Financial Literacy Month

April is Financial Literacy Month, and specifically Teach Children to Save Month, and this is where we go into elementary schools. We’ll talk to over 1,500 children in 20 different schools throughout the month about saving and spending wisely, budgeting, and needs versus wants. Well, financial literacy is possessing the skills and knowledge to make informed decisions with your finances, and these decisions contribute to a lifetime of financial stability. With the curriculum in schools today, the financial piece of it, the money piece is really lacking, so that’s why we focus on going into the schools to make up for that, to teach children how to count money, how to recognize money, and how to manage it wisely. So we’ll talk to elementary age children from age five to age 10, and some specific activities we do is we talk about needs versus wants, and they need food to live but want ice cream, and making those decisions, and it’s really neat to ask them what they’re saving for and they’re already thinking about their adult future, because they’re telling me that they’re gonna save for a car or college or a home, and it’s rewarding to see that their mindset is already thinking about the future and how they’re going to have to spend their money on more needs. What financial literacy means to Fortifi Bank is really the core of our mission of Growin’ Wisconsin. It’s helping children, adults, business owners, and community members increase their financial knowledge so they can achieve the goals that they’ve set for themselves.