CCOA, our caring financial professionals have had a front row seat to the budget choices families are needing to make and the complexity involved in these decisions. For instance, in 2020 many of our clients had monthly debt payments climb 30% over 2019. To keep up, these households are reliant on a combination of unemployment benefits, savings and creditor/servicer deferments to survive.
These factors have led households to some challenging decisions in recent months, and we’ve been grateful to provide help and solutions along the way. This desire to provide FREE help and resources to our region prompted us to build the CCOA Financial Skills Center with the help of partners like Excellerate Foundation, Simmons Bank, and BancorpSouth. We believe those with better financial literacy will make stronger money decisions. And the research backs this belief. According to numerous studies, those with greater financial literacy are:
- More likely to save and plan for retirement;
- Less likely to be financially fragile;
- Less likely to be debt constrained;
- Find it easier to make ends meet; and
- Spend less time on financial issues and problems.
This season has made some of these fundamental decisions even more challenging. CCOA’s Financial Skills Center is built to deliver critical knowledge to help clients develop better money skills and make smarter financial decisions. Each interactive, 5-minute module helps the client better understand their financial picture, and it works great on mobile devices. The content is organized by playlists put together by the education team at CCOA, but the “start here” button allows users to create their own self-paced playlist of modules based on their areas of interest. And it’s completely free.
Since launching in December, over 300 people have used the CCOA’s Financial Skills Center to learn more about topics like home buying, identity protection, credit scores, and more. We encourage you to join them by taking a few minutes to invest in your financial future today.
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