Finance plays a huge role in every stage of life—from counting pennies in preschool to making a mortgage payment on a house. IT can be overwhelming, but with the help of financial literacy tools, you can build self-confidence in understanding the concepts of money management, debt prevention, and financial security.
Financial literacy resources offer advice to analyze, prioritize, and accomplish your financial goals. Let us break down why financial literacy is significant today:
Learning Budgeting and How to Save Money
Saving money and creating a budget is the starting point in financial literacy.
There are many tools that provide a financial picture and explain the process of building a budget so you have a better understanding of how your income impacts your expenses and savings.
From charts to articles, financial literacy resources can provide a budget structure for you to prioritize and track your spending to make sure the budget remains healthy and balanced. Most resources will also offer suggestions towards important savings such as retirement and emergency funds.
If you’re new to budgeting and need a little guidance, watch our Budgeting 101 webinar for an overview, explanation, and demonstration of how to work your very first budget.
Understanding Credit, Payments, and Debt Prevention
Once you understand budgeting and saving, you will learn more complex subjects like credit cards and loans. Financial literacy resources provide guidance and tips on how to navigate various interest rates towards loans, how to make those payments, and avoid or pay off debt.
Financial literacy resources apply the prior practices of saving money towards paying off any existing debt.
If you’re looking for a practical way to start paying down your debt, watch our Financial Freedom: Your Path to Debt-Free Living webinar to get a step-by-step presentation on how to structure your very own debt payoff plan.
Recognizing & Protecting Yourself from Fraud
Lastly, financial literacy resources provide alerts regarding constant fraud and detecting suspicious behaviors that come from fraudsters using emails, phone calls, and text messages. Articles provide important information on ways to keep your financial accounts safe such as checking your credit report, card transactions, or contacting your financial institution to confirm alerts and messages are from your financial institution and not from those trying to steal your identity.
These kinds of communications are not only beneficial for you but also for your financial institution to be aware of these fraudulent attacks and spread the word with their organization and all their members.
Financial literacy tools are educational resources that help you understand how to manage your money, make payments on time, and prevent financial fraud. More than likely, your financial organization provides articles, learning programs, or even games for the younger audience. Financial literacy resources can also provide different calculators to determine certain payments and yearly terms on things such as mortgages, loans, and debt consolidation. These resources advance your financial decisions and provide ease throughout your financial journey.
