Money Matters Episode 7 - Teen Finance and Money Skills W/ Guest Deidre Jackson from Family Services

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Chris Hensley is a registered representative of Cambridge Investment Research Inc, a broker dealer member of FINRA cippic. Investment Advisor representative Cambridge Investment Research advisors Inc, a registered investment advisor, Cambridge and Houston First Financial Group are not affiliated.

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Houston Midtown chapter of the Society for financial awareness presents money matters with your host Christopher Hensley.

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Good morning everybody, this is Chris Hensley and I am the president of the Houston Midtown chapter of the Society for financial awareness. And you're listening to money matters here on KPFT Houston, it is now 10 o'clock on Friday morning. If you're listening to us, you've already found us on KPFT houston.org on the HD three digital dial. You might also be listening to us as a podcast back episode, either to the Lipson network, iTunes or Zune. But if you found us, here we are, we have a great show for you today with lots of information and lots of tips really, if you have kids, and you're they're concerned or they're concerned about money, we are going to be talking about teen finance and money skills as our topic for today. We also will be joined by Deidre Jackson with the Family Search greater Family Services of Greater Houston and will be joining us after the break. There is a program that they have called Ways to work car loans. So if you're thinking about purchasing a car for your teenager, keep listening. Stay tuned, we're going to give you some very specific information about that. But before we go, we get started with that we're going to talk about sofa who we are and what we do for any first time listeners who may just be learning about sofa. Then we're going to talk about teen finance and money skills and then talk with Deidre about the car loan program. So sofa, we are a nonprofit 501 C three educational speaker's bureau. And our mission is to fight financial illiteracy. We do that by going out to different companies, organizations, groups anywhere people already congregate and provide financial education seminars, as well as health and wellness workshops. So how do we do that? Well, really, these seminars and workshops that we do, these are going to be brown bag, Lunch and Learn type seminars. So a lot of times, when we go out, we are invited out by the company, the organization, the professional association, maybe a church or religious organization, and were invited out to come and put on these financial literacy topics. It could be retirement, it could be budgeting, cash management, credit card debt, ways to get back on track. We also have health and wellness topics of stress in the workplace. So why would a company want us to come out and talk to their employees to their constituents of a professional association? Well, for one thing, it's motivational a lot of times just to get up out of the cubicle to get out of the desk and hear somebody talk in and become educated about benefits that they might have at work or even outside of the workplace, things that matter in everyday life. To be able to do that is going to break up the day to day monotony of just being at the office. Why else would a company want us out there to do this? Well, there is something called 404 C and 404. C is an ERISA requirement that states that any company that has an ERISA sponsored retirement plan in place has to have a financial education, or a financial literacy piece in place. Now, a lot of times you'll find that these companies are kind of outsourcing this to the 401k guy to the 403 B guy whoever the retirement company is that owns those benefits the retirement accounts. But when this happens, you'll see that they'll come out and often it's just going to be maybe how to log on to the website and how to choose your

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Get your investments within the 401 K, which you don't see a lot of is the other stuff that how to budget your your how to build a budget, how to live off of a budget, something as simple as how to even balance your checkbook, things that are important to adults on a day to day basis. But we never learned in high school, we never had any classes that taught us how to do these things. If you are interested in attending a seminar from sofa, you can always reach out to us on our website, www. Houston, Midtown sofa.org, we do have a free white paper available to you about financial literacy, feel free to reach out to us on that. With that I'm gonna transition right into our topic for today, which is teen finance and money skills. So if you have kids, which I do, and if you haven't had them come to you and ask for money, then they're probably not teenagers yet. Because by the time they're teenagers, you're going to have that question and come up more and more often. Things like the car, things like going out to the movies with their friends, things that maybe had not come up already in bulk. But you're going to have those questions come up more and more. So so we start thinking about this, what can we do, as parents to really start kids and teenagers off on the right track, when it comes to finances when it comes to behaviors, getting kids and teenagers pointed in that right direction. So I'm going to share with you an article off of t health.com. And this article, really, it's a very short article. And I don't like to read a lot just straight from the paper. So I'm going to do a couple sites here. But but there's three points that they make on here that I think are very, very relevant to this topic and what we're talking about today. So it says money signs probably light up in your teenagers eyes whenever you sit them down to talk about money. Teenagers seemingly need money for all sorts of activities and probably come bounding in your room asking for some at least a few, at least a few times a week, that's you understand that there is a real need for teenagers to understand the ins and outs of finances and savings. So then it goes on to give us three different steps here. So the first one, it says First you need to help your teenagers understand your family budget and how they fit within it. You do not need to go into detail, but a cursory understanding of how much money is coming in and where it goes each month can give your teenager an appreciation for the money that he is, I think that's a really good one. You don't want to as they scare them, you don't want to give too much information away. But given them kind of

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glossed over look at you know, this is how much income we have coming in each month. This is where we're spending our money can't give them the reality of the situation. They know that money doesn't grow on trees, that it is something that we have to be accountable for. And we'll help them as they're kind of planning in and hopefully as they become adults in the future. So then the article goes on to give us a second step, it's a second, you need to help them learn how to make their own money, be it chores around the house or an outside part time jobs, teenagers should be contributing to their own finances. Here are some ideas for job hunting for your teenager. So when it comes to teenagers, when they're at that age, we got to get creative and figure out what things we can help them do. So here's kind of a short list it says mowing lawns, shoveling snow, that one's probably not going to be applicable here in Houston, gardening or other similar outside jobs, summer camps, tutoring other kids, pet sitting neighbors, animals working for elderly neighbors, making websites for small companies or teaching others how to use computers. See, I would read that and then think hmm, but it's actually true that most of our teenagers are going to be more technical, technically savvy than a lot of the adults nowadays. So this one probably couldn't be true. Says babysitting services work at your local swimming pool, sell your own arts and crafts, if they're handy and have hobbies doing other things deliver newspapers, that one for me. I don't know if they actually if it's is widely spread as it was when I was growing up. But that was actually one of my first jobs. not delivering newspapers but selling newspapers and now we're down to just the Houston Chronicle here in Houston but it used to be there was the Houston Post and the Houston Chronicle. One of my first jobs was always laugh when I talked about this was selling the Houston Post door to door and the reason I laugh because if you have to start with a job, that was not one of the easiest ones to do. I remember going

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Through apartments and knocking door to door. And then looking through the window, I could see the people sitting there watching TV and just not even answering the door. So that really my point to that is, you know, it wasn't a fun job. But I remember when I got that first paycheck, how good it felt, to have done that for myself, and to have the control that if I wanted to bring money in that I could do something like that. And I didn't keep that job for long. But I think it was one of the really good ones because it taught me a strong work ethic. And to keep at it. It says, Once you your teenager is making their own money, strongly encourage them to save at least a portion of it. So if possible, let them use money for their activities and have them save all of their money for future expenses, such as college, teaching them to save regularly will help them, it will really give them the financial skill that should serve them or the rest of their lives. Here are just a few tips on teaching them to save money and manage the money wisely. Show them the mass of sit down and explain what will happen with the money. The more that they save, show him the power of compounding interest, teach them to save a portion of their check as soon as they receive it. So that's that old adage, pay yourself first, carry a little money, it's easier to spin cash than it is to write a check, explain debt and how it can affect them research some some of the colleges that they want to attend and give them rough numbers of how much it will cost them. And that might be scary, because right now the cost of college is, is extremely high. The inflation rate on college is actually more than double what our national standard is for the inflation rate. And that's a trend that we're seeing happening in kind of continuing happening. They're telling them that in all the purchases not to impulse buy, have them wait and think about buying things before they before actually buying it. That should save them from buyer's remorse. So that right there, they're talking about something that's not common in the US. But something that's really extremely important for us to teach. And that's called delayed gratification. Something that we should be teaching our kids right out of the gate. So let's discuss credit cards, show them how it is not free money and how interest rates can bite back quickly. If they do not pay off charges when they are do periodically review your teenagers account within the credit card thing. You don't talk to them about it as soon as they get to school. One of the first things you see in colleges are those tables lined up with credit card offers. So if you don't talk to him, somebody else will this is finally teach your teenager the joy of charitable giving. If they can see how people without how people without much live then it can give them a greater appreciation for what they have. Using these steps can help you give your teenager a good perspective on finances and saving. So with that, we're gonna go ahead and take a short break and we will be joined by our guest right after the break

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to tell me

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finally on my bed

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You.

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And we are back from the break that was the drifters and you're listening to money matters on KPFT Houston. It is 1015 and we are joined today here live in the studio with Dr. Jackson with Family Services of Greater Houston. Deidre, I want to thank you for joining us today. Thank you for having me. And now one of the things I like to do with my guests before we get started, really so that the listeners really know a little bit about you. Could you share a little bit about yourself with us? Sure. I am the program manager for the ways to work car loan program with Family Services of Greater Houston. Chris, I'm very passionate about financial empowerment and financial education. During the past five years that I've been with Family Services, I've seen how financial education actually changes behaviors and changes habits. So I take pride in being an agent of change, if you will. Absolutely. And that's one of the reasons that you're on today. Because that goes right along with family services, and what they're doing, which is an is a nonprofit here in Houston. For those of us who have not out there who haven't heard of Family Services, a Greater Houston, can you tell us about them and what kind of really what they do. Family Services of Greater Houston is one of the oldest nonprofit organizations here in Houston. We recently celebrated our 100 and ninth birthday. Wow. And we look forward to serving Houstonians for many more years to come. We are a social service agency, a United Way agency.

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Now what what type of programs are available to Houstonians through family services? Well, we offer programs for all ages and stages of life. If you are a mother coping with difficult teenagers if you are a grandmother needing assistance with just understanding from correspondence that you've received or need assistance with utility payments, if you are a father attempting to build a stronger relationship with his children, if you are an engaged couple looking to improve communication before marriage, if you are a hard working individual that needs help with money management or budgeting, or if you just need an automobile loan, we had family services may be able to help you. Our programs include counseling individuals, couples and families by professional counselors to help with problem solving and coping skills very solution focused counseling. We also have parenting and family life classes, where we provide help to parents with communication, discipline and building the relationship with their children. Our marriage education program which teaches methods to create and maintain healthy marriages through free marriage and relationship workshops. We have our case management program which assists families with emergency resources to Fulfill basic needs, food, clothing and shelter. School Based Services is our program which teaches children and families how to resolve crisis and deal with the challenges of growing up. We also have a substance abuse prevention program, where we educate students about substance abuse in order to decrease use and abuse of drugs and alcohol. Our Veteran Services program assists veterans in emergency financial situations and also provides connections to resources in the community.

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Our financial stability program provides one on one coaching as well as financial education class

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classes and workshops to help parents and families become financially stable. And lastly, our ways to work car loan program, which is my program, and we provide low interest out car loans to working parents with blemishes on their credit report. Wow. Wow, I guess the question should have been what delta.

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That is a lot. That goes kind of all across the really the gambit there as far as social services and things that are available here in Houston for people to Houstonians to really take advantage of now what you're part of ways to work the car loan program, can you tell us specifically more about that program. Now, ways to work helps working individuals take a step toward economic self sufficiency, we offer low interest automobile loans to working individuals to purchase affordable cars to maintain or improve their employment, repaying the loan helps improve their credit. And we also teach skills necessary to become more financially stable and self sufficient ways to work provides families with an alternative to predatory lenders, unreliable vehicles and extremely high interest rates. So our aim is to empower families and help them improve their overall financial condition, in addition to giving them a way to work. Now, is that now I mentioned earlier that this might be a good idea, if you have a teenager who you're looking to, it's that time and they're asking about getting a car, is this also available to people, maybe who are just kind of getting back on their feet? Absolutely. And in order to apply for the loan, you just have to be a resident of Harris County, let's be currently employed for six consecutive months, and you must have the ability and the commitment to repay the loan. And of course, you have to have a valid Texas driver's license, Chris. But yes, it is open to any working individual. If you do need to get back on your feet, that's perfectly fine. If you have damaged your credit history in some way we do provide loans to those individuals as well. Excellent. Excellent. That's, I was going to ask you about the application process, which sounds like what you were just talking about, as far as what what information is needed? How would they go about doing that? Is that do they need? Do they need to contact you? Yes, so the application process includes a pre screening phone call. And after the pre screening phone call is followed by an appointment for orientation and orientation is very much a financial education workshop seminar, classroom style type of an appointment, where we discuss everything from finances, income versus expenses, credit reports, myths about credit reports, etc. During orientation, we schedule an appointment to meet with one of our loan coordinators, that's a one on one appointment to build a personal family budget. And to discuss car ownership, the cost of the loan payment gas, full coverage, insurance maintenance, we also pull the full credit report at the one on one meeting so that individuals can see or applicants can see what's on their credit report and where they can start working on those items on the credit report. Eventually, the applications are submitted to a volunteer loan committee that makes a ruling on their loan, we help them find a reliable car in their price range, and we taste manage their situation for the life of the loan. So they get the challenge arises, they're able to get past it. Wow, wow, that's a lot more than you would get from a local bank.

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That's awesome. That is really awesome.

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Now, for anybody who's driving, we're going to give this website address again at the end. But I'm gonna go ahead and give out the website address now to get in touch with family services. It's www family services that org, would that be the first step to get started on the application? Or do they need to call in or both, either or either or would be find on our website, family services.org. We do have the pre screening qualification application so they can download that and fax it into it, just complete that and send it to us and we'd give them a call. So they can actually get on to the website, click on that link that's going to give them a copy of the application. They would fill that out and fax it back into you and that will get them started. Yes. Scheduled for that orientation. Now what kind of roadway this sounds like a really good program. What kind of results have you seen from working with individuals in this program?

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Waste work provides low interest car loans to individuals with no credit or with damaged credit. These clients would otherwise be unable to receive a car loan from say a bank or credit union because of imperfect credit or no credit history. So not only do ways to work well

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Homes enable clients to secure reliable transportation. They also provide an opportunity to repair their credit scores. Many clients go on to stabilize or improve their income through better jobs or more working hours. They also reduce their debt by working with one of our financial coaches, and just increase their quality of life for themselves and their children. And most importantly, save money for the future, establish an emergency savings fund, really getting them set up not just handing them a check for the car, but setting them up to be able to really for success. Yeah, getting in front of the situation. Do you have any stories about maybe an individual or really just a person who's gone through something like this and how that went for them?

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Well, in sharing a success story, Chris, I'd like to ask you what does a typical day look like for you? Now imagine waking up at 4:30am traveling to the daycare to drop off your daughter before 6:30am Then on to work for your eight hours shift that to the daycare to pick up your daughter before 6:30pm followed by a trip to the grocery store to pick up a few items for dinner than back home. Now imagine doing those things without a vehicle.

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That's exactly what Miss Smith faced on a daily basis until she learned about family services and our ways to work Carlone program. Due to the lack of transportation, there were days that Miss Smith was tardy for work and jeopardized her employment. She was unable to attend class at Houston Community College where she's a part time student because she didn't have a way home. There are days when she was charged additional fees for arriving to the daycare after 630 Monday that she just didn't have and there were days when she and her daughter didn't have balanced meals due to limited choices in time. All of these things changed for Ms. Smith and her family that day, she began the process of completing the car loan application at Family Services in April of 2011. Fast forward to now, since purchasing a vehicle Miss Smith has increased her hours at work as a pharmaceutical technician. She arrives to work and school early now. And she's able to spend quality time with her daughter. Instead of commuting. She has worked with our financial stability program to start an emergency fund. She's cleaning up some of the things on her credit report and other personal financial goals. She is less than three months away from paying off her ways to work loan without any late payments and her credit score has increased substantially. She's currently saving to purchase her first home she says within about nine to 12 months. So she mentioned that she's so grateful for the day that she found out about Family Services of Greater Houston and our ways to work Carlo program. Wow. Wow, that's awesome. Because that's kind of taken us through the whole life of the loan in addition to everything that she's learned on her way it's it's really something that's awesome. Odd. I want to thank you for visiting with us today. For listeners that would like to find out more about family services. Some of the programs they have to offer specifically the ways to work our loan program but any of the programs that you mentioned earlier, they can go to www family services.org And Deidre, do you have any parting thoughts for our listeners to leave our listeners with today? Sure, we had family services of Greater Houston, we look forward to many more years of helping Houstonians improve their lives and strengthen their place in our community. Excellent. Thank you so much. And we appreciate you joining us we will be having family services in again at the end of the month, next month around the end of the month. In fact, that gives me a quick transition into a kind of our schedule of events or calendar of events for for, it's hard to say at July. We're here at the end of June. And so let me kind of go through some of the events the shows that we have lined up for you in July. In July. On July fifth, we're gonna have Margaret Keane, who is the director of a think tank called the Center for Cultural studies and analysis in Philadelphia. We're going to be discussing financial behavior, what's called what's known as cognitive finance or neuro economics, and how to people really think when it comes to making financial choices. On July 12, we're going to have Brian Penny, who's an ex Bank of America employee. He's been known as the Bank of America whistleblower. He was one of the people that had turned the information over to anonymous. And so that should be an interesting talk with him as well. He's also a freelance writer with Jim Cramer's Main Street. So we're going to join him and discuss some consumer tips to escrow insurance along with basic baking tips from from really from an X

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Bankers perspective. On July 19, we will be having family services back out again here to join us and talk about their financial coaching programs. So we talked a little bit about that today. We're going to talk more about that on July 19. And then

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