Pumped about improving financial literacy in my generation

From the age of five until around 15, my entire concept of money and managing finances in general was based on observing my parents. How much (or how little) they spent, how often they’d take my brothers and I out to eat, how much they bought me for my birthday/Christmas and where we went on vacation (or whether we went anywhere at all) were all lessons on money – its value, ease of access to it and the thought and time put into using it.

Unfortunately for most people my age, that sums up the entirety of their financial education. 

For those ambitious types that try to go about remedying their lack of financial know-how, there isn’t really a lot of good resources out there… or rather I should say there aren’t a lot of resources that won’t be so incredibly boring that we convince ourselves within five minutes that our ‘future self’ can worry about being smarter with our money because we are much too busy with school/life/angry birds to do that right now.

"This reality is why I think my generation is sorely under-equipped when facing a myriad of life stages."

This reality is why I think my generation is sorely under-equipped when facing a myriad of life stages (a.k.a. hugely important money-centric decisions that will have a lasting impact on our financial well-being). And while that may sound rather depressing and hopeless, it’s actually exactly why I love working with the Young & Free program. Young & Free is all about being a resource for young people – providing financial education in a format that is actually interesting – even entertaining. Each website is a place where young people can go to find out about more about budgeting, student loans, saving for retirement, credit scores – all the big life/money information – explained by someone our age, in language that actually makes sense.

It is so important that young people find a resource where they can go to learn more about money matters – whether big life stage stuff or the little day-to-day stuff that seems inconsequential but can have a massive impact on their financial health for the future. I’ve spoken with people my age who didn’t know that paying only the minimum payment on their credit card each month was a bad thing – they were completely unaware that they were being charged an insane amount of interest on their remaining balance each month. The lack of awareness is scary. 

There is an endless supply of people and companies spewing infinite ways we should spend our money, but there aren’t a lot of people trying to help us save it. I’m proud to be a part of a program that works hard to be that voice, and even prouder of credit unions for being the type of financial institution that cares enough to prioritize that for their members. 

Last week I was interviewed by a local TV station about the financial education that we provide with the Young & Free program. If you’re not convinced by this point, watch the clip below to see (via my muppet-like expressions) that I really am this pumped about improving financial literacy in my generation.

Cheryl

Pay it Forward and Backward Now!

In The Financial Brand's article Credit Unions, Here’s That Awareness Campaign Everyone’s Been Waiting For, editor Jeffry Pilcher is advocating a national pay-it-forward campaign.

What if one day, every credit union in the world sent out representatives to perform hundreds of thousands of good deeds, nice gestures and other random acts of kindness?

Jeffry is suggesting that International Credit Union Day in October 2012 would be an ideal day to make it happen. I really like this idea and think that credit unions could really make this happen.

But what if you took it up to a whole other level and made it happen now? I mean right now!

Last week during our Marketer Meet-up, we split the attendees into three teams and tasked them with coming up with a compelling member drive campaign concept. One idea that struck me as exceptional was the notion of offering a rebate for an overdraft fee from a competing financial institution! Bring in a statement that shows the fee, move your primary checking account, sign up for at least three services including direct deposit of your paycheck and the credit union will credit your account up to a maximum of $25.

Credit unions are notoriously afraid to ask for the business, but this approach would make the conversation so much easier and natural. Credit unions would essentially be saying, "Hey, your bank won't give you a break, but we will. In fact, we'll pay you back for that thing they did to you that has brought you to this boiling point."

Photo by Ninja Cherepashka

Now imagine combining this rebate concept with the pay-it-forward concept and organizing a street team to decend on the Wall Street protesters right now. Print a wallet-sized promo and insert a $10 bill to pay forward and a voucher explaing the overdraft fee rebate. CUNA or the Credit Union Association of New York could rally all area credit unions and make this happen right now.

It would receive positive national media attention and shine a light onto the differences between banks and credit unions.

Credit unions are exactly what millions of disenfranchised, educated young adults are looking for, they just don't know credit unions exist. 

What do you think?

Tim

Young & Free Marketer Meet-up a success!

Since reaching 10 active Young & Free regions, we've been wanting to get our partner credit unions together to meet and learn from one another. We made it happen last Wednesday in Fishers, Indiana. We combined this experience with the CU Water Cooler Symposium 2011 to make the trip more than worthwhile for all of our attendees.

Eight out of 10 Young & Free Spokesters were able to attend. After the first session of the day, they broke off with Cheryl for the Spokester Summit to learn from each other and to collaborate on a series of videos to be released later this month.

The remaining 23 marketers worked together at the Marketer Meet-up. Brent Dixon and Ron Shevlin graciously took time to be our guest speakers and each of the regions represented presented an area that they excel at. The energy in the room was fantastic as everyone learned, laughed and shared. It was great to see friendships made and cooperation and collaboration in action. 

As part of the presentation, we put together this 2011 highlight video.

Combining this event with the CU Water Cooler Symposium made for a magical experience. Thanks to everyone who was able to make it!

Tim

That makes 20 Young & Free Spokesters!

We launched Young & Free Alberta in October 2007 and almost four years later, we've hit 20 Young & Free Spokesters! We are at a moment in time where there are 10 active Spokesters and 10 Alumni.

It has been a real treat to watch as each of these talented young adults has found their voice and created a following in their region. We have now passed 80,000 accounts opened across all regions thanks in large part to their hard work. 

This group of incredibly talented young adults has combined to create more credit-union-loving content than I thought was possible.

I feel kind of like a proud papa!

Want to meet a few of them? We're hosting our second Spokester Summit right before the CU Water Cooler Symposium in Fishers, Indiana. Expect to see seven or eight Young & Free Spokesters hanging out at the Symposium on Friday, September 30—make sure to say "Hi."

Tim

Young & Free Maine launched by 60 credit unions today!

We helped the Maine Credit Union League (MCUL), representing 60 participating credit unions, roll out Young & Free Maine today. Maine is the 11th Young & Free region in North America to go live and the largest group to date!

The program in Maine came together because of the leadership and drive of MCUL's corporate marketing manager, Debra Trautman. Debra and her team (Diana, Jess, Jon and Karen) worked extremely hard to build consensus and excitement for the program. 

Kate Davies and I travelled to Augusta, Maine in March and shot the launch video with 14 of the participating credit union CEOs. 

Please take a moment and visit the Young & Free Maine microsite. You can also follow along on Twitter and Facebook.

Tim

Living Young & Free Show 037: Passive Aggressive Finances, Protect Your Money When Travelling and Travelhacking

Darryl from South Carolina looks at being passively aggressive with your finances, Keith from Ontario shows you how to keep your money safe while travelling and Chris from Alabama takes a look at the new website, travelhacking.org.

You can also download all of the episode as a podcast from iTunes.

Cheryl

Young & Free New Mexico launched by 17 credit unions today!

We helped the Credit Union Association of New Mexico (CUANM), representing 17 participating credit unions, roll out Young & Free New Mexico today. New Mexico is the 10th Young & Free region in North America to go live!

The program in New Mexico came together because of the leadership and passion of a number of key people that believed in Young & Free, including Sylvia Lyons (CEO) and Denise Wymore (VP Association Services) plus 17 courageous credit union CEOs.

Launching Young & Free for a group of credit unions takes a great deal of cooperation and coordination! It allows small and large credit unions to affordably work together to make a big noise in their marketplace. We know it takes a lot to get on the radar of potential Gen Y members.

When Denise started at CUANM in the Spring of 2010, one of Sylvia's first requests was for her to check into Young & Free New Mexico. As luck would have it, I know Denise quite well! One thing led to another and here we are!   

Kate Davies and I travelled to Sante Fe, New Mexico in February and shot this fun launch video with most of the participating credit union CEOs. 

Please take a moment and visit the Young & Free New Mexico microsite. You can also follow along on Twitter and Facebook.

Side note: We do a lot of time zone-math in our office. Most of our clients are two or three hours ahead. It's nice to have another client that is just one hour ahead! Now, if we could only have a program running in Pacific time! :)

Tim

Alberta proves the staying power of Young & Free!

We helped Servus Credit Union launch the search for its fourth annual Young & Free Alberta Spokesperson today! First launched in October 2007, we are now three and half years into the program in Alberta and its still building in popularity, web traffic and new member growth!

Year one and two were run in the 14 original branch locations of Common Wealth Credit Union. During this time, approximately 5,000 Young & Free Chequing Accounts were opened. In March 2010, the program expanded to the full 100-branch network of the newly merged Servus Credit Union. Over the past 12 months, the total number of Young & Free Chequing Account holders quadrupled to more than 20,000! Needless to say, we are thrilled.

Over the past year, the Alberta team has dialed things up considerably. In addition to the annual spokesperson search, we've helped Servus run numerous contests on the site to keep the interest and web traffic high. We know that these additional online contests have driven account growth as we've been able to see spikes in web traffic and participation coincide with similar spikes in account growth. Here's a recap of the three major contests.

• 2010 Young & Free T-Shirt Design Challenge In addition to promoting the contest with online advertising and through the social Web, we also made sure to reach out to area high school and post secondary design programs to get on the radar of potential entrants. The grand prize was an all-expense-paid trip to New York City. A group of credit union employees and representatives from the local design industry judged the entries. The contest was quite popular and drew 32 entries and considerable traffic.

• 2010 Young & Free Scholarship Program We found out that running an online scholarship contest is a great way to build upon something that the credit union was doing anyway. Servus gave away 30, $1,000 scholarships and drew more than 240 applicants. Clearly this type of contest resonates with young people. Applicants could choose to write a 500-word essay or create a 60-second YouTube video based on a set theme. Judging was left to a panel of credit union employees and the winners were revealed online. To add a crowd-participation and word-of-mouth element, we held a people’s choice public vote for three iPad prizes. 

• 2011 Young & Free Dance Challenge Based on the popularity of reality shows Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance, we helped Servus hold a dance competition. 41 fantastic individuals and groups participated. The contest drew incredible traffic, interest and participation. The public voted for the winner who received a $4,000 grand prize. During the voting phase, we managed to grow our opt-in email database by more than 5,000 subscribers! The creativity and talent shown in this contest was awesome—this particular entry video didn't win, but it was my favorite! 

Prior to Young & Free, we produced dozens of credit union campaigns. These campaigns typically lasted two to three months and were shelved after one go. With Young & Free Alberta and all of the other regions, it has been so gratifying to be involved with something with such staying power.

Tim

Presenting "The Credit Union Difference"

In January, six of our Young & Free Spokesters gathered in Jackson, Mississippi for the first-annual Spokester Summit. Cheryl from our office facilitated the two-day workshop. The main idea behind the Summit was to bring everyone together to learn from one another. All of our Spokesters are fast friends online, but there's nothing that can compare to meeting up in person. Held at the offices of the Mississippi Credit Union Association, the event was a smashing success! We'll definitely be doing this type of event again.

One of the items on the agenda was for the group to conceive and film a collaborative video. Great ideas flowed and the end product is now ready to view!

Alex Oliver, the Young & Free Tennessee Spokesperson, did an amazing job with the editing don't you think? We'd also like to thank the staff of the Mississippi Credit Union Association for their fabulous Southern hospitality!

Tim

Living Young & Free Show Episode 036: Financial Records, Home Grown Savings & Credit Score Myths

Josh from Texas shares some tips on storing important information, Sarah Dale from Mississippi shares ways to save money by growing your own herbs and Rob from St. Louis gives us the facts on credit scores.

You can also download all of the episode as a podcast from iTunes!

Cheryl