This year marks the 20th year that CARE volunteers will be heading back to school to help America’s youth build strong financial futures. What’s different from when CARE started is the growing momentum to make financial education a priority for our nation’s youth. Over the past year, state after state has begun to make a one-semester personal finance class a requirement for graduation. We now have 15 states, from six only three years ago, that are committed to giving young people the information and skills they need to manage their finances. This is something that CARE’s founder Judge John Ninfo has been advocating for the past 25 years.
At CARE, we stand ready to help teachers and students meet the new standards. Our volunteers have the backgrounds and experience to bring content to life and help students understand why you need, as Judge Ninfo always says, to “control your spending, or it will control you.” The real-life stories we share with young people based on our volunteers’ experiences working with people in financial distress make lasting impressions. Here is one such story told by a CARE volunteer in the classroom:
An old friend of mine asked me to meet with a husband-and-wife couple who owned my friend’s favorite Italian restaurant. He thought that they were getting into money trouble, and that they should talk to a lawyer who knows about bankruptcy. When they came in, they said they didn’t understand why they were told to see me. “We have perfect credit; we’ve never missed a payment,” they kept saying.
Both of those statements were true, but they were true for the wrong reason. Their restaurant had been losing money. To cover the losses, they began getting cash advances on credit cards. When the credit card bills would come each month, they would make only the minimum payments; they would not pay off the whole bills. Where did they get the money to make the minimum payments? From getting new credit cards, then taking out cash advances on them. And so it went. After a few years, they had 25 credit cards on which they owed over a quarter of a million dollars combined.
They were playing a game of merry-go-round with their credit cards, and like all merry-go-rounds, it had to come to an end. Since they had been making only minimum payments, interest had been building up on the rest that was owed. Of the $250,000 they ended up owing, more than $200,000 of that was interest! Finally, they were unable to get another credit card, so they could not make the minimum payments required on all of the other cards. It all came crashing down on them at once, and they had to file for bankruptcy.
From coast to coast, CARE focuses on sharing the information and knowledge young people need to be smart consumers of financial products. We remain more committed today than ever before to reach more young people in more places. Students tell us that “this is the information I need to live my life.” If you are an educator, after-school program coordinator, counselor or youth leader, please reach out to us and let us know how we can help you this school year. We are grateful for the opportunity to partner with you in support of our mission to empower the next generation for financial success.
Tammy Hettinger is the Executive Director for CARE and has a long career of nonprofit leadership and fundraising. You can contact Tammy at [email protected]
