Money Matters: Financial Literacy Training for First-Generation Youth

For our second meeting, we had the opportunity to host World Systems Building (WSB), an organization centered on financial literacy and education. Their aim is to equip people with the knowledge and skills to navigate America’s financial system outlining and explaining the intricacies and obstacles likely to face us all. The training was led by Egbal Mamon, a passionate member of WSB since 2018 and accompanying her is Dr. Ladu _______. The introductory presentation covered a variety of topics including but not limited to:

• Accessing and paying off mortgages 

• Budgeting and the impacts of saving 

• Student loans

• Retirement options and their pros and cons 

• Investing to beat the market and inflation

We had a total of nine participants join and engage in fruitful discussions with each other and with the presenters during the Q&A session at the end. The participants were youth with their ages ranging from 15 to 25 which meant that different subjects resonated differently with each of them. Many of them were in college or entering college and so the topic of student loans seemed very applicable as their time in high school was nearing its end. Others who just started college learned the value of financial education as they learned how budgeting and reallocating their money to their student debt could immensely reduce the years on their debt. For some of the older participants, the topics of investing were more salient as they were already in the workforce and wanted to learn more about how they can smartly invest their money in order to maximize returns. 

There was a great reception amongst the participants and we offered a feedback session after. Some of the suggestions included a more in depth training on the relevant topics such as budgeting and student loans. They wanted to know more details about the process for applying to FAFSA and what factors affect their outcome. The participants also really enjoyed the budgeting exercise that illustrated how saving $100 and putting into their debt could significantly reduce the amount of time they owed the debt. Lastly, there was a strong consensus among the participants that they would like this program for their parents who would greatly benefit from learning about financial literacy.