Introducing Your Monthly Guide to Family Finance Education

I’m really excited to introduce you to a new column this month and every month about family financial fitness. It’s something I’ve wanted since we purchased this magazine, a place to help parents and kids learn about finance.

Let’s face it, money management is not taught in schools, but it sure should be. It’s one of the most important life lessons but is virtually ignored in classrooms. And it’s not something you want to learn through trial and error, because errors cost!

When I was a kid, my grandfather gave me some shares of stock so I could learn about the market. I tracked it every day and read up on it. We’re talking fifth grade here. The stock was Pan Am, which started off strong and ended up broke. There was a big life lesson there, one I keep to this day.

But honestly, I’m still a fifth grader when it comes to managing money. I need all the help and education I can get, and I imagine a lot of readers are in the same boat.

Along came our new partner, Bay Federal Credit Union, which has amazing links to education resources on its home page and will share monthly tips in Growing Up. They even have a category under FInancial Wellness for kids, teens and young adults. (bayfed.com).

No wonder they are so far ahead of the curve, I realized when we researched the credit union. It was founded in 1957 by a group of teachers and named the Santa Cruz County Teachers Federal Credit Union. The first loan it made was used to purchase a baby crib for $50.

Teachers, right? No wonder they know how to educate us on finances. As a parent, there’s no one I respect more than teachers. The credit union started downtown and expanded to Capitola in 1995, moving from just being a teacher’s credit union to one that accepted all community members in 1997. Their CEO Carrie Birkhofer has been with them since 1989, a rare woman in the top of the industry.

“We are very excited to be partnering with Growing Up in Santa Cruz,” shares Birkhofer. “Our mission is to make a real difference in the financial lives of our community members, and there’s no better way to do that than by helping the next generation grow up with the financial knowledge they need to succeed.”
I’m so glad we are on the same page. If you have financial questions you’d like answered, please send them to [email protected] and we’ll pass them along.

Also, if you have suggestions for what other columns we should run about things not being taught in schools, please send them too. (I’d like farming, (which actually is taught at my kid’s school); meditation, negotiation, AI, programming, healthy eating and cooking, and an earlier start to learning languages…those are just off the top of my head. Send us your ideas, please.

Also, let me remind you that Kids Day is May 4 this year, when Downtown Santa Cruz will be filled with activities for all kids. It’s one of the great family-friendly activities in town. We look forward to seeing you there. We’ll have temporary tattoos and maps for everyone.

Thanks for reading,

Brad Kava,

Editor and Publisher