It's Financial Literacy Month!!  Four Youth Savings Heroes

Spring has sprung and it has never been a better time to be a young saver! Since April is National Credit Union Youth Month AND Financial Literacy Month, we wanted to feature four super heroes who are on the front lines supporting youth across the country with savings programs and financial literacy education.

Did you know that low-income children with just $500 in a college savings account are 3x more likely to attend college and 4x more likely to complete college than their peers that do not have college savings accounts? Based on this important research and finding,

Hero #1, non-profit Prosperity Now has been leading the charge to promote and study CSA accounts.

Children’s Savings Accounts (CSA) programs are emerging throughout the country with rapid-fire growth, great terms and important outcomes. In its Sustaining the Movement report released March 18, they showed that 922,000 children spread across 109 programs now have CSA accounts , up 30% over the prior year. Not bad growth during a pandemic!

Hero #2, Tim Ranzetta, thinks financial literacy is so important that there “ought to be a law.” Tim has made it his personal mission to make sure that all students complete high school with a strong financial literacy curriculum under their belts. His organization, Next Gen Personal Finance is leading the charge with free teacher training and grass roots advocacy.   Check out his blog highlighting his research on 25 different states that are considering new bills in this regard. See how your state stacks up.

Excite Credit Union is happy to offer CSA programs in Silicon Valley and Southeastern North Carolina. We have already enrolled nearly 1,500 children in our CSA programs which offer a $50 opening deposit, funded by Excite CU, and pay 5% annual dividend rate on balances up to $2,500.

We are combining these great savings programs with teaching tools for children ages 3 and up. These tools are free and accessible via two great platforms:

• For the youngsters, our partner, Sam Renick, teaches financial literacy through songs, stories, activity books and, of course, Hero #3 is Sammy Rabbit!
• For the serious savers (ages 8+, so maybe not overly serious), you will want to check out Hero #4, our partners at Banzai. They offer gamified learning suitable to launch a lemonade stand or manage that first paycheck.

Thanks to Prosperity Now, Tim Ranzetta, Sammy Rabbit and Banzai for being heroes supporting youth savings and financial literacy! We are proud to work with you.